Posted by
janet on Feb 1st, 2010
Many of us have the sense that the children in our care chose us. We feel it especially when a child’s needs tap into our weaknesses, we are forced to adjust, and that adjustment makes us change for the better. It is as if their souls zeroed in on us and decided, “That woman and that man, those future brothers and sisters need lessons I can provide. I’ll help them grow. I’ll be their teacher.”
I...
Posted by
janet on Dec 20th, 2009
I know the gift all children want most — we all want it — but it’s a hard one to remember. I’ve forgotten it for days, even weeks at a time. Sometimes it takes a desperate situation to remind me.
Once, I remembered it when my independent ten-year-old went through a phase in which she saw no reason to bathe. Days would pass. She would come up with excuses. I would let her off the hook and then forget...
Posted by
janet on Nov 25th, 2009
I saw a cartoon recently depicting a mom on a street corner with a sign that said “Will Worry for Food.”
I know the feeling. I often wake up in the night in chest pounding worry for my children — worries about their hurt feelings, their disappointments and bad moods. And, of course, I worry most for their health and safety. One small worry can spark a blazing wildfire fueled by anything and everything...
Posted by
janet on Nov 8th, 2009
When children misinterpret song lyrics, words or expressions, their mistakes are often more descriptive — and certainly more amusing — than what was originally written. Kids hear the darnedest things! And by hearing through the ears of our children we can share their fresh, innocent (and sometimes even more sensible) point-of-view of the world.
I was driving my two younger children to the morning...
Posted by
janet on Oct 21st, 2009
I can relate to babies. I get over-stimulated in the supermarket the way babies do. I have a strange aversion to making lists and always believe I will be able to take a few minutes to march down each aisle, recognizing all I need to buy. Twenty minutes later, I’m in a zombie trance and have covered less than half the store.
(The hidden benefit to this is that my husband now prefers to get-it-and-go himself,...
Posted by
janet on Oct 13th, 2009
When a child is two or three years old he experiences one of life’s biggest miracles. He rings a doorbell, calls out a simple phrase and a grown-up hands him candy! What could be more divine?
The miracle of candy is undoubtedly the bedrock of a child’s love for Halloween. But there are other elements of Halloween in which a child can delight, and they will give him more to savor than just sugary sweets. When...
Posted by
janet on Oct 13th, 2009
On Monday afternoon my eight year old son asked me to help with his homework. His class is reading the novel, Stone Fox, and his assignment was to answer the question, “Does the grandfather have a sense of humor?” The students were asked to make an argument, cite an example from the text, and finally, to draw a picture of the dog in the story, Searchlight.
I admired my son’s decision to complete this work on...
Posted by
janet on Sep 30th, 2009
As my Ford cruised through the canyon, it started to rain. My six-year-old son and I were returning home from a birthday party for one of his friends. It had been a sunny afternoon, and then suddenly dark clouds converged. A bold radiance dramatically backlit the clouds. Rain is a rare occurrence in Southern California.
I had a CD by Coldplay on and the song “Swallowed in the Sea” began. After a minute, my son...