Remember those carefree days when you were a kid?\u00a0 When the biggest decision you needed to make was whether you wanted chocolate or strawberry milkshake as your treat?\u00a0 And then, before you knew it, you were a teenager and worries were about how good your hairstyle was or if your clothes were fashionable enough.\u00a0 Varsity or studies brought with them stress over exams and getting a job once you were done.\u00a0 Fast forward to falling in love, getting married and then having children.<\/p>\n
And before you know it, the little guy isn\u2019t just cute anymore.\u00a0 He comes with bills for nappies and vaccines and clothes and food.\u00a0 It\u2019s so easy to get caught up in the anxiety of life and all that needs to be done that we tend to forget about living and loving.\u00a0 Remember those times when the kids were toddlers and how much fun it was reading together, playing together, napping and even showering together.\u00a0 Remember how exciting it was when they each started talking and walking, how cute they were with their little shoes and new little personalities.<\/p>\n
And before you know it, they\u2019re almost done with primary school.\u00a0 How fast did the time go between breastfeeding and doing assignments? It was just the other day that we were learning to read and write and now we need to get 50% at least to pass.\u00a0 Remember how you used to wash them and lather them in lotion\u2026 now they lock the bathroom door and always have stylishly gelled hair but cracked, dry faces!\u00a0 Remember when all it took to settle a tantrum was a good hug and a tickle?\u00a0 Now the drop off at school leaves you with a fleeting air-kiss while running towards their friends.<\/p>\n
And before you know it, you\u2019ve spent most of the past few years not really experiencing any of the special moments because you were too caught up in the admin of things.\u00a0 Too worried about the party being perfect that you didn\u2019t allow your daughter to help decorate the cake.\u00a0 Too caught up in running to extra murals on time that you didn\u2019t listen to how his day was.\u00a0 Too preoccupied with work deadlines that you became snappy and short tempered with those that have nothing to do with the pressure you\u2019re feeling.<\/p>\n
Before you know it, they will have grown up, become teenagers, given you beans at that stage of their lives and moved onto another stage of life.\u00a0 Before you know it you\u2019ve dedicated so much of your efforts into a job that took you away from your family or consumed your time that you missed half of the important moments in their lives.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it meant to be a means to an end, not your entire life\u2019s devotion?<\/p>\n
Because, before you know it, your life will have passed you by.\u00a0 You may leave this world early or they may leave this world before you.\u00a0 Your absence may have affected their whole lives negatively.\u00a0 Before you know it, your life has passed you by and you have not savoured it.\u00a0 Take some time to just be\u2026 nothing to do and nowhere to go\u2026 lie on the floor, close your eyes, let the winter sun stream through the windows and onto your face with the shadows of the trees moving, dancing across your eyelids.\u00a0 Listen to the kids’ laughter in the background. Remember all those amazing times and promise yourself that you will experience it all\u2026 before it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n
This article was originally written for Jozikids by Fatima Kazee in 2018.<\/em><\/p>\n Note: If you enjoyed this article, and would like to stay updated with more, you can:<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Remember those carefree days when you were a kid? When the biggest decision you needed to make was whether you wanted chocolate or strawberry milkshake as your treat? And then, before you knew it, you were a teenager and worries were about how good your hairstyle was or if your clothes were fashionable enough. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":149,"featured_media":16123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[124],"class_list":["post-16122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-being-present","tag-parenting"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/149"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n