PARENTING MATTERS - Column

Double trouble crushes my resolve
New Year's resolutions used to be so egocentric.
Lose weight. Exercise more. Eat healthily.
But becoming a parent means less focus on self and more on family.
So, when it came to revaluating the year that has been and aspirations for the year that will be, my thoughts naturally turned towards our offspring.
More tolerance. That's what I want to achieve in 2011, I told myself.
To be more patient, kind and understanding towards our two darling daughters.
And what better way to celebrate the turning of the year than the New Year's Eve party we had been invited to, with children in tow?
So off our family of four tootled round the corner to our friends' house, with a homemade pizza and bottle of wine in hand.
Having strategically put Miss Two down for a nap that afternoon I was confident the first couple of hours, at least, would go smoothly.
But on arrival Miss Four took one look at all the new faces and shyly clung to my leg. When she finally extracted herself, she insisted that I watch her swing from the climbing frame in the backyard, where there was not an adult in sight.
Meanwhile, the house had gone into lockdown to accommodate Miss Two's penchant for escape.
With barrier gates installed, and Miss Four warmed up sufficiently to leave my side, I settled into a nice cool glass of pinot gris.
And for about an hour things went swimmingly ... until blood sugar levels dropped and things took a turn for the worse.
With dinner about an hour later than their usual 5pm feeding time, the animals started circling.
But when they were presented with warm sausages wrapped in bread and smothered in tomato sauce they took a couple of bites and shoved them back at us. "Yuck!" exclaimed Miss Four, ungratefully. "Don't like it," Miss Two whined.
And off they ran, leaving hubby and I chomping on half eaten sausages and soggy bread.
Still hungry, they returned and marauded the adults' fare.
Scavenging for chippies, Miss Two whacked her head on the picnic table and started wailing.
Soon after, Miss Four was also in floods of tears after falling off the trampoline.
From then onwards we took turns pacifying and placating the tears, tantrums, bumps and bruises, until finally, at around 9pm, I picked up an emotional Miss Four and carried her off to a bedroom in the vain hope she would bunk down.
But before I had even made it down the hallway, I was hunted down by a fractious Miss Two, reaching out her arms, bellowing: "Mummy, mummy."
So, with one on each hip I ambitiously snuggled in with them both.
"In the cave, in the cave," Miss Two chimed, suddenly recovering from her tiredness and playing her favourite under-the-blankets game.
At which point I admitted defeat and gave up on seeing in the New Year. And with it my New Year's resolution.
New, New Year's resolution: To make it through 2011. Period.