Flying with a Baby

 

This is the third time  Celest and I have flown internationally. 

In my last post, I mentioned homeopathy and nursing as great supports, yet I didn't  mention the thing that had the biggest impact in how well Celest was able to manage herself throughout the experience.

Celest did have her moments of crying, but I was able to talk to her and explain everything that was happening, as well as prepare her for what to expect next. One row behind us, there was a baby slightly older than Celest who cried for hours. Her cries turned to shrieks, she became hysterical, and she was at points gasping for breath. I did all I could support, but the whole scene was quite heartbreaking when you can see the implications. 

The reality is that there was one missing ingredient for that child and her father. One that takes TIME to develop, and if it is not already in place when it is needed, then there is trauma where there didn't have to be. 

The missing ingredient is VOCABULARY. Vocabulary means understanding. It means communication. It means developing understanding and communication BEFORE it becomes emotionally charged or an emotionally charged experience. It means the interaction between parent and child is effective. Having an effective vocabulary stabilizes the situation instead of escalating it. Instead of tears and screaming and hysteria, you get words and then actions and a return to stability. 

I have placed a focus on vocabulary development with Celest, using Techno Tutor software and the vocabulary builder, and when I do this I see a noticeable difference in her integration of words. She was stringing together up to 5 word sentences already by the age of 16-17 months old. With this, I was able to prepare her for the airplane ride, and to show her what is happening in real-time, as we had been learning all the words around travel/changing locations and flying beforehand.  

I notice that when Celest sees she can communicate her needs, she calms right down and we move forward. It's when she doesn't have the words that she becomes frustrated, angry, cries, throws things and we can get trapped into an escalating cycle of frustration. It makes me wonder if the state we call "the terrible two's" actually exists, or if our babies are merely lacking vocabulary? They KNOW what they want and need, yet they can't express it. How frustrating that must be!

On the plane, the father kept asking his crying daughter to TELL him what's wrong, TELL him what she needs - but she had no words and simply continued crying. Soon enough, the father became frustrated and angry, and decided she was crying for no reason, now yelling at her to stop.

Can you imagine being a child with a need, a pain, a fear or who just wants to be held, and instead of having your simple need met, you get angrily yelled at to be quiet and stop asking? It is heartbreaking.

Children EXPECT us to understand them, which is why we have the responsibility to give them the tools so that we can. They EXPECT us to figure it out and solve the problem. It simply cannot be placed upon them to do so - yet it is commonplace for us adults to do just that - and the end result is trauma, however subtle or severe. 

Communication, through a well-developed vocabulary, changes everything with having a baby - imagine what it does throughout childhood and into the teenage years! It's like night and day for me right now with Celest, between where we have words and where we do not. 

When we have words, the experience is pure joy, because that is what Celest IS naturally. Where we don't have words is where struggles manifest. I make sure to place the foundations for words during those struggles, setting us up to succeed the next time around. 

Parenting and Fear

 

Since being in Panama for a few months, I went through a kind of 'culture shock' as a parent to a baby that is becoming a wild and daring toddler. My daughter, Celest, is developing very quickly and is starting to interact more and more with the world... and that world currently happens to be the third world here in Panama. 

In Canada, I had access to 6 parks within walking distance, vast swaths of green grass to run wildly in, surrounded only by sleepy streets with slow moving cars, or safely fenced in with all the comforts like benches, sandbox, splash pads, jungle gym, sun, shade, waterfountain, baby pools, public security making the rounds, and many other parents and children present at all times, and Celest was just a baby, barely starting to walk. In Panama I have only an unpaved intersection, an indoor parking lot, a litter-lined public access path to the beach and the beach itself, as my options for outdoor activities within walking distance - and Celest is now running, climbing and throwing her body into everything she does, including the ocean. She wants to be everywhere, doing everything all at once! 

There are sometimes venomous snakes along the roadside, or coconuts that fall on windy days, stray dogs that run in packs from abandoned areas with dilapitated houses and overgorwn yards that are everywhere. There's the broken glass and rusty metal hidden in uncut grass and under roadside leaves. 

It's not only the physical environment itself that presents new challenges, but the way the culture functions within that environment as well. The outdoors are treated like the wastebasket for everyone that passes by. Nothing is maintained by any public entity but rather 'left to entropy' and the 'tragedy of the commons', where nobody has the incentive or resources to maintain it privately.

