Walking the Dog with Mama Zoom

Eager passengers await a trip to the beach. Pip has a brownie snack in hand for the road trip. Could these 3 get any cuter? Love.

Mist and Pip (somehow I managed 2 dogs and the camera!). Mist doesn't need glasses but likes to wear this non-prescription pair she bought herself :)

A cool wind swept over the beach.

The girls didn't want to stick around. It was such an unusually cold morning.

I took over the beasts as we headed for less windy lands.

Later.

Mistaya's nickname for me is Mama Zoom. I love it because I am a mom and I teach Zumba. I am very excited because the gym I want to work for has (potentially) 3 classes for me to teach. It is relatively close to my home and it is the gym Peter works out at every morning at 5:30 am.

I am working on my writing when I'm not teaching Z--things progressing in my e-publishing. I am thinking I might have the right balance this year of writing time and teaching Z. Just enough socialization to allow me to focus when I have my solo writing times. I dare say, from personal experience, it is a delicate balance for minds like mine: super creative and social.

Mistaya and her friend swapped personalities for a day--yesterday they wore each other's clothes and pretended to be obsessed with the other's passions. Mist's friend wore Mist's silver "moon boots" and her David Bowie t-shirt to school. Mist wore her friend's The Beatles t-shirt. It was a success and they left their other friends rather confused.

Tabs' team won The Battle of the Books for their school and will advance to the district finals. The team reads ten novels and is quizzed on their knowledge of the books. Tabs is excited and is rereading a few of the novels to keep fresh.

Pip is the Pip--loving kindergarten, soccer and her dogs.
Peter arrived home last night after his trip to the prairies. And tomorrow we all leave for the Island. My dog-boys will be going to the Dog Spa for 4 nights (Pablo's first time).
Will post next from beautiful Victoria, British Columbia. Hopefully I'll have a few whale pics from our Georgia Straight crossing.

Happy Little Women

Pip & Friends.
A most difficult weekend with rain and parenting struggles.
My main focus as a mother of three daughters has been to promote the philosophy at home that they live in a woman's world, but also the world is there's to discover: the earth is their playground. I know the rude, harsh reality of the world will hit them--astound them--that hey, some people out there actually believe this is a man's world!?!
But I believe a solid upbringing will prepare them for tackling any obstacles that come their way. I promote this philosophy in any ways. A simple way is that I have always changed the protagonists names in children's books to female names (believe me, the vast majority are always male--I venture to say 98%). More difficult tasks involve me finding whatever it is they want to try--no matter how impossible the task. If they want to try fencing for example--I will go to the ends of the earth to find a place that will teach them fencing. Also, I always allow them to go and do anything with friends, if I deem the experience will give them new opportunities to explore and new experiences (as long as the activities are relatively safe). Quite simply, I seldom say no to anything. Why say no if I can find a way to manage it?
However, this style has its consequences. Suddenly, children grow into teens who have a huge sense of entitlement to pleasure seeking activities and demand that I find a way to make their desires happen.
It is hard to see the boundaries and set them in the case of my kids because they are gifted in school and socially well adjusted. They are happy, healthy and seldom cause me any concern. This is why it is so easy to say yes, yes and yes! Why put restrictions on their fun when they are great kids?
Why indeed. I had my first wake-up call this past weekend. Behavior from a daughter that was not up to snuff--selfish, spoiled, careless and tantrum like behavior. So perhaps this is why one needs to say no more often. Not because the child has issues--but because the child doesn't.
I shower my children with love, freedom to explore, and safety when they are very young. The next step I have only begun to learn, but I think it goes something like this: at approximately 12-13, the focus needs to change to accommodate the teachings of the middle-way--self imposed limits that guide one through adulthood. Not too much and not to little--the balance that keeps one grounded. Buddhism to the rescue!
Yes, one has a trunk of biases from one's past that shape how and why we parent. Sometimes I parent too much in response to areas I felt were lacking in my upbringing. I think back to the confused young woman I was in my twenties and I don't wish that on my daughters. Can we teach our daughters to be confident and quite autonomous in their youth? I am trying. I have dedicated my entire adult life to this task: to raise confident, autonomous and happy little women. And another difficult task is to try and do this (seamlessly) with a partner--their dad. Being on the same page as the father is not an easy task. And what's even harder is trying to appear on the same page "a united front" for the children's sake when at times we're not even reading the same book!
Wish me luck. I have three little women counting on the success of this philosophy!

PS completed my first morning at Zen Studio and Knox Mnt. biking. Man oh man--I am feeling it in exhaustion--that was one wicked workout to do at 6am on an empty stomach.