Honestly, I can't believe that this is our LAST chapter entry! Celia has done the honors, and has written some insightful self-reflections on chapter. I think you'll appreciate how carefully she thinks about her responsibilities as a parent; I believe her experiences are at the very heart of the reasons this book was written. Enjoy!
When I knew that I had to read and write for this chapter, I felt tired and didn’t want to do it. As everyone knows, I am a mom to a 13 month old baby girl. As a child development major, I feel pressured to raise my child the right way. It has been overwhelming to try and find a way to accomplish my goal. When I would go to the stores and stroll by the toy section, looking for an educational toy would give me a headache. Now that Christmas is coming, that headache has doubled. This assignment was tedious, but for many reasons, I am glad that I did it. I feel much more relaxed about raising my daughter knowing that if I play peek-a-boo with her, sing, read or even pretend play, I will be teaching her many things that a toy cannot.
As a student and a working mother it is hard to have a lot of time to “hang out” with my child. I see why parents buy games/videos to entertain their kids. About a month ago I felt pressured to follow that road. My sister came to pick up my daughter with my nephews and mom. When they were all situated and ready to go, my nephews popped out their Nintendo DS’s; my daughter, not knowing what they were, looked at the games in awe. My sister said, “Look, she wants one too. I am going to get one for her for Christmas.” Considering my daughter had just turned a year old, my sister’s comment made me panic. I don’t want a child who plays video games more than anything. The idea I have for my child is for her to be happy, play outside and to learn as much as possible in a fun way. I knew that if I allowed or went along with my sister’s idea, I would be giving up my child’s independence. So like the Einstein book says, I reflected, resisted and re-centered. I thought about my daughter and how that would influence her. I realized that I didn’t want her to be modernized and “know” technology at an early age; by resisting and saying no, I would have made Nancy Regan proud. I explained my reasoning and told my sister that books or a doll would be much better. I will say it was hard because as a parent you do want to give your child what you didn’t have and what they “need” to succeed in today’s technological fast-track world. No, instead of a Nintendo DS, my daughter will play with her dolls (Elmo, Bell) and learn at the same time. Most importantly, I will help her, and instead of showing a picture of a tree or a squirrel, I will walk with her at school, a park or outside our house and talk about what we see, even though people have and will look at me weirdly. My daughter may not have a DS but she will be happy with her surroundings, using her imagination and playing just like I did.
