When years ago, I was asked to write an article about motherhood, I started by describing how much mothers are venerated in this world. What came to mind were Madonna paintings, statues of Mother Mary, all the symbols in art and culture where mothers are depicted in an aura of holiness and reverence. The person …
A theme that has been recurring in my life is that of redeeming myself through the eyes of those whom I deem innocent. For most of my life, animals were my main target for this quest. As a child, I would look into the eyes of animals and would see a well of innocence in …
As soon as Syntia started exploring solids, we’ve let her decide what she wants to eat. Initially she was mostly interested in a small selection of fruits, but she quickly expanded her tastes and interests to a large and varied range of foods. Sometimes her choices seem odd to me, like choosing a tomato as …
Over the course of (almost) five years, in having become a mother and engaging myself in more parenting and mother related social circles – I’ve seen a lot of sad news of young babies and children passing away. My first instinct upon seeing this news or even mention of it – was a sudden sadness …
Sometimes happiness is putting little gravel rocks one by one in a wheelbarrow and using said wheelbarrow as a trumpet and just sitting there watching little people do things that don’t have to make sense with a wheelbarrow. #wheelbarrowsforlife #teamwheelbarrow #kids #children #parenthood #parenting #zen #itdoesnthavetomakesense #gravel #rocks #ordinary #farmlife #unschooling #consciousparenting #continuumconcept
To date, the most challenging experience I’ve come across is seeing my daughter being ill and facing the thought of losing her. In this podcast I share what happened to Syntia in recent weeks and how I in turn reacted to what was unfolding. To be honest, this is not an experience I know how …
“Leila, my eyes are sick”, Cesar, my 4 year old son, tells me. My first instinct is to go into full-blown paranoia – there’s something wrong with him!! I stop for a moment and take a breather. I’ve been down this path before, going into fear only veils me from what is really here. Almost …
What does kindness mean? How have I been living kindness? Have I been truly kind to myself and others, or have I been micro-managing myself to ‘fit in’? How we define a word affects our relationship with ourselves, our children and everyone else around us. Maite opens up her relationship with the word kindness, how …
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 …
![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=5qvWorAaQU0AX_Qrjn2&_nc_ht=scontent-sea1-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&oh=00_AfBfLnLqnc_Rg3uprr_1ex9XhutQf0kt2ieu89_7Lu9oxA&oe=64803712)
