Living Arrows | The Emotional Rollercoaster

  'You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth' Khalil Gibran.

This week we visited Graves Park in Sheffield and I took one look at this bouncy slide and thought 'Iris is too small for that', turns out she wasn't too small, she was actually quite a way over the height marker. I was not prepared for that! I think about the big 'next steps' all the time- her moving to primary school, her learning to read and write, school discos and after school clubs, playing out with friends and going to parties but it's the little things that really trip me up. Being tall enough for the bouncy slide, calling you mum instead of mummy, or 'Bruv' in Daddy's case (literally no idea where she's got that from!'), the way she likes her hair a certain way now, how she takes care of younger children. It's like she's grown up all of sudden.

Watching her clamber up the stairs with ease made me feel so emotional. She seemed to be so grown up but when she got to the top she froze. Though she's a confident little character the other children seemed to be a lot more gung-ho than Iris and significantly less able to take turns. In fact it was a little like a mass brawl at the top, lots of pushing and shoving and older children doing front flips down the slide. I tried to coax her down and tell her that it's okay, that it was her turn but she just stood back letting the others push past her. It broke my heart. She'd transformed into something so small.

Thankfully the staff member was brilliant at enforcing the rules and soon all the children were taking turns and being less aggressive with each other. Iris got to have several goes on the slide and really enjoyed herself. She may have been the one on the bouncy slide but I felt like I was the one on the rollercoaster! 

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