Day 202 - My head remains on my shoulders. xx

Sunday 21st July

A slight break in the very hot temperatures and I am so in that tunnel to get lots of little jobs done.  We continue to harvest something most days and it is an absolute joy to see lots of green tomatoes.  I am growing several different varieties but my favourite is the plum and that is looking the best of the bunch.  Well done the plum tomato.  By the time I return from Eigg I am thinking red tomatoes served with mozzarella, basil and drizzled with olive oil.  There is absolutely nothing like the tomatoes you grow yourself.  The ones in the supermarket that have come in from Spain are tasteless by comparison so this spell of sunshine is doing its job.  I have finally acquired a chest freezer so I hope to be making lots of cooked tomato sauces for pasta through the winter months.  Can I just say that cooked tomatoes are a man's best friend as they are prostrate cancer busting so to all those guys out there - eat them by the shed load. 

As the sun crept up the sky to its full height I scuttled indoors again to get on with jobs inside.  Every so often the chaos has to come to an end and we have to tidy up.  George, Max and I did just that and I now have a sparkling tidy house again.  Pete and Harry were at work so I think we felt we should do our bit.  So a morning of jobs led into an afternoon of making more lovely things for the craft events in August.  I really need to top up my shops as well but I am afraid they will have to wait until my return from Eigg.  A girl can only do so much.

Sitting sewing my vintage tea cup pin cushions I watch my kitten in her very own jungle.  We have let the wild grasses grow down one side of the house so that she can have this bespoke jungle and she loves it.  She is still at the stage of hunting insects but I can see that she is a real hunter so we shall need to prepare ourselves for other deliveries in due course.  She picked up a nasty sting from a wasp last week and her paw was so swollen it that it looked ridiculous but it hasn't stopped her.  We appear to have reached an understanding on the ladybird front as she was crying yesterday while standing staring at a ladybird.  I dutifully went over and rescued it and she went back into her jungle to find something else. 

On yesterday's blog post I rather stuck my head up and quite expected it to be chopped off.  I touched on the sensitive subject of parenting and, in particular, the need for children to develop empathetic skills in life.  I am pleased to report that my head is still in tact and the opposite to my fears seems to have occurred.  I have had a whole flurry of emails confirming support for the points raised in the post and also asking for me to say more.  It has always been my intention to write up our experiences of home schooling and that would necessarily include our approach to parenting.  So I have decided to nudge this a long a little and have added a new page to Scottish island mum.  We haven't had a new page for sometime so it is perhaps overdue. 

I hope to be as gentle as I can with this page so as not to offend anyone or, even worse, give the impression I have all the answers.  I do not have all the answers and the day I stop learning about being a parent will, no doubt, be my last day on this earth.  I have, however, given parenting a huge amount of thought and reflection through the years and I have also had four beautiful children to practice on.  My training as a teacher and my extensive studies in child psychology have fed this understanding of parenting.  But, without doubt, it is the many hours I have spent observing children that has made the most difference.  Children are amazing beings and I never tire of watching them make sense of the world.  I have learnt more from my children than any other people on the planet and I feel honoured to be their mother.  But I have not done this parenting thing alone.  Right by my side has been the most amazing partner and father to the children.  Pete and I have spent a life time discussing  our children in order to make informed decisions.  We have not always got it right but we have always given it our very best.  With three boys Pete has been a very important role model and we always giggle now when I say I have done my bit because Molly is all grown up now!  Pete and I will never stop being parents and we will never stop adoring our children. 

Our children are growing up fast and Molly will be 21 later this year and would not want to be referred to as a child!  Harry will be 18 in a few weeks and George 16 at the end of September (expensive year for birthdays).  Max is 13 and has therefore joined his brothers as a teenager.  I will need to be careful not to embarrass any of them or I will never hear the end of it. 

I have called the new page 'the balanced child' so pop across to see what my intentions are and, as usual, how you might get involved.  Ultimately, if this page is successful and useful I may transfer it to my new site One soul many hearts later in the year.  Do let me have any initial thoughts via email as usual. 

We now have a late evening ritual of looking for the kitten as she likes to hunt in the fading light.  Last evening was no exception as George, Max, Pete and myself headed off down the front garden to find her.........

This evening I walked with moths.  My footsteps had disturbed them in the grasses and they fluttered up to see what was going on.  I expected them to go back to slumbering in the grass but they didn't.  Instead they followed me as I trod as lightly as I could through the grass in search of my kitten.  I always thought that moths were the poor relation of butterflies but I was wrong.  When you are surrounded  by them you start to see the differences and the uniqueness.  You start to see the beauty. I must remember to walk with moths one day again soon. 

Until tomorrow.  xx