It’s just occurred to me how fragile and emotional our children can be.
In the past I’ve discussed the issues I’ve had in the past when it comes to dropping the Little Man off at nursery, and while we still have the odd day where there are tears, they are not tears to be concerned about. I know this because seconds after I have left he is absolutely fine, playing with his friends without a care in the world.
What’s spurred me to write this post is something I wasn’t expecting. Something I wasn’t really prepared for.
Little Man has clearly reached the age where he understands things so much more. Stories in books and on the television. He has begun to feel the emotions from particular storylines. Happy stories are great, obviously. He laughs and giggles along to the funny sights he sees. But just now when watching ‘We’re Going On A Bear Hunt’ I realised that my little boy isn’t so little anymore. He’s a real human being with feelings. He’s a sensitive sole. This much is now clear.
At the end of ‘We’re Going On A Bear Hunt’ the bear goes back to his cave, on his own, looking all sad. And it finished, I looked across at my Little Man and he had a quivery bottom lip and tears welling in his eyes. Of course I pulled him close and asked him what was wrong and he simply replied. “The bear Mummy. He’s all on his own and that makes me sad”. He burst into tears.
Woah. I wasn’t prepared for such a real life outpouring of emotions. We’ve seen the tears from silly tantrums and the usual toddler/small child crying fits. But this was different. This was raw. These were tears because he genuinely felt really sad in his heart for what he had witnessed. For what he had watched and what he understood of it. Bless his heart.
So as I said. It seems I have a sensitive soul on my hands and this isn’t a bad thing. It’s made me really realise that as he’s growing up, just how much more aware he is of things. What he sees going on around him. How much he is understanding the world he is in. And I need to factor that in to his upbringing. He’s not just a little baby or toddler anymore. He’s a real person. A real little boy who will grow into a real man and it’s us as his parents that need to help mould him into who he will become. It’s us a parents that need to help him deal with the emotions he feels, so that he knows how to handle them when he’s older.
No pressure then.
I think it’s safe to say we won’t be watching that particular tv programme anytime soon. But having said that, he’s been particularly cuddly ever since, and I won’t complain about that. He won’t do that forever.
Have you experienced this yet with your children? How do you handle it? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
[pdf-embedder url=”https://jakijellz.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/I-regularly-link-up-to-these-lovely-linkys..pdf” title=”I regularly link up to these lovely linkys.”]