Some things that happened during the last weeks and I somehow forgot to mention them ...
~ I get it now - children need CONTINUOUS activity. We had a really amazing day a while ago. We went to an English baby group in the a.m., then headed to the woods for a hike, and had a day filled with activities. I don't remember what we did but we were very busy all day long. At the end of the day we were totally worn out. You know the feeling when you're so tired that everything becomes funny? Dd and I got into a very silly mood and did the lift scene from "Dirty Dancing" a couple of times, always with tons of laughter. She ran towards me and I lift her up, turned around, and putting her down again. Over and over again. Oh dear!
I totally got it then - you know all these situations with children which can be a real pain in the neck? When they aren't allowed to touch anything, need to keep quiet for a while, etc.? None of that came up on that day. It was just fantastic.
Now I know why Alexsandra Burt told me that NVC etc. are certainly good tools, but if you're really in the continuum, you won't need any of that.
I remember thinking, WOW, I really want to get to that place one day.
And now we did! Thanks, Universe.
~ It's easier than I thought to be outside in road traffic with dd. She mostly follows me, and if not, I wait for her to notice she's no longer following me, smile at her and then she usually hurrys up to catch up with me. She is still slow enough for me to hopefully be able to catch her easily should she ever have the idea to run into a car, etc.
~ Feeding ducks has become a new activity for us.
~ We had to go to the post office some days ago. There's a lot of stuff I don't want dd to touch, plus I kind of wanted her to stay in the queue. I put her down when she wanted to, and she magically simply wandered around a bit but always came back. It was so much easier than I thought.
~ We had one situation when I met for lunch with an ex co-worker of mine. We went for a walk. It was a bit stressful for me to be there on time, and at one point I wanted to text my friend we couldn't make it. In the corporate world you get one hour for lunch (or less), but to be somewhere right on time with an active toddler can be difficult at times. Anyway. While my friend and I sat and ate, dd played a bit by herself around us, greeted people passing by, etc. We went for a short walk afterwards, and dd became fussy. At one point she cried and threw herself back in my arms, and I remembered not to engage with that behavior too much. Hm. I had to put her on the floor to put on the ring sling and she lay there crying for a moment.
On the positive side, I did not feel embarrassed or insecure at all. I put on the ring sling, picked dd up and put her in the sling. She nursed a bit and things were back to normal.
~ I met a really nice mother and her little boy at the post office and she asked about my ring sling. We agreed to meet up at my place so she could try my ring slings. I ended up borrowing her one of mine (I personally like to try things out before I finally buy something). So happy about that! We had a really nice chat and the children seemed to get along fine, too.
The same day, I went shopping with dd and a pregnant lady asked me about the ring sling. Haha. I like the ring sling a lot, so I'm always happy to share my experiences. If you don't use them you can fold them and put them in your backpack/purse, and if you want to carry your child for a while they're quick to use. Love them!
This post is longer than I planned it to be ....
I'll conclude today's post by recommending this article to German speaking readers:
http://www.zeit.de/2014/38/kindheit-deutschland-erziehung
It's about why today's parents are better than any generation of parents before them (in contrast to what some German authors want us to believe - that today's parents are an incompetent bunch of insecure helicopter mothers and fathers).
Based on scientific studies paired with common sense.
This article really made my day.
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