Mother's Day

Mothering is a sacred task, and  demanding one. We wish everything of the best for our children and yet, sadly, it's easy for us or the world to do them harm, psychically and physically.

So, dear mothers, this is my wish for you, their guardians: have the courage to go against the mainstream if what's usually done appears harmful to you with regard to your kids. Maybe this means saying 'no' to a birthday party invitation for example. From toddler to teenager, I used to make a point of finding out in advance what was likely to be on offer. On the other hand, know when to compromise and, perhaps, compensate.

But today, relax and give yourself some credit!

Some thoughts on measles

As some of you know, my fourth baby was born three weeks late. I always joked (sort of) that he waited so that I could nurse his older brother through the measles. Yes, he needed nursing, to be kept quiet in bed, in a darkened room (even though this was 'proved' to be unnecessary, it did ease the situation). After ten days or so, when he recovered, I experienced the same thing as with his two elder sisters: that the illness had been a help to him and brought a profound satisfaction. Somehow or other, he was more content, more himself. Happier in his skin.

In those long-ago days, we didn't have the MMR vaccine, so all of my kids had measles, mumps and rubella, as well as chicken pox. They weren't dangerously sick with any of these childhood diseases, although there was discomfort and fever. But then, we were living a healthy, outdoor lifestyle in South Africa, eating mostly our own organic/Bio-dynamic vegetables, and my children were used to being proper patients: i.e. staying in bed when they had flu and so forth. Today, in general, I'd say we are far away from that culture.

I think we can't do justice to the whether or not to vaccinate debate if we don't consider the question of incarnation. As opposed to the term 'growing up' we could say that the ego 'grows down'. Some of us are never fully incarnated, but certainly there's a maturity that comes at twenty-one (the old, traditional 'coming of age' time) and even more so with twenty-eight. All fevers can help with the process because the ego is connected with warmth and fire.

In my book 'Magical Motherhood' I suggest it's up to the parents to decide what they can handle. Also, if the decision is made to go with inoculation, it's definitely worth looking at immune-boosting remedies such as you find in anthroposophical medicine and homeopathy. When we did the smallpox vaccine for our elder son (he who had the measles just before his brother was born) I was advised to dose him with Thuja D6 to help offset the negative effects. Whether or not that's enough, who can say?

Bringing a true Christmas mood to your children.

It seems to me this is becoming more and more difficult. As is so often the case, stories can help. This year I've been reading Alan Howard's wonderful 'Nativity Stories' to our grandsons, who are now six and eight. The day after I read the first story to the six year old he asked to have it again. Surely an endorsement!

They are old enough now to know quite a few Christmas carols, and enjoy singing both the quieter and more joyous ones.

In days gone by we most often had the chance to attend the medieval Oberufer Christmas plays. They always brought a quiet and reverent upliftment. This year we didn't get the chance, but we did have the grace of attending an Advent spiral, accompanied by harp music.

As our two younger grandsons will be away from home for Christmas, I'm sending them each a special card, for the younger, Fra Angelico's 'Flight into Egypt' and the older, Bernardo Luini's Madonna and Child.

Why am I choosing these paintings from the old masters? Well, children today are increasingly exposed to screen time during the day. Many of the images they see are ugly, even hideous, and often frightening. And the trouble is, they'll take them into sleep with them. So, I thought, it's good if they can have a card to look at before they turn off the light or blow out the candle. Then maybe they can sleep peacefully and truly benefit from this holy time of the year.

Modifying behaviour via imitation

Yesterday we took the boys to the beach. It was a glorious late summer's day, the air was soft, the river water not too warm and not too chilly, although shallow... which was lovely for the children, of course.

The blue-eyed boy, now eight (!) was constructing in the sand, a simple conical tower with a moat around it. Another boy (he must have been about eighteen months old) crawled up with great determination. I was standing nearby. As he rose to his feet and lifted a foot, I could see he was intending to bash down the tower. That would not have pleased the blue-eyed boy. So I quickly suggested, "Pat the tower sand. Show him how to do it."

The blue-eyed boy did as I suggested.

At that point the toddler's older sister came rushing up. "Don't bash it! Don't bash it!"

"It's okay," I said. "Keep patting."

The little one plumped down, reached out a tentative hand and... sure enough, he copied the blue-eyed boy. All was well.

What a simple solution, but obviously one the family had never thought to use.

Yes, imitation can be a useful and easy way to modify the behavior of small kids.

eBook available now!

The ebook of 'Magical Motherhood', retitled for the moment as 'How to Welcome Your Spiritual Child' is now available from Amazon, iBooks and Kobo. Take a look!

and don't forget to follow me on Twitter @MagicalNana for the occasional insight or chuckle.

A golden key for parenting

Today I want to share with you a wonderful blog post which will let you into one of the secrets of magical parenting and provide you with a golden key.

Take a read of this, dear readers: http://merriconeag1.blogspot.ca/2014/04/imitation-media-and-world-of-young-child.html

A good article re TV by paediatrician Susan Johnson

It's worth the read. Here's the link for you:

http://www.youandyourchildshealth.org/youandyourchildshealth/articles/tv%20article.html

Exciting news to follow by the middle of this week. Stay tuned!