Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Try Something New- October

So I failed during my first month of "Try Something New." The month is coming to a close and I never took a Zumba class. I will put that back on the list for future months.

So, hmmm, what did I do that was new this month? Well I did go to a seminar on raising independent children. It was definitely out of my comfort zone. It was at a local Unitarian church. Our nanny takes Beatrice to playgroup there. The talk was very interesting and the women were very nice. There was some God-talk but not enough that I felt uncomfortable or too out of place. (I am not devoutly religious.)

The only bad part was the icebreaker. I hate icebreakers. I realize that while I am a chatty person with my friends, I am not really all that good in a group where I don't know anyone. It felt very 'first day of a new school. '

It was ironic that the topic for discussion was Raising an Independent Child because my little miss was not so much into being independent when I dropped her off at the day care there. There was crying. Lots of crying. More like wailing. But she did eventually calm down with a nice caretaker who took her for a walk. By the time I picked her up all was forgotten. Let's hope she does better at next month's session. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

I did learn a lot in the seminar. Often times, we as parents (I do this especially) age our children. We think that by 2 they should be off on their own, running around without a glance back at us. Some kids will do this but others most certainly will not. You need to gauge your child's independence and see what they're comfortable with and you need to work with their innate personality. It definitely made me feel better because Beatrice is not one of those kids who'll jump into a new situation feet first. It takes her at least 20 minutes to warm up. That's just her nature. I think she'll always be like that but as she ages and matures, she'll come up with coping mechanisms (let's hope crying isn't one of them.) I think our job as her parents is to expose her to new situations little by little, to encourage her to be comfortable with new people, but above all to let her know that she's always safe and loved.

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