Wordless Wednesday

My beautiful baby boy with pizza on his face after our first picnic lunch of the year. 

I am mother

I have been working hard to instill confidence in my children and give them a strong believe in their self worth. I think that children learn so much more through the examples they interact with than any words we can direct at them. I also have experienced that because of this they make wonderful mirrors of those around them as they reflect back and put into practice what they are learning through their observations. This is how I came to realize my lack of confidence and self-esteem and quickly adopted a plan to remedy such malady.

I saw my children questioning their choices and actions. I watched them heaitate or straight out decline to participate in events with their peers. I heard them struggle to speak to when addressed. These are certainly not traits I was intentionally teaching them so what was the source of this behaviour?

It took me a long time to identify that what I saw in them was reflective of how they saw me and how they perceived I saw myself. What an eye-opener that moment of revelation was. I knew I had been struggling (still am) but had not recognized the impact this was having on the impressionable little minds in my world. 

The plan was to develop a simple set of affirmative statements that I would say to them (thus providing a positive example) and then have them repeat these affirmations (thereby putting into practice these new concepts). We began with four simple ideas and then I ask an open-ended statement that they are to complete with a positive quality or strength they see in themself. At present, our affirming statements are:

1) You are smart.

2) You are kind. 

3) You are strong. 

4) You are loved. 

They took to this new step in our bedtime routine with incredible ease and with only a few weeks behind us I can already identify changes in behaviour. It has also been a good challenge to me, especially when they decided to turn the open-ended statement back to me. After careful consideration, these are my current affirmations:

1) I am confident. 

2) I am able. 

3) I am deserving. 

4) I am mother. 

I am a work in progress and He is still working on me but I am providing my children with a healthier example and for that I am grateful. 

What are you or would you benefit from intentionally working to improve?

Field trip!

I was able to attend my son's grade 6 field trip to the demonstration forest today. It was a great opportunity for the students to be hands on with their science unit and they even had to use some math skills. I am so thankful it was a sunny day as our trek into the mountains revealed areas of knee deep snow and where the snow had melted we had to traverse mud and slush. Good thing for rubber boots or we would have had wet feet and that does not sound like fun.

I was also very impressed with the students. In comparison with the trip I did with them last year, this was a much calmer and more mature group. It is so nice to see the growth. 

The down side is that it was my daughter's class's turn to present at the liturgy and I missed it. It is often a challenge to arrange life so as to be able to attend as many of the kids events as one can. We really felt that this winter with all the activities and became quite accomplished at the divide and conquer approach. Unfortunately, this still means choosing to miss something. 

Perhaps a mini study on the current parenting challenges I am facing would be in order. I think it might also be quite revealing and help to realign priorities. 

We are back in the city now so until next time...

Let it rain

I look forward to spring for the refreshing feeling that comes with it. After sitting under blankets of snow all winter it feels so good to see everything washed clean by the spring rains. Unfortunately, this year winter seems very reluctant to let loose it's hold on us. Here we are nearly a week into May and I am looking out on a fresh falling of the white stuff and frankly, it feels suffocating. It has been a long hard winter apart from the weather but this lingering dreariness has become almost unbearable. My soul needs renewing and the rains do that for me. So, let it rain!

I am seriously lacking in motivation and optimism and as much as I would rather cocoon myself away from the world I have responsibilities that can not be denied. So I pray for revitalizing rain that I may be able to do life rather than get through it.