"No reading at the breakfast table"

One of the changes I'm making in my year of Less is More , is that I've reduced my paid employment to  two days a week.  It was three days in 2013 and four days in 2012, so I'm going backwards at a nice, steady pace! I like my job a lot.  I teach in a school with fantastic staff and kids - it's fun and a lovely environment to spend time in.  I feel smart when I'm there.  I'm always a bit surprised when my thoughts and contributions appear useful to others!  Being honest, I would happily work more.  I like it.  There's nothing much more to it than that.  The money helps us, but we've lived off one pretty modest income for most of our married life so it's not so much about the money. However, I have found juggling work and family really tough. My energy bank seems to be smaller than other people's (or I have five kids and I'm way too optimistic about what can be achieved in a lifetime!).  Ok - it's probably just smaller than I would li...

Starting to decorate the grey I've been a bit quiet here because I haven't got anything much to share that can be tied together into something coherent. We've got over the initial hump of the start of the year - starting a new school, getting into the routine of a new timetable for myself, Rowan going away a lot during January and February, kids mostly sorted with their extra curricular mayhem. This week I've felt quite tired.  I woke up this morning and couldn't believe it was only Wednesday - yawn.  So weary.  And a very long term still ahead... Term time is just powering through from week to the next.  At the moment my head is feeling a bit sore as we try to work out how to incorporate the use of iPads into our teaching.  It is interesting and challenging but like all things new, can start to make your head hurt after a while.  I do enjoy pushing myself with using new technology in teaching (certainly doesn't come naturally) and I think it is ...

I think that regular readers will have picked up on some of the aspects I've found hard. I missed having time and energy for my kids - not just physically but having enough mental and emotional space to think clearly about where they're up to and how they're going. I just missed time with them too. I like my kids. I missed having time for the people in my church and community. My dear friend is going through chemo at the moment. I feel sad that I haven't been as good a friend to her as I would have liked- working has limited what I can do to help her. I like being able to encourage friends in conversation. Obviously not being around much makes that hard. I've hardly done any hospitality. This is not normal for us and it feels weird. This is partly a time thing, but it's also partly a relational energy thing. I'm hoping that this year my job won't be so new so I'll have more relational energy in the tank. Hospitality has been the bigge...

Let me bore you for a short moment with a high point of my teaching year so far. I take this Year 7 class once a fortnight for a library lesson in one of their English periods.  Still, today, they arrive late for their last lesson of the year having 'forgotten' that it was library.  They are totally off with this fairies this group.  We've certainly had a few low moments along the way. Today their class teacher insisted that they choose a book to borrow for the holidays.  They don't love reading (um, understatement).  This pronouncement was greeted with their usual moans and groans about anything resembling schoolwork. But I managed to get them to all leave the library having borrowed at least one book and many of them had borrowed more than one. I was able to talk to them for ages, recommending new books that I had read over the year that I thought they would enjoy.  All the hours I've spent reading young adult fiction that starts to sound the s...

Here's my piece of parenting advice for the week.  Practice saying 'no' to your child when they are young.  It will help them.  Truly. Why?  Here's what I've been thinking about recently. Earlier last week I had the privilege of hearing Paul Dillon speak.  He's been talking to teenagers and families about drugs and alcohol for the past 20 years and he was fantastic.  He said he'd like to smack some parents around the head for the lack of backbone they have with their teenagers on the issue of alcohol.  It's the old 'Well, everyone else is doing it Mum' argument that seems to press all our buttons so brilliantly.  He said parents need to learn to say 'NO' to their teenagers and show them some tough love.  They are afraid of upsetting their children so give in. What he didn't say is that many parents are afraid of upsetting their children from the day they are born. I have no problem with loving and caring for my child and...

Sometimes my kid's needs become crystal clear.  Earlier this week (after a few late nights) I had one of those moments.  It isn't deep but it makes SUCH a difference to my children. They need the magic duo - food and sleep.  After a few babies I worked out that most babies' issues are related to the magic duo.  What I hadn't reflected on until recently is that this doesn't stop when kids get older - I'm still pursuing the same goals! They need good food that fills them up (actually, they need to eat the food that is given to them that fills them up - but my fussy eaters could take up another whole, long depressing post). And they need a good amount of sleep.  My seven year old will not sleep in.  He always wakes early.  So if he goes to bed at 10 he will only get 8 hours sleep when he needs at least 10 hours to be civilised.   The amount of crying in a given day is directly related to the amount of sleep that my children have had.  ...

Last year I taught Year 4 Scripture for a term and it almost drove me mental.  How could 10 kids for half an hour be so frustrating?  And then I had to run a kid's club at my old job in the public library for Kindy kids each week.  How could one hour a week with 20 kids be so hard? Well, it's because I hadn't remembered my cranky teacher voice.  I'm rediscovering it.  And I'm a whole lot better at it now that I've got my own kids.  I now know what it means to actually care about the kids, yet be really firm with them.  They aren't mutually exclusive (which I suspect is what I thought when I was a young (pretty bad) teacher). I'm also a whole lot better at sounding angry, yet being in total control of my emotions.  Those terrible tantrum years in the shops have trained me well.  Internalising emotion - regulating it.  Not taking everything so personally.  I'm certainly a lot less worried about what other teachers think of me than...