ADSactly Personal - The Madness of 7 Year olds
Last time I wrote about the terrible teenage years and how I am dreading them, but truth is every age is a challenge!
Just What Goes Through the Mind of a 7 year Old?
It’s a long time since I was 7 and I definitely do not remember my thought processes at that age, but I wondered if they seem so alien and heart breaking at the same time to my own mother, when I was that age.
My daughter is just coming to realise that there is a lot of problems and stress in the world at the tender age of 7 and she tries to take it all on her shoulders. The biggest strain of all is having a little sister who doesn’t misbehave as much as she does!
(75% of the time they love each other though, all be it somewhat grudgingly)
She worries about the library not being open at school, what would happen if she missed her book quiz each day, what she is going to be when she is grown up and her biggest concern is what happens if the fire alarm goes off when she is in toilet and she ends up wetting herself.
I try to tell her, as long as she is safe that is all that would matter. The teachers tell her, they check the bathrooms, so she wouldn’t left in the school.
Oh she has missed the quiz once and the library was shut once on the last day of term for a stock take.
We only just can use the hand dryers in public toilets, without being frightened of the noise. That is the fault of McDonalds about 3 years ago, because one had the loudest hand dryer you’d ever heard.
How Much 'Truth' Can a 7 Year Old Handle?
In the mind of this 7 year old these are major issues. Then she comes and tells me that her life is full of problems and has so many difficult questions.
Further questions on the sex education she did at school was amusing. That ended up with..
Her: You and Daddy did what?
Her: What once for me and once for my sister?
Me: Yes, dear, just twice.
I tell her that the world sometimes is not a nice place, and they are bad people too, but if you dwell on those things you will find more and more things wrong with it and no one person can bear all that on their shoulders.
I have to be honest and not tell her that life is a bed of roses, as my heart so wants to do, but instead I tell her, we have a choice everyday as to what we let play on our minds and we can do things to make us happy, and nice things for people to make them happy too and the world a happier place, even if it is just for a moment.
I don’t ever have the news on at home and I am so glad of that at the moment. Although they did tell her about one of the terrorist incidents in the UK at school and we talked about that and I probably ended up going into more detail than I should have done, but this is not knowledge that worries her at the moment.
I teach my children rightly or wrongly, to be a little wary of people they don’t know, be extra vigilant when were are in a city and not to go far from away from me and they are fine with that.
And they tell nice old ladies that they don’t want to talk to them because they are strangers sometimes.
But so far they have always nodded and said “quite right too”.
But school worries are her top worries and lamenting the fact she has a baby sister - “what did you go and have her for Mommy?” Is a question uttered on many occasions.
They love each really, most of the time.
My 7 year old has already had two marriage proposals and is going to marry Bentley when they are 16.
Guinea Pig Love
Speaking of love, I overheard a funny conversation this morning between my two daughters, that went a bit like this...
Poppy (age 5): That guinea pig loves you so much, it wants to marry you
Hazel (age 7): I am already getting married to someone.
Poppy: But both the guinea pigs really love you.
Hazel: By the time I’m old enough to marry, they will be dead anyway.
Poppy: I’m going to marry Tilly and Connor.
Hazel: You can only marry one person.
Poppy: Why?
Hazel: Girls can marry girls and boys can marry boys and girls can marry boys, but only one at at time.
Poppy: But the guinea pigs love you.
Hazel: You can’t marry animals, but you can still love them.
Hazel’s latest mission is to become a famous footballer who plays important matches all over the world.
As well as a kickboxer, vet, vlogger and fashion designer.
Oh and she is going to create a new game of rollarblade football and she is going to be best in the world at that.
But she loves football, she has a crush on a boy that is 2 years older and plays football too. She has been asking me how they can become friends.
Play it cool is my answer to that one.
No hurry.
I guess every age is challenging.
But they keep me on my toes and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Witten by @hopehuggs with <3
(Unless a source mentioned, photos are my own)
Pretty kids you got there @hopehuggs, reading your articles remind me of my experiences with 5-8 year old when I was teaching in basic schools. A lot of dreams at that age and strong belief that everything is possible in life. I only wish we adults could continue to hold that same belief that all is possible and always open our mind to possibilities. Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
Hazel is so excited about everything at the moment. They have some chicks hatching at school and it is the most exciting thing she has seen in her life. It is even better than water zorbing apparently!
Thanks for sharing the truth about the world with your children. I don't think that we should be sheltering our kids from all that is out there. Rather, they need to learn what the world is like and how to navigate through it.
This can be done in a way that can be understood at various ages. As a parent, you get to gage and decide how much information your kids are able to handle and when it is best to give more information. Being a teacher, I think that a little bit of worry is a good thing for our kids. Wat to many kids in today's society fear nothing and as a consequence of that kids are struggling to be accountable and be responsible.My hat is off to you and the way you are preparing them for life....
As a parent, all you want is to take their pains, or illnesses, or worries and put them on your own shoulders, so they can be happy, but alas this is not good for them and as a parent you need to prepare them for life, which will not always be sunshine and rainbows.
