Being a mother means understanding that your children are never really your own. They belong to the world so the best thing we can do is prepare them for that world in which they will ultimately belong.
Yet, as someone who loves being a mum and spending time with her kids (no matter how much they annoy her at times!) I know my time with them is precious. While they live in our house with us, we can demand their attention but when they leave home… Their time with you is like rain on a summer’s day. It comes and goes whenever it does. A lot of time, sparingly.
My eldest is a proper teenager. Being a teenager means there’s no more cuddling in public. She gets a little embarrassed when I give her too much attention. Like PDA by new couples is not always welcomed, she doesn’t want mummy’s eager kisses and hugs in public either. Can’t blame her! Haha..
So I thought about what are the ways I can spend precious, quality time with my teenager without embarrassing her and still instil strong values in her?
The answer was joint yoga sessions. She used to come to my classes when I was teaching my Belly Dance Therapy and even did shows for me. That time is now over and yoga is hopefully our replacement. We attended our first yoga sessions as ‘adults’ this week. (Read here how Adeena bought me a yoga session as a birthday gift with her own money when she was very young.)
As someone who’s practised gentle yoga for more years than she’s been around, it was nice to be next to my daughter and help guide her where the instructor has missed. It was also nice to encourage her to keep going where she thinks she can’t go on. And then it was hilarious when we both failed to achieve the headstand asana.
Our instructor happened to be a heavily pregnant mama herself. I loved this discovery. I have always maintained that it’s important for girls, as young as possible, to be surrounded by imageries of strong, independent ‘kick a**’ women to instil their own sense of pride in their sexuality. Being pregnant didn’t stop me from teaching my own classes till I was 38 weeks pregnant (had to stop when I went into labour!) and it is not stopping Cheryl either.
I hope to be able to do joint sporty activities with my daughters/son as much as possible. Today it’s yoga, tomorrow we might add rock climbing to the list. Heck, we have been talking about picking up horse riding again. Why not… Our time together is precious. We must grab every possible interactions and public ‘cuddling’ where possible!
Have you got your own mother-daughter/son bonding sessions? And is it a regular thing? I’d love to hear your own activities and how you feel it has made you closer to your child(ren). Comment below.