We just finished a 5 week class on positive discipline for toddlers. It was insightful, interesting, and I walked away with a greater understanding of our 22 month old along with some added patience and ways to hopefully raise her to be a more independent, secure and happy girl. Each week the instructor placed a quote on the board- I loved them all and wanted to share.
"There is just one way to bring up a child in the way he should go and that is to travel that way yourself."
"Usually parents who are lucky in the kind of children they have, have children who are lucky in the kind of parents they have."
"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." - Frederick Douglas
"You can't be too careful what you tell a child because you never know what he'll take hold of and spend the rest of life remembering you by." - Frederick Buechner
The last one scares me a bit. This parenting thing is pretty big...bigger than reading books or stacking blocks, giving baths or making sure bellies are full. It's a privileged that has me questioning if I'm doing the right things, making sure she knows how unconditionally loved she is, and lighting up when I realize that I am the Mommy that the tiny, sweet voice is calling for.
9 years ago
3 comments:
Thanksgiving background with Christmas music ... fun. Well, Meg, I think you and Robby have a pretty good hold on this parenting thing. It's going to be fun to watch you do it all over again ... probably with different styles but still with great results. You were just made to be a mom. :-) Love you, MOM
Ummmm. Your a GREAT mom. You may want to consider the source though ;>
PS> LOVE the hair on the zebra!
I worry about things like that as well - especially when Eleanor shows me just how much she IS retaining (like when she mentions something that happened a MONTH ago or recalls a comment I made in passing and while not even speaking to her). Is she going to notice me silently criticizing myself in the mirror? Will she hear enough of the accidental swear words to embarrass us in kindergarten? Did I make her afraid of me in small way because I over-reacted one time when I was stressed about something else completely not related to my children?
I try to console myself with the fact that too, too many parents do not think about these things and their children grow up and move on and seem to do fine (as in me and my parents - not a metacognitive bone in my mom's body). Yeah, sure, I went to counseling in my 20s, but I haven't killed anybody and I'm not homeless or addicted to prescription medications, so even my mom, who never took any guidance from a Frederick Douglass quotation, did OK. That means I have to be doing better.
Right?
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