A fork in the river

Mummy’s 1st post!

The journey of many parents won’t follow a straight course, but may twist, turn and fork like a mountain stream as it responds to the land around it. As our children grow, we may find ourselves exploring new territories and questioning our beliefs. Some may end up in canal, following the doctrine of parenting gurus; some may confidently glide down a calm river; others may take a chance on the white-water or flow between them all.

We approached parenting with an open mind and a loving heart, and have come a long way since welcoming our twin boys into the world in December 2007. We fought hard for them and were extremely fortunate to deliver them safely, albeit into the world of NICU’s tubes, bleeps and alarms. Birth stories may well be another post! We read lots of books, from ‘Supernanny‘ to Liedloff and have tentatively found ourselves flowing down a path towards conscious, attachment parenting... we value unconditional love, trust, time, freedom. At natural junctions in parenting and family life, we have made many positive decisions, mistakes, regressions and leaps into the unknown. R’s arrival in March has also helped to open our eyes, and inspired a greater trust in ourselves. Now we find ourselves at a new fork in the river. The decision to be made this time? Schooling. We are instinctively drawn towards the free-flowing, beautiful, somewhat intimidating stream that is home education. What will it mean for our children? What will it mean for our family?

For me, this blog is a way of documenting and reflecting on our journey as we take the lesser known pathway. It was my lovely husband’s idea (How will I find the time? Plus, we don’t even have broadband at home!) but after some consideration I think that it will be good for us to map our thoughts and I can add to a post bit by bit.