Currently I am in a quiet house that is not my own, babysitting a beautiful little girl that is fast asleep. Occasionally I hear the click click of the dog’s toenails on the linoleum behind me, but other than that and the hum of the refridgerator, the house is silent.
I feel like I’m a teenager. I haven’t babysat like this for a very long time and feel like I should be digging around in the cupboards for a bag of chips or some chocolate and settling down to watch “The Love Boat” and “Fantasy Island.”
The plane! The plane! Remember that?
Instead I’ve made some coffee and am on-line, big surprise. My friend (whose little girl I am watching) knows me well and made sure that I knew where her laptop was before she left!
So. I have been reading Melissa Wiley’s posts on the Waldorf method of teaching your 3- to 6-year-olds and am feeling both inspired and awash with guilt. The inspiration I can work with; the guilt, though, I don’t need.
I’m good at guilt, though! Really good.
And I know that there has been some discussion of Mother Guilt going on, but what with my limited computer access I haven’t had time to dig into it. I should, but then I’d feel guilty. Ha.
Tonight, though, after watching this amazing little one-and-a-half-year-old explore her world and pull off all the vent covers and whatnot, I am thinking that there is so much wonder in our children for us to work with! Which has been Melissa’s point all along, I know, but which eludes me, alas, when I get busy “teaching” all the older kids.
Which is a pity.
Well, I have three little girls at home who are just ripe for some of the ideas that Melissa is discussing. I’ll keep you posted and hopefully, keep my calm as I try to teach my middle schoolers at the same time I’m letting my littler ones be…just that.
Right there with you dear! That particular guilt can be paralyzing.
Curious…why are you babysitting?
Matilda: I was babysitting because my friend had to take her four oldest kids to play practice until late, (it was the final dress rehearsal for what sounds to be an awesome production of Beauty and the Beast) and my friend’s husband was working the night shift.
I had fun. Are you kidding? Three quiet hours to catch up on all my reading? You bet I had fun!