29 July 2023

More thoughts from the Hermitage so we can clean off the desktop, which has had these for quite awhile now.Parenting is a tricky thing. Queen started babysitting when she was 11 for a couple of families in the neighborhood. Everyone has ways of parenting. Ex-Employee will tell you there isn't much "parenting" going on out there. At least viewing the students in schools. Parenting is NOT easy. Sadly, and much to her dismay, Queen was left with this duty early on, which made things even more difficult. Queen LOVES to have fun with children, but that didn't happen as often as she would have liked it to happen. Babies need food, sleep, attention, love, changing, and snuggling. Not necessarily in that order. Sitting quietly, with a baby on your lap teaches them a LOT. They learn there is a time to sit quietly. That it is okay to sit quietly. MUCH can be learned from this quiet time. Eventually it leads to reading, and other learning skills. Talking to them helps them with speech and learning to speak. Crawlers need all of the above, but now that they are mobile, they need to learn the word "no." This is helpful for many reasons. Safety. That mom knows what she is talking about. That she loves them and wants to help them. ETC. Learning the word no is a must. Reading to them every night before bedtime is something Queen always did. Voices were a must. ALL voices, inflections, and accents. All reactions to words. Toddlers need all of the above, but sitting time can become a longer period. Teach them the letters, numbers, and punctuation. Teach them colors, numbers, shapes, etc. Teach them their address. Teach them to hold a pencil or crayon...without breaking it. Teach them to care for things. Get a pet. Show them how to care for a pet. Be loving. Queens children are all a little less than two years apart. Each new baby brought a responsibility for the older child/children. They learned to be helpful, do chores, learned to cook, etc. They were all potty trained before the next one came. They need to learn rules, boundaries, consequences, and much more. There is a time to run free and a time to be still. Disciple always reminded Queen of the scriptures in Ecc 3:1-8...A time for everything. Everything they learn from birth to age three will take them through their life. THIS is THE MOST valuable time in their lives. YOU are setting them up to succeed during this time. Queen took parenting seriously. She was doing the best she could, and even though she tried to quit many times, she always came back. It isn't easy. There are still times, even though Queen's children are ALL successful adults in their 40's, when she feels she wasn't the best, didn't do everything, maybe wished things would have been different. But some of them have told her she is AWESOME! She DID the best. Was great. One thing is, thankfully NONE of them were lost on her watch. Well, one at the mall. But that is another story. THIS IS NOT meant to compare our parenting with the parenting of others. Each child is different. Each child was born to YOU for what you will teach them and bring to their lives. While Queen always wanted children, she also wanted them to turn out well. We believe they all did. Are they perfect? Darn tootin! Well, we are biased. We know they aren't, but only one person was ever perfect. Queen is thankful they all chose her to be their Momma, MA, Mom, Mommy. They are ALL a blessing to her, and ALL of us in the Hermitage are thankful for them and ALL they do for us. They are the jewels in Queens crown.