Growing Girls

The girls on the lawn by the outside food area at Costco, Japan

The girls are getting heavy, I carry them to bed sometimes and it really is getting difficult. They do more, eat more and energy seems to be unlimited. Meanwhile mommy and daddy are trying to recover our strength whenever we can get the chance. 

When they play together it feels like heaven, when they are fighting, or annoying one another and making messes it feels like a nightmare. Guess which one we experience more often.

All three girls are at different ages and different stages. It is quite difficult to manage and rarely do we have solo time with them to check on their "progress". The way mommy and daddy treat the group versus one on one is quite different. In a one on one opportunity we either discipline, encourage or instruct and this happens occasionally.  However, most of the time the girls are in the same room and it is somewhat hard to tell whether they are playing together or seperately.  Well unless somebody starts crying and the parents have to once again investigate. They go back and forth freely making a team of three and then two and then playing by themselves. It is like watching some sort of chemical reaction with a lot of energy being released.

The girls playing a pogo stick jumping game at an arcade in Yachiyo, Chiba

Just as they are growing I too feel like I am growing in my capacity as a parent and my understanding of the dynamics of raising children.  Growing children are always learning and teaching each other as well. Even if it is mistaken. Children enjoy teaching each other things and sometimes I have great joy in watching them tell each other stories or teach a song or dance to one another.  And isn`t that what life is all about?

"GROWING"



Learning to Label

Drawing by Anna on the chair. She tried to hide it with her hand while doodling it during our conversation.

Recently we have been catching Anna writing with marker on things. It first started with drawings of characters she likes, or creative portraits of her and her sisters, but now she is writing labels on things. Like Anna`s cup, Everybody`s chair, and the like. She is learning the fun of labeling and it is getting a little out of control.

My first reaction is to sigh and get angry with the fact that she hasn`t stopped even though she has been warned, but then I step back.

In her world objects have little or no value. She doesn`t know the price of the chair or cup or book. To her they are just things and things have a purpose and that is for people. The innocence of her actions tell me that for her it is important to know who is using or should use those objects.

At such a young age it starts with labeling your stuff but soon it moves to labeling people and places. And that can become a tricky subject to say the least.

But it has begun, she is developing the ability to clearly label the world around her. Now comes an important time as a parent to guide her and help her understand such concepts and teach her in the way she should go.

I am in awe of it all, like watching a flower blossom. But also aware I need to protect that precious flower within her.

Thanks for reading