Just Childlike

July 2022

Call me completely insane, but I genuinely love and enjoy the school holidays; And I am aware that almost all parents reading this would have just thrown their hands up and called me crazy, and likely clicked away. But I have my reasons for loving the school holidays.

For starters, I enjoy being around and with my kids. And I'm not just saying that. We're a family that seems to be much more close that the "average" out there and I'm only basing that on the other parents and families I've interacted with over the years. I know, as a parent, that we all have our moments with our kids, both good and not-so-pleasant, but I honestly enjoy spending time with them, no matter what we're doing.

And simply enjoying their company is probably the main reason why I love the school holidays; Because as tricky as it can be to juggle work and having them at home, I value the time we share. I love the little chats... I love hearing the laughter... I love the deep discussions... and I love being able to appreciate life itself, from the eyes of a child.

The impulsiveness. The playfulness. The sheet joy at the little things in life, that as an adult, you seem to overlook because it's "normal" or because you've seen it "so many times" before... both of which should never be a reason to dismiss the wonder and beauty of the world.

And before you dismiss my reasoning because you think I have really little kids, think again. They age in range but two are teens (and no, I don't find that difficult or challenging).

Age aside, there's something beautiful about exploring the world we live in and how we interact with it, with a lens of innocence and simplicity over it. Just doing that makes so many of the world problems, disappear, because the solutions are so simple, and they make sense and don't take much effort. You could say that many problems simply disappear when you take away the complexities and focus on the issue at hand.

So it's the extra time spent with my children during the school holidays, that help re-ground me and remind me to laugh. They help me break down my thoughts and explanations of anything complex, so that they're easy-to-understand. They help me teach them.

My children help me strip back the layers of my emotions into the basic ones and to just really feel and be. And that's so beautiful and so magical.

They help me be a better person and in turn, I help and teach them how to be the best version of themselves that they can be. And the extra time we spend together during the school holidays means extra available time to talk, to explain, to show, to share... extra time to continue our relationship and learn more about each other. It's relationship building expedited.

It's going to be weird to have them go back to school and for me to go back to spending those working hours without them right next to me. But it'll only be another few weeks until it's school holidays again.