Quality Parenting

I try to do something "quality" with Diddy-G every day. If we are out and about at a group, that often does the job, especially if it is a middle-class-ish-educate-your-tiny-child-class (more of that some other time I'm sure) but even if it is just running around with friends, I think that is pretty quality in terms of what is good for Diddy-G just now. Other days if we are home alone it will be things like playing with musical instruments together or doing something in the garden or some colouring or a big sit down with books or or or...

Today's act of quality parenting involved a jug, a mixing bowl, Diddy-G's stacking cups (with holes in the bottom...) and a lot of water. It was brilliant fun. Diddy-G kept looking up and beaming at me as he worked out a new thing he could do with the cups or the jug or the bowl. He spent a long time trying to pick up water between his fingers and transfer it from one place to another (fascinating to watch all the methods he built in to try to make this possible.) Of course, it was also extraordinarily messy. Diddy-G was soon utterly soaked. Really, totally soaked. The kitchen floor was not dry either. Somehow I'd arranged myself to only just marginally wet, less wet than an bathtimes, not quite sure how that was achieved. On realising just how totally soaked Diddy-G was (and regretting that I hadn't considered a swim nappy necessary for this activity) I began to wonder what really makes for quality parenting. On the one hand, Diddy-G had learnt a lot and done a lot and had a good time. On the other hand, he was wet and cold and his nappy was disintegrating. (It was interesting to see just how willing he was to get changed after this activity when normally suggesting a change of clothes is met with protests at the moment.)

I think this does come down on the quality side - we were at home and he was soon changed and warm again - but it did make me wonder if there is going to come a time when I actually have to behave a bit more responsibly around my children and not always go for the most fun option. Hmm!