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Parent Debates by Tamra

Parenting Debates - November 2008

Oh for a bit of peace and quiet

November 7th 2008 10:00
Do you have a sanctuary at your place? Somewhere to ‘escape’ to or recharge your battery. Do your kids have a sanctuary or simple space somewhere sans screen? Perhaps we’re filling our lives and our houses with too much stuff and not enough space.

I’ve been dipping in and out of a little book about the notion of sanctuary. About how we are often in need of one, finding yours or creating one and what they mean to us. I often go into homes where there’s plenty of excitement: computers, playstations, large-screens, whizzbangery as far as the eye can see, but there aren’t a lot of places that create a feeling of harmony and peace. Hard with young kids I know, but not impossible.


Perhaps we all need to create corners for ourselves to recharge our parenting battery and for our kids to recharge theirs. Calm places, for reading, contemplation, time spent alone or quietly with others. They’re our homes but so often we give them over to some other notion of ‘entertainment’, guests, ‘what’s easy to clean’, everything except what we might really need from time to time: A place of our own. Or of their own in the case of the kids.

Not unrelated is a story I wrote for Sydney’s Child about the incredible amount of noise we’re creating and whether it’s time to turn down the volume.


Enjoy. Quietly. And good luck with your own sanctuary.

TPx
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Precious Little

November 1st 2008 07:23
These booties were made for walking


It’s amazing what you keep, isn’t it. I was cleaning out the wardrobe in one of the kid’s rooms and came across the little pregnancy tab that had confirmed my first pregnancy. A thin, desiccated, strip of cardboard. That had been weed on no less. It was a tiny representation of what enormous changes were to come.

I was about to throw it out. I hesitated, then put it back in the wardrobe. It was a legitimate part of the collective, the family experience, and it had to stay.

Now, I am a bit of a hoarder, but I like to think I keep interesting things. Things that might (read: never) come in handy. Things that mean something. Things I’d like the kids to have when they’re new parents. (Let’s see how long I have to wait for that to happen) Squeezed into that section of the wardrobe I have baby suits, first little jackets, a few nappies (clean ones), baby mats, hair in envelopes from 1st haircuts, 1st shoes and a couple of teddies and a moose. A soft toy one.

How much stuff have you kept from your past or your children’s past? How much are you meant to keep, or cleave away? Is it a parent’s responsibility to be the repository of the familial memories, is that our role? Memoir Preservers for the next generation. Or is it that the major family experiences are so strong, so poignant, you just can't throw away anything that reminds you of them?

Anyway, I wrote about this little phenomenon of being memory keepers in a piece I did for Sydney’s Child a little while ago.

Check it out. I know how much spare time you parents have…

'Preserving the moment'

Tamra X
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