Is a slow childhood more detrimental to our children?
Is a slow childhood damaging to our toddlers? Don’t they need lot‘s of experiences, social interaction and energy burning?
I am sure that you have found a little bit of societies pushback around living a slower childhood than some, particularly when it ocmes to our toddlers. There is a big push around our toddlers needing to move, burn energy, be social and their minds entertained. Theres two sides of this, while yes our toddlers do have lot’s of physical energy and mental energy wanting to learn as much as possible, they also need rest, room for exploration and self-led learning.
The way we live our lives as adults is not how a child is meant to live their life; I mean, do we even keep up with the business of our own lives? Maria Montessori beleived that children were expected to keep up with adults rather than adults slowing down to our childrens rate and how powerful is that statement? It really also says a lot about how our societies value childhood and children? We can learn so much from slowing down and learning from our children. We often see them as blank slates but they carry so much innate wisdom that we really need to learn from, especially in this modern age.
A slower childhood allows our children to enjoy their childhood. To spend longer looking at that rock or flower, really taking it in. To feel their emotions without pressure to move on.
I do see that living a slower childhood is an absolute luxury in our current world, which is a heartbreaking statement in it’s self, however, there are ways that we can slow down our busy life to be extra supportive of our toddlers and ourselves.
reading the same books or stories over days, to come back to different parts and really take it all in.
a good balance of unstructured/structured play; balancing activities or play groups with slower, unstructured play at home or at a park.
build in self-care to your daily routine, demonstrating that rest is necessary and how to rest. I was reminded of this recently by a beautiful friend.
I would love to know how you are carving a slower childhood and motherhood in this busy big world?