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This time of year there is a lot of talk about gifts, what we’re giving, what we hope to receive. Much of the giving centers around children and creating a magical holiday for them.

Within the circles we run in there is also a lot of discussion about how much is too much, minimizing the materialistic, consumerist driven aspects of the holidays and focusing instead on the intangibles, the things that really matter. It’s got me thinking about the gifts that we give, as parents, to our children, not at holidays, but everyday, over the long haul of a childhood. The gifts that affect who they ultimately become. The gifts that were given to me and how to intentionally craft those into the next generation.

I’ve given it a lot of thought and there are many really important gifts to give our kids, but I keep coming back around to one: Self-Sufficiency. Maybe you’d argue that there’s another, more important gift to give, and that’s okay, because there are certainly many that are indispensable. It’s not like we can give only one gift to our kids, we give hundreds of them, every day. But for me, Self-Sufficiency is the best gift my parents gave me, and the one I’m most determined to pass on. Let me tell you why. (more…)

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My son just turned one last week. Cringing at the idea of being gifted with countless toys, my husband and I decided to request “no gifts” on his birthday invitation. It’s not that we don’t like toys, we do! It’s just that we like to screen and limit the toys that enter our house to those that foster creative and problem-solving play.

In my previous life (the one before marrying a musician and quitting my stable job to live on the road in a green conversion van) I was a Child Life Specialist. My entire job revolved around working with children in a medical setting to maintain socially and developmentally appropriate skills through play. Play is so essential to a child’s development. Play is how children learn.

Aware that play is my son’s primary occupation, I want to surround him with the toys that allow him to be an active participant in his work. (more…)

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Before becoming a mom, I often heard of potty-training talked about as an inconvenient part of parenting that is avoided for as long as possible. In fact, in the United States, the average of being potty-trained has gone from 18 months to 36 months in the last 60 years.

Having spent most of my life living in the United States, I never questioned the fact that we don’t start potty training until the age of 2, or even 3.

However, as I started looking more into philosophies about potty-training I found that in India, China, and parts of Africa, most mothers start potty-training their babies as newborns.

After getting over the shock and my, “that’s absurd” thought about potty-training a newborn, I became very intrigued and wanted to try it. If it can be done there, why can’t it be done here as well? (more…)

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“Do you remember that horrible hill in Germany, the one where we ALL cried?  But Elisha found that cool snail fossil half way up.”

“Yeah, but that wasn’t as bad as pushing all the way up the “cliffs of insanity” in Italy, remember THAT? It rained, there were tornados on the ocean and those guys were still windsurfing?!!”

“That was still WAY better than that night we camped in the HUGE rain on the logging road in Nova Scotia; remember THAT? There were mosquitos everywhere and we had to pour the water out of our plates before Dad could dip the food into them, and there were all those bright green SNAKES the boys caught and the water ran under the tent like a waterbed all night.  And the WOLVES? You remember Ez being scared of the wolves howling that night?”

“Yeah, and in the morning it was STILL raining and we had to cycle thirty more miles in the rain with wet gear and those logging trucks passing us?  THAT was TERRIBLE.”

“Remember that Mediterranean ferry? EVERYONE PUKED… well, except Mom… the WHOLE WAY across!”

“Hey!” says Dad, “I didn’t puke, I took my meds!”

“Yeah, but you were WAY green and you ALMOST puked!” Someone retorts.

“Yeah, but we survived, and it could always be worse…” (more…)

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It’s funny how, sometimes, lessons come in cycles. Several times over the past month I’ve found myself drawn back to pondering the basic keys of our life philosophy:

• A single gal on Twitter posted how irritated she was by a group of mothers and screaming toddlers interfering with her Starbucks experience in an airport.
• “So how do you feel about money?” An interesting question posed by a friend on a two mile walk between villages around the Lago and the discussion that ensued.
• The amazement of several sets of travelers we’ve had around the dinner table that we’d actually invite them into our home and feed them (it wasn’t even special food; just soup night!)
• The continual attempt of one such fellow to “pay back” what we view as a free gift and our privilege to serve.
• The launch of a very unique family on a quest to Give Every Day.
• And then, on Monday, a question posed by a friend of ours, Adam Baker, on his blog: “Do You Give To Panhandlers?” I’ve been following the comments and am intrigued by the answers.

So what do these six have in common? What are they drawing me back to in my thought process?

They’re causing me to think through, at a deeper level the two words that we try very hard to live by.

Two concepts that, we think, could change the world. Two missions that I work hard to remain focused on, as they apply to my own life and to every single person I meet, anywhere in the world.

Grace & Generosity

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