My kids are still really little, and this thread is such a good counter to all the “savor it now cause it’s all downhill from here mama <3” messaging out there.
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Yeah that message is rubbish! They get funnier and more interesting. Quite a lot of humility and self mastery required at every level of being a parent imo but I enjoy my lads at 18, 21 and 23!
I had my four kids close together and the toddler years felt endless to this SAHM. School age was better: I loved watching them grow into their own person. A few rough patches in high school but the college years were golden!
Oh gosh. I loved my boys to pieces when they were little, but raising them was hard! Now they’re 28 and 30 and we have the BEST times together. Lots of laughs, a shared love of music and books, long chats. In no way are these full-grown humans a downgrade 😀
Oh, mine are 18, 20, and 22, and it’s just so great getting to know the people they are! They’re funny, warm-hearted, so smart…older kids and young adults are amazing!
Oh man I am not sure what those people are doing and while I miss having my little summer baby on my shoulder and being their whole world nothing is better than them becoming the beautiful openhearted people they are. Also you can install their sense of humor in them and they are SO FUNNY.
Oh you’re allowed to do that! My mom started making my brother give her a hug before he left whenever he’d see them. Just one of the rules now ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
You’re totally allowed to ask for/demand hugs from kids that age. My autistic son even hugs without complaint when people are leaving, and us on request. They usually just have no idea it’s important to you.❤️
That is the opposite of true. I was the cause of so much sadness for my mom as a kid, anger and fear as a teenager. I moved out when I was 19, would visit all the time, we’d have shows we’d watch and play cards together. We got so much closer once I was an adult
Right? I'm normally shocked and horrified by how rapidly my remaining time with kids is dwindling, and this thread's making me impatient for them to grow up! My 9yo is starting to get into movies that aren't aimed at kids and it's really exciting, but neither kid will try anything older than them.
My daughter got really really into "Stranger Things" despite my thinking it was too scary for her and I say "this is a reference to" movie X or movie Y and tell her she'll enjoy them and she doesn't care. She did see "ET" but I can't get her to watch a bunch of the other relevant movies
That "nothing older than them" thing bugs me. I have a nephew who won't watch anything from before like 2002, but that puts the vast majority of movies off limits! Argh!
My son is the odd ball. He always watched tv with me, so he's one of the few kids his age who knows about Cheers, Taxi, and I Love Lucy. Both my kids also grew up watching old cartoons and I introduced some movies from my childhood early like The Goonies. But my youngest mostly watches YouTube
Yeah I don't get it since I loved old movies as a kid... I'd watch Errol Flynn's Robin Hood, The Wizard of Oz, Casablanca etc until the tapes wore out.
Right? I loved 2001: A Space Odyssey when I was 9, I majorly geeked out over Jaws when I was 10, I watched and loved The Godfather when I was 12. What is wrong with the young'uns?!
To be fair, we didn't have the inconceivable range of options they do. I've got ~9,000 movies & ~800 tv shows on my Plex server, whereas my dad had about 50 VHS tapes. A lot of older stuff I love was discovered in desperation, trying to watch TV at 3am with a total of five channels to choose from.
Depended. I watched 2001 on my own as I got into sci-fi. I watched Jaws with a friend, and a different friend showed me The Godfather. None of these movies were super old (this was the late 1980s) but still. My nephew barely wants to see anything much older than him.
Princess Bride was a favorite for Boy Scout events where they slept inside. I once showed Seven Samurai to a bunch of Scouts on a ski trip, they all stayed awake for a 3 hour movie about 16th century guys whacking each other with swords
My kids are all in their twenties now. We did tons of movies and board games and rpgs together, and from time to time still do. My mid-20s daughter has a set of gamer friends that remind me very much of my own friends at that age, and they all believe I am a dragon, which is flattering af.
My kid is 20 and I had more fun with him and deepened my appreciation for him every year as he grew up. (There were some rough h.s. years, but even then!) It honestly just got better year after year. :)
I hear you! I have 4 and they’ve developed into great adults whose company I love! We share interests in common and get into deep convos about all sorts of stuff! Politics, philosophy, old movies, mystery stories, RPGs, music, academia. The older they get the more there is to share
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I enjoy him way more now than I did when he was little, though a hug every now and then would be nice - hugs don't exist unless I steal them.
At the same time, the child, as a young adult, does the same thing.
I'm glad you got that relationship with your mom.
Back then, I had an hourly job, my own motorcycle, a NES & television setup, and a guitar that I bought myself (yes, really)
10 year olds now are a different animal