Released On 31 March 2025
Sioux's blog: Learnings From My Two Year Old
My household is a busy one – two cats, two dogs and a two-year-old all with more energy than me and my husband would sometimes wish for. But it’s a happy household. As my son has been growing and developing (far too quickly!), I have learnt some lessons from him that have helped me adopt some small but mighty changes.
Live in the now
I am a serial planner. My diary at work is tightly controlled and colour coded, my life at home is on a strict schedule and when planning holidays, I leave no moment unplanned. That was the old me. With a young child I’ve had to learn that things don’t always go to plan and that’s ok. Sometimes my son doesn’t want to go on the ferris wheel or go to the local food market or really follow any plans at all so I’ve had to learn to let go and live in the moment instead. And do you know what? It’s actually been quite liberating. I still have plans in my mind but by not booking tickets and committing me and my family to plans, we’ve had some wonderful moments as a family being spontaneous.
Less tech, more talk
With all the ways we can get consumed by tech, I’ve learnt about the importance of screen-free time. It would be too easy to collect my son from nursey, plonk him on the sofa in front of YouTube and the horrendously catchy tunes that accompany children’s TV and sit by his side doom scrolling on my phone. But that’s not great for any of us. In moderation screentime is ok but I make a conscious effort every night to spend time with my son doing physical play whether that’s building a tower of cups, playing with his train set or (weather permitting) heading to the park to go up and down the slide. We chatter to each other as we play and he loves the focused attention.
Saying how you feel
One thing you learn from a toddler is they wear their heart on their sleeve! They are not afraid to be upset and to let you know about it through tears, tantrums and garbled words. When my son has a meltdown, I always ask him why he is upset. I say “I can see you’re upset, talk to Mummy about what you’re feeling”. Now, as a two-year-old he does not respond to me with any kind of coherent response but I hope by acknowledging his feelings, he knows it’s ok to be upset. I also tell him if he has done something to hurt or upset me. He went through a hitting phase and I would say “Mummy is sad that you hit her because it hurt” – amazingly he would (most times) say sorry and the phase was over very quickly.
The power of love
Finally, probably the biggest lesson having my son has taught me is the power of love. I am not a very patient person but for my son I seem to have almost boundless reserves to handle his tantrums, answer his “why” questions and watch Leo the Truck on repeat. I love that little boy more than I thought possible and I make a point of telling him I love him every day so he knows he is cherished. I am so excited to watch him grow and develop and learn more about the world and I will love him every day as he does.
Sioux lives in a village outside Milton Keynes with her husband, young son, 3 cats and 2 dogs. When not managing the chaos of home, she works for a large housing association looking after health, wellbeing and engagement.
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