{"id":2999,"date":"2010-01-01T01:10:51","date_gmt":"2010-01-01T06:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=3056"},"modified":"2009-12-21T18:04:45","modified_gmt":"2009-12-21T23:04:45","slug":"pagan-parenting-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2010\/01\/01\/pagan-parenting-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Pagan Parenting"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin: 1ex;\">\n<div>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\">Letting it Flow<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\">I attempted to force out a Family Values  article this month but in the interest of practicing what I was preaching  I decided to try again next month.\u00a0 The flow was not happening. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\">Going with the flow in parenting is  a lesson that is hard to keep up with.\u00a0\u00a0 It is a challenge  that is constantly facing us and it seems that kids move with natural  rhythms with more ease than we do. \u00a0 If they are tired they sleep,  if they are hungry they eat.\u00a0\u00a0 When we try and inflict our  ideas of schedules and such we can often present a conflict to the very  primal emotions they feel.\u00a0\u00a0 But at the same time children  need routine and predictability to feel secure and to blossom.\u00a0\u00a0  So the flow can mean letting natural rhythms coincide with routine and  creating a system for your family that is not necessarily typical but  fosters a healthy home life. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\">Parenting from this place requires  us to tap into the element of Water.\u00a0 Water does not think about  how to move around a rock or other obstacle in its path it simply moves  around it.\u00a0 It adapts to situations swiftly .\u00a0 I often find  myself cringing when I realize that time has moved more quickly than  I had anticipated in a morning and my son has moved from tired to cranky\/tired  and will soon have a meltdown.\u00a0 Rather than worrying I would aspire  to have faith that he too can adapt as he has proven to me many times.\u00a0\u00a0  My job is to try and avoid asking too much of him, making his water  energy spin in too many circles of newness.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\">As parents we are expected to anticipate  moods and desires but often our anticipation doesn\u2019t necessarily have  to occur, it is just one possibility in many possible outcomes.\u00a0  The lesson of water is to anticipate but not hold onto the outcome rigidly.\u00a0\u00a0  Let yourself be pleasantly surprised at being prepared for the worst  but having something not so bad happen.\u00a0 Be open, be resourceful  and most of all enjoy moving with a steady rhythm, like the constant  beat of waves on the shoreline.\u00a0 Your child will feel that fluidity  and the rhythm will impart stillness and calmness to them.\u00a0\u00a0  And when conflicts occur as is natural and inevitable in day-to-day  parenting try reciting a little chant or visualizing cool water gently  flowing around you and your child, breathe and try again.<\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\"><strong>Water Chant for Flow  in Parenting<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\">Water, water move and  flow<\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\">Water, water let it  go<\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\">Water help calm feelings  come<\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\">Water renew everyone<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Letting it Flow I attempted to force out a Family Values article this month but in the interest of practicing what I was preaching I decided to try again next month.\u00a0 The flow was not happening. Going with the flow in parenting is a lesson that is hard to keep up with.\u00a0\u00a0 It is a challenge that is constantly facing us and it seems that kids move with natural rhythms with more ease than we do. \u00a0 If they are tired they sleep, if they are hungry they eat.\u00a0\u00a0 When we try and inflict our ideas of schedules and such we can often present a conflict to the very primal emotions they feel.\u00a0\u00a0 But at the same time children need routine and predictability to feel secure and to blossom.\u00a0\u00a0 So the flow can mean letting natural rhythms coincide with routine and creating a system for your family that is not necessarily typical but fosters a healthy home life. Parenting from this place requires us to tap into the element of Water.\u00a0 Water does not think about how to move around a rock or other obstacle in its path it simply moves around it.\u00a0 It adapts to situations swiftly .\u00a0 I often find myself cringing when I realize that time has moved more quickly than I had anticipated in a morning and my son has moved from tired to cranky\/tired and will soon have a meltdown.\u00a0 Rather than worrying I would aspire to have faith that he too can adapt as he has proven to me many times.\u00a0\u00a0 My job is to try and avoid asking too much of him, making his water energy spin in too many circles of newness. As parents we are expected to anticipate moods and desires but often our anticipation doesn\u2019t necessarily have to occur, it is just one possibility in many possible outcomes.\u00a0 The lesson of water is to anticipate but not hold onto the outcome rigidly.\u00a0\u00a0 Let yourself be pleasantly surprised at being prepared for the worst but having something not so bad happen.\u00a0 Be open, be resourceful and most of all enjoy moving with a steady rhythm, like the constant beat of waves on the shoreline.\u00a0 Your child will feel that fluidity and the rhythm will impart stillness and calmness to them.\u00a0\u00a0 And when conflicts occur as is natural and inevitable in day-to-day parenting try reciting a little chant or visualizing cool water gently flowing around you and your child, breathe and try again. Water Chant for Flow in Parenting Water, water move and flow Water, water let it go Water help calm feelings come Water renew everyone<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2999\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}