Enjoy them whilst they are young

This might be a shorter blog than I normally would do but it is something I feel is important to me and us as a family with everything that we do during the week. This is including all the adventures that we try to do every weekend. Now I will start by saying that this for me is what I find most important and how we like to go about things in our family and I totally understand that other families have different circumstances and have different values in what to be doing as a family. I’m not here to preach about what is right and wrong and what family’s should do but I would like to explain how we go about things and how it works for us and bonds us as a family .

That is to really enjoy your kids whilst they are young and to spend as much time with them as a family as you can. These are the times you will never get back. From the day your kids are born and let’s be honest up towards they are teenagers is the time your kids really look up to you and really crave for your attention. Yes as they grow up and get towards around 4/6 years old they really in join kids their own age and it is important for them to have that outside of school, even more so if they don’t have a brother or sister. For us as a family the age gap between our two kids is nine years. Plus on top of that one is a boy and one a girl, so it did lead to so hard times in keeping them both happy on the days out.

But this is where the days out hiking, exploring waterfalls and everything in-between comes really into play for us as a family. We could on days or weekends away, be outdoors and really enjoy what nature has to offer. Being located in the south of wales we are truly blessed with lots of places to go and explore. Like I say before this does include a lot of walking but this can include, hills/mountains, waterfalls, beach walks, towns, etc. Yes we did and will continue to go to places that are paid for like theme parks and such but this I will say is kept to a minimum. This is not because we are scared of spending money but because there are so many adventures outside and with our kids being brought up on going outside and making adventures they are more than happy to do this every weekend. Now as we know that being based in the United Kingdom the weather is not always the best but being based in the south we are luckier than the north. But even when the weather is raining and such (of course if it really bad we won’t go out)we still get our weather kit on and march out, as to be honest the wet days can be a lot more fun for the kids and also the rivers and waterfalls are a lot more spectacular.

All these kinds of things were kept to the weekend or half terms as just like any family we have work and kids schools. But we did these things from the time I met my wife and I joined her and her son as a family. Then a couple of years later my daughter was born and she then (when a little older) would join us on our trips out. Jacob would always walk with us at the age of 9 and then Esme would be in a carrier that went on my back that also carried our food and bits. But off we went to explore as much as we could. On really bad days or for any reason we couldn’t go out we always made sure the weekends we ours as a family and we did everything together as much as we could. Now of course us parents like to have our own time away from the kids for parties and events at weekends. We do this just like many parents but we are not heavy drinkers and if we go out in the night we are out with the kids in the mornings. Of course this didn’t always happen but it has been very rare over the past twelve years.

With my partners job it only requires her to work Monday to Friday and also for me apart from some summer work where I help at events, which is only about five Saturdays a year. But I do work as a doorman on a local nightclub during the night. This doesn’t affect us as a family as I start at ten and home by four in the morning. I then get up at 8/9 in the morning and we head out. Rest of my work is during the week and I make sure I leave my work free at weekends unless I have time in the evening when everyone has settled down. Now it is only my little girl as Jacob is 18 years old and for the last few years is more interested in going out with friends and such, which I wouldn’t have any other way. So in that regards it is easier to plan things at the weekend but not for not wanting him to come with us and see the things we do.

During the week before I start work I talk to my daughter and have a mess about which can drive my partner made as she trying to get her ready for school. After school she is picked up by my partner and brought home where I ‘am waiting. We all sit down and talk and have an earlier dinner than normal due to my daughter having clubs every night. But we have on average an hour and a half. By time she is home it is her bed time, but we do find that time in the morning, when she gets home from school and also checking how her clubs went when she getting ready for bed. But I will say when she was younger when she didn’t have clubs and such; instead of them we did things like the park and games all the time. We knew we had the rest of the night to do things and was important at that young age to enjoy the time together after school.

I felt for us as a family it has been so important to enjoy all this time together and to really enjoy the kids whilst they are young. Now with Jacob being 18 and Esme now 9, time is flying past at such a crazy rate and they are growing up fast that all these times together, with all the memories it makes it all the more important. On top of that I really hope that the kids take this on with them in later life if they have kids and follow on and really enjoy being parents. With how close we are as a family, how happy the kids are and with no real arguments at home I feel that this (for us anyway) is the best way to go about things