I am a mother of 3 children. 2 boys and girl in between. And I remember when I had my second and third children thinking this is going to be soo much easier than the first time. I know exactly what I am doing this time. But I was really wrong.
When I had my first son, I was on my own. And that was hard enough. My first son was cuddly and snuggly and loved being cuddled to sleep. He hated being out of my arms. We had a routine and we stumbled through. Be it harder some days than others, we got there in the end. My Grandmother was a god send and gave me lots of advice and held my son when I could no longer function.
After I married my husband and we found fell pregnant with my daughter I was so excited. Thinking I have done this before and it will be soooo easy. This time I had a husband to help. It was gong to be soo easy. And then came Hollie. Who was not easy. She didn’t sleep, didn’t want to be cuddled. Hated eating ANYTHING! Routine was EVIL. My husband helped as much as he could, but we didn’t know what we were doing. Again though we stumbled through.
16 months later my youngest son arrived. This time I was armed with the knowledge of how I had stumbled through my other two very different children. I KNEW this time I would know what I was doing. Especially because it was another boy. So of course they would be the same. BUT HE WASN”T!
Again my youngest son was so very very different than the other two. He loved food and wanted to feed 24 hours a day 7 days a week. He would go from wanting hugs to smacking your hand away. My husband and I again stumbled through the early years. I remember going to a wonderful elderly Midwife after my youngest Marcus was born and saying I will be right this time. I know what I am doing. She smiled at me kindly and said “No Dear. Every child is different. Just like every flower is different and needs to treated so, every child is different”. I remember smiling at her and then I cried.
That was 9 years a go know and we are still learning and stumbling through all our kids difference. Everyday. Nothing annoys me more than when my kids are at school and we go in for parent teacher interviews and a teacher says ‘oh I have had plenty of children like your child before”. That really gets my hackles up. It’s one of those moments when my husband puts his hand on my knee and squeezes so I don’t go off into my speech “No two children, even two children who have lived in the same house are the same. No two children should be treated as EXACTLY the same. Every single child has had different experiences. Has felt different feelings at different moments. Children should not be Labeled as the same. Just like. Or dismissed because they remind you of someone or something else. “
The Midwife was right. Every child, every flower, every lawn is different. The worst thing I think any of us can say or believe is that everything is the same. That we are all painted with the same brush. I often think about how different my children are when I talk to people on the phone about turf.
I can hear you say that is weird. I know I am a mum and like most mums my mind is often full of so many different things. Kids and what they are doing, Husband, Father, family, Customers, Turf, lawns, gardens, and soo much more. When I chat to someone on the phone and I hear them say “I have laid lots of lawns before and I know exactly what I’m doing. I know exactly how to care for all lawns” I cringe a little. And I think about how different every flower, every lawn, every child is.
Even when you have installed lawns at your home in Tweed, then in Mermaid Beach, and in Labrador; looked after your friends, mums and daughters lawn after it was installed; All of them are different. Every locations different. All the soils are different. The amount of sunlight is different. The amount of rain it received is different. The climate is different. No two lawns are panted with the same brush.
And for those who are variety specific, every variety variation is different. Sir Walter Soft leaf Buffalo is very different to Palmetto Soft leaf buffalo, different to Sapphire Soft leaf buffalo different to Shademaster soft leaf Buffalo. All of them thrive in different conditions and require very different after care to ensure a thick healthy lush lawn. see our variety page. www.coastalturf.com.au/turf-varieties/
For instance did you know that Palmetto requires a third of the water you would give any of the other varieties. Often people who have installed and looked after other Buffalo lawns give Palmetto way too much water. Drowning the plant in love. Often this leads to fungus infections and a lot of costs to repair the lawn. And each variety requires different minimum amounts of direct sunlight per day.
At Coastal Turf we provide an information pack on installation, and after care to ensure the health of your newly installed Coastal Turf lawn. This means, unlike children, you get a plan on how to best look after each variety differently to ensure their health. We try to stop you having to Stumble through. We know what that is like. We want to give you steps to go through to make your lawn amazing.
I mean I think my children are amazing now. But there was and still is a lot of stumbling. My lawn though, looks great!
One of the kids younger shots of the kids. You can actually se the stumbling.