MAMA FROG- Alternative Parenting Blog

Today (the 29th of September) marks Michaelmas. The Saint day celebrating St Michael defeating the dragon and the archangels in the book on revelation. It also marks the end of the husbandry (agriculture) year- being harvest time. Our circle time this week will feature the reading of revelation from Edwin's Children's bible. It doesn't mention St Michael so we are bringing in some Waldorf inspiration with this poem  The autumn wind blows open the gate, O Michael, you, you we await. We follow you, show us the way. With joy we greet the autumn day, Good morning, good morning And I wonder who is this Michael? And I hear the wind sing: Michael, God’s great knight, Strong and pure and shining bright. http://www.waldorfhomeschoolers.com/michaelmas-circle-story-resources I have repurposed a duplo knight and a knitted lizard to help visually tell the story during the poem, and to set up in the centre of our kitchen table.   We also lit our Autumn candle during the poem. I let Edwin...

Somehow I managed to submit my first end of module assignment for my psychology degree early. This means I've got a bit of reading time before my next module starts👍 "why love matters" by Sue Gerhadt has been on my reading list for quite awhile now. I often flip through the pages at my mum's house. But it's always seemed very happy and full of psychological research papers so I've kind of put it off until I finish the University work. A few chapters in it's still quite a heavy read. It's been made a little easier as she draws on the work of Bowlby and The Romanian orphanage study to illustrate her points about cortisol development. So far as I can tell it mainly supports the attachment theory, but uses biology and neuroscience to "prove" how important the loving parent child relationship development is. My key take away so far is that once put in a stressfull or scary situation (maybe being scolded or witnessing a parental argument or even r...

Who else loves Autumn? For me it's a season of new beginnings, change and growth. For me it's actually more exciting than spring, because it's when you get a chance to finally take a step back from your year and evaluate how it's going. Whilst taking stock this year I realised that I'm in a bit of a limbo with my toddler.  Edwin has always been precocious and full of energy. But as he gets bigger I'm noticing a stark difference in his temperament to that of his peers. In toddler groups and even the Waldorf class we attended, the rigidity of their set ups seem to be an affront on his scientist/explorer learning style. Sometimes when a group is particularly busy or feature a prominent change, he goes into absolute shut down and runs. He's not dominant in nature, but is very hard to encourage to participate in group or structured activities. Basically all of my heart is telling me that a standard preschool or kindergarten would be so the wrong place for him. I ...

If you are anticipating full of downton Abbey inspired wardrobe loveliness, let me break it to you gently, this isn't a post about vintage dressing. This is a post about vintage shopping. Back in the 30's the average woman owned 9 outfits. Fast forward we now have approximately 30 outfits hanging in our wardrobe at any time. I've been gradually clearing my clothing collection. As someone who used to work in fashion there are a few items of clothing that have sentimental reasons for keep in them. Like the shirt that I designed, or my crazy full flare Dolce and Gabbana leopard print flares that I have only worn once. It's tough the idea of letting go of anything that has sentimental attachment. But as any mum will tell you getting dressed in the morning is tough. Most of the time I found myself either grabbing the same two things anyway, or wearing something I didn't feel comfortable in. Why was I holding on to all of these clothes? So last week the charity ...

Hurrah! It's September, I love the all changes of season but summer to autumn is probably my favourite. On the allotment there's plenty of food for us to harvest, but no yucky digging. Meaning I can easily take the kids down on my own. It's such a quiet place to be. Which is much needed when you live above a pub. I love our home but there's no forgetting where you live. The kids don't seem to mind (I guess they are more used to it as they have heard it from the womb) but the noise gets to be a bit stressful sometimes. It's like your neighbours are having a party all the time! So being down the allotment is my happy place, I'd really love to put a shed down there. Or even better a shepherds hut. Until then we are just loving all the delicious crops on offer like these raspberries   Mainly its all picking crops and a little weeding. I've got crops in pots (fennel, leeks, chicory) ready to go in the ground when I pull up my summer marrows. In b...