Celebrating a decade in parenting
FANNE MWAMBI
Every parent rejoices when their child turns a year older. But nothing beats the feeling that comes when your first child marks their first 10 years… or the next.
Mine turned 10 and I could right about hold a press briefing about it! But she doesn’t know that.
She carried the day
As usual, she wrote down her guest list and coaxed me into buying a new dress. She then asked for fake nails.
Yes! I was bewildered by her request and after days of negotiation, we resolved to a simple multicoloured nail polish. “Let’s start somewhere,” I offered, sealed the deal, amused by her ‘adult’ character.
Despite it being a tough year, we acknowledged the efforts our daughter made at school and decided she deserved a huge celebration on her birthday. So we called our friends… and she hers.
We made a kick-ass cake that said grown-up-but-still- love-toys-and-candy and got polka, lady-like balloons. My husband and I shopped for a gift too!
We usually don’t and simply celebrate the day with lots of food and snacks. Oh, this meant buying gifts for Raine and Ella too, only we hid the rest!
Now when the day finally came, she graced it like a lady. We couldn’t have expected any less of her.
Cheers to us!
Her father and I studied her and as we stood aside to let her have her day, we couldn’t help, but go back to our lives without her.
Without Patience, we wouldn’t be parents! 10 years ago, we had no clue what we were doing bringing a child into the world. It seemed like fun… and perhaps we would eventually get married, we thought.
We were not prepared for the pressure that comes with raising a child. We didn’t even anticipate doing what we do today to keep it all together. But that we did meant that we had taken the challenge and agreed to work with our daughter’s presence as it came.
She made us grow up, toughen up and excel. She pushed us out of our comfort zones and made us realise her potential.
