Filling the well

It has been a dry season.

Our summer since mid January has been near perfect – hot, dry and calm or breezy with only the occasional deluge of rain.

The outdoor conditions have been mirrored indoors here with one issue and another needing a lot of resourcefulness and resilience.

Today I needed to fill my well.

I needed to play.

And seek treasure.

I needed to see growth and development.

I needed to hear waves breaking.

To look to a wider horizon.

To do some blue sky dreaming.

To witness flow.

To soak up colour and beauty and creativitiy.

To know that “all will be well and all will be well and all will be well.”

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Saturday Tip: Tips for mothers of new babies 1954 and 1986

In a New Zealand Plunket Baby Record book dated 1954 there are 12 needs listed for a baby.

Numbers 5 and 11 tell us something of the advice that was given to mothers back then:

“BATHING – Bath and dress very quickly in a cosy corner. No dawdling

MANAGEMENT – Fond and foolish over-indulgence, mismanagement and “spoiling” may be as harmful to an infant as callous neglect and intentional cruelty.”

In comparison in 1986 the Baby’s Health and Development book had this advice:

” It takes time to love and understand your baby. Most of all, your baby needs you to be nice to him. He loves to smell and touch your skin.

Whenever your bath and change him, he loves hugs and kisses, smiles and songs, and talk.”