Posted by: Katherine
Well some time has passed since my last post and motherhood continues to offer me so many opportunities to evaluate my role as a mum, who I am, what I am here to do and how I can grow as a person. Each day I set my intention and sometimes I fall short and I find myself giving into my frustrations, but other days I feel very much in the driving seat and it all becomes clear to me.
Although being a parent often means having a day full of routine, it is a job that is constantly evolving, our children go through phases and we go through them with them, learning on the job, being creative in finding opportunities to learn and teach, find solutions and work a rounds, doing our best to stay in tune with our children’s reality and how we best help them and for that matter ourselves. It can prove a very challenging role, and rarely is there a time when you are not meeting some situation, behavior, or issue that you are trying to understand. Each child so different provides us with unique situations to learn from and even those stages in development that are well documented and expected can throw us because of the unique individual we are experiencing it with.
I firmly believe that our children choose us as their parents, which give me enormous comfort. The idea that my children felt that I would be the best person for the job to help them to learn and grow and also be someone they could make a difference too, someone they could help and grow, is encouraging and deeply touching. We are in a partnership with our children, a journey we have taken together for the evolution of all our selves and the basis of this partnership is love and it is this above all else I feel should be nurtured. We need to recognize who we are as a parent and be the best that we can be with what knowledge, understanding and awareness we have. Times when we feel we could or should have done it differently or better, are the times we need to show compassion to ourselves, guilt, blame and anger really serve no one, so we need to accept our humanity, learn what we can and move forward by loving and doing what we feel is best for our children.
Something you may find helpful:
I have started to introduce affirmations to my son (4 years) which he enjoys, and I feel will really help him to feel good about who he is. We go through his books and pick one a day and we say it together, talk about the picture and he repeats it as much as he wants, sometimes we even sing it… whatever fun and works. He looks forward to choosing one everyday and if I forget he will be sure to remind me!
I have also begun using a wonderful little pack of cards called Little Inspirations and I find them a wonderful way to help my son understand the dynamics of his world. Each card has a beautiful illustration featuring a particular animal and at the top of the card there is the name of a quality/virtue and then a message explaining it at the bottom. We read a card a day and the messages really stick with him, in fact I was quite taken aback when he started reciting the messages to me when situations came up that reminded him of the message he had learned… ‘‘Mummy look I am just like the rabbits… ‘Share what little you have and you will receive more’’’ I also find them a wonderful tool for parenting, they provide me with a great way of helping my son to understand a particular issue that might otherwise be hard to get him to hear and take on board.
Although being a parent often means having a day full of routine, it is a job that is constantly evolving, our children go through phases and we go through them with them, learning on the job, being creative in finding opportunities to learn and teach, find solutions and work a rounds, doing our best to stay in tune with our children’s reality and how we best help them and for that matter ourselves. It can prove a very challenging role, and rarely is there a time when you are not meeting some situation, behavior, or issue that you are trying to understand. Each child so different provides us with unique situations to learn from and even those stages in development that are well documented and expected can throw us because of the unique individual we are experiencing it with.
I firmly believe that our children choose us as their parents, which give me enormous comfort. The idea that my children felt that I would be the best person for the job to help them to learn and grow and also be someone they could make a difference too, someone they could help and grow, is encouraging and deeply touching. We are in a partnership with our children, a journey we have taken together for the evolution of all our selves and the basis of this partnership is love and it is this above all else I feel should be nurtured. We need to recognize who we are as a parent and be the best that we can be with what knowledge, understanding and awareness we have. Times when we feel we could or should have done it differently or better, are the times we need to show compassion to ourselves, guilt, blame and anger really serve no one, so we need to accept our humanity, learn what we can and move forward by loving and doing what we feel is best for our children.
Something you may find helpful:
I have started to introduce affirmations to my son (4 years) which he enjoys, and I feel will really help him to feel good about who he is. We go through his books and pick one a day and we say it together, talk about the picture and he repeats it as much as he wants, sometimes we even sing it… whatever fun and works. He looks forward to choosing one everyday and if I forget he will be sure to remind me!
I have also begun using a wonderful little pack of cards called Little Inspirations and I find them a wonderful way to help my son understand the dynamics of his world. Each card has a beautiful illustration featuring a particular animal and at the top of the card there is the name of a quality/virtue and then a message explaining it at the bottom. We read a card a day and the messages really stick with him, in fact I was quite taken aback when he started reciting the messages to me when situations came up that reminded him of the message he had learned… ‘‘Mummy look I am just like the rabbits… ‘Share what little you have and you will receive more’’’ I also find them a wonderful tool for parenting, they provide me with a great way of helping my son to understand a particular issue that might otherwise be hard to get him to hear and take on board.