Today At The Playgound.

I wanted to share something that occurred today as it’s in relation to what I was saying yesterday about the messages we are sending our children. Although most of us never ever intend to send these messages to our kids we do it so frequently without even realising. Take today for example ….

I decided today to pick my eldest up from school 20 minutes early so that my 17 month old  and 4 year old could play in the playground. Not long after arriving a young boy around 2 years old ran up to  my youngest and gave him the biggest cuddle. It was so big that it became a tackle and knocked him over. My 17 month old fell backwards and hit his head on the ground and the young boy landed on top of him. His mother came running over and began to apologise to me profusely. But what she did next is what upset me.

She began to yell at her son. She told him how naughty what he did was and how bad he is and gave him a little smack on his bottom. As I stood there all I could think of was her son and what he was being taught in that very moment.

I explained to the mother that my son was ok and how beautiful and loving her son was. I explained to her that her son was only trying to cuddle and give my 17 month old love and that it was really sweet. She apologised again saying she doesn’t know what’s wrong with him and walked off.

The rest of the time at the playground all I could think about was what this boy had just learnt. He learnt that seeing someone you like and love and giving them affection is naughty, wrong and makes you bad person. He didn’t mean to knock my youngest over and to fall on top of him he was just a little too enthusiastic with his love, and if you ask me there is nothing wrong with that. The world needs a little more enthusiasm when it comes to love.

This sort of thing happens every day. I too am guilty of it at times, like with Julian and his vegemite and cream and how tempted I was to tell him it was wrong and he was silly for wanting it. We have an important job as parents, the most important of all jobs - we are raising our future. It is our children that will take this world in the direction we want it to go and quite frankly I can see where it’s heading if we continue our old ways …..

Do You Know Best?

Today I gave my youngest boys pikelets for lunch. My 17 month old had Jam and Cream – the only way to have them and my 4 year old, well he wanted vegemite and cream. 

I was about to say no and tell him that he had to have jam and cream as vegemite and cream would be disgusting and that it was a silly idea. But I stopped myself and thought about it and how often I do this. How often I insist that ‘my’ way is the right way. That I know best. I do, but I only know what’s best for ME, not others. 

Personally I couldn’t think of anything worse on a pikelet than vegemite and cream but for my 4 year old perhaps it was the best combo ever. So I made it - vegemite and cream and he ate the whole thing. 

Had I made him what I wanted and thought he should have had what would this tell him? On a deep level it would tell him that he doesn’t know what’s best for him, that he should always do what others tell him to do and not what he wants to do. Not a message I want to be teaching my boys…

I do it so often to, insist my way is right and that I know best, but I’m slowly learning and re teaching myself that I only know what’s best for me and not others.

Caged Birds

I like to believe I live with an open heart. So open it hurts. I cry for others pain, I cry for the innocent, I cry for guilty but I also love like I’ve never loved before.

My latest pain is caged birds. No bird should ever be caged!  A Bird is born to fly, to spread its wings and do what it was born to do. A bird wasn’t given wings to sit in a cage.

I know a caged bird. He sits in the nursing home I visit. He is so sad. He hardly chirps, only ever occasionally when he spots his own reflection in the mirror. He thinks for a moment he has company and is happy, it is short lived as he soon remembers he sits alone . He sits awaiting his own death never flying at all, never having felt wind beneath his wings.  

Again I am only one person but how can I make this better? How can I stop the madness of the world we live in? A world that cages birds! Why? Because they make good ornaments and decorations? Or is their company that we seek, yet how often is that company shared?

If you own a caged bird when was the last time you really looked at him or her. What did you see? I doubt you saw peace in his eyes…

Tonight I pray that no bird shall ever be caged and that the birds that are, fly free.

Syria Under Attack...

Some of the victims of this attack. Innocent Children.

Today I heard of there was an attack in Syria where at least 1300 innocent people and more were killed by what was believed to be a gassing. Children also among the dead.

It saddens, upsets and angers me that we live in a world like this.

I often wonder what I can do. Because we can call all do something. Being mad and angry wont help the situation only add to it, like fuel does to a fire. What I can do is love. I can add love to this world and not hate anger or fear.

I can be nice to those that aren’t to me, I can treat all those I encounter with love and kindness, irrespective of their views, thoughts, beliefs and nationality. I can smile at the child who sits alone and help the lady who is having difficulty with her children. I can choose to bite my tongue when tempted to say something that is hurtful, I can put my own judgments aside and choose to see only the good in people and know that deep down within us all is love and goodness.

I do realise that I alone may not be able to change the world but I can change me!

You Have It So Good.