Within this environment are lax laws and rampant bribery. There is a lot of drunk driving and public drinking. I've met a large group of drunk men cat-calling me in the street at night while walking Celest, and  cornered by a dog growling at me with beared teeth while holding her up. There is extortion and corruption from the big to the small, accompanied by a sense of having 'given up' in most of the people we meet. And I never see children casually playing, anywhere.

These are just a few examples of some environmental and cultural factors I have had to become aware of and handle, but there are more. Needless to say, I can become quite rigid from all the potential dangers that surround us in the environment we are currently in (which is also *one of* the reasons we are moving to Canada 🇨🇦). I begin to experience it as if my little baby were under constant threat from 360 degrees each time I venture outdoors.

I can get worked up into a stress, where I automatically play out worse-case scenarios in my mind in an instant, like a movie playing images of horrible outcomes with Celest dying or being permanently maimed. Each sound of tires on gravel could be a drunk driver that runs her over, each rustling of leaves a snake that bites her leg, or if Celest ventures more than a few feet away, some animal or someone could snatch her up. I get a jolt of energy in my body and move closer to her or pick her up from that starting point of fear. 

Please don't get me wrong - there is a practical point here, where we are in an environment that is not suitable for a baby. I can't just allow Celest to roam free as I could in the parks in Canada. The point is that I had done this kind of switch into 'fear mode'. It is exaggerated in my current environment which has many moments of truly being 'unsafe', but this is the state and condition of 'helicopter parents' on a an unconscious level. They are in a state of constant fear (not necessarily felt consciously). Because the thing is, it doesn't really matter which environment you are in. Switching over into 'fear mode', where we tend to believe we require stress and fear in order to 'step up' our vigilance (and then get stuck in that hyper-vigilant state) can happen in any environment. 

Over the period of a few weeks, I found I was really struggling with Celest (my red flag point). I would walk down the street and see coconuts hanging above, open gates where dogs live, piles of leaves where snakes could be. I was so busy 'keeping her safe' that I had started hovering over her and restricting her freedom of movement almost completely.  She started fighting me more, becoming displeased more and more easily,  not listening to me, and spending time with her outdoors had become something less enjoyable. It was stressful and I stopped looking forward to it, all under the guise that I am 'keeping her safe'. 

All the warnings, close calls and 'threats' were used in my mind to confirm and validate my worst fears - as if each one were not just a distant potential, but an inevitability that I must prevent. I would essentially wrap myself in those fears like a safety blanket, believing that holding on to them is what was keeping us safe. This means, instead of calmly walking over to Celest if she were walking towards a ledge for example, I would rush over to her with images in my head of her already falling off the ledge, or her little, lifeless body on the ground below.

What happens when you go into a 'fear-mode' like this, is that you are actually attracting events to you, both physically/practically and existentially. Look at dogs: they will more likely attack if they sense fear and nervousness. Snakes are highly sensitive, your fear is a threat to them, so they will more likely defend themselves with a bite. When you are in fear, you are not present and aware in your body, which is when accidents tend to happen. And then there is attracting events on a whole other level, where if you live in fear, Life will manifest events for you to face in order to overcome or let go of that fear. 

The second point is that when you exist with, surround and hover over your child in a state of fear, you are constantly impulsing to them that you do not trust them, there is no trust - no self-trust, no trust in life - only fear. This will also make THEM more prone to accidents and injuries, as they will pick up only on nervousness, insecurity, stress and panic, and will embody these words as they grow and develop.

How is a child supposed to confidently walk into the world and reality when all they have been programmed with and impulsed is the many faces and flavours of FEAR? This is how we as parents inadvertently destroy our children from the getgo, where like most things, it all starts with good intentions. We destroy their self-trust and their godhood, we snatch away their innocence and eternal life and replace it all with fear. Fear as insecurity, fear as anxiety, fear as stress, fear as apprehension, fear as self-doubt - all of it just the different faces of fear.

The question is: how do you balance being practically safe and at the same time allowing for the development of trust, confidence and assuredness? How do you "allow your child to do dangerous things carefully" (jp)?

