Cloud Parenting
Sometimes I get stuck in my own story.
We all do. Probably more often than is comfortable to admit. I find that I've become closed to alternative ways of seeing or understanding. There are many paradigms out there to understand this process....and all of them (in my mind) boil down to this...there is more to the story.
"More" can be a different perspective. "More" can be details that have gone unnoticed. "More" can be allowing new feelings to color and tint OR letting old feelings stop coloring experience. "More" can mean so many things.
One of the glorious things about improv stories is that they are of the moment. The more experienced an improv storyteller becomes, the more at ease one becomes with exploring new paths, letting go of assumptions and experiencing new story realities...essentially ready to watch the clouds of the story change. Was that a rabbit in the sky....or a mushroom growing near a top hat? Or was it a rabbit disappearing into a discarded magician's hat?
Last week, in the midst of a bunch of rainy days, we had a burst of blue sky. After a lunch picnic, LP and I lay on a blanket and watched the clouds move in the sky. And as I watched those clouds change, I thought about how much LP is changing every day. I tried to soften my gaze on her and see the things that I don't usually see. It is easy to focus on the parts of LP that delight me and the things that are challenging. So easy to focus on the first image, on my first ideas and assumptions about what it means that she loves to make bouquets out of any material she can find in nature. Or what it means that she prefers the color red. Or loves dinosaurs.
And focusing on those details can leave so much out of the story of who she is today...and tomorrow. Noticing the details is wonderful. So is noticing when the details are limiting my ability to really see her in any given moment.
It is a challenge to give up our solid sense of story, of this is how you are and who you are. Yet when we can do this, when we can see each other as changing beings, we can not only better support growth but enjoy all the potentials you can see.
I hope that I can remember to watch LP with that soft, cloud-watching vision sometimes and to also help her build her ability to see the world in alternative ways.
This post is part of the Moms' 30 Minute Blog Challenge over at SteadyMom.
Labels: improv parenting, musings
posted by Susan at
8:49 PM
6 Comments:
Hi Susan,
Thank you for this lovely post! Reminds me why I fell in love with improv at first game, and how it continues to guide me through ever-shifting time and tide.
Cheers,
Maya
(Found you via Steady Mom)
I feel the same way when playing with my daughter. I want cultivate creative thinking, imagining, and strong sense of self.
To her, it makes perfect sense that an Elmo sticker belongs inside a snow boot. And that reminds me of how much I need to learn from her about seeing the world in a different way.
That is such a beautiful post... and a great reminder to look a little closer in a hazy kind of way!!! Love it!!! Have a good week!!!
Oh technology what happened? Where did the comments go? I'll respond anyway (my blogger dashboard says they are still here...very strange) Maya -- thanks for coming by and your kind words, getting to reconnect with the spirit that drew me to improv always helps and big YES to that idea of "helping through changing tide and time" Amanda -- isn't it amazing to view the world from their perspective even when it baffles us? Last night LP was insisting that I find her the "white candy box" which after much confusion turned out to be the paper wrapper on some embroidery thread. se7en-- yes! let us enjoy that hazy gaze!
So strange...now the comments are back. I look forward to when LP is old enough to "do" technology for me!
Thanks, your posts are so interesting and make me think about things in new ways. I also think it is so important to teach our children to see the world in alternative ways. It seems like children don't get too many opportunities to think outside of the box anymore.
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