love

Love, to a child, is spelt T-I-M-E

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A warm continuous relationship is the most important building block to emotional security. Responding quickly and in a caring manner to the needs of a child makes them think ‘the world is a nice place, someone is there for me.’

You can encourage emotional security by giving hugs and cuddles, singing together, sharing stories, playing games and showing your interest in the child. Valuing and liking them for who they are.

Make special time each week to catch up with how they feel, what they have done or even asking them if anything is bothering them.

Time spent giving positive attention such as listening, chatting, having fun and noticing them will give them the healthiest gift of all, great self esteem!

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Be well 🙂

Ear power!!!!

When your shoulder hurts, do you ignore it? Or do you pause to figure out what might be causing the pain and how you might repair the difficulty?

When you feel lonely, do you deprecate yourself for feeling that way, or do you aim to figure out what you might do to alleviate the loneliness?

When those around you share their concerns, distresses and vulnerable feelings with you, do you listen to understand? Or do you brush their words aside as burdensome inconveniences, dismissively label their concerns ‘foolish’ or ‘stupid,’ or negate what you heard with “But…” and explain what is wrong with those thoughts?

Listen with genuine interest to your own quiet inner voice and to others’ in order to understand. Listen to share others’ sorrows and to celebrate their joys. Listen to learn from others when their viewpoints differ from yours . Listening is loving.

Birthday…

Birthday love

So, I grow older. Today I am thirty one. I love this! What an absolute gift to have another birthday amongst the love of my family and friends. Seeing my little boy rip open my gifts this morning has put the biggest smile on my face! Eleanor Roosevelt once said

‘I think, at a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity.‘

I hope that with all my heart I have managed to give my son this, I was blessed with parents who did this for me and I will cherish that over other gifts, however pretty!! Seneca said, all those years ago that ‘A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer.‘ Clever guys those Romans! As an educator whose bag is emotional health and well being, I totally agree and try to share this ethos with my colleagues. If a child gives you a rock. Cherish it, have a big, fat wow moment! It is not the rock that is the big deal. It is the fact that they chose to give it to you!!!

So, live to day as though it is your birthday. Celebrate your wrinkles, saggy bits and grey hairs – they are absolute medals of the passage of your life! They are what you have been through and who you are.

 

Much love on this, my birthday!!

🙂