Everything from whether they need a jumper on to what food groups they haven’t consumed for a while, and how to get them excited for bath time, come to mind as part of the usual mental gymnastics that comes with raising kids.
But often enough our thoughts stray to the over-arching issues.
Is the way I am parenting helping my children grow into “good people”? What kind of habits am I already passing on to my toddler? Are my children happy?
It is all well and good to have an existential crisis of the self, but when you’re projecting it onto your children as well it can be tough to juggle.
Luckily, my existential thoughts this week stray well into the light-hearted area of the brain.
Am I nurturing the kind of sportsperson Eden wants to be, or am I forcing my own sporting passions onto her?
At the moment I’m struggling to tell the difference.
My partner Grace sent me photos of Eden enthusiastically playing tee-ball in the backyard recently, and she has shown plenty of interest in any outdoor sporting activity we have been able to tackle.
She loves coming to cricket training with me, and even pretends she is going to watch Essendon when she is pottering around in her room with her dolls.
But I haven’t quite figured out yet if she is embracing these behaviours because she wants to, or because she wants to spend time with me.
If it is the latter reason, does me encouraging it mean I’m forcing sport onto her?
It feels like a real chicken or the egg argument, and I suppose I will never know for sure.
But the main thing is that she is happy — and that is enough for me.
Well, that and the fact she supports the Bombers.
Tyler Maher is the editor of the Shepparton News.
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