Home is where the Start is...

When we talk about home what images are conjured up in your mind? If I think about my childhood home I think of the coal fire, baths in front of it, toasting bread over the fire, my cat curled up in front of the fire. Food on the table, Christmas decorations, home made Christmas cakes and mince pies. There were good times and there were bad times, but that's family life!

Before having any children I decided that I wanted to be a SAHM (Stay At Home Mum) while they were young then when they were in school I would go out to work and have a bit of freedom. Oh dear, what a fallacy - freedom? - going out to work when you have targets to reach, sell, sell, sell, rush, rush, rush. Dealing with rude people - also dealing with wonderful people (who were far more common TBH than the rude folk). Is work really freedom for a woman? Well, I would venture to say - No, I don't think it is! I think women deceive themselves into believing they are doing the correct thing - to the detriment of their families! Rushing to get children ready for school, rushing to work for that important meeting - Oh no one of the kids has gone down with chicken pox so I'm going to have to take the day off work and I had a deadline to make! I want to be with my friends in work - where all the action is! Do schools make us peer-centred? For over 1,000 hours a year school children spend that time with their peers, learning to behave like their peers, listen to the same music, think like them, act like them - it's all they know, so when they have a family, they are 'stuck' at home with a baby - Oh no what's to do - they're not my peers! OK I am being a bit radical and extreme here because some women HAVE to go out to work and others make fantastic mothers, but I do wonder if women should take a step back and look at their busy lives and see that their children are the most important person they could ever care for (well, of course if they're married their husbands would be as well).

I want my children to see home as a place for learning, a place of security, a place of love and care where they can express their feelings, talk through things which trouble them, not be dependent just on their peers for security and guidance.

When my children were young it was fun to get out their wooden blocks and sort them into shapes, colours, sizes then by the colours of the shapes, make new shapes out of the original ones e.g. a square can be made by putting 2 same size triangles base to base etc. Read them stories and point each word out to them, do jigsaw puzzles with them and watch them get to grips with larger puzzles. Reading to them and pointing out the words to them first of all, them helping them to read the words for themselves by using phonics etc. Home is where we can all learn together - I loathed history in school, thought it was really boring, but now I am so riveted by it and geography as well! Home is where there is security for learning - if a child makes a mistake then they are not ridiculed in front of their peers, but are gently encouraged and nurtured to develop their weaknesses and help fulfill their strengths. Teachers don't know everything and cannot be expected to know everything due to time constraints whereas a parent at home, while maybe also not knowing everything can learn alongside their child and they grow together and learn together!

Now my children are older they tend to do a lot of work on their own - we use a curriculum so they work from text books - sometimes though there are times when I still have to be involved! My eldect son will tell me about the history he's learned - he reads books outside of his curriculum. My youngest is good at the piano and will entertain anyone who calls around. We laugh together and cry together.

Families are the backbone of society - without family life society degenerates into a mess - there are no rules, nothing to be guided by. Children feel dejected, unloved and turn to their peers/pop stars etc for guidance. My sons will be in a family setting for years so they are being trained up to be part of a strong, stable family, guided by their parents.