Tuesday, March 29, 2011

3-30-11 The Wild Things are Right Here!!

Conrad just told me that when he grows up he wants to be a photographer, but not the kind who takes pictures of people. The kind who takes pictures of wild animals. This sounds exciting, doesn't it? When I was little I walked around telling people that I wanted to be a psychologist; he has a more clear idea of what his dream occupation is than I did. I suggested to Conrad that we go to the zoo and he could practice taking pictures of animals. He let me know that it wouldn't be necessary because he could just practice here. I'm afraid he's right!

It's easy for me to get carried away with my job of nurturing and molding my children. There's so much to consider: physical, emotional, cognitive, and spiritual development. I want them to be kind and considerate, use good manners, have strong people skills, oh, the list could go on because I see how amazing they are and I want them to develop to their full God-given potential. I read a lot of mommy books (I buy even more than I read!), activity books, cards, just stuff that "holds the key to divine parenting". The more I'm trying to learn about my kids, the more I'm learning about myself and the truth is that I can try and create a mommy curriculum for myself all day long, but what's really important is that I live the way I want my children to live. There are no 10 Steps to Parenting and there's no such thing as magic. Other people's strategies, suggestions, and entire 350-page books (my longest mommy read yet -- 350 pages about getting your child to sleep well. . .) can only be used as ideas for you to incorporate into your life. That's just how life is; uniquely yours. I can't carbon-copy somebody else's approach and day in day out mothering skills because I'm not them and I don't have their kids.

Here are the books on my nightstand right now. I'm about half-way through all of them; they're all good.

Fearless by Max Lucado
The Life You've Always Wanted by John Ortberg
Stopping Stress Before it Stops You by Kevin Leman
The Birth Order Book by Kevin Leman
Praying the Scriptures for your Children by Jodie Berndt

The most recent chapter book that I've finished was Third-Grade Detectives. Yes, I read it out loud. Yes, I have a touch of ADD.

No comments:

Post a Comment