Bringing flowers to her teachers. A smile & a headband too. This was a big day.
Arguably one of the most difficult ordeals a parent endures is watching a child suffer.
For the past four weeks, my eight-year-old daughter has been tormented and at times incapacitated by her own mind. I could not talk her out of it; I could not buy her way out it. This was her suffering and only she could bring a close to it. Read the rest of this entry »
Last week I took a field trip. Six friends piled in my van and set out on a journey, destination unknown. We knew the physical address but we had no concept of the realm we would journey to. Read the rest of this entry »
The essence of the Banyan
I will attempt to capture the essence and insight of this story. Tonight at voice lessons, my almost 5 year old son sits down on the piano bench and pulls out his sticker chart. To the teacher’s astonishment, all the square blocks have been filled in with hand- drawn smiley faces. Unbeknownst to me, this is Henry’s clever handiwork. As he knows, when the chart is full, he will earn a prize.
Sitting in the kitchen, listening to this exchange, I wonder what the real purpose of sticker charts is. What lesson had the teacher hoped to teach? Read the rest of this entry »
This past weekend, I took my daughters on a date to see Soul Surfer. You may have heard it described as the inspirational movie about the teenage surfer who survives a shark attack, and goes on to become a Professional Surfer. Read the rest of this entry »
Due to the significance of trust, I broke down the practical application into two parts. The first was the indirect ways we build trust – through our integrity, respect, transparency, and correcting our wrongs. This is Part II of the two-part series on increasing your child’s trust account through conscious parenting. In both parts, the underlying principle is live your highest values and trust will resonate. Read the rest of this entry »
Whether the value is known or not, every parent has a trust account with their children. If conscious parenting calls us to awareness with action, then it may be time to read the balance statement of our children’s trust account - is it overdraft or increasing in value? Whatever the current balance, there are mindful steps we can take to plant, restore, and grow trust. Trust can improve the quality of every relationship, and is an essential ingredient to grow a garden of plenty. Read the rest of this entry »
Nothing will focus you on the important matters of life faster than writing your Living Trust & Will and Advance Health Care Directive. Writing a last will and health directive now, before it is needed, is an act of conscious parenting. It is awareness with action. A last will and health directive may be the ultimate task of Quadrant 2 in the risk-benefit matrix. Read the rest of this entry »
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My Child's Gardener by Michelle M. Bross is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.