Lead your children, but also take the lead from them

I was supposed to have posted this LAST week already, but have been kept busy by my clients. So here we are a week later.

Being a working-from-home-mom means having to keep HappyFish intellectually occupied for as long as possible so I can get on with my designing. Which means finding clever ways to let her entertain herself;  taking the lead and inventing activities that I know she'll like. But MOST of the time it only means taking lead from her as she demonstrated once again on Thursday morning.

Being in front of my mac I heard my 14 month old playing with some marbles and went to check that none were being swallowed or put in her mouth at all. She was however only rolling them around, putting them in a container, taking them out again and just having an overall blast.

This inspired me to take the lead and I take her enjoyment to the "next level". I went to the kitchen and fetched an empty egg carton holder (I knew it would come in handy some time!). 

This way she can "sort" the marbles in different compartments.

At first I felt REALLY chuffed with myself, being so clever... but then, within a minute or two (in fact the time it took to take these photos), she lost interest completely and went back to fiddling with the container.

She seemed invested! 

So I quickly took the last couple of photographs and got back to my mac. She was having so much fun and I would be able to get some quality design-time. What a win-win morning!

Lesson learned: give constructive lead to your children, but also take their lead and let them play, grow and have fun without trying to be too constructive. 

I'm sure they (and you!) will thank you for it.

Till next time - keep leading by example!

Colossians 3: 23-24

Ballet makes you grow

It may sound strange, but ballet does have a positive influence on small growing bodies.

My parents signed me up for my first ballet class when I was 3. And I'm proud to say that my last class was around the age of 13. Not that I stopped dancing. I went on doing modern dancing, hip-hop, ballroom and LOVED it all!

The point however is what happened during those first 10 years of doing ballet. My confidence and discipline grew and as a bonus my body got transformed into a blossoming ballerina. I was standing up straight, had some nice calves and long hair (to get them into a perfect bun).

So when I saw FlowerFree's love for dance I decided that ballet will also be a great way to make her grow. And today was her first class! So exciting. I picked her up from daycare all dressed up in her pretty pink leotard, skirt, bobby shocks and fresh leather ballet shoes ready for action!

Normally parents aren't allowed to watch, but as today was the demo class we could take some photos and videos and I could see the right choice was made. She was loving every tippy toe and arm movement.

I can't wait to see how my little girl grows and transforms. I will keep you posted on this transformation.

Mrs Z

xxx