Comments on: A Quiet Aha Moment

By: Green Mamma

Green Mamma — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 17:17:56 +0000

Thank you for sharing this experience here. I am just vocalizing my desire to homeschool our children and while my husband is not against it, I find that I am defensive when I talk about the topic with other parents who are choosing traditional education for their children.

Also, I think that as I’ve grown as a parent, my daughter is now 2 1/2 and we have on due any day now, I have grown more confident and turn more inward than ever before. I care less and less what “other” people think about how my family is choosing to do things.

Last thing, good for you!

By: debbie

debbie — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 12:54:24 +0000

oh, i had so many of these moments, but not the reflective, loving aha so much…so, thank you!! i immediately flashed on my in-laws stepping in to “correct” the parenting i was doing with my first very spirited one – stepping in to yell at her during a tantrum (!!!), telling me with a parting hug that “it’s ok to say No”…oy, it’s painful to think of those times, and how ungracefully (but appropriately!) i responded.

got here through mama om, and i’m glad to have found you!
debbie

By: ruth

ruth — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 08:38:49 +0000

Yay, so glad to know a sister that’s helping make the world a better place by raising our children very well! You are great! Aren’t situations that are uncofmrtable so great for our reflection and doing things differently. Like putting ourselves and children before whatever crap ideas anyone else has about how to raise children or ourselves…

By: Stacy (mama-om)

Stacy (mama-om) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:59:35 +0000

What a fabulous post — beautiful photos and recollection of your experience and your current insights.

Yes, the swinging back and forth to find center… I’ve been discovering lately how sometimes it’s daily, hourly, and yes, even years long.

By: Denise

Denise — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:09:50 +0000

I know what you mean.

I didn’t have an RU moment, but having a very spirited and sensitive babe/toddler/preschooler I had times when I felt so judged, like he was this way because I was too loose, didn’t ‘make’ him, wasn’t tough, didn’t make him ‘thick skinned’ by forcing him to ‘xxxxx it out’. With his personality we fell naturally into co-sleeping, child-led weaning, peaceful parenting…not anything that anyone in either of our families ever thought was ok. I always felt at the ready to defend…to attack. Nobody was going to say anything ever to make my child feel inadequate. Grrr. But all those mama bear moments and realizations are what indeed led us naturally into unschooling. I have never had a mentor, don’t have anyone I know who unschools with a child my kids age or older. Live in a bubble of what we do in a way. But I think every moment is brilliant. Kids do get it. And we clear the way.

I love your haiku…

By: Annette

Annette — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 10:13:29 +0000

Wouldn’t life be boring without all of those interesting lessons?! Great photos!

By: Dawn

Dawn — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 06:09:39 +0000

Thanks for sharing that….I too was very young when I had my first and spent WAAAAYYY too much time worried about how my family was perceiving my parenting styles and decisions. It’s so freeing to be so secure in the person I am now-a-days and yay for you!

PS-I just posted some pics of artichoke flowers as well…Yours are stunning and I love the haiku~

By: patricia

patricia — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:53:35 +0000

I was fairly young when I became a mom for the first time–no one else in either of our families had kids, and none of our friends did. I had so many experiences of having to learn to trust my gut and ignore what other people thought. Some of those experiences were quite raw, like yours was. But I agree with you–it’s so important that we have those experiences to help us solidify who we are as parents.

And I especially appreciate that you’re considering how to allow those experiences for your son as well. It’s hard to wish difficulty on our kids–we want to “fix” everything for them. But we really learn best by working through things on our own, don’t we?

By: MamaRose

MamaRose — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:56:32 +0000

Wow, this is something I’ve been thinking of more and more as of late. My little guy is 2 and I’ve been going through this transformation the past 7 months (since we began learning about Waldorf ed. and had our baby girl) We already do a lot of the attachment parenting, but didn’t know there was a name for it. I am learning so much and discovering that it is a process. I know what you mean about parenting “with an eye to the on-lookers”, even though I never cared when I was a teen. Thank you for sharing this. I don’t feel so alone about it now! *hugs
p.s. just found your blog and I love it!

By: Sally

Sally — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 05:04:57 +0000

Thank you for sharing. This is why I read your wonderful blog….