Month: August 2019

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Rituals

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about rituals. In November, MG will start daycare and R and I will go back to the office full-time. So, even though she won’t remember them long-term, it seems like a good opportunity to start with some family rituals.

You can have daily rituals like…

  • a few, on-rotation afterschool snacks
  • saying what you are grateful for at the dinner table
  • taking a shower and changing into pajamas after school (instead of before bed). We did this a lot when I was a kid and it was soooo cozy.

Or monthly rituals like:

  • cake for breakfast on the first day of every month

Or yearly rituals like:

  • a birthday experience (instead of presents)
  • pumpkin carving
  • opening one Christmas present on Christmas eve

Or seasonal rituals like:

  • late night summer grocery store runs;
  • going to the library on a rainy day and then spending the day snuggled up at home
  • watching Moonstruck between Christmas and New Year’s

 

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A drive for perfection

I have found myself being very consumerist recently. Just spending tons of time browsing through clothes, toys, etc. Like, if I buy the perfect thing, my life will become perfect. R and I don’t spend a lot of money by choice because we both would rather save our money so we have more flexibility later on in life with how we want to spend our time. But coming back to work and with MG becoming more interested in the world, I have this quiet anxiety that is telling me to be more perfect. I have probably spent hours looking at beautiful rainbow blocks, stacking bowls, play silks, etc. At the same time, we work very hard to not give MG too many toys and overwhelm her. So where is this drive coming from? It’s like some perverted thought that if I don’t get the right things, life won’t be good. I think I’m going to pause on online shopping for a while and let myself reconnect more with the natural rhythm of my life.