We know our recommendation to go puddle jumping this muddy March may raise eyebrows. But when’s the last time you and your young ’uns whipped your shoes off and experienced the “sensations of disgust and pleasure” from mud oozing between your fingers and toes? “Mud Play” encourages you to abandon the hand sanitizer and make some memories.
Speaking of over-sanitizing, “Embracing failure” debunks the long-standing super sanitized self-esteem movement of yesteryear. Praising our kid’s intelligence rather than emphasizing effort diminishes grit, which is proven to be more strongly linked to success than IQ. We’re reminded that every rescue is a lesson lost.
And we’re all about learning. “Embracing failure” kicks off our year-long conversation “Raising Kind” (you may remember a brief mention of this last issue). “Raising Kind” will include stories in print and online plus discussions via our social media channels, email newsletters and events. Our goal: Encourage kindness, self-compassion and mindfulness in our children, our communities and ourselves.
Why? Throughout my life I’ve found that the darkest moments offer the greatest learning opportunities. Those moments build empathy and compassion — qualities in high demand during these unfamiliar and uncharted political times. We’re particularly keeping an eye on both sides of the aisle in Olympia as our politicians discuss paid family leave.
MomsRising founder and 2008 ParentMap Superhero Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner has been instrumental in leading the paid family leave charge in our state and beyond. She’ll join us March 28 at Town Hall Seattle for a lively (and free!) discussion around paid leave, on-ramping and off-ramping in the workplace, child care, gender equality and finding ways to make it all work for you and your family. We hope to see you there!
