Parenting battle

So we were invited to a braai on Friday with some mates that we hadn’t seen for a while. It was stunning evening and we got to really catch up. We didn’t leave late in adult terms (9pm) the only thing was it was late for the Ginger.

He’s two and half and only recently (like last month) started sleeping through and not in his short little life span has he ever gone to bed that late!  He was absolutely fine though. There were a few tears in the car on the way home, due to some extenuating circumstance but other than that he was a gem!

Problem was the night that followed. He woke in excess of 5 times and still rose at his usual 5:30am. I had such a lovely morning planned with him and the two of us were going to watch Rio2 together while dad had some downtime. Well the movie was a complete stuff up! We ended up leaving before the end and after 3 boxes of popcorn purchased one of which was turfed the morning was ruined!

I was so disappointed because the ginger loves movies and Rio1 was his favourite….but he was just a nightmare and unplayable…. so him going to bed 1.5hrs after his normal bedtime just had such far reaching consequences.

But then I question myself. Are we too rigid in our routine? There was no way he was going to go down there because the host’s two kids were running around so FOMO would never have allowed him to close his eyes.

I suppose why I’m questioning myself is because I’m seeing more and more recently we are turning down things because of a routine or allowing things to happen where ultimately we pay the price later. And its not FOMO (Fear of missing out )  its just ironic that I question that we’re the problem here. The problem is the whole family suffers the consequences when the ginger doesn’t sleep or eats copious amounts of sugar!!

I’m very proud to say that my ginger is an absolute pleasure to be around, is well mannered and a really sweet child. But I’m also a firm believer that he thrives on having boundaries and a good routine.

The whole chocolate and sweet fruit juices falls into this category. Daniel was absolutely rotten over Easter and with all the public holidays and no routine……I saw how the sugar rush affected him and also how revolting he was and the tantrums he started throwing. Again though its hard because if we go out with friends to a restaurant and their kid is drinking juice, how do you whip out a water bottle and say to your kid “no” because your belief  is that it is supposed to be for special occasions?

Just trying find my happy medium between what I believe is right and good for my kid vs going with the flow. I’m sure this is the tip of the iceberg and I’ve got many more journeys along this road to take…..

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