A RealFamilies RealFun Blog

Jul 17 2008

Living in the now

Category: At Home

In Sarah Napthali's Buddhism for Mothers: A Calm Approach to Caring for Yourself and Your Children she writes about "living in the now" with your children. As a Type A mom, I find this extremely hard to do.

Often I find that parenting involves more planning than doing. Many days I'm more involved with my kids' to-do list than with my actual kids. Register for preschool nine months before school starts. Check. Buy school uniforms on sale for next year. Check. Sign up for summer golf camp in the spring. Check. Put money in college fund for fall 2018 tuition payment. Check.

Nathan has this problem as well. He constantly asks, "What are we going to do next?" right in the middle of an activity. He's not satisfied when you tell him either. He wants to know what will happen after that, and then after the next thing, too. I tell him to enjoy what he's doing now, and not to worry about what's coming next. It's advice I should take, too.