Posted at 01:24 PM in Children | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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The summer holidays are here and I assume most parents are finding new and exciting activities to keep their children busy. I on the other hand have found myself lucky, or not, because Portia has found great interest from our kitten Cleopatra! They spend hours playing. Although, I think Cleopatra is feeling slightly tormented. None the less, when it's bed time both the kitten and the child are fast asleep!
Posted at 10:35 AM in Children | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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Posted at 09:21 PM in Children | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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What is treason?
Walking down the street, the prophet asked: "aren’t we all children of the same Eternal Father?" The multitude agreed.
And the prophet went on: "and if that is so, why do we betray our brother?"
A boy who was watching asked his father: "what does betray mean?"
"It means to trick your companion in order to gain a certain advantage."
"And why do we betray our companion?" insisted the boy.
"Because in the past somebody began all that. Ever since then, nobody knows how to stop the wheel. We are always betraying or being betrayed."
"Then I won’t betray anyone," said the boy.
And so he did. He grew up and suffered a lot during his life, but kept his promise. His children suffered less and endured fewer hardships. His grandchildren did not suffer at all.
On jealousy
When she was eleven years old, Anita went to her mother to complain. "I can’t manage to have friends. They all stay away from me because I’m so jealous."
Her mother was taking care of newly-born chickens, and Anita held up one of them, which immediately tried to escape. The more the girl squeezed it in her hands, the more the chicken struggled.
Her mother said: "try holding it gently." Anita obeyed her. She opened her hands and the chicken stopped struggling. She began to stroke it and the chicken cuddled up between her fingers.
"Human beings are like that too," said her mother. "If you want to hold onto them by any means, they escape. But if you are kind to them, they will remain for ever by your side."
The three things
Chen Ziqin asked Confucius’s son: "does your father teach you something that we don’t know?"
The other answered: "No. Once, when I was alone, he asked if I read poetry. I said no, and he told me to read some, because poetry opens the soul to the path of divine inspiration. "On another occasion he asked whether I practiced the rituals of adoration of God. I said no, and he told me to do so, because the act of adoring would make me understand myself. But he never kept an eye on me to see if I was obeying him."
When Chen Ziqin left, he said to himself: "I asked one question and was given three answers. I learned something about poetry. I learned something about the rituals of adoration. And I learned that an honest man never spies on the honesty of others."
In search of rain
After four years of drought in the little village, the parish priest gathered everybody to make a pilgrimage to the mountain; there they would join in communal prayer to ask for rain.
In the middle of the group the priest noticed a boy all wrapped up in warm clothes and covered by a raincoat. "Are you crazy?" he asked. "It hasn’t rained in this region for five years and you’ll die of the heat climbing the mountain!"
"I’ve got a cold, father. If we are going to pray to God for rain, can you imagine the climb back down? The downpour is going to be so heavy that it’s better to be prepared."
At that very moment a loud roar was heard in the sky and the first drops began to fall. The faith of a boy was enough to work a miracle that thousands of men were praying for.
Copyright @ 2007 by Paulo Coelho
www.warriorofthelight.com
Posted at 01:22 PM in Children | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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Well, today marks the first day I introduced my daughter to the potty. It probably didn't go as well as I had intially anticipated.
It all started when I woke up this morning with a determination to potty train my child. So shortly after our Saturday morning routine, Portia and I both went into the town on a mission to buy her first potty seat. It was like buying a pair of shoes, well almost.
So, I went into the usual shops, Mothercare, Boots, etc, only to realise that buying a potty was almost as complicated as buying a car! Not only did I have the choice of characters and colours but also the choice of potties with lids and extra rubber gripping. All I wanted was a simple potty seat, so that my daughter didn't end up with this life long phobia of getting flushed down the toilet!
Anyway, approximately three hours, a few emotional outbursts, tantrums, and bribes later, I found the perfect potty (as far as potties go). It's a Mamas & Papas potty shaped like a duck, pretty hideous if you ask me, but apparently a popular buy and seeing as I was getting quite desperate by then, I gave in.
Finally, after buying all of the necessary potty training tools, sheet protectors, pink Minnie Mouse Pull ups, and some Aspirin (for me) we went home.
Now, I was feeling excited about this, as for Portia I don't think she quite realised what she had coming. All I can say is that the second Portia looked at this contraption she screamed and ran in the opposite direction. So, I figured we could start by teaching her how to put a Pull ups nappy on. Having managed to perfect that, I decided to persuade her to sit on the potty, which was going really well, until she looked at it and basically clung on to me like a cat trying to avoid a bath. I think my neighbours must have thought I was flushing her down the toilet, with the noise she was making. By that stage we decided to take a break and have some chocolate and Aspirin (for me).
My sister then phoned and we were chatting about the usual when Portia started to say "wee wee" and then started to pull her trousers down. We (Portia, Priscilla, and I) ran up the stairs, onto the toilet, only to find that I sat on the bathroom floor for an hour. I did manage to talk to all my family members.
I was practically begging my daughter to pee. I had the taps on, even offered her a chocolate button (desperation) but she was having none of it. Despite the frustration I was determined to get her to use this monstrosity of a potty.
My sister came up with the ingenious idea of wrapping a Pull ups nappy around the potty seat to reassure Portia. By now Portia was becoming restless, so I figured my Mom and Sister could speak to her to give her a little encouragement whilst I trimmed her finger nails.
We waited and waited then whilst my sister was telling me about her sex life, I heard this little tinkle in the toilet. My sister said "did she pee"? Portia then says " Mummy Portia wee wee", I lept up and started clapping! My sister then started telling everyone. Portia must have thought we were all nuts, still she did it and now she doesn't stop asking to go to the bloody potty.
Posted at 06:10 PM in Children | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
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