ON WITH THE STORY OF THE CHEETAH MOM
OK, so I feel that what is right for my family may not be what is right for yours, and that's so totally ok!!!!
While the kids are young we are very open and comfortable about our bodies. We talk about what we see if needed. The girls learn bathroom habits by watching Mom. The boys will learn by watching Dad. We try to call body parts by their names. We learn to be modest, to protect and keep our bodies special. BUT we also learned that we are NOT to be ashamed of ourselves.
I encourage questions, comments and openness. If they ask touchy questions I have them tell me what they think and based on their answers I tell fill in the gaps that need to be filled according to the maturity level I sense in their knowledge, understanding and social necessity.
For example, when Isabel said to me "I know how dogs do it, but I don't think that's how humans do it, I just don't know how they do?" I knew that she was ready and able to handle more.
So Flip Flop from the birds and the bees to Babies.
Things I LOVE LOVE LOVE to let my babies do
1) play with their food.
Every now and then when we have no where to go and there's time for a bath I will set the baby food tub on the tray and let them have at it. Max was the best. He does NOT put things in his mouth. He gently stuck his hands in and moved them around. You could literally see him just experiencing the texture and feel of the food slow and deliberately. I don't know what this does for motor skills except that it is a great world experience.
2) pull the tissues out of the box
I love it when they advance from just picking up the box and rolling it around in their lap to being able to pull one tissue out at a time until they have emptied the box! That's fine motor, that's pincher grasp, that's learning to focus on a task until it is complete.
3) Playground
I will put my 8 month old on the playground rock wall and see what they do. Will I step away NO WAY! I will be right there behind them - my hand almost touching, but giving them just enough freedom to see what their body can do.
While the other Mom's are screaming and tell their kids stop you're too little, don't do that it's not safe, I am saying, GO AHEAD GIVE IT YOUR BEST, I think that maybe you CAN do it....
4) Hard Stuff
So, your kid is standing at the edge of a pond. It's not deep, but you don't really want to deal with the mess. The spot right there it is VERY shallow, maybe 2-3 inches deep. What do you do, yank her away! Yell at her to STAY BACK!
What did I do?
Well I weighed my options... because I tried the other 2 and they didn't work.. So , option 3 is what I picked.... give the kid a little nudge and PLOP she goes face first into the mud. I had to decide fast or miss my chance. Was it worth how mad I was going to make her, or the mess I was going to have to clean up...
5) Bath time
Our bathtub has non slip = non stick texturing
so I had to get creative
and he loved it!
so why not!
6) We sing about everything.
Ok not so much when Dad is around because let's face it - it still kinda weirds him out. But during the day it is an outright musical......We sing about everything from Max's broken butt, to farts that sound like songs, to moms bad hair days, to making Max the next US President, or our love of chocolate.
I love to sing my instructions to the kids
- Up the stairs we go, up the stairs we go, All my turkeys (duckies) in a row, up the stairs we go
- Clean up all the toys, toss them in the box, Spin and jump and dance around and toss them in the box
It's pretty amazing how you start singing the instructions and suddenly they are doing it with you - or singing it with you - or making up their own verses.
7) The world is their playground AND their class room.
I am a noticer, I notice people, things, nature, etc. I love it, I want to understand it and soak it all in. I try to share what I notice with my kids and learn from it. We learn to count when we learn to walk up and down the stairs. I will always remember that there are 14 steps on our flight of stairs.
I guess when you look at the the 6 things listed above this - they all fall into this same category as well - I like to get my kids out and learning by seeing and doing and experiencing.
- Theme Parties with friends for no reason - Water Party, Princess Party, Art Party, Cooking Party. It serves so many purposes, gets my kids friends into our home, gets us doing an activity together that my kids love, we learn new skills and we work on social skills, since we've moved to St Louis kids don't invite other kids over anymore - don't know why - so I'm glad I learned about play dates and theme parties.
- Good old fashioned summer rainstorm with out lightning = C'MON kids let's go play in the rain
- Feeding the birds (and other creatures) - the kids can identify a ridiculous number of birds, some of their sounds, the differences between male and female, etc. etc. and they have a love and respect for life.
- Burying the dead birds, mice, cats, etc. - gives us opportunities to talk about God, Heaven, life, and death.
- Practice Tornado Drill at the 1st of the month = Hey girls what do we do? And we treat it like it's for real EVERY TIME!
- Weather in general = phases of the moon, storms, types of clouds, constellations,
I don't know - maybe these things aren't all that weird or unusual. It's just how we are. If I wasn't shy and anxious to talk to strangers or to ask for things we would probably be even more adventurous.
So, I don't remember from the last post if I talked about what a Cheetah mom is like - but the things I read say that they stay with their cubs for the 1st two years - showing them the ropes, teaching them how to hunt and care for themselves and everything they need to know.
Essentially, I'm not hardcore. I am soft and understanding. I don't expect perfection. I don't put school work or sports or talents above family, God or sleep :) Often I am indecisive and I sabotage all of my own mothering tactics. Sometimes they run all over me and I can't stop it. Sometimes I smile inside and let them.
You are the coolest mom.
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