It Works

My youngest son really missed me while I was away for two weeks of training.  I did come back refreshed and renewed.  I have really used the image of the Madonna in all my interactions with him.  My voice has lowered, my gestures have softened toward him.   I am using the Pikler Rule: Never, ever pull an object from a child's hand."   I am finding that I have a lot to learn from the Pikler Method.  Respect of the child is so key...they don't always come when called...or stop doing something when they are told to stop....but if I  allow enough time so as not to hurry (who ever saw a Madonna rushing?  Hmmm? )  then I can  speak softly and remind my son a few times that it is time to dress, etc.    This has been working out so well for us these past 4 days since I returned.  We have been sharing alot of one-on-one time and I am not working right now...it is true...but I am making a huge conscious effort to look deeply into his eyes when I answer his questions...stop what I am doing to watch him when he asks me to watch, touch him always with gentleness.  

When I am tired or overworked I tend to focus on my tasks and not take the time to look up at my son when I am answering him...this is so disrespectful.   Or I don't truly enjoy watching his antics when he asks me to ," Mom...watch me swing on the trapeze..."   I am making a real effort to consciously hold him, look at him, and listen to him like a Madonna...I just hope and pray with all my heart that I can sustain this when I start babysitting again and school starts up again.  

I think a major key is to get enough sleep.  

Well, my little boy may have really missed his Mamma for two weeks..but a new-improved Mamma has returned to him...I have gone to "finishing school"...I know it is working because I have been getting so many kisses during the day from him.....lots and lots of love.  

Be Like A Madonna.

Be Like A Madonna...Those were the words that brought it all together for me. I had just ended a two week initial training for the Sophia's Hearth Nurturing the Child and Family in the First Three Years 13 month training course in Keene, NH. All the Speech work, the gesture games, the Spatial Movement Exercises, the lectures on child development....all came down to one phrase...Be Like A Madonna.

Funny .. I used to be infatuated with Madonna the singer when I was a tween. Well this Madonna is nothing like that Madonna...or maybe she is...Hmmmm. Food for thought.

Enough of that musing...here are a few photos of Madonnas:

See the head space on these photos. These ladies are not crunched or hunched up into themselves. They have an upright head and serene expression. Just looking at them creates a feeling of serenity and calm. See the gesture of their hands...cupped to gently form to the contours of the child. See the gaze of the Madonna...not wide-eyed staring at the baby..but a low lidded, soft gaze upon the beautiful being who is so close to the threshold of the greater source.

Interestingly enough...the first week of lectures also had an exercise where the students gazed at various prints of Madonnas. I am trying to remember some of the comments from the class. I believe some one brought the eurythmy gesture of "B." An embracing type gesture.

I have been trying for two years now in my Work in the Nursery to find some image, some phrase, some teacher to mimic or hold as an ideal to strengthen my center and hold my etheric forces so as to best support the children....I have found her ... in the Madonna.

Now.. how to become her?