Half Magic

Family snapshots

Super tall Uncles and Aunts that always attract attention one way or another!

My sister Ashley finished the Around the Bay 30km run in 3.5 hours. That is awesome. Running the Washington marathon when PIper was only two was a milestone in my life. Unfortunately, I ran with an injury and I can no longer run more than 5km. Do I regret it? No, I ran out of fuel and had to dig so deep to finish that race, it was like going to hell and back but I did get back- a bit like natural child birth- very empowering.

Blossoming

 

When my daughter was only a year old I belonged to a Mom's group that met once a week and did cardio for an hour and gathered for coffee and conversation or guest speakers for the second hour while our babies were cared for. One such visitor was a Sex Educator. She told us that we better start talking about certain things to our children because otherwise they were going to hear it from less caring sources first such as other kids on the playground or at school and it may not send a positive message. The key was to plant it somewhere in their mind, a suitable explanation so when they did hear it from a peer or older child they would already have heard it but from YOU first. So the example she gave was about menstruation and I have used it ever since. 'Mommy bleeds once a month because mother nature is preparing a bed for a baby and when the baby doesn't come our body is getting rid of the bed. The bed is made of the tissue and blood.' Did it shock or scare the kids? No, they just simply accepted it. The seed has been planted so if they hear it from some older kids my explanation will come to mind.

 

So a year ago I decided to get a book for children from the library on human reproduction. Grade two may seem young but we have friends with older kids and she heard swear words from them so I knew she could very well be exposed to more without me there to protect her. I chose a quiet time to read it to my daughter. I will never forget the look of horror when she realized what the book and pictures were saying. She has never brought it up since nor have I but the truth has been planted in a positive way from her mother first! 

The next stage I am facing that is not pleasant to think about is her own menstruation. Many girls are menstruating at 10 which is so damn sad for me to contemplate. It certainly is not a subject at school yet the fact that the tampon industry has started marketing towards that age demonstrates this is a very real trend. However, I need to make this a positive healthy event in becoming a woman instead of a pain! I have another friend with a teenager who leaves her blood stained underwear on the floor of her bedroom and simply doesn't care or lacks self-respect, I am not sure. But I do want my daughter to take pride in being a woman and respecting her body and treating it like a temple. So I guess my first step may be a DIVA  cup for myself to role model sustainability. Then in a year maybe I will take her to a blossoming evening at the Circle of Wisdom . I have never done something like that but I am now seeing the importance of creating some magic and pride around it despite that not being in my own history. Perhaps The Red Tent  has influenced me more than I realized.