Parenting Thoughts: When Achievement Is Taken For Granted

I often have to remind myself to take a break from it all and admire and celebrate my little children's achievements. 

When M first started reading at 2+, we were over the moon. I used to make it a point to drop everything I was doing and sit with him whenever he showed interests in books. 

But recently, I realised that I have not been showing as much excitement and enthusiasm as I should, even when I see him reading books intended for age 6-10. As my 4.5yo can already read very well for his age, I think I have come to expect a lot more from him. 

Just the other day, he picked up a book for bedtime reading and asked me to read to him. I looked at it and without thinking, just told him it was way too simple and I am not going to read it since he could already read it himself. Actually that book is meant for preschoolers, which meant up to age 6. He went on to pick two other books on planets - Mercury and Venus and we read them together. Even that, he could read on his own, and I found myself wondering if I should be reading something more complicated. Hmmm... 

I need to be careful with my expectations. Though I have never pushed him (or Chipsy) to read and they have managed to pick up reading so far entirely out of their own interest (and our facilitation to accelerate that process), I admit I probably have much higher expectations on M than an average parent would have on their 4.5yo. Simply because he started reading so much younger. When he can already read Roald Dahl, it is hard to watch him browse books that have just a line or two per page. 

It is the same with his Lego creations. He has been playing with those big sets of tiny pieces meant for age 5 to 12 for over a year (or maybe two, I can't even remember now). At first, I was always so excited when he made something really cool and clever. Lately, E reminded me that I haven't been too passionate about his creations anymore. I realised he was right. Fewer photos and a lot less "Whoa! Look at that!" from me. When he comes running to me with his latest inventions, I often said 'oh that looks nice'. That was so lame! Yikes! 

This was something he made a few months ago. My gosh! The back of the truck could move up and down! I don't even know how he made that! 

I couldn't possibly make this from scratch myself. Yet my 4.5yo did. So I really have not been giving him enough credit for his little daily achievements. 

I am determined to do better. Starting from this moment.