• SELF LOVE & BODY IMAGE
  • MOTHERHOOD
    • Pregnancy
    • Babies
    • Kids
  • ADVENTURE
  • STYLE
    • Interiors
    • Fashion
    • Beauty
  • FOOD

Mother's Always Right

Mum life, body image, style

  • ABOUT
  • PRESS
  • Podcast
  • Public Speaking
  • YOUTUBE
  • WORK WITH ME
  • #FreeFromDiets campaign
You are here: Home / MOTHERHOOD / Dear Effie, on your 3rd birthday

Dear Effie, on your 3rd birthday

October 6, 2017 by Molly 2 Comments

Dear Effie / Moo-Moos / Former Baby Girl / Household Dictator,

Today you are three. Happy birthday you feisty, funny, frigging-challenging, GORGEOUS bundle of whirlwind girl. I love you. So hard. But that goes without saying.

It’s a bit of a weird blogging tradition to write a letter to your kid on their birthday, but your mother is a blogger and that’s how things work in this world of mine. It’s why you probably think I only have a camera as a body part on the end of one of my limbs, but I hope that when you’re grown and able to read this back you’ll do so with fond memories of me cataloguing our adventures and the daily routines of your life as a little person.

You arrived like a flash of lightning into the water in a birthing pool in a dimly lit room in the birthing centre of Royal Devon and Exeter hospital. Your birth was a quick, calm and surprising one. I was surprised by your speedy entry into the world and your dad was surprised by my lack of screaming. It was probably the quietest, most serene episode of your whole little life to date. Everything since then has been loud, hectic and never, ever boring.

Like a tattoo, you marked your place in our family with a permanence that had us all quickly forgetting what life was like before you existed. Even as a tiny bean of gangly limbs and rooting, gummy mouths you stamped your soul into our hearts and every corner of the house with a roaring finality. Like a hurricane, you turned us upside down. We couldn’t have been happier. (Although we were also very tired.)

At three your favourite things are: anything your sister has, anything you’re not allowed to have, anything that will wind any member of the family up. You also love all the predictable three year old things from Peppa Pig to peanut butter, cutting things out to crayoning on the carpet.

Bravery is a trait you wear with pride. It’s a point of honour for you, in fact. You never admit to being scared of anything, even if you’re secretly terrified. From swimming pools you dive into head-first to high surfaces you scale with a Spider Man-like ease you are fearless. A future stunt-double perhaps, or spy, or world leader. Whatever you decide to be I have no doubt you’ll jump in head-first, with a grin and not one single look back.

Your enthusiasm for life is exhausting at times, but I never want you to lose it. We might sometimes struggle to be carried along with your instant need to wear shorts on a freezing day, or a hoodie on a boiling hot one, or your determination to take your dolly’s buggy everywhere we go, or your interest in practising Parkour inside the house, but that doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate it. Life with you is a constant adventure – and not just an adventure in patience.

Freya was telling me this morning that she can’t wait to see your face when you open your birthday presents. Your excitement to turn “THREEEEEE!” is infectious. She loves you with a fierce, big sister protective glow, even when you’re trying to steal her favourite Jo-Jo bow.

We love you so much you funny girl. Thank you for being you.

Love Mummy, Daddy & Freya

(But please can we not start your birthday at 4am like last year?)

 

xxxx

Filed Under: Kids, MOTHERHOOD Tagged With: 3rd birthday, happy birthday, kids birthdays, Parenting, three year olds, three years old

« 41 thoughts every parent has when supermarket shopping with a toddler
Trying the HelloFresh family food box – does it work for fussy families? »

Comments

  1. Ma says

    October 6, 2017 at 9:15 pm

    Happy Birthday precious girl. You keep us all on our toes. Love marmar x

    Reply
    • Molly says

      October 9, 2017 at 8:58 pm

      Ah thanks Mum! xx

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Hello and welcome! I'm Molly Forbes - podcaster, presenter and blogger with a passion for positivity, confidence and body image chat. Regularly writing and vlogging about empowering female issues from a motherhood angle, I also cover lifestyle and fashion topics for like-minded mums who want to rediscover themselves after having children. Thanks for stopping by! Read More…

