missing the younger version of my kids

i miss the younger version of my kids , let me explain

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today, I'm going to say a few things, and I'm
just wondering if the people watching this video can relate
to a few of the things that I'm going to say.
You probably will, especially with your parents. I'm a dad
to a teenage boy and a teenage girl, and I
love them to bits. They are most definitely the best
part of my life. But sometimes it almost feels like
I'm moaning the younger versions of them. Like I said,

(00:25):
sometimes it almost feels like I'm mourning the younger versions
of my kids, like they were different people at certain
stages in their life, and now those versions of them
are gone forever and I'll never see them again. Now,
I know that's a strange thing to say, but that
is exactly how I feel when I view an old
picture or a video of them at different stages in time.

(00:46):
And sometimes when I look at these certain photographs and
certain videos of my children at a younger age, I
get a kind of sadness in my stomach that I'm
never going to interact with those versions of my children again.
And it's not that they're gone, it's just that the tiny, reckless,
sticky version of them aren't coming back. And some days
it feels like I'm morning ghosts made of glitter and
bedtime stories. Nowadays I have the moody, grunting, sarcastic, money

(01:10):
devouring teenagers, and I just missed the versions of them
that wanted to build dens here. That's the wall, isn't it.
I missed the versions of them that wanted me to

(01:31):
read them a book before bed. And I also miss
the versions of them that would cry every time I
left the house and make me feel awful as I
left for work. And nowadays they don't even look at
me when I leave the house because mainly it's morning
time and they won't be out of the pits for
at least a few more hours after I have left
for work. I miss being able to pick them up
and hug them. Nowadays my son can actually pick me up.

(01:53):
He's taller than me, which is annoying. My son is
actually still very affectionate and he will still give and
receive hugs. My daughter, on the other hand, will but
only on a full moon. Like her moods are controlled
by the lunar phases. It's definitely strange feeling missing someone
who is technically and most definitely still the I've also

(02:14):
found myself missing the things that I used to hate,
like the excruciating pain you feel when you step on
the lego brick whilst carrying a hot drink, or trying
to maneuver the crazy obstacle course of toys that they
have created all over the living room floor, although nowadays
I do have other obstacle courses to contend with, such
as multiple towels scattered all over the bathroom floor after

(02:34):
they have taken a shower. They just don't know where
the washing up basket is. And when I say that
I missed the younger version of my kids, it's not
one particular age, it's many. Of course, I can go
back to the New Bomb period, which was a great
time despite all the crying and volcanic nappy changes. But
I don't actually miss the late nights and don't listen
to my wife. I did do my first shore of

(02:55):
night feeds. But I especially love the toddler years, watching
them grow up and pronounced incorrectly, which is something that
I actually still do. I miss a little smiling faces
which were adorable, mischievous and ultimately innocent. All at the
same time. They love to play shop. We would gather
up all the tins of food and toys that we
had up in the house and make a fake shop
and a dining room table. I missed my son's magic

(03:18):
shows and my daughter's taekwondo lessons right there in the
front room. Hello. I also miss the epic superhero fight
scenes that we created in our dining room that would
have put any Marvel movie to shame. Kind of. I

(03:40):
missed the way that we would sing and dance in
the kitchen and listen to our favorite eighties music as
we made dinner. I miss how they love to dress
up and jump from the most dangerous of heights with
absolutely no fear at all. And back in those days,
we were not as financially comfortable as we are today,
and the house that we were in was a constant mess,
and it was not the home we wanted. But for me,

(04:03):
those were my fondest days. Their younger selves are not
completely gone. I do cherish the times now more than ever.
I cherish the times when they appear from the bedrooms
and they want to watch a movie, or when they
want to just discuss whatever is on their minds. What
I miss the most about their younger selves is that
they did not caur about what other spots, and as
the years went by, I could see that they had

(04:24):
become more concerned by the opinions of others, which we
all do when we are younger, and no matter what
our parents say, you can never totally convince them not
to occur about the opinions of others. It just comes
in its own time. I remember the time when they
would race towards me and their mother on the school
playground and embrace us, until one day it became uncool
to hug your parent on the school yard in front

(04:46):
of all their friends. You could really feel that younger
version slipping away. But this does not mean that I
don't love my kids now as teenagers. I couldn't be
more of a prouder dad, even if sometimes I just
want to. One day I will miss the teenage version
of them, probably not as much because they can be
unbelievably annoying, but I'll still miss it as they turn

(05:09):
into full adults and eventually fly the coop. But to me,
there's still every version that they ever have been, from
the dens to the mood swings, to the bedtime stories
to bathroom towels all over the floor, and I wouldn't
trade a single one, or maybe the bathroom towels