‘What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men …… That is what love looks like.’ - St. Augustine

Monday, December 08, 2008

The Rewards of Conscious Parenting

This is a great post. It's about conscious parenting. It goes right to the core of how I try to parent Anastasia every day. And..it works! I love this woman's blog, by the way. I wish she'd post more!

I just got off the phone with my brother Steve who lives down here in Florida, too. He brought up Anastasia and how he couldn't get over the change in her from a year ago. What has changed since then? Homeschooling, more conscious parenting, and medication. I'm assuming the change is the result of all three. As I spend more time parenting this way, it becomes more of a habit...and I do it better.

Anyway, he went so far as to say she was a 'joy' to spend time with this time. My daughter? A joy? That made my day. That made this whole vacation worthwhile. This was one of my brothers who had very obviously backed away in recent years from the 'tornado' that my daughter has been . He only seees her about once a year for a week. He didn't understand RAD and PTSD, he only knew that she was antisocial, mean, defiant, moody, rude...all those wonderful things. But now he gets to see the Anastasia that I have had glimpses of over the years.

I'm really grateful.

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:37 PM

    k,
    your daughter IS A JOY to spend time with. i love her. i know she can be challenging, i know it can be rough. just like Geoff who isn't RAD/PTSD but is just ADHD/Nonverbal. They have very very similar personalities. and i think that's why we both like one another's kids.

    i'm glad your brother saw that she's not a monster or something. he got a glimpse of what you see loud and clear.

    i hope you're less itchy. was it from the cat you rescued?

    ReplyDelete
  2. k,
    your daughter IS A JOY to spend time with. i love her. i know she can be challenging, i know it can be rough. just like Geoff who isn't RAD/PTSD but is just ADHD/Nonverbal. They have very very similar personalities. and i think that's why we both like one another's kids.

    i'm glad your brother saw that she's not a monster or something. he got a glimpse of what you see loud and clear.

    i hope you're less itchy. was it from the cat you rescued?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for sharing this. Something so many of us can learn from and try to remember more.

    Glad others are starting to see the child you know is there.

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  4. When people do notice after settling in the mentality of not caring what other people think it is a GREAT encouragement and confirmation! (Icing on the RAD cake..especially from family)
    Fog horn in the nose bleed section!.. HOOOOOOOOORAHHHHHH :)

    ReplyDelete

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