 

Making my 17 month old lunch I felt so incredibly grateful that I can feed my children. Always.

 It reminded me of something I heard the other day that touched me in so many ways and is bound to reach into your hearts and grab you as it did me. Especially mothers.

A friend of mine told me about a friend of his who recently traveled to Africa to help out in many of the aid programs they have there. In the first few days of her stay she saw the conditions that these people lived in daily, they were hungry, suffering from malnutrition and lived in what many of us would describe as unimaginable. However what stuck her most is what she witnessed one night.

A mother sat in her hut with her three children who were nearly all bones. The children were crying with hunger and begging their mother for food. The mother found a big pot, filled it with water and boiled it over a fire. She told the children that she has some meat and it will take a very long time to cook. Eventually the children fell to sleep crying and tired of waiting and awoke to find their mother and the empty pot. They went to their mother asking if the meat was ready and their mother simply said “I’m sorry but it cooked whilst you were asleep and have missed it, the meat is now gone”.

The lady who witnessed this said she was changed that day. I have to say I am too. My heart tore open as I felt that mothers pain and also felt that mothers love. That mother loved her children so very much that she couldn’t tell them they had no food, she didn’t want to starve them of the one thing they had, hope. How beautiful that mother was. She couldn’t feed her children food but she could still feed them hope, she couldn’t bring herself to tell her children that there was no food and she wasn’t sure if there ever would be….

Think about this the next time you complain that you’re hungry, or when your food is served cold and you wish it were more to your liking. Or how about when you go to your cupboard and say ‘there is nothing to eat’ when your cupboard is full of food it’s just food you don’t want to eat at this time. Think of that mother and her children who right at this very moment are boiling water full of hope.

Be grateful for your life. You have it so good.

Your Breasts Aren't You.

If there is one body part of mine that I would change it would be my breasts. They are much smaller than I would like. Today I again thought how this body part ‘fails’ me when I realised that they are perfect. They are mine and this is how I was made.

There are things in life I can change such as my attitude, house, belongings and what I wear each day but I cannot change how God made me. Yeah sure I could go ‘buy’ some but why? So I feel more lovable?  More feminine?  Happier ….

I may feel some of the above for a while but it won’t last. Because we all know that deep down its the love of yourself and who you are and not the love of your body that is vital, and It’s that person I am learning to love despite her casing.

I have friends who have had breasts enhancements and know that more and more women today are getting these procedures done and I’m beginning to ask why?

We are all perfect the way we are. We are not our breast size. If we all had ‘boob jobs’ where would the variety be? If we all had blonde hair … how boring! We were made different for a reason and we are all perfect in our own different way. Why be like someone else when your perfect at being you.

Bread Crust Can Bring Joy

What I loved today was noticing we had left over bread crusts. I was taking my boys out anyway and decided last minute to take the crusts with us so we could feed the ducks on the way. Simple things. Simple things like feeding ducks breadcrumbs can bring joy to not only the ducks (who were extremely grateful for the feed) but to my boys who felt delight in doing so.

Life really is simple. We only complicate it. Children do not need fancy toys, games or expensive trips away they only need you and us to show them that life is already exciting and that all they’ll ever need is here <3

Doctors Do More They Save Your Life ... They Dedicate Theirs.

Thinking about doctors I realised how grateful I was for them and particularly those that choose to be one. It’s a commitment of 10 years (and more for surgeons) to study and learn a job that in so vital in our society.

Every day surgeons perform life saving operations on thousands of people in this country and countries all around the world. Operations that take many, MANY hours and its not normally until you need one yourself that you realize their value.

So today (even though I don't need an operation) I am still grateful for all those who dedicate their lives to save others, because without them and the work they do, well, where would that leave us?

Which Half Are You?

I was thinking about the glass half full or empty question earlier today and remember being asked it when I was younger, whether I thought the glass was half empty or full. I always answered that it was half empty and was surprised when I was told that the better answer was to see it as half full rather than half empty. To me it was actually both and I didn’t see how me saying it was half empty was a bad thing. Now as I’m older I understand what this question is all about. How you view life.

 So today randomly, in my own random thoughts, as I noticed a glass half full and half empty on the bench I asked myself the same question again. Is it half empty or half full?

My answer was immediately …. “I see a glass that needs filling!” a mum thing perhaps, but then again I realised this pretty much sums up how I view life these days. 

I see a glass that although is half full still has room for more. We all have ‘empty’ bits, bits that need filling with all the wonderful things in life. Your glass may be half full and that is a great thing, to be positive and focus on the full parts of your life, but we all must remember that parts of us are empty too and it’s those parts that I try to fill each day.