Family Creativity Birthed in Boredom

I learned that children need down time.  They need time just to be and relax, even time to be bored because that is when creativity and ingenuity are born.Surrounded by babies and toddlers, I was not free to entertain my children nor did we have enough money to keep them in an endless round of paid activities. At……

10 Tips for Parents from Mother of Nine9

As a mother of nine kids, people often ask me, “How on earth did you manage without any help? ”   So I present a list of my top ten tips for a happy family life    . 1.  Focus on the joy of parenting, not on everything we are giving up to raise a family 2. Mothers, remember, we have one……

Don’t bully yourself | The Joy Of Mothering

Children are free to allow themselves to be loved and to love Don’t bully yourself with harsh comments of how you look, your past, or your fears, because if you are hard on yourself, you will be hard on others… find the voice of Love inside you, listen to it, own it, let Eternal Love……

The 3 Most Important Facts

If my children could  remember only three things to take with them into their adult life , what would I want them to be?  Tony Berkman at BlogCatalog asked me this question. 1.Trust that I love you and believe in you. Let that love be your foundation and your springboard into life. 2. God loves……

DP: Ode to an Orchard Playground

A place from your past or childhood, one that you’re fond of, is destroyed. Write it a memorial. i stand on hot concrete staring at a large edifice of glass like steel and steel  like glass. yet I do not see this man-made monstrosity. reflected in the mirror like steel i see a cluster of……

Home: Why it is Just Like Montessori School!

Marie Montessori simply used practical life lessons, using real tools, brooms and china to encourage mental, physical, emotional and spiritual life in children. Sure I set up activities and supplied art supplies everyday for my kids but sometimes I encouraged even the smallest of my children to help me. Rachel, at 18 months, loved to……

Life and Death: A Four-Year Old Chooses

Ultimately, there is a thin veil that separates life and death. The following is a true story of a four-year old child, in a coma, following a serious car accident. Chandra was still not conscious when she began to speak to her parents in the ICU. She spoke as if in a dream, describing a big room with two doors where……

Temper Tantrum?

babies are completely dependent on their caregiver My first thought is to pity the child, not the mother. As a mother of nine kids, people often ask me, “How on earth did you manage without any help? ” If I had to divulge one secret that I was fortunate enough to discover early in my……

Kids ARE Like Sponges

People say that children are like sponges; they absorb values, attitudes, culture and spirituality simply through osmosis.  It is not simply a question of  parent’s actions speaking louder than  their words; it goes deeper than that . Both my husband and I were often unaware of the deep spirituality that flowed from our children  to us as well as from us as……

Epidemic Strikes

 Imagine this scene.    Eight children  sprawled  limply on chairs, a Chesterfield and on the rug surrounded by pillows,comforters and favourite stuffed toys.  Every one is moaning on and off with fever, lethargy, and itchy spots that are driving them crazy. I dole out acetaminophen, rotate who gets an oatmeal bath (that brings temporary relief), continue the never-ending……

Does Your Child Think Their Food Comes From The Grocery Store? Try Growing Even One Vegetable In a Pot

   For me, it was important that my kids  connect to the sources of their food in the  vegetable garden. This  was always the children’s domain as well as mine because I wanted them in the garden, connecting with the earth. As they participated in planting seeds, watering growing plants and picking fruit and vegetables, they became attuned to the rhythms of nature. ……

Our Ceiling Is Our Children’s Floor

  Matthew’s Wedding Day       Our family is celebrating our third wedding in five months.  Our joy increases exponentially with every celebration. Matthew fially took the plunge and married  Pam in January, in a traditional church wedding. Mara  chose an intimate ceremony in Barbados with a large reception afterwards. Now on Saturday evening David also celebrates his……

Nature Not Nurture. Trust Me.

This picture is a great symbol for how I very often feel as I watch my offspring. Sometimes I think, “Are you really my kid?Where did that talent, personality or characteristic come from?” All my children have the same parents and  have lived in the same environment but each child inherited not only different physical genes but……

My Adorable Daughter shouted, ” ##+*&$^*#+ !!!”

Experience taught me that the easiest and most effective way to influence my children was to ignore negative behaviour and to praise good behaviour.   Often if I didn’t react to swear words for example, my children soon forgot about them because our family didn’t  usually swear. ( shut up was banned but does mother saying, “Shit” count? We……