Letter to a 7 year old

Letter to a 7 year old

Well today is the day, time to write a letter to a 7-year-old!  Happy Birthday Monkey, how on earth can you be 7??? You have grown in so many ways this last year, seeing you as a 6 year old has been awesome and you have amazed and surprised me on so many levels. Your life motto is that you do things at your own pace, in your own time.  This has never been more true than in the last 12 months.  New friendships have been made, new things have been tried, your confidence has grown and you’ve joined Beavers.

You seem to get taller every day, how many more years will it be before you tower over me I wonder?  We make our painted hand prints collage every year, and every year my hand looks just that little bit smaller, yours just that little bit larger.  How much longer will you be my little boy?

Clearly your love of engineering has developed over this last 12 months.  Lego, K’Nex, Laser Pegs and the like cover our living room most days.  I love your inventions, the way you recreate our days out at home.  The information you absorb is immense, you take it all in, even if you’re not always ready to share the details with others straight away.

I wondered if your love for tractors, trains and diggers would wane this last year.  What ever was I thinking??  If anything that love has grown and again your imaginative play always brings a smile to my face.

Your face when you saw that Daddy P had built a couple of train tables in the garage for your Hornby collection was priceless.  I now need to install a phone line in there to call you in for dinner.  Bittern of course is still your most favourite loco ever.  Steam train fun is something you love, and I have a sneaky feeling that you might be enjoying some more of that today.

In my letter to a 7-year-old Monkey I have to tell you have proud I am of you.  You don’t always find life easy, or understandable.  Sometimes you just don’t know how to react, sometimes you really don’t want to join in.  But I’ve seen you be more able to tell others how you’re feeling and why. Clearly sports isn’t your thing, but the tears were running down my cheeks when you joined in with a running race at Sports Day this year.  It took courage and determination and you smashed it.  There were so many Mums cheering you on that day.  You were my little hero, you joined in even when you weren’t too sure.  It wasn’t about the winning, it’s never about that, ever.

Letter to a 7 year old

You started Beavers in April, you took a little convincing but slowing you’re making friends and joining in.  You’ve tried new things and built on your confidence to try something outside of school that doesn’t involve me.  I’m more than happy to boost that confidence and be a helper on external trips, just to help you along.  Maybe this year you’ll feel happier to leave my side and join in the fun from the get go.  We will see.  You’re sticking with it and I’m proud of you for that.

Letter to a 7 year old

We’ve had some lovely holidays and breaks this year.  You had so much fun joining Granny and Gramps on holiday in Portugal.  Your face was a picture when you realised you could open a gate to get from our balcony to spend time with your grandparents.  The joy on your face that week was lovely to see.  We’ll gloss over mealtimes and your reluctance to eat anything that wasn’t margherita pizza.  You were such a good travelling companion I booked tickets for the two of us to spend a week with them at their house in Spain.  More fun, more smiles, more memories made.  We only seemed to be home for five minutes before we were heading off to Cornwall with Daddy P for a week.  A love of a pony called Beatnik was born, sandcastles were built and castles were discovered.

We’ve had so many days out together, so much fun.  You’ve walked for miles this year, literally miles.  You love being outdoors, you love nature and are so gentle with little insects, your Gramps would be very proud of you.  In the same way you are proud of him, and his bug collection.  I hope this passion for nature never leaves you, that you never take the countryside for granted.  I hope that this year will still see you jumping in muddy puddles and carrying sticks, everywhere.

Letter to a 7 year old

I’m sending you this letter to a 7-year-old Monkey, to remind you that you’ve come so far this year.  You’ve laughed so much, and sometimes cried.  You’ve stretched yourself, been afraid and tried new things anyway.  You didn’t feel able to join in the Multi Sports event recently, and whilst I would have loved you to have felt able to be a part of everything, I’m also proud of you.  You don’t follow the crowd, you know your own mind.  Sometimes you are going to have to do things that you’d prefer not to, that’s a lesson still to be learned. But standing up for what you want is a good thing to be able to do to.

You love your teacher, and in Year Two that consistency of being with her again has brought you such great rewards.  I was so proud of you in September for walking into class on the first day of term without a backwards glance.  A first for you. A great start.  From there you have blossomed and shown the staff what you’ve often kept inside and only shared with me.  Your writing has improved so much and your reading is flying.  You’re good at maths, that’s not come from me!  You have an amazing vocabulary, beautiful descriptive phrasing.  This from the boy who could only say 5 words when he turned 2.  It’s been a long journey, hard for both of us at times, but boy are you showing everyone just what you are capable of now.  Keep that up my lovely boy, keep those thoughts flowing out.  You rock.

Letter to a 7 year old

I was so worried for you in Year Two, with the crazy expectations and the thought of SATS, but you have delighted us all.  You’ve handled everything that’s been thrown at you, you haven’t drowned, far from it.  So proud of you, so very proud, you’ve caught up and are running along with your friends.

So what will be 7 hold for you my gorgeous, funny, gentle boy? Well we’re starting it with a little adventure which I hope you’ll enjoy.  You’ve already celebrated earlier in the week with your best friends.  Christmas will undoubtedly be spent building things and having fun together.

I hope you continue to make friends in the coming year and develop the friendships you’ve started.  I’m sure that G will still be your best friend ever, but it’s been so lovely to hear different names being mentioned over the last year.  You’ve really taken to our friends L and C and I hope we’ll have more adventures with them in the New Year.  You’ll need to catch up with your friend E too, it’s been too long.

Be happy.  I want this for you more than anything.  Well maybe not eating pizza at every opportunity would rank quite highly for this year too, but be happy.  Keep smiling, keep losing those teeth, but please don’t swallow any more.  Keep trying new things, keep being brave.  Keep being kind and gentle, keep telling me how naughty people are for dropping litter and painting graffiti on the underpass.  Keep marvelling at the little things and reminding me to see the world through your eyes a little more.

Remember that it’s ok to let my hand go and leave me behind.  I’ll always be there when you need me.  Remember that.

If you could go back to sleeping all night in your own bed, every night that would be great. I’m not sure what’s happened this last 6 months, perhaps I just had it too easy on the sleeping front before.

I often look at you and wonder what you’ll be, what paths you’ll take, where you will go.  I hope you’ll see that the world is a big place, a wonderful place to explore.  I hope you feel able to fly, to travel and know it’s ok to leave your hometown one day.  I hope you see that anything is possible.  Anything.  Just believe, believe in yourself, believe.

I’m sorry that I’m often tired and snappy.  It’s not your fault you got an older model for a mother.  But remember that I love you, today, tomorrow and always.  Remember that I’m always proud of you.  You’re the first thing I think of in the morning and the last thing at night.  You are my everything, but I know I don’t always get things right.  But I’m Mummy and you’re Monkey, and together we can get through whatever the next year holds for you. We’ll laugh and cry and have lots of fun.  Being 7 is going to be amazing, and I can’t wait to see where it will take you my precious boy.

Letter to a 7 year old

Happy 7th Birthday son xxx

9 thoughts on “Letter to a 7 year old

  1. This letter is beautiful and very powerful.
    As you said he has surprised you and I’m sure with you help, guidance and understanding he will continue to do so.
    Enjoy every second with him. My boys are now in their thirties with their own children and I often wonder where that time went.

I'd love to hear from you and try to reply to all comments