Conscious Family Journal

A Season of Thanks and Giving

Conscious Parenting with Meg Brown for BodyEcology.com

(Originally published on Thursday, November 27, 2008)

 

So, how was your day??

    

It feels like tough times, for many of us. You can’t turn on the TV or open a newspaper without absorbing bad news about the economy. For some people, the news is more than bad, and it doesn’t look like it will improve anytime soon.

 

When the world gets scarier than usual, we get tense, worried, argumentative and depressed. And we find ourselves saying things to our children such as, “We can’t afford that. I’m not made out of money!”

  

If we are not careful, we will pass on to our children the negative beliefs that we acquired growing up... beliefs about lack, limitation, poverty and struggle. You know what I’m talking about. 

 

As conscious parents, let’s not give in to negativity and despair. Regardless of circumstances, we all have something in our lives worth celebrating.
   

The Thanksgiving holiday is a perfect time to teach our children about abundance, gratitude and generosity.

The Great Gluten-Free Pie Experiment, Part Two

We are one of those families that are trying to become gluten-free.  Or, to be more precise, I am one of those mothers who are trying to make their family gluten-free. 

  

Thankfully, we are not dealing with the serious implications of Celiac Disease, but I have been largely off wheat for over a year.  I now follow the Body Ecology Diet as closely as possible, which advocates healthy, whole grains such as millet and quinoa.

  

Still, I have not yet found a millet or quinoa pie crust recipe.  With the holidays here, I need to either come up with something that will pass the family taste test, or give in again.

   

The Great Gluten-Free Pie Experiment, Part One

  

It should be noted that I tried to produce gluten-free pies last Thanksgiving, but none of my attempts received the stamp of approval from my sons.  We tried multiple recipes with a variety of ingredients, but to be honest, they really didn’t taste very good. 

     

The boys got pretty good at scraping the filling out of inedible pie shells.  They actually enjoyed my sugar-free pumpkin pie filling, but suggested it would be better served as a pudding.  Oh well.

"Will you still love me if I fail this test?"

Conscious Parenting with Meg Brown for BodyEcology.com

 

“Unconditional love is really just love without expectations.”  - Louise Hay

 

As parents, we believe that the regard we hold for our children is the purest, most unconditional kind of love.

    

Looking into the face of a baby, we know that these tiny, beautiful souls are the surest proof that there is goodness in the world. We promise ourselves that this precious child will never know a moment of pain, sorrow, self-doubt or loneliness.

   

Our love is pure, all-encompassing and constant.

  

Next Stop: Seventh Grade 

    

Loving without expectations becomes exponentially harder when our children enter their school years. All of a sudden, our children are being graded on their performance... and for many of us, it feels like we are being graded at the same time.

   

Our own feelings of self-worth become too easily entwined with our perceptions of our children’s accomplishments.

How a Bubble Bath Saved Family Movie Night

My poor kids.  Some days, they just seem to get more than their fair share of life’s troubles.  Having a single mother in her forties is one of those troubles.

 

As happens periodically, I was having a case of the crankies last Friday.  I knew it, they knew it and none of us was happy about it.  Seriously, I tried to snap out of it but it just wasn’t happening.

 

My only saving grace is that, now that the boys are in middle school, they have commenced SEX EDUCATION.  Woohoo.  My oldest son can proudly list all the major symptoms of puberty.  My personal favorite is MOOD SWINGS.

 

The beauty of this is I am now able to explain that when grown-ups hit their forties – and this is especially true for women – they go through what I call a “second puberty.”

 

During this time, while we do not grow body hair in new places (I hope) and our voices do not change (except for those moments when I am yelling my head off and my voice goes up about three octaves), we do, once again, experience mood swings.

What Is Your Parenting Style?

Conscious Parenting with Meg Brown for BodyEcology.com

When I was approached by Body Ecology to do a column on conscious parenting, I was thrilled and just a little nervous.

Was I qualified?

I’ve spent almost twenty-five years in corporate America, building organizations, managing multi-million dollar budgets, developing products and selling services. I’ve traveled extensively and bought my own home. I am the older sister, aunt and faithful daughter in a huge extended family. Oh, wait, I almost forgot: I am a mother. Check.

To be more specific, I am a single mother.

I adopted my two amazing sons when I was forty and they were two and three years of age. Eight years later, we are still learning how to grow as a family and respect each other as individuals. Some days, I am afraid my heart will burst from the pounding, all-consuming love I feel for these two souls. On other days... well, not so much.

Which, of course, is what parenting is all about. It is about being there through the good and the bad, the joy and the sorrow, the victories and the vomit.