This morning hubby and I decided to take our kidlets out on a morning family scooter ride. We are all scootered up in this family so off we went on our adventure. Hubby and I love the idea of getting outside with the kids for some weekend mid morning fun. Some of my favourite family moments and memories with our kids have been when we are out adventuring. Some of my most painful family memories have been in these exact same situations.
As we were leaving to get out the door this morning we were met by my 3 year old refusing to put on any shoes. This was then followed by a 5 year old who didn’t want to ride her scooter she wanted to ride the black scooter (her sisters). After a 10 minute tussle we managed to get out the door and then the fun REALLY began.
Miss 5 decided pretty early on that she was unhappy with her scooter and wanted another one. Miss 3 on the other hand was a bull at a gate, off she went as fast as she could not waiting or looking back. Hubby was trying to rationalise with Miss 5 who was being very silly about her scooter, refusing to ride and complaining that her legs hurt. I was busy chasing after Miss 3 trying to make sure she didn’t get hit by a car or fall off going super fast.
After half an hour of scooter trauma we finally returned home. As we returned home my neighbour waved to say hi. Hubby went inside with the 2 girls exhausted and over it and I quickly popped over to the neighbour’s house for a quick chat.
The first thing my neighbour said when I popped over was, “I saw you guys going out with your kids for a scooter this morning and thought how much fun you have with your kids …. it’s great”. Little did they know!! lol (just to note I did actually recount our REAL traumatic family scooter adventure)
This is my point. We spend so much time looking at everybody else thinking THEY are having a great time with their kids while we are struggling. If only we were the fun scooter family. If only it was as easy for us as it is for them.
One thing I have learnt in my many conversations with parents over the years is that we ALL struggle. There is no such thing as the perfect happy family who get along and never has issues. No matter what it looks like “The Fun Happy Scooter Family” ….. things are often not what they appear to be.
Don’t get caught in the trap of comparing yourself to other families and how you don’t measure up. We all have precious awesome moments and difficult traumatic ones. So remember that, next time you see that amazing family having so much fun while you are pulling your hair out in frustration at your crazy kids.
Things are often not what they seem!!
Written by Sam Shazzam
