Yes, I'm back, and hoping to post at least once a week in future. Meanwhile, I'm working on a new parenting book proposal so I can send it to my agent. Some of the content will be based on previous posts which I intend to elaborate and substantiate. It's so encouraging that more and more research confirms what I wrote in 'Magical Motherhood'.
Here's a confession: I find myself asking my grandsons to make too many decisions. Is it something in the air or the water? I'm sure I didn't take this question route with my own kids. Not when they were small anyhow.
I've written before about the unnecessary stress we can inadvertently subject our little ones to. So before I go much further, maybe you'd like to follow this link and read about what's considered a new phenomena in adults: 'decision fatigue'. Actually, this is something I've been aware of for years... in fact, ever since the day I first set foot in a North American supermarket and was faced with a mind-boggling choice of different varieties and brands of... rice!
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/magazine/do-you-suffer-from-decision-fatigue.html?_r=1
You think our kids don't suffer? Staying in the supermarket setting I've heard mothers ask their small children 'what vegetables would you like?' and even 'what cereal?' Apart from believing it's our responsibility to make the choices and make them healthy, I can see how much trouble this attitude is going to cause down the line. After all, who really should keep the power in this relationship?
So as for me, I'll keep my questions to a simple either/or and even try to avoid that.
