Feeding Our Children

A few weeks ago I spent some time at our oldest son and daughter-in-law's little farm.  It was a sacred time mostly playing with my almost two year-old granddaughter and enjoying the world at the farm.  Not to mention cuddling my newest granddaughter, born July 3, and visiting with my son and daughter-in-law.

Little Ruth and I spent a lot of time out on the roofed patio - Ruth playing in a pail of water and me watching her as well as some little house wrens who had a nest in an old coffee pot hanging there for just such a purpose.

I never did see any baby birds but I did see a couple of adult birds often bringing worms to the nest.  It amazed me how cautious they were.  They would come and sit on the fence quite a distance away.

Looking around to make sure they weren't seen, they would fly up to the rafters and again sit for a time.  Eventually they would fly into their nest with their feast - usually a big fat juicy worm!  Moments later they would re-emerge and off they would go again to find another such tasty morsel.

These are some pictures from last year when some sparrows had a nest in another can secured in the rafters.  However, the cat this year cleaned out the nest from that can (before the birds arrived I hope) but couldn't quite reach the old coffee pot dangling from the rafters.

All of this started me thinking about what we feed our children.  No, I'm not talking about meat and potatoes and veggies.  I'm talking about love and compassion, anger and frustration, honesty and truth and those sorts of things.

My kids have told me that the most important thing we fed them was the opportunity to be themselves - they didn't need to be little cookie-cutter miniatures, they were free to be themselves.  I remember several people commenting when our children were small how they were such free spirits.  I wasn't sure at the time quite how to take that but I guess it was a good thing.

Another thing that we fed our kids was the opportunity to make their own choices from a young age.  Packing for a camping holiday, for example, being the mother of three small children I let them each pack their own suitcase.  I looked through it, of course, to make sure they had enough of the major essentials but that was after they had packed what they thought they needed.  This continued through to our fourth child as well, letting them make small decisions on their own which turned into bigger choices as they grew older.

Later in life, as teenagers and then adults we could trust that they would make good choices but we were there to offer support and encouragement when they didn't turn out as well as expected.

We also gave them lots of opportunity to try new things - swimming, dancing, skating, Karate, ball, whatever, but not to the point that they had no time for themselves to play or just be.  We tried to find a happy balance.

As unsure as I felt at the time, I guess we didn't do too badly since they all turned out to be just awesome adults!  (Just a little bias there.)  All of this we did mostly by instinct, I guess.  We never actually decided this is what we wanted to teach our kids; I guess a lot of it was just because of who we are/were.  I know there were also times when we fed them anger and frustration and things like that but there was always an ample helping of love as well.

So I would be very interested to know what all of you are feeding your children, or grandchildren?  Is it lots of big juicy gobs of love, patience, honesty, respect, and kindness with just a small smattering of anger or frustration?  Or is it a lot of greed, impatience, and being miserable?  Have you ever thought about it?

This all then begs the question "What are we feeding ourselves?" to be able to feed others well.  But that's a whole other topic for another time!

Zentangle Reverie

A few weeks ago I was having a terrible week.  Nothing seemed to be going right at all.  Everything I did took ten times as long as I thought it would and nothing happened the way I expected it too.  I was getting a little discouraged to say the least -- alright I was getting downright depressed!

Then came Friday.  That afternoon a friend came over and after giving her an energy session, she taught me how to do Zentangle.  I had seen this before but didn't have a clue how to do it.  She took out all of her supplies and showed me some patterns and I was away.  After she left, I took out some blank greeting cards I had on hand and my gel pens and started doodling (that's basically what it is).

 

I could not believe how it changed my mood right around. I felt energized, ready to take on the world.  It relaxed me and left me feeling content and at peace with myself and the world!  By the end of the weekend, I had finished eight or ten of these cards already.

I continue to find that when I'm a bit stressed, I take out my cards and pens and start doodling.  Just the act of doing a pattern over and over again, discerning what pattern wants to go where, and just being fully absorbed in it, brings inner (and outer) peace to my life.  As I doodle, all the cares, worries, and anxieties just drift away.  I am transported to another place -- that place where I am connected to, and a part of, the inner Love of the Universe!

Thank you Zentangle!

Connecting with Family

Life is all about connections -- connections to the earth and nature, connections to our bodies, connections to our inner beings, and connections to others.  Last weekend we spent a few days strengthening family connections as we visited with two of our sons and their families.

At the Kindersley Farmer's Market on Saturday I connected with a lot of old friends that I hadn't seen for awhile, and made some new friends.  More connections!

It rained a lot of the weekend, but Tuesday, Canada Day, was glorious!  In the morning we went for a walk with our little granddaughter, Ruth, and her mom.

Ruth brought her baby along.

Little legs tire out sometimes, but Grandpa didn't mind!

She loves her baby!

Ruth made connections with the earth as well.  She picked up little handfuls of rocks and then dropped them to the ground again.  It was so quieting to the soul to watch her play with the stones.




On our way home we stopped to take in some of the Canada Day celebrations at the museum in Kindersley.  Another son was demonstrating blacksmithing.  He is a born teacher and I learned so much from listening to him, as did the two young lads who also listened and watched, I'm sure.  It did my heart good to see him in action!

 We also connected with our grandson and his mother that day again.

Felix drank most of my water!

What a beautiful happy pair!

All in all it was a weekend of wonderful connections with loved ones.  A time for enjoying family and friends.  As I get older, those connections seem all the more precious and life-giving to me.  May we all take time for strengthening and deepening connections we already have and for building new ones!