..like this...

Women's Liberation is just a lot of foolishness. It's the men who are discriminated against. They can't bear children. And no one's likely to do anything about that. ~Golda Meir

Are We What Our Mothers Ate?

An interesting bit of information, not so useful for us now but it could be for your children. Are We What Our Mothers Ate?

Shared via AddThis

The Choice to Make

Bringing up kids to be confident is hard work. I talked about my middle child earlier. Inspite of his constant pessimism and attempts to push me away, I keep telling him I love him anyway because I just do. He comes around eventually when it sinks in but also forgets soon enough. .. I just have to keep knocking at his door.

This brings to mind the line - ‘We do not have to love. We choose to love’. .. .this is a good place to share where it came from.
I spent the morning hunting for the book, there were many good examples in there, I recall about relationships and how to love. In dealing with kids, we need to consciously think and act positively to the child’s advantage in any given situation (especially in the bad) and build on the circumstance for their growth rather than react. Evaluate, look for the positive.. let the child learn...

Stephen R Covey’s book (7 Habits of Highly Effective Families) puts it very simply that the difference between us and the animals is that, we are capable of placing a ‘pause’ between stimulus and response. We are capable of pro-active behaviour because we have 4 gifts to use during the ‘pause’ to help our response to another human being; these being self-awareness, conscience, imagination, and independent will.

The quote is by the writer M Scott Peck who said
“The desire to love is not itself love….Love is an act of will …. Namely an intention and action. Will also implies choice. We do not have to love. We choose to love. No matter how much we may think we are loving, if we are in fact not loving, it is because we have chosen not to love and therefore not love despite our good intentions. On the other hand, whenever we do actually exert ourselves in the cause of spiritual growth, it is because we have chosen to do so. The choice to love has been made.”

Keep at it!

Interesting Books

I love books. From fiction to romance to inspirational (even marketing).
The inspirational authors I've read over the years and sometime re-read include
Victoria Moran's - Creating a Charmed Life
Henri Nouwen..- numerous books both inspirational and spiritual uplifting...
Robet J Wicks - Living a Gentle Passionate Life
Wanda Nash - At Ease with Stress
A J Russel - God Calling - a special book that was recommended to me by a close friend. Sometimes you just need an answer now and that's when this book comes in handy.

Looking at the various books that I have, tells me that I have been searching for a while (and still searching)for answers and encouragement for myself and my kids.

Words move and show us how lives can change for the better, paint hope and encourage us to move on with our lives whether it's with or without change. It colours our thoughts in future planning and expectations, all with the desire to improve living.

Courage

(p.s the comment label is back for now..lost it in last 2..)

Mom Power

This morning I happened upon this group on Yahoo, it's called Mom Power, under messages there are different outpourings of questions, feelings and emotions about single motherhood and about other-half issues.

There was one in particular that encouraged women to hold on to their husbands in spite of problems.

I am not arguing for or against.. there never is a right or wrong answer, ......I'm still understanding me.

But why is it that if there are really ways for a better existence for all concerned (happy, peaceful, confident), why do we strive to hold on to the old. For all our wise words to our children, we can't make that choice.

We certainly are women, rational yet irrational, uncertainty, dependency, guilt.. I understand it, truly I do .. I'd love to ... delete it (all that stuff that gets in the way).. but it's probably this strange unique mix of female elements that gives us the power to be mothers.

Be strong.

Being mom

Being a mother is not easy. The added pressures of being a working mum make it tougher.
I have exam fever and homework fever too along with them.

If there's no supportive dad in the picture, what's tougher than tougher?

I should be thankful the kids are spaced apart by a few years, you can then concentrate on a different child for his sake at his most stressed time (PSLE, CAs, etc).
Don't believe it if anyone tells you- the older one can help with the youngest one .. doesn't happen.

Being mom means:

- being the gatekeeper
- being their conscience
- being their friend
- being their tutor
- being their counselor
- being their maid
- being the party planner (official balloon blower)
- being their nurse
- being a nag (if that's what it takes, frequency pays off)
- being happy with them even if you aren't
- being the 'whine' recipient
- being strong (even when you don't feel it)
- being their playmate (even when your feet ache)
- being their PC repairman (til they know more than you)
- being the reason for their peace
- and when life calls for it, being their champion

... there's more

It's ALL worth it when they love you back... in heaps !