First World Problems

I want to tell you all about my amazing daughter and how at 20 months she can already count to 15, identify several colours, name all of her body parts (including her “bits” – her words) and talk the hind leg off a donkey but I want to balance that with the guilt I feel about, well… am I pushing her? Is encouraging her to count and speak and identify colours forcing her to take in more than she needs to?

I want to tell you all about my decorating and colour choices and bedrooms and pictures and all that home-y faff but I don’t want to sound like a pretentious knobber who thinks they have a clue about design (because I’m not and I don’t).

I want to talk about babies and hormones and periods and WTF AM I GOING TO DO ABOUT MY GALLBLADDER?! But I don’t want to keep on about it (much).

But you know, I can’t. Because half of London is on fire and people are losing their homes and businesses and that seems so much more important right now. Where do we even begin on that, though? Sigh.

10 comments so far

  1. Trisha said:
    On 09 Aug at 1:01 am

    I feel terrible. I can’t imagine the fear people are going through right now. I’m really shocked about all this and I truly hope it gets better there.

  2. TWD said:
    On 09 Aug at 1:21 am

    I’m far from a mother, but I don’t see why you should feel guilty about your daughter learning! It’s a good thing, and I seriously doubt that she’s going to hate you 30 years from now because she learned her colors early. I don’t hate my mom for teaching me things early, anyway. :)

    I had no idea there was so much going on in London. People are crazy. D:

  3. Stephanie said:
    On 09 Aug at 1:54 am

    I’m not a parent myself, but as a 20-year old student, I appreciate that my parents pushed me in my younger years. As long as your daughter get to play and have fun, you’re a good mother. Knowledge is power.

    Best wishes to the people of London. Hope that things for them, and for your gal bladder, improve soon!

  4. Vera said:
    On 09 Aug at 6:35 am

    … on the other hand, since everyone is talking about the London Riots, you might as well not do that. ;-)

    Besides, we don’t mind the bragging. Sometimes I still can’t believe that she’s almost 2 years old. Feels like yesterday when you were mentioning “tummy bugs” :)

  5. Mumblies said:
    On 09 Aug at 11:54 am

    Babies and small children are like sponges… the more information they can get hold of – the more they suck up. You cannot ‘force’ her to learn more, if she learns things it is because a) she wants to and b) because she is smart enough to understand and keep this information and process it how she chooses. First born children always learn faster than subsequent babies do purely because the first born gets 100% of everyone’s attention whereas later babies have to compete with their siblings.

    Gallbladder – has it given you any problems since? If not I don’t think I’d bother having it removed. There are many parts of the human body we can live without, but why remove it/them if they cause no pain or problems? Besides, you have already proved to the Docs that it is possible to have laproscopic surgery and still continue to breastfeed once. Nowadays everyone seems to keen to remove things without question.

    I’d like to hear about your choices of paint and colour etc… I’m sure other people are interested in that too. Sharing your ideas about decorating and showing the odd picture doesn’t make you a knobber nor does it make you pretentious and people really do like to hear this sort of stuff too (makes for a blogging subject when you are stuck for ideas too) not to mention giving other people ideas for their own homes ;)

    As for the rioting – this is happening all over the world really, people have rebelled for all kinds of reasons and will continue to do so regardless of whether or not you write about it.

  6. Erin said:
    On 09 Aug at 6:48 pm

    Elaborate on all of it. =)

    I think it’s awesome she’s learned so much so fast. Ultimately, all that time spent with you and Karl are what matters most. Way better than having her zombified in front of a television.

  7. Marie said:
    On 10 Aug at 12:58 am

    Don’t worry about “pushing” Izz. All you’re doing is giving her a rich environment to learn in. At her age, children crave information. All you’re doing is giving her a head-start. Helping her little brain work to its best. And getting in plenty of familial bonding.

    Though I would like to say to Erin, my parents sat me in front of a TV. But we didn’t have cable, so I watched educational shows. A little bit of educational TV could help kids who are visual or auditory learners. (But maybe hours upon hours isn’t so good.)

    Though I definitely agree, one-on-one learning with the help of both parents is the way to go.

    I hope you and your entire family get through this unscathed. What an awful situation.

  8. Britney said:
    On 11 Aug at 7:59 am

    My niece’s favourite question is, “What’s that?” Well, she’s talking completely now, but that WAS her favourite question. She’s almost 3, but… yeah.
    I wish that my sister supplied her with more information regarding colours and such because Kayleigh (my niece) wanted to know – she may not have been able to express the desire, but it was there because she picked it up in no time through my mom and I and she had so much fun learning.
    We’d teach her the colours, then ask for a “blue bubblegum”. And she’d bring it to us and laugh! She loved it!!
    I think it’s absolutely brilliant that your daughter knows the numbers 1 through 15 because in all honestly, some people neglect their children until they go to school and kindergardeners don’t even know how to count to 10.
    I was reading books by the time I was 2 and a half and my family though it was fluke so they kept trying to trick me with new books, but I had it down pat!
    Keep doing what you’re doing! And anything you blog about is fun, so don’t worry about that either! :P

  9. Louise said:
    On 15 Aug at 12:22 am

    There’s nothing wrong with what you’re doing. :) Babies and children learn more things in a short amount of time than adults. My family members read to me and taught me things all the time. I look at other people’s kids and think “huh? He’s 6 and doesn’t know the alphabet, can’t read/comprehend and can’t count to 10.” :/

  10. Dom said:
    On 15 Aug at 12:04 pm

    Speaking strictly as a non-parent, I don’t think it’s wrong to encourage your kids to learn from an early age. If anything, now is the time to be teaching them as much as they can. They’re brains are hard-wired to learn new things (especially language – see how easily she picks things up?) and so I say teach her everything you can. Sounds like she’s a brainy one as it is, and you know what they say – use it or lose it.

    I’m always glad that my parents encouraged me to learn things when I was little. By the age of three I could name every species of butterfly in the English countryside (random, I know) and identify the make and model of every car on the road. I was always drawing maps of the world, and taking things apart to see how they worked, and I’d like to think it’s helped me later on in life.

    Plus, just think that it won’t be long before she realises that saying “no” to everything you ask is going to wind you up, and before you know it she’ll be a stroppy teenager. I say get in there while you still can! Teach, teach, teach!