Amanda Moore, MS, ALC

05/11/2024

“Today in one of our classes I introduced the children to two apples (the children didn't know this, but before the class I had repeatedly dropped one of the apples on the floor, you couldn't tell, both apples looked perfect). We talked about the apples and the children described how both apples looked the same; both were red, were of similar size and looked juicy enough to eat.

I picked up the apple I'd dropped on the floor and started to tell the children how I disliked this apple, that I thought it was disgusting, it was a horrible colour and the stem was just too short. I told them that because I didn't like it, I didn't want them to like it either, so they should call it names too.

Some children looked at me like I was insane, but we passed the apple around the circle calling it names, 'you're a smelly apple', 'I don't even know why you exist', 'you've probably got worms inside you' etc.

We really pulled this poor apple apart. I actually started to feel sorry for the little guy.

We then passed another apple around and started to say kind words to it, 'You're a lovely apple', 'Your skin is beautiful', 'What a beautiful colour you are' etc.

I then held up both apples, and again, we talked about the similarities and differences, there was no change, both apples still looked the same.

I then cut the apples open. The apple we'd been kind to was clear, fresh and juicy inside.

The apple we'd said unkind words to was bruised and all mushy inside.

I think there was a lightbulb moment for the children immediately. They really got it, what we saw inside that apple, the bruises, the mush and the broken bits is what is happening inside every one of us when someone mistreats us with their words or actions.

When people are bullied, especially children, they feel horrible inside and sometimes don't show or tell others how they are feeling. If we hadn't have cut that apple open, we would never have known how much pain we had caused it.

I shared my own experience of suffering someone's unkind words last week. On the outside I looked OK, I was still smiling. But, on the inside someone had caused me a lot of pain with their words and I was hurting.

Unlike an apple, we have the ability to stop this from happening. We can teach children that it's not ok to say unkind things to each other and discuss how it makes others feel. We can teach our children to stand up for each other and to stop any form of bullying, just as one little girl did today when she refused to say unkind words to the apple.

More and more hurt and damage happens inside if nobody does anything to stop the bullying. Let's create a generation of kind, caring children.

The tongue has no bones, but is strong enough to break a heart. So be careful with your words.”

Words by: Mum in the Moment

RESOURCES:

Need to find out more about kids and bullying: https://parenttv.com/?s=Bullying

How to help look after your child’s mental health: https://parenttv.com/topics/mental-health/

04/30/2024

💛

My mother very kindly bought my 7-year-old daughter and me season passes to a local water park last year. We had only been a handful of times while temperatures soared above 100°, but decided to take advantage of a slow day at the park one Friday morning. Most other kids were back in school and the temperatures had finally dropped a bit, so we swam for hours, fueled by soft pretzels and Hi-C.

One of the places we spent the most time was the wave pool. I’d squat down to my daughter’s height in the water and together, we’d jump with and into the waves, over and over again.

After a while, she noticed one area of the pool where the waves were crashing down harder and insisted I pull her to that spot while she floated there in a Superman pose. 🤦‍♀️😂

Once we arrived, though, the waves were a LOT. They were crashing down, getting into our eyes and noses and just generally beating us up. At one point, my daughter received an especially big splash in the face and seemed a little shaken up. We were far from the wave pool exit, so I grabbed her by her life jacket and lifted her up and down with the waves while she recovered.

While I was lifting and lowering her, *I* was getting beat up…slapped in the face by waves, nearly pushed over several times. I was feeling frustrated when I suddenly remembered…why was I still squatting down in the water?! I immediately stood up and realized at my full height, the waves were annoying but manageable.

It turned out that after squatting and floating on my knees for nearly an hour, I was so accustomed to it that I forgot I was a full-size adult. I shrugged in stupid amazement as I told my daughter, “Hey! I just remembered I’m tall!” and we both cracked up laughing.

But friend…how easily do we forget who we are? We often spend so much time surrounded by drama or small minds or angry words or pettiness or whatever…that we forget we’re bigger than that, that we can just…stand up!

Stand up and save your friends and family from that mess. Or just stand up and leave it altogether. But whatever you do, don’t allow those negative surroundings to slap you in the face or push you over or try to drown you. Don’t allow them to bring you down to their level.

Instead friend, remind yourself of who you are, who you were created to be, your purpose, your value, your birthright. Your own two legs.

Stand up. Because the waves aren’t stopping any time soon.

04/26/2024

Paradoxically, an overwhelming desire to please is rooted in an addictive quest for control – by pleasing others we are better able to manipulate them, albeit unconsciously. Believing that we need to control our bodies, families and jobs if we are to avoid annihilation is a dangerous illusion. It leaves us split between head and body, intellect and emotion, fantasy and reality. We cannot reconcile our yearning to be perfect and god-like with the reality of being human and fallible. We mistakenly believe that the inner judgmental voices will shut up if only we can achieve our goals. Life turns into a prison from which we seek to escape by gaining yet more control and by becoming supposedly more perfect. As we misguidedly run as fast as we can towards the mirage of perfection, we eventually meet our own starving and abandoned self.

~ Marion Woodman

[Art: Mihail Zablodski: https://zablodski.com]

02/19/2024

09/22/2023

Loneliness does not come from having no people about one, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to oneself, or from holding certain views which others find inadmissible. If a man knows more than others, he becomes lonely. But loneliness is not necessarily inimical to companionship, for no one is more sensitive to companionship than the lonely man, and companionship thrives only when each individual remembers his individuality and does not identify himself with others! ~Carl Jung

(Book: Memories, Dreams, Reflections https://amzn.to/3ZxmnAo)

(Art: 'Stańczyk', 1862 by Jan Matejko)

09/05/2023

Keep going!

06/14/2023

💛

One day when you wake up,
you will find that you've become a forest.
You've grown roots and found strength in them
that no one thought you had.
You have become stronger and more beautiful,
full of life giving qualities.
You have learned to take all the negativity around you,
and turn it into oxygen for easy breathing.
A host of wild creatures live inside you,
and you call them stories.
A variety of beautiful birds nest inside your mind,
and you call them memories.
You have become an incredible self sustaining thing of epic proportions.
And you should be so proud of yourself,
of how far you have come from the seeds of who you used to be.

~ Nikita Gill ~

Artist Credit : Tarn Ellis

05/15/2023

✨✨

02/15/2023

Not all heroes wear capes

01/26/2023

Love this 😍

🖼️ Art credit: Sister Golden

01/07/2023

JAR OF SAND FROM ALL OF THE BEACHES YOU TRAVEL TO- such a fun idea

https://daisyanddaydreams.com/2013/04/17/lifes-a-beach/