The lake is going, going, gone….

It’s been a busy old day. Much multitasking.

  • Cleaning out the cat tray,
  • Darning holes in jeans,
  • Trying to reassure,
  • Baking bread and some small buns,
  • Cleaning the toilet and bathroom floor,
  • Explaining probability to Hawklad,
  • Hair cutting,
  • Trying to figure out why the dishwasher had stopped cleaning,
  • Putting a new belt onto the hoover,
  • Removing a pet related stain from the sofa.
  • Changing the bedding,
  • Ordering ingredients for next weeks school at home cooking project,
  • Trying to measure Hawklad for new clothes,
  • Trying to make an omelette which is approaching edible.

At work multitasking was so valued. Multitasking usually in areas you might be good at or at least competent. Maybe backed up with some training and clear process guides. At home, my home, it feels very different. Yes it’s multitasking but never in areas I’m good at. Often feeling like I’m not even vaguely competent. Constantly having to refer to incomprehensible instructions, Google searching for help videos or just looking blank as I kinda just wing it.

Don’t get me wrong, I do have things I’m good at. I’m ace at saving Football penalties. I can smash into Rugby tackles. I can bowl a mean leg break. I can climb rock faces. I’m an expert on Godzilla and the X-Files. I can recite almost word for word every Fawlty Towers and Captain Scarlett episode. I rock cycle shorts (ok I made that one up). I can balance unfeasibly large numbers of coins on my elbow and then catch them one handed. AND I’m one of the worlds great air guitarists.

These are all great talents but strangely have not yet been required in my single parenting career. I wonder why? πŸ€£πŸ˜‚ But I live in hope. One day one of those skills might just be required. Then I will have found my parenting sweet spot. A task I can excel in. No need for instructions or help. No vacant look or red mist descending. That reassuring feeling of ‘I’ve got this’. How good will that feel….

71 thoughts on “Sweet Spot”

  2. Ah yes, but it is the struggling with the things we are not as competent where we find our growth. It is when our children see us having to work at hitting our stride that they too see that not everything will come easily and we have to either find instructions or just wing it hoping for the best. Our learning, is their learning. You’re doing well.

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  3. You have got this! I could not do most of the tasks on either of those lists so you are way ahead in my book. Perhaps I could rock cycling shorts? πŸ€” Nah! Hoovers, broken dishwashers, darning … all well above my competencies! X

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  5. One word… drats. If you say ‘one word’ it’s already more than one word. Now I totally blew it with a billion more words. So let’s pretend I never wrote all of that and let’s just say that one word together, okay? Are you ready for this? Okay here it is ———> Superdad. ❀

    You’re doing awesome. Stay out of the rain Superdad.

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  6. You are doing just fine. I thought about you last night when I suddenly found myself making a “cake”. My housemate declared himself poorly and said he could only face cake and custard. He actually ate it. He must have been more poorly than I thought, but he’s fine today!

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      1. We are all successful at being the one that fills the moment of ourselves. What we fill the moment will depends on what is inside. What is inside might depend a little on what others outside have shown as perspective. Oh looksee it’s 1.50am Saturday morning, so innit bound to be deep thought stuff? You might not like it, but the answer is: 4️⃣2️⃣

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  12. Ugh, I suck at multitasking. I have a big planner where I’ve got a dozen of things to do any given day, but I’m lucky if four things get done. You are AMAZING, Friend, never forget that! Just darning jeans takes me too darn long, so I just make those jeans into cut-off shorts for the summer. πŸ™‚ You are an inspiration!

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      1. Blondie’s the same about tank tops, or sleeveless tops, or however you call them on your side of the Pond. πŸ™‚ It could be 100 degrees here and she’ll still insist on sleeves. I don’t get it!

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  14. I can do the coin thing too🀣 I’m pretty good at air guitar tooπŸ’ƒπŸΌ
    Apparently those ARE Master Parenting Skills cuz we have SOO got this! Thanks for making me smile!πŸ’ŒπŸ’ŒπŸ’Œ

    P.S. I bet you DO rock those bike shorts, with odd socks of courseπŸ˜‰πŸ’ŒπŸ’Œ

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  15. Every parent needs to teach their kids things they don’t have classes in at school. Everything you mentioned (especially air guitar) is a much needed skill in life. You just don’t know when it will come in handy. I took seven years of French in school to never use it until one day when my son and I were at a hotel eating their self-serve breakfast. It was unusually crowded and it seemed like everyone there spoke French (down into the US from Quebec, Canada for vacation). With only one empty table and two pairs of us looking at it, I moved toward the table and motioned for the couple to join my son and I. The husband spoke a little English, and the wife almost none. I spoke a little French (my vocabulary seemed to have disappated in the thirty years since I’d used it), and my son, none. We had a lovely breakfast cobbling together our two languages. I just realized my story doesn’t make the point, but it felt fun to share. Maybe I should have taught my son how to ride a unicycle?

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    1. We booked into a hotel in France before Hawklad. My French wasn’t great but my partner wasn’t bad at all. But the hotel manager couldn’t understand us. He didn’t seem to speak English as well. Well not until when we checked out when he spoke perfect English….

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      1. Sounds convenient to me to only speak as you left. I recall my Japanese friend (believed to be lost to the tsunami) who needed to register at the doctors in Telford. Helping her fill out the form was a blast, hand gestures and all sorts… neither her or myself understood each other’s language at all, not a peep. We laughed so much. I hope not to forget that, not the content so much 🦡 πŸ‘ˆ “leg” θ„š ~ 🩸 πŸ’ͺ πŸ‘ˆ “Blood pressure” θ‘€εœ§ just the laughter and the funny looks we got.

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  16. I believe you are an expert at being the parent of Hawklad. Lucky fellow to have you for a dad. I’m about to say something terribly inappropriate but I confess to reading your list and thinking this sound like a housewife. πŸ˜€

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  21. You’re looking in the wrong places. You’ve found your parenting sweet spot. You adore your son and are doing everything in your power to make the best world you can for him.

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