Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Moving Along
So I did.
Please come visit me at GeorgeTown, MN on Wordpress, or my new blog Facebook page. Some exciting stuff is happening.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
When the Bully is Your Friend
Boy Blue wants YOU! |
Wait, what? How often do we think of children as just kids and not people. I find I sometimes have to remind myself that they're actually bitty humans with feelings and dreams and passions and fears. If we don't see kids as people, but relegate their status to mere "children", we are less likely to be respectful of those dreams and fears like we would be for a fellow adult.
What am I talking about? Perhaps you have seen someone dangle a child by their feet and dismiss a their fearful squeals as they are shaking with fear because the adult "isn't going to hurt them". Or maybe you yourself have terrified a child by pushing them on a swing, higher than they were comfortable with, but they were in the bucket kind so there was no way they could fall out so it was "no big deal".
We're all familiar with the concept of the playground bully, the mean big kid who pushes our kids down and steals their lunch money. And we deal with that bully. We pull our kids in close and fight, even moreso because the media has brought bullying to the light in recent years and we have lost too many young kids to suicide because of severe bullying. But what about the bullies in our own ranks? What about the father who messes with his kid and doesn't know when to stop? Or the mother who belittles her child for their questions because she's "too busy" making dinner to deal with such trivial things? Or the family friend who thinks it's funny to push a kid so high on the swing that they cry? Isn't that bullying too?
Given the child's cues, the scenarios I mentioned earlier (turning upside down and swinging high) aren't respectful. Are children allowed to set boundaries for themselves of things they are comfortable with, and as adults are we supposed to respect those? In both situations the child was in minimal danger. As an adult with mature cognitive function we can see and reconcile that, but I daresay that a 2yo cannot distinguish that "this isn't fun but this person won't drop me and it'll be over soon". Often we think we're doing them some good and that by exposing them to these scary things they'll "get over" their fear. Let me ask you this, do you think my 94 year old grandmother would get over her intense fear of snakes if you shoved her into a bin full of harmless snakes? I mean, they can't hurt her. Or is Handsome's former co-worker going to get over his fear of heights by locking him on a rooftop?
Both of those people could overcome their fear if they chose to face it, but they aren't going to by being forced head to head with the thing that scares them most. Why do we think it'll be different with kids?
Find the Monkey |
I try hard to be respectful of my kids. And there are times when I have to override their comfort, like a 15mo who doesn't like getting their teeth brushed, but when it comes down to their general comfort with touch, their bodies, or what they can emotionally handle I really want to be respectful of them as *people*, not "just" kids.
So what does that look like? Well, I guess that's why I wanted to start a conversation. How do you tell another adult to be respectful of your child's wishes when so often kids' voices are silenced? How do you give your kids' voices power by standing up for them?
I'm not sure I have any answers, but I think it's valuable food for thought. I have outright asked people to be respectful of their wishes, and I have found an alternative solution my child was comfortable with but I don't think I have many good answers.
Group Hug! |
Have you ever experienced your child or one you care about being disrespected or their wishes devalued? What did you do, or what do you wish you had done? Please contribute to this conversation, it's heavy on my heart tonight.
Icky Sicky Chickenpox
Blogging while nursing tonight. I have so many things in the pipeline I want to get out there (including a sale on some great ebooks to tell you about), but I just haven't had the emotional energy or time to sit down and do it.
The "little" boys both came down with the chickenpox on Monday. Dude has them really bad in his diaper area. I put his nighttime diaper on him and he just thrashed and kicked his legs, poor guy. I took his diaper off and slathered him in salve. I have him sleeping diaperless on a waterproof pad and towel, hopefully I don't regret it by morning. He's still restless and not all the way asleep but much closer than he was diapered pre-salve. Poor guy. He has been running a fever and *really* cranky all day. I think he's finally passing out from sheer exhaustion.
Hopefully tomorrow will be easier and I can work on some other things for you.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Snuggles
Friday, April 19, 2013
The Darkness Begins
So if you ask me where it all began, it's hard to say. I remember a definitive shift after Squirrely Girl was born. I felt like I went into a fog transitioning to 2 kids and never really came out. Then we started some major work on our house, Handsome enlisted in the National Guard, and then was gone for 8 months for his BCT and AIT. A few weeks after he left I found out I was pregnant with Boy Blue while we were living at my parents' house for 5 weeks during the drywall phase of our remodel. Eventually we moved back home and then the stresses of the army ensued. Threats of not graduating, an 8 week holdover in Missouri for one simple doctor's appointment, the army dropped our orders and didn't pay us for a month, and then he barely made it home in time for Blue's birth. He only made it because I got ahold of an ombudsman who got things moving for us. Really it was more than 2 years of constant stressors that really got the ball rolling.
You see, I learned shortly after Monkey Boy was born that it's easy to ignore the needs of a spouse or partner because the needs of a baby are so much louder. I learned early on to make it a point to not ignore Handsome, to connect with him and do things together. While it's easy to silence the needs of a spouse, it's even easier to silence your own needs. And for years I have ignored myself. I have powered through multiple remodels, growing, birthing, and nursing 4 children, another stressful spring, months of separation from my husband, drill weekends, and weekly drill at the local fire department. There was only a short time where I had any consistent time away, space to do what I wanted because I wanted to and not because someone else needed it. Then he left for BCT and I was alone again. And all the while I thought I was just fine, trucking along and being strong. Until I just wasn't.
I think this is from where my darkness sprung. The seeds of were planted in solitude, watered by marriage too often neglected, sprinkled with misunderstanding, and more solitude. I was the glue that held our family together, and all of a sudden I was becoming unglued.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
The Changing of Seasons... or Not
This year spring seems to be coming late and I've been patient. I wasn't hating winter, I didn't feel like we had an extraordinary amount of snow and only a couple real cold snaps (for those of you in more southern climates I define "real cold snap" by the kind of cold that freezes your snot instantly when you walk outside). I'm typically happy as long as the weather remains around 20F.
Last week we were supposed to get some snow, and I was assuring people on Facebook that "it won't last" so we shouldn't be worried about it. Then we got more snow. And then more. And guess what?
van at 2:56pm, we arrived home around 11:40am and it was only slightly raining |
Sunset on the lake |
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
The "Good Enough" Parent
Photo by Amanda Ingle Photography |
I'm really tired of this world in which we all live our separate lives and lie to each other that it's perfect. It's not perfect. I'm exhausted. I've snapped a few times this week. I've actively avoided my kids because just one more whine or tattle is going to push me over the edge. I'm tired, and I am alone, but it's not forever. Handsome will be home in a few days, my chicken pox isolation will end, but for now it's just plain hard.
So you know what? Being a "good enough" mom is good enough for me. My floor was swept at some point today. My kids are eating lunch at 3pm and we've had more grains this week than we've had in the past 6 months, but they're fed. I forgot a load of laundry in the wash but I'm rewashing now so I can wash diapers. I haven't swished and swiped all week. I left dishes drying in the drainer overnight but they were clean. The dishwasher was loaded, and my Monkey got on the bus this morning with most of his homework done from the week he missed due to the pox.
All in all, it's good enough. And some weeks good enough is good enough. Next week we'll try for extraordinary again.