Tag: quotes

Home at Last!

 

I am thrilled to announce that R. came home to her family on November 29. 2012. I think she’s as happy to be home as we are to have her here with us.

A quote that sums up some of my feelings about our first week together: “If one feels the need of something grand, something infinite, something that makes one feel aware of God, one need not go far to find it. I think that I see something deeper, more infinite, more eternal than the ocean in the expression of the eyes of a little baby when it wakes in the morning and coos or laughs because it sees the sun shining on its cradle.” Vincent Van Gogh

Listening

The following are quotes from Joyce Maynard’s novel Labor Day about what babies know, and what they need, and how we might listen to, and be with them. I found these passages to be inspiring and wise, and wanted to share them here:

One thing he would tell me, though, he said, had to do with babies.Not that he was any kind of expert, but for a brief while, long ago, he had cared for his son, and that experienece more than any other had taught him the importance of following your instincts. Tuning in to the situation with all your five senses, and your body, not your brain.A baby cries in the night, and you go to pick him up. Maybe he’s screaming so hard his face is the color of a radish, or he’s gasping for breath, he’s got himself so worked up. What are you going to do, take a book off the shelf , and read what some expert has to say?

You lay your hand against his skin and just rub his back.Blow into his ear. Press the baby up against your own skin and walk outside with him, where the night wind will surround him, and moonlight fall on his face. Whistle, maybe.Dance. Hum. Pray.

Sometimes a cool breeze might be just what the doctor ordered. Sometimes a warm hand on the belly.Sometimes doing absolutely nothing is the best. You have to pay attention. Slow things way down. Tune out the rest of the world that doesn’t really matter. Feel what the moment calls for.

What I have found is that a baby-though she doesn’t know words yet, or information, or the rules of life- is the most reliable judge of feelings. All a baby has with which to take in the world are her five senses.

…And it has been my experience when you do this-slow down, pay attention, follow the simple instincts of love- a person is likely to respond favorably. It is generally true of babies, and most other people too, perhaps.Also dogs. Hamsters even.And people so damaged by life in the world that there might seem no hope for them, only there may be.

Learning

I read and read, and every once in a while, I come across something that resonates deeply and I feel is worth passing on. The following is a quote about learning written by Dawna Markova:

Learning is so much more than a transfer of information. It can mean wholeness, empowerment, actualization, liberation. Observe any young child anyplace in the world and you will find a seeker of excellence built into their DNA. They embody this inherent impulse in their rampant curiosity about themselves and their world, the way they naturally follow their interests and rhythms, seek out and risk experimentation, honor their dreams and daydreams, consider mistakes as information rather than something wrong. Children have taught me that learning is discovering something is possible.

The question for me as a caregiver and an advocate for children becomes “How do I allow, support, and protect the child’s natural ability to engage in her own learning in this deep way, and how do I support parents in being able to see the miracle of what their child is capable of from birth ? ”

I’ll tell you I earned a Master’s degree in Education, and worked with children for many years before being introduced to Magda Gerber and her RIE philosophy, which finally provided me a meaningful way to begin to answer this question. Magda’s philosophy is both simple and profound, and beautiful in that it allows parents and other adults who care for children a way to honor and nurture a child’s essence from the very beginning. I remain in awe and gratitude to this wise woman for her work with children and families, her teachings and insights, and her way of teaching…

Meditation- Slowly, Slowly, Slowly

Eric Carle is one of my favorite children’s book authors. Recently S. (who is now two and a half years old) and I checked  “Slowly Slowly Slowly Said The Sloth”,  out of the library. This book delighted S. and never failed to relax her before nap time as I read it in a very quiet and s-l-o-w voice. What I really loved, (and lifted from the back of the book to share with you) was a note to readers that Eric Carle wrote that struck me as a good meditation for our times and for all of us – parents or not- so here it is:

Why are we always in such a hurry ? Rush! Rush! Rush! We scurry from here to there. We play computer games and then-quick! click! -we watch t.v. We eat fast food. Everyone tells us to make it snappy. Hurry up ! Time is flying. Step on it ! There’s so little time to be with friends, to watch a sunset, or gaze at a star-filled sky. AH, what we could learn -even if just a little-from the gentle sloth who slowly, slowly, slowly, crawls along the branch of a tree, eats a little, sleeps a lot, and lives in peace.

It strikes me that one of the paradoxes of parenting is that spending a day caring for a busy toddler can seem like it will never end, and yet this time in a child’s life is so fleeting…
One of the great gifts of parenting or caring for a young child is the many opportunities we are offered to slow down and exist in the present moment. Try to take a breath today, and create an opening to just be with your little one in a relaxed way for a few minutes or more. See if it doesn’t make a difference for both of you.