When it comes to most fears, you just have to STOP. Take a breath, release the fear, and delete the images. We are not victims to our minds - we can BE the directive principle of what takes place in our own minds, to use it as a tool. I look at the commonsense of: if I can so easily get locked into a 'fear mode', then I know I have the power to decide where my mind goes, and that that decision can be quite firm. So instead of locking myself into and trusting only 'fear mode', I lock myself into and trust my presence and awareness. With this, actions and movements are purely practical. I can calmly pick up my child when I see a car coming, or guide her away from areas conducive to snakes. I can be aware of my environment for dogs and assess the behaviour of the dog, which 99% of the time is calm and chill. 

I remind myself that, for example, dangerous things happen IN MOMENTS, and are not present all the time or even most of the time I spend outside. That I can be vigilant and preventative without fear. That I can bring forth my self-confidence, self-trust, self-assuredness, my constancy and consistency in the application of my awareness of myself, my surroundings and my child, and so impulse THESE words as myself, instead of impulsing fear.

Conversely, in the purely practical realm, it is very beneficial to have access to child-friendly spaces. In these spaces I allow Celest much independence and to take her own risks: to climb up high and get down on her own. To fall often and get bumps and scrapes, to go down the slide or climb up the rocks, to run along the edge of the bed and climb up on the stool - to do dangerous things carefully - as this is how she is learning and growing. 

Once I made the switch out of 'fear-mode' where I stopped hovering and moving my body in rigid, tense energy, and once I began stopping the doomsday thoughts and walked myself into presence, awareness and trust - there was a significant substantiation of my bond, communication and cooperation with Celest. I could see her blossoming more, not just physically, but in her cognitive abilities as well - all of this I use as feedback that I am moving in the right direction. 

The sad reality is that this world was not created within a consideration for children. And most or many of the systems that are designed for them, are done so in a way that limits and diminishes their greatness, all under the guise of 'keeping them safe' and 'preparing them for life in this world'. Our greatest power as a parent is to honour our children's Greatness, their Godliness, their Utmost Potential IN OUR OWN HOMES, and in those pieces of reality that we participate in.

Sibling Rivalry and the Efficacy of Vocabulary

 

Here Cesar is working on some stop-animation with his clay. He left all his characters on a table, and Celest managed to pull one down and break the tail. I was able to quickly retrieve it and prevent any more damage, but when Cesar saw the broken tail, he became very upset. 

The damage to the tail was an easy fix, but Cesar decided instead to destroy all his characters and start over. I found this reaction to be out of proportion to the situation, so I took a breath and looked deeper. 

I recalled the time we were going on a trip, and we forgot to pack Cesar's clay, as each had assumed the other had placed it in the truck. He again reacted very strongly, and I watched how Gian handled it. It is very easy for a parent to get frustrated and tell a child to just 'get over it' because it's not a big deal, and sometimes that is true, but oftentimes when we take the attitude to 'man-up' because "life is hard", we're only teaching children to suppress, which can lead to a lifetime of illness and disease, failed relationships and personal limitation. So Gian took the time to look a little deeper. He supported Cesar to put into words what was really going on - that it wasn't ONLY about forgetting the clay. For Cesar, it was about the implications of us forgetting.  Gian and I should know him, should have realized how important his clay is to him, and with that understanding, we should have MADE SURE and CERTAIN that the clay made it into the car - thus demonstrating and living our understanding of Who Cesar Is. And when we forgot it, for Cesar it was as if we had overlooked an important part of him, of how he would spend his time and how he would have fun while we were away, and it felt like we didn't know him (Cesar puts great care into ensuring we know who he is.

In the end, we asked forgiveness, which is a very important step - don't skip it - and we also explained to Cesar that his empowerment comes when he takes responsibility for his own things, so in the future he can take the step to ensure he has everything, even if that means reminding the adults to check as well. 

This recent incident was different though. Cesar HAD placed all his clay neatly in the middle of the table,  out of reach... but Celest has grown and her reach has expanded, and we had to find this out the hard way. 

When Cesar seemed inconsolable, I brought back the memory of how Gian had looked several layers deep, beyond the incident that played out in physical reality, and into the implications the child experiences, and I realized the point. I asked Cesar for forgiveness, and looked at the deeper layer. I realized that Cesar trusted me to look after his characters and take care of them while he is away from them for any period of time. If I fail to do this and don't communicate about it to him, it is as if I do not care, do not respect his projects, place less importance on his endeavours, and possibly place Celest's freedom of movement above protecting his creations (because now we have sibling dynamics to consider).

