Lunging the Children

I like to refer to these kinds of outings as ‘lunging’ my children. Yes, like horses- they need the exercise, otherwise they get terribly unruly. During these times, the lunging feels like an absolute necessity.

There’s a 6 year age-gap between my two girls; my eldest has the freedom to walk to and from school; to go down to the park or to the sweet shop; she also has an iPad of her own and when she starts secondary school, she’ll be ceremoniously taken (by my mum) to the phone shop to get her first mobile phone (as have all the grandchildren who have gone before her).

My youngest can’t bear these freedoms. She watches from the sidelines and quietly seethes! So, I try to ensure she has segments of the week where it’s entirely about her- a swimming lesson, climbing lesson, her own special trip to the park etc...

As we are currently living through this revised version of the world, my youngest is struggling to understand where her routines have gone & as a result is venting her frustrations (with gusto) on her big sister.

Today, on our walk, eldest daughter went to climb a tree whilst myself and the little’un had 5 minutes to ourselves; admiring a usually, very crowded view.

That was until our precious interlude was interrupted: “Mummy, I’m stuck: Can you climb up & help me?!”