One of the aims of our road trip has been to reflect on our current lives and think about changes that would benefit us all as a family. Since January this year, I have been immersed in the
campaign to save Independent Midwifery; whilst my focus has been elsewhere, I have slowly paid less attention to my parenting, participated less in overseeing our home education, and allowed screen time use to creep up and up. These are all things I wanted to address.
In our friends home, there is no TV in the main living area; screens are available in the family room and the use of this is limited. The first week was tough (particularly for Noah) but we created a list of things to do that did not involve technology and over the past 10 days I have seen my children's imagination come back to life: I have watched them attempt things like swimming across the river to reach their goal, read books in record time (we have visited the local beautiful book store to choose more), play endlessly with Lego, ride bikes and make new friends. Screen time is now earned - and generally shared as a family, and Noah's overwhelming addiction to
Minecraft has been curbed. My children are participating in their own adventures - not just watching them on screen!
The plan is to continue this once we return and I am so looking forward to that.
Parenting has to be one of the biggest challenges you can face; being a full-time parent to home-educated children is intense, and I do struggle at times. Sharing living space with another family and being a guest in their home also comes with its own challenges, and after a week here my children were asked to live by our hosts rules. Now, you may think that having someone else tell your children how to behave would have been hard to accept - but on the contrary; my friends noticed behaviour that I was struggling with (rudeness, being disrespectful, fighting, slamming doors etc.) and explained to the children that this was not acceptable, and introduced consequences for displaying those behaviours. Of course it initially went down like a lead balloon with the children, BUT, with the support of my friends, things have improved hugely. It's like having my own personal Super Nanny!
Another area we are planning to continue with!
Finally, Patience is becoming another part of daily life, especially for the children's. As we wait for the arrival of this baby (nothing new to me) the children are having to adjust and accept that there is no rushing nature: it is what it is. Great lessons we are all learning.
I am feeling so full of energy and love for my children - and am looking forward to the rest of our road trip so much! In the meantime, here are some photos of our last few days for you to enjoy...
angela xx
