About
Laura Shelton Garfield,
is a new and fumbling mom. She's dedicated to raising her baby Charlie with the same
Unity values that she learned growing up, and she's constantly amazed at how difficult
such a simple purpose can really be in practice. Laura is also a freelance writer of
children's stories and a published author in the field of business management. In what
she calls her previous life, Laura spent 10 years as a broadcast news writer and
reporter. She attends Unity Temple on the Plaza in Kansas City.
Jennifer Holder
is a licensed and ordained Unity minister serving as Associate Minister at Unity Church
of the Triangle in Raleigh, North Carolina. Her decade of experience in music therapy
and special education, including over eight years of research and experimentation in the
field of conscious parenting, gives her a passion for empowering parents and children to
live from an awareness of their inner wisdom and divine birthright. She currently
co-hosts the weekly Unity.FM show "Spiritual Parenting in Unity."
Recent Articles
4/15/2009 - Greenway Fun
4/6/2009 - Living Green
2/26/2009 - The Beaver
2/10/2009 - Faith and Family
2/9/2009 - The Color Wheel
Conscious Parenting & Empowered Kids
Creative Space for Adventure
Posted by Jennifer Holder
-
5/26/2008
As I watched my daughter play in the neighbor’s backyard yesterday, I began thinking---no contemplating is more like it. What happened to the unplanned, spontaneous afternoons I grew up with? Where did they go? It seems that for the past several months I’ve embraced what after school activities "should" look like. Soccer practice 2xs a week, dance one afternoon, Brownies, another afternoon. All of that is coming to a close with the end of the school year, and my daughter wants to know what she’s doing for the summer. What about "having a summer break"? They were good enough for me and my sister. I loved the unscheduled time playing in the neighborhood when I was 7 like her. Building treehouses (or what we could from scraps of wood we could find) and letting our imaginations run wild. Does over- scheduling our children’s lives make space for creativity? Exploring is such a childhood treasure! What if we created space one afternoon a week all year long to be spontaneous with our children? Could we really write in our day planners or blackberry’s "Creative Adventure Time" and block off 1 hour to just be unplanned time with our children? The activity would be totally led by them with the only rule being, no classes, cars or stores involved.
I think I too have embraced the cultural desire to give my daughter all the opportunities I can, and yet there is the possibility we can have too much of a good thing. Conscious parenting seeks balance and invites each of us to live in the moment....not the future, not the past, just the now. As Eckhart Tolle reminds us the power is in now. For me, I know much of my life’s work is in seeking balance as a woman, as a wife and as a Mom. Our children learn so much more from what they see us do than what they hear us talk about. I also understand that what I model I’m probably going to see replicated in 15-20 years when my daughter becomes a parent.
Maybe summertime is a chance to bring more of that balance. Perhaps this summer will be a bit less structured at our house........... or maybe not, she’s going to a 4 week summer school session and then to Nana’s (my Mom’s) house in the country......oh well, I know she’ll get that creative space for adventure at Nana’s just like I did when I was a kid.
I think I too have embraced the cultural desire to give my daughter all the opportunities I can, and yet there is the possibility we can have too much of a good thing. Conscious parenting seeks balance and invites each of us to live in the moment....not the future, not the past, just the now. As Eckhart Tolle reminds us the power is in now. For me, I know much of my life’s work is in seeking balance as a woman, as a wife and as a Mom. Our children learn so much more from what they see us do than what they hear us talk about. I also understand that what I model I’m probably going to see replicated in 15-20 years when my daughter becomes a parent.
Maybe summertime is a chance to bring more of that balance. Perhaps this summer will be a bit less structured at our house........... or maybe not, she’s going to a 4 week summer school session and then to Nana’s (my Mom’s) house in the country......oh well, I know she’ll get that creative space for adventure at Nana’s just like I did when I was a kid.
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Greenway Fun
posted 4/15/2009 6:22:28 AM
posted 4/15/2009 6:22:28 AM
Living Green
posted 4/6/2009 7:31:46 PM
posted 4/6/2009 7:31:46 PM
The Beaver
posted 2/26/2009 9:40:31 PM
posted 2/26/2009 9:40:31 PM
Faith and Family
posted 2/10/2009 8:23:40 AM
posted 2/10/2009 8:23:40 AM
The Color Wheel
posted 2/9/2009 9:42:02 PM
posted 2/9/2009 9:42:02 PM
RE: How has a special needs kid inspired/taught you?
posted by mothersson, 8/24/2009 8:07:54 AM
posted by mothersson, 8/24/2009 8:07:54 AM
RE: How has a special needs kid inspired/taught you?
posted by mommydee, 8/22/2009 10:28:39 AM
posted by mommydee, 8/22/2009 10:28:39 AM
RE: does a child know everything
posted by acorntooak, 8/11/2009 10:11:42 AM
posted by acorntooak, 8/11/2009 10:11:42 AM
does a child know everything
posted by Fida, 8/9/2009 9:39:53 PM
posted by Fida, 8/9/2009 9:39:53 PM
RE: What do you do to be green?
posted by Amee, 2/19/2009 11:13:46 PM
posted by Amee, 2/19/2009 11:13:46 PM
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