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I wrote this as a guest post a few weeks ago! All about keeping it "in the funnel" when it comes to parenting :) My biggest struggle so far as a parent is resisting the tendency to parent outside the funnel with my children. Toddlerwise reiterates the importance of avoiding this on page 36: "By "outside the funnel" we are referring to those times when parents allow behaviors that are neither age-appropriate nor in harmony with a child's moral and intellectual capabilities. To allow a 15-month-old child freedoms appropriate for a 2-year-old, or a 2-year-old child freedoms suitable for his 5-year-old sister, is to parent outside the funnel. Such freedoms do not facilitate healthy learning patterns - they only contribute to confusion." When Kye, my now four year old son, was my only child I didn't struggle as much with this issue. The only time I really found myself parenting outside of the funnel was when he first developed the ability t...
Over the years I've taken the kids to quite a few birthday parties on my own. Zach and I will often split up the duties (as usually Britt had to nap!) and since I'm usually friends with all the kids mommies, I am the one that takes Kye. :) When Crissy contacted me about Titus' and Neela's joint party this year I told her we couldn't go b/c we would be at the beach with Zach's family that weekend. Well...things changed and the trip didn't happen. With everything going on I completely forgot about the party and made plans with Robyn to go to Tallahassee for the day. I just needed a day away. A day with a good friend. A day to find a stinkin' dress to wear to my reunion :) (Which btw I can't BELIEVE we didn't take a single picture!!! Other than the struggles to find a dress, we had a GREAT time!) I talked to Zach about taking the kids to the party himself...I'm SO glad it was a Seth and Crissy party b/c, duh, he loves them as much as ...
So I know I left all of you in a total state of shock with my post yesterday regarding our trip to Zoo Atlanta ;) Can you believe there is even MORE of the Cool Mom Emily Takeover??? I mentioned Wild Adventures in my last post...in case you've never heard of it it's a theme park actually in our town. It's about 20 min from our house and a couple years ago Mrs. Charlotte got us all passes for Christmas. Most of my friends have passes and LOVE them. The year we had them I happened to be pregnant with Britt so I couldn't really get a lot of use out of them and then last year Britt was too little for us ever to be able to visit anyway so passes wouldn't have made sense. This summer though? Gah I wish I'd thought to ask for some for Christmas! It would have been PERFECT. I'm not pregnant, Britt dropped the morning nap, and both kids are old enough to enjoy the kiddy rides, look at the animals, play at the petting zoo, and even have a blast at the water park...