I reminded Cesar that Gian and I both respect and look after his belongings very much. Sometimes you have to remind a child of your proven track-record, because the negative experience can be blinding, where only the negative incidents are seen. I was not speaking empty words. I was reminding Cesar of Living Words such as Love, Respect and Consideration as consistent actions over time specifically when it came to taking care of his clay. The fact that we live these words in our relationship means that Celest WILL learn through us as examples to do the same. However she is still just a baby and does not yet understand things like 'mine' and 'yours'. I also reminded Cesar of when he cut up my expensive earphones with scissors when he was much younger, because toddlers do this kind of thing, and we have to move through it. We had a good laugh at that!

We finished by talking about the choice to 'linger in an emotional state or reaction' once all the points had been discussed and there was understanding and a way forward. It's true that some things do just suck, it's just a shitty situation - but how long do you hold on to that for? I showed Cesar that he now had a choice to remain sad, or to move himself towards having fun again. He admitted that sometimes he suppresses his smiles and laughter to remain sad, but that he would now let it go.

It's so cool when a child has a well-developped vocabulary and understanding, and you can actually get to the root of points as they arise. With setting this kind of foundation in children, we are giving them the tools, skills and abilities to "man-up" later in life when they do become grown Men and Women. They will be able to do it in a way where they don't simply push down and bury their feelings and emotions, but to actually work through them for themselves, because they've been given self-understanding and opportunities to take self-responsibility.

The tough part is that us adults were not necessarily given these tools (and neither were our parents, or theirs), so we have to do the self-work to cut through the reactions to the understanding. I use the Desteni tools for self-work and Techno Tutor for myself and the kids reading, comprehension and vocabulary development. My posts are the outflows of applying these tools. I post them to keep myself accountable, and to support others when similar situations arise in their own lives. 

First Trust; Never hold assumptions...

 

I was growing this spring onion in the window, and Celest was very interested in it. In Canada,  she used to pick the spring onions and chew on them, so I would break off pieces of this one for her or bring her close to look at it. I never let her hold the whole plant due to the assumption that she would make a huge mess and end up killing it. 

Finally, one day when she was very adamant, Gian suggested I just give it to her and see what happens. He reminded me not to hold an assumption or have any expectation of what Celest's behaviour might be. Rather give her a blank slate and allow her to show me what she will do. So I took the onion down and gave it to her. 

To my surprise, Celest played with the onion for hours! She was so gentle and would carry it around,  picking it up and putting it down, losing interest and then taking it up again, all with only a few broken sprigs. She was so careful with it, when I was certain she would dig out the soil and spread it over the room!

Its so easy to fall into the habit of functioning from assumption and expectation, thinking and believing we know what's going to happen based on past behaviour. But this can end up locking children into a past version of themselves without giving them the space to show us what they've learned or how they can so easily and quickly change. It is a cool reminder to regularily hold back all assumptions and expectations, and allow children to instead SHOW us who they are and what they will do.

Why I Worldschool

Keeping up with Cesar's self-education can be a little 😬🥵🫨 at times! I can start counting the terms I have to Google in order to understand what he is telling me in what he would consider a 'normal conversation'. 

Right now, Cesar is into taxonomy. In the picture below, he has created several phyla of classes out of his clay, explaining to me the sexual dymorphism, sexual and asexual reproductive methods within species, and the pleomorphism present within some of the species he's created. He then explains to me that he believes that tardigrades are not highly resistant and able to survive things like the vaccuum of space on purpose, but that they are extremophiles and their heartness is simply side-effect of this. (Total number of googles on my part: 6).

Cesar can become frustrated with me when I take some time to quickly educate myself while talking to him. He wonders why I don't know things, how this world can be so interesting and amazing, and why have I not taken the time to learn all about it? I have to explain to him that my childhood education was prescribed to me by others, and that I went from full-time school directly into full-time work. I had to be honest and tell him that my free time was spent moslty escaping the rest of my life, and that I was turned off from 'learning' as it had come to feel like a chore and was very boring in how it was presented through school. It only occurred to me in my adult life that I could become passionate about something and do my own research and investigations. 