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

YOUTUBE

INSTAGRAM

I am not “bossing” it. Or “slaying”. Or “hustling”. Or “smashing” it. I’m not even juggling or spinning plates or doing any of the other words we use as a glossy, marketable, Instagram friendly way to package up burnout culture, under the guise of “empowering” women (💪🤢). 
.
What I have been doing, though, is working too hard. Call a spade a spade. I’ve been working too hard, neglecting my health, my relationships, my life away from my laptop. I can not be everything to everyone AND work at the level I’ve been working at BECAUSE I AM A HUMAN BEING. And you are too. We are not robots.
.
I care deeply about all my work, and things aren’t always this intense, but I wanted to sprinkle some reality into the Gram because I am so over this lie that *any* type of success or achievement doesn’t come at a cost, or involve many failures in the background, or require many other people to help make things happen. 
.
I guess what I’m saying is, let’s be real about all that, as well as showing the achievements. I’m bloody proud of my book. And I’m so excited to launch the social enterprise @bodyhappyorg properly next month. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy, and that there isn’t a price. 
.
And with that, I’m taking the weekend off. See you on the other side 🥰🥰🥰
.
.
.
.
[Image description: Molly sits in her office with her hands covering her mouth. On the back of one hand is written “Not bossing it”. She is wearing a pink boiler suit with a black and white top underneath. She has pink leopard print earrings on and her hair is tied back.]
This was taken at the start of half term, when the This was taken at the start of half term, when the kids were still enthusiastic about going for a walk. 1,705 walks around the same bit of countryside later... not so much 😬 
.
If you’re struggling to get your kids motivated to move their body at the moment, go gentle. You’re not alone. Bad weather coupled with boredom coupled with the lure of screens is a heady recipe for lethargy - and that’s just me! 
.
Seriously though, remember: all movement is valid. Even if it’s just a ten minute @cosmickids sesh or a little kitchen disco, it all counts. And if it comes from a place of enjoyment and fun, kids (and adults!) are going to be far more likely to want to get involved.
.
What joyful movement activities are your kids enjoying right now (if any?!)?
.
.
.
.
.
[Image description: Molly and her two daughters are standing in a field. They’re wearing colourful wellies, holding hands and smiling.]
I founded a social enterprise 😵 . Introducing: I founded a social enterprise 😵
.
Introducing: @bodyhappyorg 🎉
.
We are a Community Interest Company dedicated to promoting positive body image in children. We help adults help the kids in their care be friends with their bodies 🥰. 
.
Through workshops and classes, digital and physical resources (both free and paid) we help parents, carers, teachers, youth leaders - and any adults who are ever around children - create body happy settings for kids to thrive in. 
.
We launch officially next month with a beautiful new website and lots of resources which we’ll continually be adding to. In the meantime give us a follow at @bodyhappyorg - we start posting from today and our page has been designed as a free resource on its own! 
.
I’m privileged to work alongside an incredible team of people on this. Shout-out to the original dream team @chelseacoxstrategist @amysnellingpt @effinitupfaye @lottie_storey @bodyconfidencecards_db @rachel_hobnobs & @aceandping 💕 LOVE YOU ALL! 💕
.
.
.
.
.
[Image description: A blue square with yellow and white text which reads “the body happy org”. This is the logo for The Body Happy Organisation CIC]
Proof that I did wear clothes other than a tea-sta Proof that I did wear clothes other than a tea-stained hoodie and tracksuit bottoms at least once in the past month 😐
.
.
.
.
.
[Image description: Molly is wearing pink dungarees with yellow buttons over a black rollneck long-sleeved top. She has a monochrome striped hairband on and her hair is pink. She is also wearing earrings with boobs on them. She looks very pleased, both with her earrings, the pink hair and the fact she’s not wearing sleepwear, for a change.]
A new report from the Education Policy Institute h A new report from the Education Policy Institute has concluded an obvious gender divide in the well-being of young adults. If you’d like to read more check out this article by Eleanor Peake in @newstatesman (I’ve linked to it in my Stories).
.
Every week I get messages from parents and teachers concerned about the impact of social media on their kids’ body image. And of course, I couldn’t write a book about body image in kids and teens without covering social media - there’s a whole chapter in Body Happy Kids dedicated to the subject. 
.
The thing is, social media isn’t going anywhere. And just like it can be a force for anxiety, shame and general angst it can be a force for good too. The trick is in knowing how to use it positively (and in holding the platforms to account for not moderating the spread of harmful viral trends and online abuse, and creating algorithms that deliberately create division and harm mental health... but that’s a story for another day). 
.
But how can we expect our kids to have a handle on it when we, as adults, don’t ourselves? 
.
I don’t believe the answer is to ban social media, but I don’t think kids should be given unfettered access to it either. 
.
They need help navigating this stuff, learning about boundaries, developing media literacy skills so they can think critically about the content they’re consuming (just like many adults).
.
And we also need to explore how we might be inadvertently contributing to the problem, perpetuating appearance ideals and creating a culture where kids learn it’s ok to body shame under the guise of health and to value each other based on the way they look.
.
As ever, it’s complicated. I’d love to know what you think? What are some of the boundaries you have around social media in your house - both for yourself and your kids?
#BodyHappyKids 
.
[Full text in Alt Text]
When I was pregnant with Effie I went to a pregnan When I was pregnant with Effie I went to a pregnancy yoga class every week. It was the highlight of my week. I left each session feeling like I was floating on a cloud, and I used the poses and breath work to guide me through labour too. But then I had my baby and found that, as a knackered new mum of two, I couldn’t find the time for yoga. I no longer had the excuse of doing it “for the bump” or “to prepare for labour”, so what was the point?
.
It wasn’t until I started reinvesting in myself and unravelling the diet culture perspective on exercise that I found it again, along with running, which turned to hiking, and swimming. 
.
It wasn’t about preparing my body for someone or something else. It was about the process itself, the time to unwind my mind and move my body for joy, just for me. I’ve lost a bit of that this past year with lockdowns, and I feel it.
.
I recently signed up to @theunderbellyyoga with @mynameisjessamyn and feel like I’m finding it again. I love that my kids can see me taking time for myself, and enjoying movement, and that they sometimes want to join in too. Even if it is a bit annoying sometimes (swipe 👀). 
.
#BodyHappyMum 
.
.
.
[Image description: Molly and her 6 year old daughter Effie sit on yoga and gymnastics mats with their legs crossed and arms in the air. They have their backs to the camera. In the second image they are sitting crossed legged while twisting round to the side, and in the third image Molly is lying on the mat with her eyes closed while Effie leans over her, being a bit annoying.]
Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2021 · Mothers Always Right. Design by Stacey Corrin

This site uses cookies: Find out more.