Walk Slowly Mama

I woke this morning to the following blog post sent to me by my Mom.  Read the post here.

"Children tie the feet of their mother." - Old Indian Proverb

My girls literally initiated playing this game AS I was reading my Mom's recommended blog post. 

An Unscheduled Moment

My children invented a game, this morning, which involved the little one pushing the big one out into the rain, dissolving in fits of laughter and repeating. I was drawn away from the kitchen to the intoxicating sound of their joy.

In my experience, creative, spontaneous play unfolds organically when children are given large amounts of unscheduled time to follow the whims of their developing brain in a safe and familiar location, like their own home. 

In spite of my strong commitment spontaneous expression, I constantly find myself feeling pressured by "schedule," "measuring my worth by production" and "number of organized activities," values highly revered by American culture. Certainly schedules, goal setting, planned activities and production have their place and have the potential to facilitate a certain amount of joy and satisfaction, but every human needs a balance of scheduled time and unplanned time. Some of us are designed to flourish in a more structured environment and some of us are designed to flourish in a less structured environment.

I'm still learning who my children are and what they need as individuals, but I know I myself thrive on large amounts of unplanned space to create and follow an unseen "flow." Perhaps it could be called an "unseen structure." In spite of this self awareness, I spend far too much time chasing satisfaction from rigid models of daily life. Today the example of my children, and their deep notes of delight in surprise creativity, beckoned me back home.

I welcome you to delay your next activity by another 39 seconds, walk into my home through this one minute video and relive this unplanned moment with me.....

The Best Things Found are Free

As mothers, I think most of us are looking for rhythms and routines to order our days. We crave flexible schedules to help us anticipate what is going to happen next. There is so much that is new and unsettling and unpredictable about life with a baby. Whether you are a rigid schedule maker or a loose schedule maker, we are all looking for stability and comfort from the routines and rhythms we create and find.  And most of us find ourselves in a constant state of tweaking and experimenting to perfect these daily schedules.

I am no exception.  In the past, I tended to seek constant variety with little repetition.  Life with a baby has found me groping for more consistency and evaluating everything I do more closely now that I have someone else to consider, not just myself.

On this intoxicatingly delicious Spring day in Virginia, as I strolled down the street, meandering away from my in-laws brick two story, wearing my baby in a front carrier, I was reminded how much happier and healthier I am when I'm outdoors.  My baby is happier and healthier too.  She sleeps better and eats better outside in the fresh air.  I resolved, today, to spend at least a few minutes every day outdoors with my child from now on, closer to the rhythms of nature.  This is, after all, one of the best ways to live the theme I already chose for raising this particular little girl.  When she was in the womb, I sang to her every day.  I sang various songs befitting the mood of the day, but there was one song I sang every day, a little didly I made up, adapted from a song I learned as a child, and it goes like this,

"Samantha, Samantha, look round and you will see,

God's treasure is everywhere,

the best things found are free."

I do love buying toys and new props for her education at each stage of development.  But my fondest wish is that her favorite toys will be the ones she discovers outdoors in God's great big beautiful creation.  Today I am reminded that I want to start cultivating this love in her now, even at four months old.  The weather does not always make it easy to be outside all day long, but on a day like today, it would be a great misfortune to be indoors.  So we're not.  Today, Samantha and I are eating and sleeping and playing outside all day long.