Children that are moved through the education system do not get to nurture their personal interests nor spend timeless moments in their fascinations. To me, this is what that fleeting moment called 'childhood' should be all about. Most of us did not get to live it this way, but for those of us that see value in this approach, we can give it to the next generation. Cesar is an amazing example of how a child's appetite for learning is naturally voracious! All we have to do is give him the tools like reading and vocabulary, guidance, and lots of patience to see it all through to the development of this incredible human being that he is - not only in 'what he knows' - that is not the most important thing. It's about Who He Is within himself, toward others and the whole.

From the Mouths of Babes

I made some delicious sesame encrusted salmon with a teriyaki glaze, served over a bed of arugula and with a side of sautéed red pepper and white rice. It was soooo good! 🤤 As I was dishing it up, Cesar studied it for a moment and plainly told me, word for word, that the meal does not tempt him at all and he finds it entirely unattractive. He carefully reiterated - as Cesar often does to ensure complete understanding - that there is not one element on that plate that he would want to put in his mouth.  

Normally, an adult might find this rude or cheeky for a child to be so blunt. We might call it 'unappreciative' or 'insulting'. Yet I could not help but break out into laughter, because I understand Cesar and where he is coming from. 

We have told Cesar in the past that he must be honest with us about what he likes and dislikes in terms of food. There have been times where he would claim to be full after having not eaten, only because he saw how much effort went into the cooking process, and he didn't want to say he didn't like it. We explained to him that if he does this, we will continue to cook the same meals assuming he likes it, and then end up wasting food. In order to not waste food like this, we ask him to not only tell us if he likes it or not, but what exactly it is that he does or doesn't like, so that we can make adjustments. 

So, when Cesar was studying my dish, I knew that instead of disregarding the whole thing at first glance because it looked 'weird' or 'gross'to him, he was meticulously checking each element to see if there was anything he could eat, before giving his answer. This is not rude nor unappreciative, it is being honest. This is actually quite thoughtful. 

When I was a child, there were many times when I would force foods down my throat when eating at friend's houses so as not to offend anybody. The adults would see this as 'having good manners' and being 'well raised', when in fact it is teaching children to act in misalignment with their honesty in order to appease the emotions and expectations of adults. 

I would rather have a child be honest, know themselves and stand up for what they want and don't want to put in their bodies, because this applies to many more important boundaries later on in life. If we teach our children to bend to the will of others merely for the sake of appearances, then we are creating weak-willed children that will accept and allow abuse unto themselves if it means it won't upset someone, and we do this in so many ways. 

Rather use meal-times as an exercise in self-understanding and the courage to be honest about what you know about yourself. There will be times when a child will not have the option to choose what is served to them, due to things like the cost of food, or time, or something else - but this can also be explained and understood on a practical level instead of in the context of pretense and 

Stop Enter-FEARING with your children

 

Celest and Cesar were playing on the bed together for quite a while. Gian and I had our backs to them, and could only hear the squeals of delight and laughter as the two siblings enjoyed wrestling and chasing each other around. 

Finally I turned around to watch, and it was so cute. But within seconds of watching, I felt a bit of a knot developing in my stomach. I noticed both kids teetering along the edge of the bed, seemingly not focusing at all on their balance and position on the bed as they tossed themselves around. I started to imagine one of them falling off, and all of the accidents and injuries that could happen. 

As soon as I noticed the thoughts, the knot in my stomach and my breath shorten, Celest did a physics-defying back-bending arch right at the edge of the bed (pictured above). I jumped over with my hand in place before her bum could even hit the mattress. 

Great reflexes! But the thing is - my hand did not even have to touch her. She caught herself. She was fine. She had BEEN FINE the whole time! It's only when I interfered (Enter-FEAR) that suddenly the play became 'dangerous'.

The thing is, you can have a starting point of practicality where yes - a child may fall off the bed - and so you must direct accordingly. However, most commonly and automatically, we instantly go into fear. The children, sensitive as they are, will pick up on that fear, and it will have an impact on them. It can be things like shaking their confidence, rattling their self-trust, triggering their defiance or any other such impact depending on the flavour of fear and the nature of the child. 

Rather leave your fear out of the scenario all together - that is your baggage and should not be placed onto a child! Keep it practical instead - commonsense - no need to inject fear into their realities where it does not yet exist. Where there is fear, there can not be trust. Rather watch your children in Trust, and allow them to develop themselves without fear. Keep it real, keep it practical, don't be FEAR, be HERE! 

#parenting #desteni #nofear #tt #technotutor