Patience

"Find your patience", I often tell my four year old when she is whining about wanting to do something 'right now', or when her birthday is still months away and she wants a toy 'now'. Patience: when Mama is talking to Daddy, when learning something new like how to tie a shoe, and it's patience when time is moving slower than molasses pours. "Who is this patience?" my four year old asks me. Where does she dwell? I know it's not always found in this house! Patience is a guest that seems to visit when it conveniences mom, at least, that's what she thinks.

 I remember feeling the same way as a kid. Patience was some annoying visitor in mom's vocabulary that I could not seem to make disappear or remove. In my four-year-old world, everything seemed to move at the speed of light but then every so often PATIENCE put the brakes on. In this high speed Internet, twittering with people around the world, cell phone ringing, gameboy playing, technology filled world nothing seems to have patience. How is it that a word like patience still exists? I laugh when I sense the confusion in my daughter, her world changes in a blink of an eye. 

As an adult we get excited when we learn even one new thing a day-- for children this is common occurrence, they are constantly changing,  constantly learning and soaking up all this world has to offer, like a sponge. I can hear the four year old conversation that goes on in Malia's head, it probably sounds something like this:  I learned a ladybug had wings yesterday, that my nails are bone growing from my fingertips and toes, that I can balance on one foot while blowing bubbles... so... why is it that today I can't carry my sister around--when she is half my size, or put make up on like my mom... or when I ask mom a question, while she is talking to someone she gets upset-- mom is, as you know, the multitasking acrobat of this circus-- how could she not hear me 'and' Dad or whoever is on the end of that phone at the same time? Patience- patience she says... one day, one day... ONE day patience you and I will meet and have words like NOW!


I just know it goes something like that, right? heehee


How do you teach patience? There is not a recipe to follow or formula for success. This does not come in a teachers lesson book (i.e. 20 jumping jacks and students will have patience). I certainly didn't see it on one of those take home pamphlets that they sent home from the hospital when Malia was born.


  "Patience is a virtue" which means it is a moral or a trait that we seek to obtain. This is something we must work on and strive to perfect within us. To me, this means that patience is just one of those wonderful challenges that I signed up for when I became a parent. It is a life long lessons that I am going to have to teach by example and provide my girls ample opportunities to perfect. That is what these first five years is about, right? I am home with my girls now, before they go to school and have outside influences, so that I can provide them with practice runs at life. I am here to set the stage on how our society works, but in the most loving and safe environment that they can successfully learn in. No one in this world is going to be as easy and helpful to my girls as I will-- their mom. There is a war being waged in your life; morals, values, character, self-esteem, and self worth are at stake. My girls are at stake… I am the soldier on the front lines, first one in-- last one out, so when she interrupts me while I am speaking to someone, it is my job to correct her and teach her patience. When she leaves this Big Top and sees that she is no longer the star performer of everyone's show, she is going to need the lessons I taught her to succeed.

How does a word like patience still exists in a fast pace world like today? If we fail to see how it fits in today, than we fail to see how it made way for so many great people. Patience allowed Martin Luther King Jr. to have hope for a better nation, to have a dream, and to have faith that a dream would come to fruition. If I slack off now as a parent and let Malia get away with interrupting she will not learn to wait her turn. If I don't teach her that it takes time to tie shoes she will not learn what it takes to problem solve. If we skip 13 and go right to 30 she will miss so much of life. If I let her put make-up on at four years old it covers up her innocence and takes the progression to life away. She can take what she wants and when she wants it. A small lesson like patience if not groomed and practiced makes for a self-centered person/ self-centered world. 

I believe, that patience leads the way for serenity, serenity makes way for acceptance, and with acceptance one can embrace change! Change that occurs at many different paces in life! Patience maybe a rarely used word but it is the foundation for greatness! 

So hurry, hurry, hurry get your tickets to this Circus cause patience is staring center ring! 

Spatial Awareness

When teaching Physical Education to Kindergartners, one of the first things you work on is spatial awareness. There are many ways to teach this lesson: hula hoops on the floor to teach boundaries, having students do various exercises from within the hoop, playing red light green light, having students move in and around each other while focusing on not bumping or touching each other. This lesson can be fun, laughter filled, and beneficial for students to know their bodies and how to respect others bodies and others physical space. 

