Active Mothering

I love this free ebook from the Simply Charlotte Mason website.  http://simplycharlottemason.com/books/smooth-easy-days-with-charlotte-mason/




Since so much of a mother's job feels like putting out fires, hurrying from one emergency to another, sometimes we forget that the reason why we are intensely focused on raising our children is because we have the opportunity to raise people of character.  The question is, how do we do that actively instead of passively just hoping that it will happen? 

Active, not passive mothering: this is my quest.  One answer is by building character-building habits into our children.  Charlotte Mason talked about  introducing and focusing on a new habit every 6 weeks.  At first that seems underwhelming, but one new habit every six weeks over 10 years adds up to building people of character.  When we first started doing this, I bought a white board for my fridge and wrote the habit we were working on in bold letters and how it would be reinforced.

(As I am writing this, baby is standing behind me playing peekaboo while he "talks" by sticking his tongue in and out of his mouth fast.  He is such a charmer!...so now he is settled into an early morning bath while you and I finish our chat.)

I picked a subject that needed immediate attention:  a peaceful dinner time at which Andrew and I were able to order the amount of focus the children gave to their food.  Basic.  Before dinner started, I reminded them, "Caed and Maddie, what do you need to ask before you can get down?  "Can I get down now please?" "and then what happens?"  "We take our plate over to the sink."  "That's right.  Good thinking."    What character are we working on?  Cleanliness, being people of focus and obedience...it was just what was most needed at the time.  Right now we are working on keeping our shoes and coats at the front door as the winter season begins. I give a gentle remind er when we are still in the car what they need to be thinking about when they walk in.  Again, right now we are working on remedial stuff.

The question is, how can we parent, helping our children to make necessary connections and becoming independant little people of character...without becoming the nagging overparenting mother?

Slowly.  Deliberately.  Actively.

Anyone else have any great ideas or resources for active parenting?  If we are going to make the building of the next generation one of our major life goals, we need to do it with a focus on active mothering and teach eachother how to give our children the best possible chance for an obedient, joyful life in Christ.

Now everyone is awake, cuddled on the bathroom floor and it is time to begin another active homeschooling day.