messymiraculousmommy

  All through our school, college and work life, we've been given certain standards that are expected of us, certain objectives to pursue and a clear indication at the end of the year of how successful or unsuccessful we have been in each area. But when we become parents, what exactly are our objectives? To what standards do we compare ourselves? And how do we know if we are succeeding or not when we aren't even clear about what we are aiming for? When they are little, it seems clear enough. While we were doing our research on adoption before our first baby came home we sought advice from other adoptive family with babies, older children, grown up teens. On hearing that we had two bedridden elders to care for and no family support to help us get through the initial months of parenting, one adoptive mum advised me: just focus on the main things: keep the baby clean, well fed, well burped and .... uh, alive :)  I laughed then because it seemed so silly when she said that and I l...

When she was very young, my (now homeschooling) daughter came running out after school, eager to tell me: “Mama, do you know there are some children who have never read a book other than their school books??!!” I was so delighted that my little one not only really loved reading like her father and I do, but also understood at such a young age that her peers were really missing out on.   Our home has more books than kitchen equipment, clothes or gadgets. When people asked me, what they could gift our children, I always said “more books, please.” And over the years, we have built a collection that spans the height and breadth of a wall after continuously giving away books that we are done with and others can now enjoy. My younger one was a less enthusiastic reader when he began but being surrounded by books and people who love to read, he soon got onto our bandwagon and now enjoys reading as much as we do. Because I never had books while I was growing up, I feel very strongly ab...