The first step is always the biggest; however tiny it might be. It is a journey
into the unknown, with dreams and hopes and the F word: Fear . In most cases,
that single word holds us back from all that could be and that is what prevents
us from being successful. Here, success is not the traditional meaning of
wealth, fame, name( which, of course, is very welcome) but rather successful to
break through an invisible barrier and discovering a new part of ourselves. And
truth be told, as we grow a family , we become like the stem of a fine oak tree
bearing the weight,weathering the seasons, keeping us upright to let our
branches spread. We parents are most enthusiastic to take down the challenges
only when it comes to our children. I am Debbie, a befuddled parent of a tween
who appears to live the life of a different age group each hour of the day. Too
bad, like all parents, I have no clue which age group it shall be next. It takes
a village to raise a child, they say, But what does one do when the child and
the village seem to live in different eras. I have a much younger brother whom i
supported through school and High school. I dont remember it being this
difficult...was it because i was clued in to the latest trends, or was it
because i wasn't really responsible, just a support function or was it that he
didnt have such tantrums. The latter might actually not be a possibility because
my son quite reminds me of my brother. Months of coping with this situation
myself, I spoke to friends with children in the same age. The response could be
clearly categorized into three...a group who gave in to the whims and fancies of
the child, a group who have taken to informed slow living to pull the children
out of the attractions and the huge number of parents like me...completely at a
loss of what to do.. so taking one day at a time. I looked for reliable blogs
and research papers on the internet. Much to my surprise, the content for
babies, toddlers and then young adults was a lot more that the tweens. That is
my motivation to start this page.And even if one parent or child finds anything
of use here, my job is done.
A little of everything and all
I often think that my child, with whom, I found myself on this journey, has interests scattered all over the place. Given his gifts, he is, to say the least, a little better than average in almost anything he tries. Sometimes, that quenches his interests and we never look back at the activity. And yet at other times it only piques the thirst of learning more. If all the things that interested him were to be given a physical shape, it would be a rainbow colored long bow like the Japanese Wakyu. That is how, at least, I envision it... and I think through my blog and pages , I would strive to bring a structure to the learning, so that the whole process becomes more fun than overwhelming both for the child and the adult present. Alongside that I would like to address some of the challenges that my child and I, and probably many more parents and educators face each day in our respective roles as learners. An example to that would be the continuous struggle of my child to stay focussed. ...
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