Member-only story
Prioritise Spending Time With Your Children
While they are still young
The photograph above (which was taken by and belongs to the author, Sadie Seroxcat) shows my child, A, around 8/9 years old, dressed in ‘detective’ clothes for a game of ‘The Simpsons’ Cluedo (is that game perhaps just known as Clue in the USA?).
While I have tried really hard to spend as much time as I can with my child and to be a conscious responsive parent, given our (both mine and my partner’s) health issues it has sometimes been difficult to manage to prioritise A as much as I would have liked. There have been plans cancelled, trips missed, days and weeks when I just didn’t have the capability of even leaving the house.
It could never be helped, I always pushed myself way past my own comfort wherever possible, but I’ve always felt dreadfully guilty never-the-less. Plus of course we were also rather financially challenged, especially after my partner became ill (leading to long term disability) when A was 7. So a lot of time was spent at home — which was never dull, we have always had a wide variety of projects, books, activities, games etc — and alone time to think, or ‘cocooning’ with blankets and something to read when needed is as valued as anything else — or at least close to home.
