1st generation for positive school experience

My husband and I HATED school, as did my parents and their parents. It wasn’t just being cooped up indoors for too many hours or the subjects but bullying and violence between the students as well as between students and teachers.



My dad always told me if I wanted to go to college or university he would pay for it. No worries. Ya, right! Why would I want to further my torture? Not only did I HATE grade school and high school but it was part of my father’s abuse, too. Yelling, belittling.... why put myself through that for another 3 or 4 years?!


So, I took a break and after a few years decided to try college. Friends seemed to like it and I wasn’t living at home anymore, so why not? Although I didn’t finish the first time I went (I’ve since gone to college another 2 times) I loved the experience! It really showed me what I was missing all those years where other kids didn’t have abuse involved. I saw respect between students and teachers and among themselves. It was awesome! I could see that if I had gone to different grade or high schools, or maybe at a different time, that showed mutual respect and lacked violence that I may have liked it and continued to college or university right away. Maybe.


Regardless of what happened with past generations, we have a daughter now and I won’t have years of her life wasted on fear, depression and negativity because she doesn’t like what her life is all about. School is such a big part of a child’s life.


The first change (from how I was raised) was taking her to my yoga classes so she could see babies, toddlers and other moms. She loves it and tries to talk the other mom’s ears off. Another was taking her to quick ‘sitter’ sessions at the local YMCA where she was only there an hour or two and speaking of the Y... we put her in gymnastics there as well. Now, she feels accepted, like she belongs and has a group of people that she likes, feels safe with and can look up to. More things my husband and past generations didn’t have.


Now, for the school. We are blessed to have a Montessori school about 5 minutes away from our home. At this school there will be less students per teacher for individual attention and nothing but the upmost respect. Never any yelling or belittling and fortunately it will be in a home-setting so our daughter won’t feel overwhelmed. There will be music, lots of outdoor time and learning made simple.  We visited there last Thursday and not only did our daughter love it and not want to come home but my husband loved it, too! I already knew I would like it as I had heard so many positive things about the place.


So, the ground-work has been laid. My husband and I will keep a positive attitude about it and I will volunteer when there are class trips. We’ll try to incorporate some things that she does at school into our home as well so she can do well and feel good about learning. Life is all about being positive and attracting more positivity and love to your life, I believe. What a great way to live and I'm proud to be raising another deliberate creator!
(c) 2010 www.kimbelangermills.com All rights reserved.

Positivity Prevails

You don’t realize how positive you are until you see the contrast of someone negative in your experience. I am a child of chronically negative parents and a ‘recovering’ chronically negative person, myself. I didn’t realize how truly positive that I have become until recently when I was exposed to some ‘Negative Nellies’. Now, I think I would say that I am more of a chronically positive person and it feels great!







Everything is habit. There is the habit of looking for things to help you to feel great and there’s the habit of looking on the ‘bright side’ and there’s the habit of just smiling and shrugging when those around you seem negative and complain.






I’m not saying to never be negative or down, that would just be fake. Just don’t stay there! You have a choice. It’s not about other people, it’s about YOU. YOU are your business and others are their own business. It feels great to be more on the positive side... light, airy, free.






The choice is yours. Choose and see how it affects everything in your experience. Feel free to let me know how it ‘feeeeels’.....






Blessings,


Kim.






(c) 2010 www.kimbelangermills.com All rights reserved.

Knowing it’s all about NOW

I probably have this realization a few times per year... and then it starts to slip away and the ‘aha’ moment hits me again. All that really matters is NOW. I’m not talking about the past as in a month, a year or even ten years ago. Your last breath no longer matters. It’s all about this one. I know it, but it’s easy to forget.







I think maybe the future matters more than the past. Not much more but it does. I don’t take a whole lot of stock it – only to think of, right now, what I want for the future. Keeping in mind that things can, and most likely will, change.






Being joyful in the now but having desires for the future... I would love to take an Alaskan cruise and also to see the East Coast, someday, far in the future. For right now, though, I am happy with the way life is headed. Very happy. Are you? Change is only a breath way... or a thought.

What are your thoughts?  You can comment here or email me.. phdirector (at) gmail.com


(c) 2010 www.kimbelangermills.com All rights reserved.

The Terrible Two’s –Really?

When my daughter, Willow, turned two I thought that maybe not every child went through ‘terrible two’s’ but then she got closer to two and a half and I believed it! I heard a lot of, “I don’t want to!” “I don’t have to!” “NO!”... along with grabbing things from me, kicking, screaming, and hitting I chalked it up to boredom and kept her so busy some days that she fell asleep at night before the end of two songs on the radio. Still, most days I was exhausted from the constant battles and putting too much effort into what I got done each day.. Not very joyful but I kept telling myself that it was just a phase.

Then, on a list/organizing website I noticed lists for toddlers’ responsibilities and a ‘caught ‘ya being good’ list so I’ve been trying it now for about a week and I think it’s working!!



On the list are things such as: puts own toys/books away; helps momma with chores; eats well; puts own pull-up in garbage; gets herself dressed; helps bath herself. She is so proud when we go to the fridge to put a checkmark on the list and add up the checks at the end of the day. Positive reinforcement... an amazingly fun and easy solution!

(c) 2010 www.kimbelangermills.com All rights reserved.