I admit, I'm not big on making New years Resolutions. I never seem to be able to remember what they are even if I do manage to set them but this year I have a New Years Challenge this year for myself.
For the past 7 years, since I started this amazing parenting journey I have been lucky enough to be living in smaller regional towns and cities away from our family and well meaning friends. Now I say luckily in one respect only because we do of course miss our families and love spending time with them. However it has been glorious to embark on our parenting journey alone so that we have had time to find our own path without the well-meaning comments and ideas of others. Now don't get me wrong I am sure there are plenty of supportive families out there, and I'm sure my own family would have been supportive as well... however I also remember the many rolled eyes and comments that demand breast feeding, sling wearing and cosleeping were simply "making a rod for our own backs". It was indeed a luxury to be able to develop our own style and grow in confidence in our parenting choices together as a unit before we needed to defend our choices to well meaning family and friends.
However now we are about to embark on a great new adventure and challenge and I am quite frankly very nervous. We are returning "home" to the big city after such a long time away and I am confronted with the challenge of how to incorporate our "natural" living lifestyle into a 2 working parents, living in a big city situation?
Am I going to be able to give the same amount of time and effort into finding chemically free foods, organic produce and keeping our home chemical free when I am working full-time. Or will I slowly fall back into past habits, will I have no other choice, given the time restrictions. And ultimately what is more important... spending what time I have with the kids or trying to achieve these other aims???
Probably my biggest fear is how I, and the rest of the family will cope with a working mummy and all that it brings, daycare, afterschool care, added work pressures and the absence of having that one person at home who is there to do all the behind the scenes things that we never really think about. I know we can do it, I know thousands of families do it and do it beautifully every day... but will I???
Another concern I have is remaining authentic. My beliefs about chemicals in the environment, being eco-friendly and maintaining relationships that promote love, confidence and self assurance are so important to me. I could talk about them all day long but... will I be able to live these in my workplace?
So my New Years Challenge, after the packing of course; is how to assimilate our country lifestyle into the big city. It's certainly going to be an interesting journey but I am looking forward to refecting on it in 12mths time. I'm sure it will involve much deliberation, trial and error but hopefully we can find that magic "balance" and keep trying to acheive a more natural lifestyle for our family.
What about you? Any tips for me? What's your New Years Challenge this year??
For the past 7 years, since I started this amazing parenting journey I have been lucky enough to be living in smaller regional towns and cities away from our family and well meaning friends. Now I say luckily in one respect only because we do of course miss our families and love spending time with them. However it has been glorious to embark on our parenting journey alone so that we have had time to find our own path without the well-meaning comments and ideas of others. Now don't get me wrong I am sure there are plenty of supportive families out there, and I'm sure my own family would have been supportive as well... however I also remember the many rolled eyes and comments that demand breast feeding, sling wearing and cosleeping were simply "making a rod for our own backs". It was indeed a luxury to be able to develop our own style and grow in confidence in our parenting choices together as a unit before we needed to defend our choices to well meaning family and friends.
However now we are about to embark on a great new adventure and challenge and I am quite frankly very nervous. We are returning "home" to the big city after such a long time away and I am confronted with the challenge of how to incorporate our "natural" living lifestyle into a 2 working parents, living in a big city situation?
Am I going to be able to give the same amount of time and effort into finding chemically free foods, organic produce and keeping our home chemical free when I am working full-time. Or will I slowly fall back into past habits, will I have no other choice, given the time restrictions. And ultimately what is more important... spending what time I have with the kids or trying to achieve these other aims???
Probably my biggest fear is how I, and the rest of the family will cope with a working mummy and all that it brings, daycare, afterschool care, added work pressures and the absence of having that one person at home who is there to do all the behind the scenes things that we never really think about. I know we can do it, I know thousands of families do it and do it beautifully every day... but will I???
Another concern I have is remaining authentic. My beliefs about chemicals in the environment, being eco-friendly and maintaining relationships that promote love, confidence and self assurance are so important to me. I could talk about them all day long but... will I be able to live these in my workplace?
So my New Years Challenge, after the packing of course; is how to assimilate our country lifestyle into the big city. It's certainly going to be an interesting journey but I am looking forward to refecting on it in 12mths time. I'm sure it will involve much deliberation, trial and error but hopefully we can find that magic "balance" and keep trying to acheive a more natural lifestyle for our family.
What about you? Any tips for me? What's your New Years Challenge this year??
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