To chat or not to chat.....

The madam has a wonderfully outgoing personality - she very rarely has any sort of fear of anyone or anything. When I was pregnant I read in somewhere that the majority of fear is a 'learned response' and I have tried pretty hard to make sure she is fearless. She has always been a bit of a mimic but now she seems to be going through a major 'copy cat' phase. My mother in law is scared of dogs so when she is around the madam is scared of dogs, the Mr loves sandwiches so when he is around that is all she will eat and so on.....

Anyway

Where I am going with this is I like to talk. Yes I am the weird Chickie that smiles, says hello and ends up having in depth conversations with random people. I have met some fabulous people that way and had some very interesting experiences. I don't know why I do it as technically I am not really known for that much talking but it is just what I do. A friend of mine had quite the freak out at me the other day for it - she feels like I am teaching the madam that it is okay just to talk to anyone and this will therefore lead to her talking to strangers and thus her inevitable abduction. I actually thought the opposite - that it would teach her not to judge others based on appearance and to feel comfortable if in a dire situation to ask anyone for help.

So my question (cause you know how I love a good question!) is how do you teach your kids to be wary of people but to not judge, be accepting and friendly as well? Is 'stranger danger' still appropriate or is there another way?

Are we our own worst enemies?

Why do mothers and some women (with or without children) feel the need to judge each other so severely? As a sex there has been generations of women before us that fought for the right to do many a thing - to vote, equality at work, natural parenting, have or not have children - basically to be women. Now in the 'new millennium' we can vote, we can chose (sometimes)to be working or non - working mothers, we can wear what we like, have a million options for ourselves and our kids. With all this available you would think that there would be a mass of self assured, confidant, loving women going about their daily lives full - physically, mentally, spiritually. But I (and it is just my opinion) do not really feel that this is happening.............

More and more I am hearing of women, some mothers some not, to scared or lacking in confidence because of something another woman has said or done. Whether it be their friend, acquaintance, mother, sister, in law, teacher it is always at the hands of a fellow woman. I left my mothers group because I could not bear the continuous financial competitiveness, I could not put my daughter through another Wednesday afternoon of possibly not living up to the others standards and I couldn't put myself through not living up to their standards. I wasn't raising my child according the masses, I wore the wrong clothes, said the wrong words. Another friend of mine has herself in a complete and utter breakdown state because her 9 month old is not up to her mothers groups standards and she is starting to 'feel the heat'. I could go on but I wont subject you all to that!

Like me there are a few I know that have left mothers group, book clubs, gyms, etc because of other women - yes we have all found other creative outlets, fitness regimes and things for our kids to do - but should we have had too?

I am grateful for the experience as it has probably allowed me to become more confident about who I am and what I do - and it led to me starting this blog which I will be forever grateful for - I just wonder what happened to the sisterhood - can we not support where we criticize, can we not understand where we would usually judge, why do we not embrace the uniqueness?

Are we really living in a society where the most dangerous of predators are our own kind?

Markets, mother's day and monkey mayhem!

Good Morning! Well we had an interesting weekend here! Madam (my lovely 2 going on 20year old) and myself made our regular venture to the local farmers market. As you can see in the photo she is mighty independent and I believe the most used sentence this month will be 'I do it myself please!' so off we go nanna trolley in tow! I'm finding that unless we are there first thing on a Saturday it is impossible to go as it is so busy. I think that it is probably a great sign that so many people now are looking to buy locally and fresh. Seeing how much mass produced food is around now it is lovely to see so many kids getting around munching on fresh apples and homemade breads!

We did have beautiful blue sky for a bit this weekend - so we made the most of it and did some random planting of seeds. It has been leading up to full moon tonight so things have seemed a little intense but I seem to always feel that around full moon. My friend says it's a female thing but .......... who knows!

For mothers day Sunday the three of us went for breakie at the local cafe then thought we would venture down to the Zoo to check it out. We hadn't taken Madam there for a while and thought she would love it! A great big build up to get there and then it was a 2 minute trip inside. Seriously, we were in the gates just looking at the reptile house and then the staff ( who were great) ushered us out because the orangutan got past the security fence of her enclosure. What are the chances! So the zoo will have to wait for another time!

My parents came back from Melbourne yesterday so we decided to go over and see them. This of course involved hanging out with the chooks - but all good!








I turn 30 in four days - I don't know if I am 'zen' with it - or freaking because now my twenties are over? Oh well.......next post maybe!