I worked in the late eighties/early 90's at a Resource Centre for families. We had about 100 visitors a day using our services, adults bringing their kiddies to the 'Drop-in centre', parenting classes and support groups. We did provide "Parenting Teeagers" courses but we mostly saw parents and caregivers with little gaffers under five. The issues (as you can imagine) were innumerable and varied, ranging from "how do i get him to stop biting" to supporting a young family through the death of a child.
As Exec. Director, i had the honour of having each newborn baby "presented" to me and i got installed as "Queen of Parenting". Much fun, but MOST fun was then watching the wee one grow through the early years with all the tangles and frets and successes and challenges that would make a woman my age cower in a corner!! My brain is no longer a "sponge"; more like a piece of coral! Infants, babies, toddlers, pre-schoolers and kinder-schoolers are the original mavericks, the real risk-takers in our world! I admire them so much.
My daughter was around thirteen, i think, when i first started working there and just beginning a relationship with her greatest life teacher, her horse.
There is so much that transpired during that time, i could write a mountain of stories but it would take away from my focus today - my love of little people!!
As a young parent, like everyone, i wanted for my child what my parents didn't give me but i also wanted to emulate the good that i received as well. Like going fishing with my father and sitting quietly in the middle of lake, mist surrounding in the early dawn and waiting for the fish to bite. Learning patience and the majesty of nature. Or laughing with my mother when i permed her hair and she came out a little curlier than we had expected. Learning how to be ok with mistakes. These are my precious, enduring memories which i will never lose.
Isn't that who we are? Our memories? The good, the bad and the ugly.
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