Peaceful parenting Collaboration: Response #3 Being Positive

First I have to say that I have been procrastinating on this post as I feel that I haven't put much focus on this topic. At first I was trying to catch myself being negative that worked for a few days then I just forgot about it.  When I did give it some thought I found myself being negative around some of my son's behaviour. Like when he repeatedly attempts to stick objects in the electrical sockets or throwing toys over the gate towards the wood stove. I know at 18 months old he isn't able  to hold back and control these impulses. As his mom this is often frustrating to me and I do focus on the negative maybe a little too often.

I have also found myself feeling very negative towards the lack of time I get for myself. I rarely get quiet time on my own to refresh and relax. My wonderful and dedicated husband is busy with his full time job and full time volunteering. This means breaks and quiet times for  mommy are infrequent. I know this is the stage my life is at and in time my son will grow and need me less and I will once again have that time I crave. I think I need to find a way to move past my negativity and frustration and really enjoy the moments I do get on my own. I haven't laid a plan out to move forward but this topic has certainly increased my awareness round negative and postive thoughts.

Forgiveness: Mindful Parenting Collaboration #2

When I saw the topic last week my stomach did flip flops and I knew that this was something relevant to me. I let the information settle between my ears for a few days and gave myself time to process. It didn't take too much effort on my part to identify a couple people who I have felt "wronged" me in some way. Mulling this over further I was uncertain of my next step so I searched the internet for some resources that discuss forgiveness. I found this link and found it to be great reading, especially #16 Give up on all hope of a better past. -Matt Child this resonated with me. I have more work to do on forgiveness but I think I'm on my way. I have an object that belongs to one of these people that I would like to forgive. My goal is to return the object in the next few days so that each time I see it I am not reminded of the situation. My hope is that once I have returned the object I will fully be able to forgive this person.

In previous posts I have easily added links for some reason I am now having problems adding links :(

Intial Reflections on Mindful Parenting Collaboration #1

I anticipated that taking part in Mindful parenting Collaboration was going to be challenging. What I didn't foresee was that the sense that my logical brain has atrophied in the 18 months since I last worked outside the home at my money earning job. Last night I started to read online about how values are defined or explained. I searched for some  information and I read it over and over before it felt like it sinking in. Following some of the links posted over on  It's Ok I began to get a grip on how values are defined. To me "values" has always seemed complicated or difficult to comprehend what the word really means. Then I jumped over to The parenting passageway and found a list of questions to answer and that answering these questions would help guide my journey on this inner work. (I see now that these same questions are also shared on It's Ok that just shows I am going to be re reading things many times) I am currently struggling to answer these questions.

I suspect this sense of  atrophy that is going on between my ears isn't going to go away but it is certainly going to get a jump start participating in this great project.

Jumping in with heart and mind

I am going to explore my thoughts around how I parent Saylor with the blog It's Ok and Mccrenshaw blog together they are hosting a Mindful-parenting-collaboration . I am going to participate in this project. I am feeling reluctant and aprehensive about participating in the collaboration. I think the feelings are coming from the unknown. What am I going to learn about myself? What am I going to learn about becoming a better mother to Saylor? I am also applying extra pressure to myself because although its not a requirement I am going to write about my experiences with the challenges issued during this collaboration. Knowing that I am going to document the challenges here makes me feel more accountable in my participation of the Mindful-parenting-collaboration . The collaboration starts on October 21 and will explore 20 different topics.

All right there it is out in the universe. I am going to enjoy it.

Parenting with my instincts

While I was expecting I didn't read any baby books or parenting books. I did read many blogs and reasearched many different topics online including cloth diapering and breastfeeding. After Saylor arrived I quickly realized that anything I may have read was a vague guideline at best. What I needed to do was follow my heart and my instincts and so far following my feelings has served me extremly well. Recently I have started to read an amazing blog Peaceful Parenting that discusses how to be a peacful parent. This blog has really opened my mind to other options that I have as a parent. Its a well written blog and full of great information. The second blog that I have been following is Play at Home Mom I have been truly inspired by this blog! The blog has several contributors and they write about activities that they do with their children. They even show things to do with very young children under a year old. (I'm not going to go into the details contained in each blog. They are both full of so much information it would be silly for me to re write it here)

Today I took the risk and introduced Saylor to glue and coloured sand. We started with drizzling glue on some heavy card stock. In advance I had put the coloured sand in a shaker (from a barbeque rub) and we shook the sand onto the glue. After a few shakes Saylor tried to get the lid off the shaker he wasn't able to so I did it for him. He promptly dumped the sand all over the paper and into the baking sheet. He enjoyed dumping the sand so much that we did this over and over.
I would have never taken the chance of showing Saylor glue with out the influence of the Play at Home Mom . I know that following my motherly instincts has been a wonderful thing and I only doubt myself when others question why I am doing something. I am grateful that I have found some wonderful information to add to my parenting tool box and I know Saylor will benefit immensly from my learning.