April 27, 2013

The World Can Seem Big Sometimes

The other night, Carson and I were over at a park in our neighbourhood. He was one of the youngest there at the time and it made me realize just how innocent he still is. The behaviour of the kids and parents was appalling. I still have a lot to teach my son. A few older boys came over and were playing with some toy guns. They looked so real and I was instantly uncomfortable with the situation.

Carson is only 22 months (barley!!) and he's been changing quickly. He's picking up new words daily now, he's physically developed to a point that I barely need to help him do anything. As big as he's getting and as smart as he is, I just didn't like him being around the guns.

It was shocking to me and maybe it shouldn't have been. Being a parent in 2013 is a challenge. I've realized quickly that I can't shelter my child from the harshness of the world. He's going to figure it out either way. Plus, he doesn't look at the kids playing with the guns the same way I do. Luckily, he isn't aware of all the violence going on  in our world today. That makes me sad too that one day he'll know all that stuff.


It's overwhelming sometimes as a parent to think of all the values I need to instill in  my child. Being at the park at this time with Carson and having these feelings, made me realize too that I am a good Mother and I have a great husband who is doing this with me. We are going to teach our son how his behaviour can affect others.

The other thing that bothered me a lot was parents sitting on the benches completely ignoring their children who were behaving badly. It was awkward for me because I wanted to smack some of the kids because of how they were going down the slides and not giving Carson a chance to go down.


Parents were just sitting there on the iPhone's just hanging out, taking a break from parenting. Sorry, you can't really take a break from parenting!! That's how I look at it I guess. Once you become a parent, your life changes significantly. You think so differently about everything. Sure, you can go out and be "normal" once in a while, but when you go home at night, you want to see your kid, you want to hold them and kiss them goodnight. For me, that's how it goes. When I go to the park with Carson, I want to go down the slide with him and chase him around. I want to be engaged in his life and everything he is doing. I'm proud of that.


I saw a good quote last night before bed floating around Facebook that made me realize I can't over think things too much when it comes to what I see other parents doing or other kids doing. It's not to say that I shouldn't care or shouldn't have opinions about things, but I need to bring it home and realize that I do have a good kid and we are good parents :)

Don't Let Yourself Become So Concerned
With Raising a Good Kid
That You Forget
You already Have ONE