As I have said I have a four year old and a seven month old, and as a parent, spacial boundaries seems...ugh, well, null an void. Although I am not complaining, some days when both kids are clung to me and there is no getting them off without some sort of emotional melt down, I realize it is days like these when the toes are digging into my side and little arms are around my neck while I am trying to pay bills, talk on the phone, or (God forbid) going to the bathroom, that I wish a hula hoop would be around me! 

How do you make your point as a parent that Mommy needs space too when life gets crazy? How do you take time for you, without fully disconnecting? Where is my Staples "Easy" button? Where is my Allstate representative to come put me "IN GOOD HANDS"? 


I laugh just thinking about it because I know there is going to be a day soon, where I am chasing after them wanting one more hug, one more kiss, or one more cuddle on the couch! I just hope that my girls remember Mom and Dad are always here for them. While a little space is socially respectful, in our home distance is not sought, sometimes desired but not required. 


I don't co-sleep, anymore and I do baby wear (using an Ergo baby) though I am not opposed to a stroller. I like my girls with me while also encouraging independent play. I don't, however, feel the need to jump all over and judge Mom's whose opinions differ from mine. I have friends that parent in many different styles and their kids-- in my opinion-- help mine to accept others. 


Both of my girls are different and as an educator I have always felt strongly that teachers need to embrace each students individual learning behaviors and incorporate them in their lessons. So when it comes to my girls, Malia has always been a Mama's girl that has always played well on her own and has a desire to learn by trial an error. Zoey, so far, has been stuck on me since day one. She was sick with colds and allergies since six weeks and well, she is all about her Mama. I can't walk out of the room without her watching me and I can't enter a room without having to hold her. She will play in her swing or on her tummy as long as I am in view. She hates to be alone and has a full melt down if left in a room for a second without her sister or I. Is this normal? Uh I think so, at least normal for Zoey! Hey, since I am not working and I am here to provide all that she desires, eh...why not! I am what my girls need me to be: disciplinarian, shoulder to lean on, napkin to wipe their face on, friend to discover life with, sorcerer to conjure up all kinds of imaginative journeys to go on, chef to make just their favorite meal, teacher of the three R's and Life, an ear to hear all of their triumphs and woes, and I will even be the bad guy if it means protecting them from harm! I am Mom, I finally get what my Mom was trying to do all these years...her job! 

Mom/Educator/Circus Coordinator

Being a stay at home mom has its highs and its lows. Everyday is unique everyday is special. I am the Mother to two beautiful girls that have given me purpose especially during this economic down time. If someone had told me 7 years ago when I was graduating from Chico State that my straight and narrow quick leap through "party school central" would land me as a stay at home mom I would have just laughed. In my 4 years of college, I not only survived an abusive relationship that almost took my life and left me with a bounty on my head in my home town, but managed to stay on track and then conquer thyroid cancer that was 1 millimeter from breaking out and spreading into my body. 


Chico State has been known for being one of the top 5 party schools each year and yes, I partook in some classic Chico State events (i.e.. School soccer games, a few Frat parties, and the renown Halloween craze) but despite that, I finished my B.A. in 4 years, majored in Liberal Studies, minored in Special Education and volunteered in over 100 hours of aid time at local elementary schools! My goal was to be a MASTER Teacher! I want(ed) to be the teacher known for changing education, to inspire and turn on some of the hardest to reach students! Well seven years later I have my multiple subject credentials in Elementary Education in two states and a Masters in Education but uhh...no job...schools are closing all around me and I can't even get my foot in the door as a substitute teacher! 


So, what have I done with my time? I have been blessed with two little girls, Malia four and Zoey seven months and my 30th birthday is breathing down my neck in less than two months! So this blog is about the many hats I wear as a mother and how I am going to change education through my children! Maybe one day a school will recognize my talents and give me a chance to have an impact other children. 


Until then... I will be trying to give my children what they deserve and what I went to school to do, a better education. I plan on doing this by leading them by example, inspiring by experience, and learning to accept what life hands us one step at a time. Which, as many of you  know, your own children do not always make the best student(i.e. the listening factor). Children are a Mother's predator, they can sense your fear, your exhaustion, and know just when to pounce! I know that during the nine months in my belly they got all the internal information of how Mom ticks, which is why I am convinced they behave better for Dad. :) 


While it does not take them long to figure you out, it will take you a lifetime to understand their every nuance but it is the journey of love, attention and constant learning that will help you to become the best Mom/Educator/ Circus Coordinator you can become. So follow along with this Ring Leader and "LET THE SHOW BEGIN!"