Day 5 #100DaysOfOldDays

As I was going through old photos on my memory stick, Google photos decided it would be a good time to indulge me with a collection of memories on my phone. As I looked through the past photos I noticed similarities between these that were taken twenty six years apart.

These two photos were taken 26 years later: one is of my eldest daughter again, on a beach with her own daughter, aged two and a half (and camera shy). And the other is of me with my youngest daughter, also aged two and a half. Now Little Miss Ten.

The photos are similar but the times were quite different. At 18 I was a teenage mother. At 43 I was considered a geriatric mother—I prefer mature mother, thank you!

Parenting styles were different. I parented like my mother for my first two children. With my third child I relaxed a lot more and did things my own way.

So, did I know it all when I was 43 having my fourth child? God no. It was like starting from the beginning, but because I was more mature I tackled it from a completely different angle.

Now, we all know there are things that never change when it comes to babies: they all cry, they all need feeding, clothing, they get sick, they fall, they poop, they get nappy rash, then they have tantrums when they get on a bit. And they all need love and attention. So no matter what year it is, parenting can be hard work!

I have to say though, my first child had so much more freedom growing up than Little Miss Ten has now.