When did you last see yourself in the mirror and spontaneously wanted to give yourself a big smooch? Lol, I don’t remember ever feeling that way! As for many, looking in the mirror has over the years become an automated moment of self-scrutinizing, self-criticising and self-judging. As soon as I’d see my reflection in the …
When the one year old takes the 5 year old for a walk in the stroller
Cesar calling on the Moon and Ocean to make bigger and BIGGER WAVES! Shouting how strong and powerful they are, pleading for a display of some raw nature force. I didn’t intend to swim in the water so I was wearing a dress, keeping us by the small waves rolling on the shore with my …
In this video Leila shares her experience with Postpartum Depression and how she has come to look at it as being an Existential Crisis that envelops one’s whole life and the definitions we’ve ascribed to ourselves. Rather than being a short-term ‘localized’ experience, the Raw Truth of ourselves steps forth and we have the opportunity …
In this video Leila discusses some of the aspects that may be involved in the experience of feeling like your child is abusing you. Remaining conscious of the variables that define the balance in our parent-child relationship will assist in tweaking our own approach and behaviour. Whenever a conflict or friction arises, we have an …
In this video Leila shares her experience in comparing herself to other mothers and getting stuck in bouncing up and down in lifting herself up and breaking down. She explores why jealousy and competition thrive when we are actually inherently insecure about ourselves and the responsibility we carry. What have your experiences been with dynamics …
Living in a community comes with a set of challenges. One of those challenges is the use of space. Lj, Syntia and I share a house with (currently) 4 other people. The kitchen, lounge, bathroom, laundry room, porch and garden are all communal areas. To ourselves we have a 40 square meter room that we …
Maite continues to share how her decision to value herself and her body opened up a process of questioning her understanding and approach to exercising. As she asked herself questions and answered them, she found herself straying further and further off the beaten path, eventually changing her way of exercising into something she had never …
![Cesar gave Syntia his train tracks about a year ago, and before they were hers, she would play with them together with Cesar. She's had a ton of time to learn the different pieces, how to put them together and build a track, but for some reason, she DID NOT want to build a track by herself and most of all preferred to just watch as someone else built the track for her.
Lj and I knew she was perfectly capable of building a track for herself and we tried to support her to start small and show herself that she can do it. Or that we'd be here if she gets stuck, but she can at least try on her own. Any such attempts, however, were met with an absolute and firm refusal. So, we did it with her, or for her.
We started wondering, is this little girl really just taking advantage of us at this point? Are we entertaining this too much? Should we push harder? We knew she could do it, she knew she could do it, but for some reason she just didn't want to do it, at least, not yet.
And then one day, out of the blue, she takes out her blocks and starts building a track... by herself. Lj quietly waived me over, pointing at her, then signing 'shhht', lol - didn't want to disturb the moment. The track you see in the pic is the first one she built by herself. It wasn't a "beginner's" track like a simple circle or a straight line, it was a more intricate design laid out exactly and precisely how she wanted it to be, including all the elements she wanted to have as a part of it. Kabam, out of the blue.
There are other things where Syntia 'took her sweet time', like learning how to walk and potty training, where it was clear at some point that she was able to do it, but for some reason, pulled back or didn't want to do it all by herself just yet. It's so easy as parents to freak out over that, to think that children should develop skills in a particular way, like 'starting small' or doing something by yourself as soon as you're able to. But not all kids are the same in this. [Continued in comments..]](https://scontent-sea1-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.29350-15/135216034_868657797266702_107582540258970761_n.jpg?_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=8ae9d6&_nc_ohc=YW0BFh5jCagAX8o4-_O&_nc_ht=scontent-sea1-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&oh=00_AfAu5PXgozAsoNXkk2oVpvh6PLzszyXUuzDSKFLhABau9A&oe=647E3CD2)
