This weekend my sister-in-law came to visit with her two younger daughters, age 3 and 1. I love my sister-in-law and my nieces; but wow, the big takeaway from this weekend is that I AM OLD. Upon arriving last night the two rugrats were all over the place, and we were chasing and chasing and chasing and by the time it was bedtime last night, I was exhausted.
Today I did not spend that much time with them, as I made excuses to do the relatively easy work of cleaning out gutters and mowing the yard. But the time I did have with them, they continued to run me and the rest of the adults and my own children ragged. I made sure to point out to my teenage daughter (who loves children and is very good with them, BTW), that kids are hard work. I probably should have pressed a little bit further with this and gone into the and that's why you must not have any at this time.
I am going to be hitting my half-century in just over a year. And while I have been struggling with back problems and that may be one reason why I'm not at full speed when it comes to keeping up with the rugrats, I'm starting to realize that there's a reason why I can't keep up with these kids anymore. They are too much for me because quite simply they are too much. We are not designed to be raising kids (or grandkids) into our 50s. I don't want to be going to my child's preschool program having to be led in with a walker; kids need parents who are mature enough to be adults, but not so mature as to be old.
They are gone now; my sister-in-law was going to stay another night before realizing that it was too crazy to stay here. Our house is not child-proofed by any means and she was ready to get home and stay in her own bed with her own defenses against the kids. I don't envy her at all. I love kids, but I know that it's a good thing (knock on wood) to make sure that I don't have any more of them.
