The other day, while a passenger in a car, I listened as my daughter wielded some extraordinary parenting words to her four year old who was negotiating like a G7 summit attendee to watch” just a little movie” when they would be arriving home after a long day of swimming. It would be so easy to plug her in as she arrived home, giving time to unload from the day, settling in with a 9 month old baby. Sometimes this happens…but lately, her parents have been careful to limit screen time to a family movie once a week to keep her mind open to learning and creativity on days when she is in a learning environment with other children.
This is NOT a SMALL battle as parents know and requires some exceptional skills to navigate a “NO” without causing major meltdowns in children and adults (another subject later).
First, the “why” of this choice is also another subject for R & W, but this could be any choice or goal you may be working on implementing in your family life (earlier bedtime, sitting up for one meal a day together, choosing healthy foods, new routines, etc.).
In family life with young children, as you have heard from your elders, this time of little ones is so intense, such a short amount of time in our own life timelines, yet so very formative. May I suggest a book recommendation that reminds us of this precious time of “being” along the path as we are “doing” everything in our busy life.
I have always loved Zen Shorts by Jon Muth with Stillwater, the giant panda and friends. A symbol of so much love and openness to whomever you are, whatever thoughts you may have, your time of being is welcome with no intrusion of agenda or hurry to do the next thing…Seems to nourish both reader and listener in these grounding stories. True, they’ve made a short movie version. You could plug your child into that, but then…
Just sitting down to read to our children slows us down, creates healthy emotional bonds, a sense of security and brings everyone’s vibration level up! This of course takes time and practice at home like anything else.