21 March 2014

What my mother taught me...

'What my mother taught me' is a massive topic and hard to define because, clearly, our mums teach us to be who we are. To stand on our own. To care. To teach. To nurture and to love. They teach us this by doing it for us. Children learn from what we do, not what we say or what we try to be. They see what we are so we should be who we want to be and do what makes us happy. It's the best hope we have of making our children happy. That's what I think anyway.


There's a couple of things my mummy, your Nana Foster, has taught me which I will tell you about here.


One practical skill of huge importance to me is completely down to my mummy.  My passing on of that skill to you is well underway. That skill is to cook....properly. Your Nana never makes us bolognese from a jar, or a cake from a packet, or cheese sauce from a tub, or a pancake from a plastic container. I learnt how to make all these things from real ingredients, with scales, a bowl, a wooden spoon and a recipe book. 

My mummy's mummy's (my nana's, your great nana's) kitchen scales which are now mine and will be yours

It is so very important to know and understand what you're eating and to appreciate that processed 'food' is not good for you. I had a solid grounding in cooking, and you will too, for all these reasons. It will educate your mind and keep your body healthy...even the cake! 


And now the other thing. This one I attribute to your nana, not because she sat down and taught me this stuff or told me what to do, but because I recognise the same traits in her. There were no recipe books here. It comes from her soaking into me as I grew and developed through those impressionable years into who I am today. I am referring to my desire to look after people, to feed them and to care about them. I can't bear disappointment in others. I'd always rather take it away and feel it myself. It leads me to not put myself first in a lot of scenarios but it's who I am. I remember being poorly when I was little and your nana saying she'd rather she were ill than me. I know that's a natural parent thing but I learnt how to be your mummy from my mummy and for that I am eternally grateful. 


Night night my darling. I love you. 

8 comments:

  1. Gosh this is beautiful. And I really love the fact that you have those scales to pass down through the family. So wonderful x

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  2. I'm so glad you liked it Lauren. Thanks for reading. I love those scales :)

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  3. This is a really beautiful post. We learn such a lot from our Mum's don't we? I have so much to thank mine for, she is one in a million. And I know I say it every time I comment, but gosh her hair is beautiful! x

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  4. This is so lovely. What a great tribute to mothers they are so important in our lives. So great to pass on things we have learned from our mothers to our daughters. Love this post. #ordinarymoments

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  5. We learn so much from our mums don't we (and our dads too!). I think it's fantastic that you are teaching your daughter to cook, my mum taught me and I'm definitely planning on teaching my son (and any other kids we might have) too. Awesome scales by the way!

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  6. Thank you Katie. I love her hair too. Although she will straighten it when she's older. I have to prepare for that!

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  7. Thank you Jenny. Mothers are pretty important :) Gald you enjoyed my post.

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  8. Thanks Sarah. Molly loving cooking is so important to me. And yes, her Daddy is also very important as he stays at home all week with her whilst I work. She gets the best of both worlds as at the weekends she gets Mummy time :) The scales are cool aren't they!

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