Thank you for sharing your children's stories! I wish I could be young again... Their discussion of marriage is funny and cute; can only marry one girl or boy but not an animal! I guess it feels a little odd to me, while I support same or different gender marriage, when I was young I think I assumed it would always be different gender marriage so it's funny and nice to see this awareness early on.
School must be "fun" for them, I certainly don't miss being at a teacher's mercy on how well I do in class. (To be fair, most of my teachers were nice, it's just the uncertainty when stepping into a new class that kills me) I hope your daughter appreciates school, does she have anything in particular that she loves to learn about?
And that's a funny point about her complaining about a younger sibling... Did she ever ask for one before the younger one was born? Haha
I look forward to hearing more stories! But one day, your kids may learn about steemit and maybe want to start posting here, I guess that'd be one growth milestone haha, have you thought about walking them through this one day?
Sorry for all the questions; I might want to be a parent, too, one day but it sounds quite nerve wracking... Anyway, best wishes and I hope your kids do fabulously in school and beyond!
Hazel loves all her subjects, she really likes reading.
Hazel wanted a little brother or sister until Poppy was able to talk, then the dynamics changed a bit! She still wants a baby brother though. Hazel would like to vlog on Steemit. I have created a family account, but not done anything with it, nor do I remember where I wrote the password down...
I love that you are sharing the truth about the world with your children. I don't think that we should be sheltering our kids from all that is out there. Rather, they need to learn what the world is like and how to navigate through it. This can be done in a way that can be understood at various ages. As a parent, you get to gage and decide how much information your kids are able to handle and when it is best to give more information. Being a teacher, I think that a little bit of worry is a good thing for our kids. Wat to many kids in today's society fear nothing and as a consequence of that kids are struggling to be accountable and be responsible.My hat is off to you and the way you are preparing them for life. Cute Guinea Pigs, my daughter had two but they have since passed on.
Unfortunately Hazel seems to be a natural worrier, if it's genetic then she has a double whammy of that from both sides. That it is a good way of putting it, they need a selection of tools to navigate, rather than just a satnav that tells them what to do, without question.
You're right. It is difficult to understand what is going on in the mind of young children (in your case, the girl is 7 years old). I believe that at this age children begin to be more aware of what is going on around and they ask many questions. "Why is this happening?" "Where do the children come from?", "Who do I want to be?" and so on
I think that earlier the children had fewer problems. Although I can be wrong. At such a young age it is important to give the child the opportunity to reflect on the answer. What they could understand what is good and what is bad. For example, studying, she definitely should bring the child joy. It is important for children to receive a good education. Best of all, they would like to do it themselves.
The childhood period is the most magical time in a person's life. It is important that the child would be interesting and joyful. You have beautiful and beautiful girls! I liked your message, it was interesting to read! Thank you
The world is full of so many more opportunities. One of the things she worries about is which one to pick, will it be the right one. She is a very intelligent 7 year old who keeps me on my toes.
I think that you are doing just fine as a parent. We cannot tell children just everything that is going on, but preparing them for the world is a cool thing to do! Really! It's not all flowers and rainbows out there, and if we teach children that, they will not be prepared when the problems come.
It is an obligation for parents to prepre kids for the World, and not being real about it doesn't help at all. Again, I must say that we're not gonna tell them everthing immediately. But with time they must know some basics of going through life.
You have a very cute guinea pig :D And that conversation was really funny :D Anyway, keep being a good parent, show real love as you already do.
Have a great day, Luka.
Thanks Luka.
I was brought up quite 'sheltered', so know what I need to do on that front with my girls.
Last night we had a discussion about earthquakes, tornadoes and volcanos. It is a learning experience being a parent too.
Well done, beautiful ..
It is an important age to make you the personality of the child
Great post from you
Thanks for sharing
Childhood or childhood can be the most beautiful period in human life. Playing dolls, swimming, chasing, cycling; many things can make us happy even in simple ways.
Unfortunately, growing and growing up tends to make us forget the goodness of childhood. The nature of honest, active behavior, cheerful attitude, to not want to burden yourself are some of them. Being busy with routines and live loads like adults even makes us forget how to be happy.
If u missed the fun of childhood, u will never get it back.
Yes, it is true. childhood is a happy time.
Yes it is definitely good to cherish the simple things, as a parent it is one of the best reminders seeing their kids get so much pleasure from nature, or making a cardboard box a rocket to the moon.
Yes, it is true. parents are heroes to their children.
This is too adorable! My son is 21 now and every stage of his life was super amusing to us. Watching him unfold from a baby to a young man came with many surprises, tears, laughter and memories! Hooray to children!
It certainly is a mixed bag of emotions. :)
Giving choices to kids or making them recognize that they have choices takes away a lot of stress. I'm happy to have read this post.
It is a lesson I wish I absorbed as a kid. It took me many years to learn that I had a choice on how to react to things, so I'm hoping out of all the things I try to teach them, this one sticks.