Snow and the lessons my children taught me

As I whisper into the ear of my oldest child that sadly there is no nursery today due to the large amount of snow outside, his eyes instantly ping open from his deep sleep.

His eyes sparkle and glisten as he leaps from bed and pokes his head under the curtains.

‘Whoopie’ he screams.

He practically gallops off to share the good news with his little sister who also scampers from her bed to the window as quickly as she can.

With wide eyes full of excitement they turn to me and say “Quick mummy let’s go and build a snow man.”

Instantly I am reminded of just how blessed I am. Their excitement for living is infectious. Looking through their eyes I get to forget all of my daily worries and stresses that come with being an adult and instead just enjoy the fact that I am alive.

Quickly we eat breakfast, get on lots of warm winter clothes and our puddle suits and dash outside.

Mummy hack- I know it’s not raining but snow melts and becomes wet and in turn so does your child. By wearing a puddle suit, the child stays dry and therefore you can extend the amount of outdoor fun-genius!

Instantly I am a child again myself, enjoying the sound of the soft virgin snow gently crunching and compacting underneath my feet. It’s still snowing so we twirl around catching individual snowflakes marvelling at the fact that each and every one is different to the one before.

We gather snow and make the obligatory snow man.

With gloved fingers we make snowballs and try to play catch with hilarious and predictable results (predictable for me at least, they were quite surprised when it exploded in their faces).

Rather sweetly, upon spotting the buckets and spades lying beside the sandpit my little one said ‘Let’s make sand castles.’

After explaining to her that we couldn’t make a sand castle without sand, she decided to experiment and make snow castles instead. The resulting castles were really impressive.

She also experimented with riding her scooter and bouncing on the trampoline. Although, she found these activities a little more challenging than usual and needed to adjust her technique slightly, they actually still worked quite well.

I love their fearless, enquiring nature and hope that life doesn’t knock it out of them.

We often think of ourselves as the teachers – teaching our children all about life. But actually our children have a lot to teach us about life.

There is currently a big trend for digital detox retreats, mindful colouring and learning how to be present in the moment. Yet when we were children we knew how to do all of these things instinctively.

After spending time playing with my children I felt so alive. They had reignited my inner child who loved playing and exploring. The concerns I had about needing to deal with the mountains of paperwork and cleaning etc. all paled into insignificance.

Yes I had to do it at some point, as sadly that is part of being an adult, but my children taught me a very important lesson today. And that is that we only get one shot at life. There are so many things to get excited about in life if you just take the time to look and experience them. You don’t need lots of money to feel lucky to be alive. The best things in life really are free.

I am choosing to live in the moment and notice all the amazing things that are unfolding around me that if I choose to I could be grateful for.

When I next find myself doing a boring adult task, today will definitely be one of the ‘videos’ that I replay in my mind’s eye. Although my body may have to do the dusting my mind doesn’t.

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