They say it takes a village to raise a child, and it certainly does. As much as I would like to think I can do it all on my own, I just cant. People often ask me how I manage three very small children, I am a minister's wife, study, and find time to write this blog. The real reason I am able to do it all is with the help of my "village"
In our society, your village can include childcare workers, nannies, au pairs, friends, neighbours and grandparents. It is lovely that we can have a range of different people caring for our kids and enriching their little lives with their knowledge and experiences.
I watched this video today as a promotion of Bepanthen and it got me thinking about and appreciating the wonderful village that I have helping me to raise my children.
For me, my village is not my immediate family. For some people grandparents are key helpers in raising children. With my kids closest grandparent living 3 hours away, this is not an option for us (although they do help us as much as they can). For us, we rely on childcare workers, teachers, our church family, friends and neighbours to be our village.
Even though my kids are not in childcare full-time, they are cared for by many people other than my husband and I. Just this week these are the situations where my village helped (or will help) me:
- Sunday: Kids are looked after by volunteers in the kids programs at church and Emily played at the neighbours house in the afternoon.
- Monday: A friend looked after my kids while I met with my uni supervisor.
- Tuesday: A different friend looked after my kids while I went out to a show.
- Wednesday: Other mums at playgroup watch my kids when I get distracted or have to attend to my other kids.
- Thursday: My two older kids attend preschool and childcare and are cared for my teachers and carers.
- Friday: Emily cared for by her preschool teachers.
So you see, even if you are a stay at home mum (like me), there are still many people involved in raising your children. Whether you pay them, or not they are still your village and I think that they are essential to help raising your kids (both for mum's sanity and for the child's learning and development).
Who is your village?
This is a sponsored post but all opinions are my own
