mark & I went to a talk a few weeks ago by Steve Biddulph on Raising Girls. WOW. we have a HUGE job ahead of us raising our little miss v. it was an absolutely eye opening presentation & gave us great hope of raising a confident, independent, loving and wise woman. since the talk i have been reading his book which was only published this january. again … WOW. we have a HUGE job ahead of us. i have been enjoying the book on two levels. firstly, reading about the stage our little girl is just passing through and what lies ahead. thinking about the important people in her life and how to involve them more. gee she is one lucky girl to have two fabulous (albeit very different!!) grandmothers, two incredible aunties and a funky, wise godmother. these ladies in particular will have a huge impact on her life. secondly, reflecting on my own childhood and going through the five stages to becoming a woman. i am currently in the chapter on 5 – 10 year olds which focuses on friendship. i consider myself very poorly skilled in the area of friendship, so it is absolutely fascinating reading about the skills of friendship, how friendship grows etc. i am desperately praying that little miss v will be surrounded by fantastic friends that are loyal, challenge her, encourage her and love her. i am also seeking ways to change how i am a friend so i can become a better friend and to not be afraid of friendships.
a small but significant point that steve makes is that little girls need to explore their world. in a loving family, a girl will be confident to go about exploring the world without fear of the world, and instead with a healthy curiosity. he says in passing that little girls (especially aged 2 – 5) need to throw away their frilly dresses which restrict their ability to explore, throw on a pair of pants & sneakers and get dirty. it really made me think about how i dress miss v (and yes … i still have that privilege of dressing her, though i have been told that soon this will be taken from me!). so off to the shops i went & bought her a whole bunch of leggings, bloomers, jeans & sneakers. i am about to purchase a whole lot of Lego & I love that she is as obsessed with cars as my son. Don’t fret though ! She still loves her dolls and prams too – she has an uncanny obsession with shoes which can only come from her aunty tam & our grandmother connie who had impeccable taste in shoes. since i have already changed a few small things, then i am totally pumped to read the rest of the book and seriously think about what is being proposed for raising girls.
the week after the talk was a very wet one. it created the perfect opportunity for a little bit of exploring in the rain. so on one of the days i just opened the front door to see what would happen. and of course, little miss v (& joey) were outside in a flash … getting totally soaked & having a blast. it felt good to have this freedom & just watch them explore for a while.
next on my book list is Raising Boys.
xx
i hope i’ll get into the groove of three kids, three & under, soon enough so that i don’t miss out on capturing any moment. these three are too precious & they are growing too fast. sometimes i wish i could just stop the clock for a few days to enjoy the chubby legs, chubby cheeks, the toddler talking, the cuddles, the quirky looks. life moves too fast. a friend of mine posted this comment on fb this morning:
he also pushes me to my limits. last week mark sent me an article on 
