As I learn with my children what their temperament might be, I am slowing realizing how different their needs are...they cannot be exactly like me! One child is in deep need of being recognized for each and every thing she does while another needs lots of time of silence to reconnect to herself. I also am finding that not all of my kids need socialization like I do! It's going to take me another 10 years to figure out how to balance social time and quiet time for my husband and myself! Whew I am such a SLOW learner!
I like a lot of socialization time. So this past weeks fun of swapping activity bags with 12 other moms was a great excuse for me! I had read about these bags in a homeschooling catalog I got and tried them out with some of my friends. Each mom brought 13 of the same kind of bag and then left with 13 different kinds! It was also a time for connections between people who hadn't met and a time to enjoy sweets for only moms. One mom brought a chocolate fondue with strawberries, bananas and another mom brought pineapple to dip. There were cookies, fancy lemonade and mommy drinks. This night filled my need for both socialization and creativity and sweets besides!
These activities bags should bring peace to my homeschool room when toddlers need things to do (and they won't be destructive to the more academic child's work) ! Now to just learn how to better fill up the child more social, prepare quiet time for the child with internalizing traits, and make room for the children who are still making themselves known...