Jordan sent me an article this past week about little ones watching TV. It's very interesting & got me thinking about my family life. Lately I have been finding life... well a bit "noisy" & stressful. Finding the balance is becoming challenging as Daniel & Amy are growing & getting more noisy & needy! Some days I get quite desperate for a quiet moment, even now as I type I am faced with several interruptions! I did write about getting my priorities in order a while ago & continue to be committed to getting it right. Most importantly though, I really want to enjoy the journey & not wish my life away. I can easily wish whole days away just to get to the part of my day when the little ones are in bed & the house is quiet! This brings me back to the article Jordan sent me. I found it very interesting that TV & movies actually discourage us to enjoy the journey. If you think about it most movies cover the entire journey all the way to the happy ending in 1 1/2 hours! Movies cut out the sometimes ordinary and mundane details of our life - they cut out the journey. Everything about our life these days is fast paced with instant messaging, microwave food, etc. I love technology & all the benefits, I also love movies so have nothing against these things. What I am wrestling with is the life that we can easily lose if we don't monitor how we allow these things to affect us.On Saturday Eric & I took our little ones to the library. We just sat in the play area, read stories & hung out. Nothing spectacular but it was really nice & made our family day really special. It was one of the many simple things that we do that would never be exciting enough to make a movie about, but it is part of our journey. The impression that TV & movies give us about life is not real which can often leave us feeling dissatisfied with thoughts that our life is boring or inferior to the life that movies portray. I challenge you to join me in making special memories out of the seemingly ordinary moments of our every day life. I intend to find the fun amidst the noise, I plan to enjoy the demands of the children rather than wish the day away! There are so many creative ways to make life fun. For example I like to practice my singing while I wash the dishes. I allow Daniel to help me cook whenever I can just so we can have fun together - even though it makes more mess it is so worth the memories we are making. Do you have any ideas of what we can do to make something special out of life's ordinary moments?
For christmas Elisha had a rock guitar and opened it at my fathers house with my aunties, uncles nanny - well the whole family really and the guitar was so loud ( the annoying ones u cant wait to take the batteries out of.....)but he loved it and performed to us all. My auntie made a comment saying "they are only this age once" whilst she clapped and danced with him.
ReplyDeleteI thought about it and thought yes! he is only this age once and boy i want to enjoy it every second.
So when he gets his guitar out and presses 'the button' i smile and encourage him. He actually said "come on mummy, lets jump" how cute!!!!
Sam loves to dance and he can express himself clearly when dancing and sometimes we put some music on for him and watch him dance and sing.
Josh often asks me to play on the ps2 with him and just for him to have me race against him or for him to show me his suped up cars that he is so proud of :) Its so important to him, and to me! I sometimes do the football thing but usually thats matts forte....hee hee
I bake with them all or they like to help do dinner too thats always fun. Walks to the shops which gives us a chance to talk. Movie nights where we watch something fun and have sweeties but snuggle in the duvets.
I guess what i am trying to say is, i want to create and absorb memories. To enjoy each moment with each of my children.
Ideas.......create a collage with them of all fun family things you have done - get them to draw and colour pictures of things they have enjoyed doing with you and do a collage or a special album with their pictures?
Such a great post Angela! I agree, the simple family times are most often the ones we remember!!
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