Thinking of those days when my children were young, I reflect that, like many other young parents, I grappled with the daily ups and downs and seeming chaos that was modern family life in suburban Sydney. For me, there were not enough hours in the day at that time of my life. I am amazed, still scratching my head about how I actually summoned the energy to do what I did on a daily basis.
In those frenetic years I was a partner in our small family owned business, whilst wrangling four teens to school, before and afterschool sport training, and weekend games of netball, soccer, hockey and footy. With the odd swimming carnival thrown in for good measure. Did I say frenetic?
Our house was the local meeting place for half the neighbourhood’s kids, all friends of my own kids and all apparently not fed in their own homes. They brought their voracious appetites to mine. When I wasn’t at work, or driving, or shivering on the sidelines at a sporting field, I was providing the venue for other people’s kids to hang, relax, and generally have fun. As well as feeding them.
Most of the time, I loved this situation. I was proud of it. We’d created a local haven for teenagers. Life was hectic, noisy, spirited, and never dull.
It was important, mandatory for me to develop a sense of humour, and inner calm in those years. My children, like everyone else’s, had their moments, and sometimes my patience and forbearance would wear thin.
Regular early morning jogging and gym workouts helped. The benefits were so good. Not only did I become very fit in those years, but it also prevented me from going slightly Mumcrazy.
What was also comforting was the knowledge that most of our peers were living the same sort of crazy lifestyle, we were not the only family in the neighbourhood living life to the max.
Funnily enough, I did manage to navigate my way through this intense era of Parenthood relatively unscathed, my children have now grown up, and two of the four have children of their own.
It has occurred to me that nothing much has changed over the years, at least not in the way our family lives. What is the Biblical saying? There’s nothing new under the sun. So true.
My children appear to be leading the exact same pellmell of a life as I once did, diligently ferrying my grandchildren from one activity to another, whilst working hard in their respective jobs, and at the same time trying to maintain a level of sanity. History is definitely repeating itself.