For some reason, when i turned the age of 40, something changed.
At that age, my kids were a bit older and needed me less with basic skills. They got more independent and I benefited with a bit of time for myself…not too much but a bit more time…time to re-connect and see what you became, who you are, who you live with…lots of thinking occurred then!
What happened at that time is connection to my inner child.
(I will write in a separate post on couple relationships and parenting)
A smart lady I met once told me “You can take care of many children around you, open the doors of your home to many kids, but you left your inner child alone in the dark. It is time to hold her and take care of her.”
The time came for my inner child to be taken care of, held and hugged!
For me, this became possible to do through activities.
First, I joined an art class one morning a week, 4 hours for myself, with much older ladies😊 This was wonderful! I always thought I was not an artist but here I am, learning, improving, painting arts for my own house, understanding what I like and how to make them …I started to fill up my walls with paintings… here are few of them…
then I wanted to change and started another class about portraits with pencil. I felt like a child learning and enjoying every second…
To my surprise, what also happened to me, was seeing my children’s pride in my paintings. Every new guest at home got a tour and the sentence “mom painted this”! with a beaming smile.
I felt that connecting to myself made them SEE me, my interests and I felt more appreciated.
Then I wanted to go back to piano, after 30 years! I played as a child for 6 years but then at 40 years old, could not read a note! I started to take piano lessons and quickly remembered reading music and playing classical music as I like. Today, occasionally, I sit and play…again felt like I am connecting to my inner child!
My children watch me play. They asked to learn some piano as well. They stopped quickly but that allowed them to try, check, listen, see their mom not as a caregiver, but as a child enjoying playing piano (article about music education can be read here)!
Last, but not least, I started again to dance! Once a week, in a small group…and I love it!! But what also happened then, after few months…my older daughter 14 years old decided to join me which connected us more.
So thanks to this free time for myself, connecting to my inner child, my own kids got to know the person behind their mom, they learn to know her, appreciate her, not because she feeds them, buys them stuff they need, takes care of them, holds them or kisses them…but through another angle, just as a person with her skills and who she is.
I believe we all should try to connect to our inner child as great things come out of this.
We are truth to ourselves and kids see, feel, relate to this! We leave for few hours a week our super important role of “parent” and become ourselves, without a role!
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND it!!
