My Mum's a Tree Hugger

Now that I am a mum, I view my life very differently. For example, I asked myself the other day:

What have I worked for that I am proud of as an example to Dragon?


I worked for twenty years in a wide range of jobs before I became pregnant. But the only thing that came to mind was my time spent as an environmental campaigner with The Wilderness Society.

Why?

Our family is about to take a long flight back to Oz. I know that once we land, if we jumped into a car and drove about six hours southwards, we would arrive at a place where old growth forests containing trees hundreds and hundreds of years old still stand tall. Not only trees but the whole ecosystems within are preserved and have not been razed to the ground for woodchips.

These trees hold secrets of the universe we could not even begin to imagine

I know I can show Dragon this ancient, primeval environment and say,


I helped save this

And that makes me prouder than anything else so far.

I Love Sark

My friend Justin gave me my first Sark book in 1997 and I've been a fan ever since!

Generation Google

Recently Dragon entered yet another phase of development with new and unexplained behaviours which left me drained and puzzled. So I did what my generation does. I hit the internet.

The more I read, the more confused I got. It seems that Dragon could be overstimulated; eating too frequently;  not eating enough; teething; going through a growth spurt; suffering from reflux or wind; have trust issues as I let her cry herself to sleep; on the wrong schedule for her age; ready to wean; have allergies; needing more activity time; needing less activity time; missing her sleep window; a psychopath or all of the above.

Dear Google - Where Did These Children Come From?*

My friend Suki who is also a new mum told me that a midwife once said to her:


Your generation of  women want to schedule your babies like you schedule your lives.

And its true. We want to have it all figured out. But you can't do that with babies. So there is a big industry out there making money from this insecurity. The Schedulers and the Whisperers.

Don't get me wrong. I think its a good thing that there is information out there. For I don't live in a society where I am surrounded by a village of experienced women who will guide and show me how to mother on a day-to-day basis. I have to get an inkling somehow.

But the best way I've found is through word of mouth with other mothers. And your own instinct.

Something that comes free and doesn't take hours of Googling to find online.

*Photo courtesy of http://melissacooley.com/2011/06/what-work-life-balance/