I like to think of myself as a fairly mindful Mother, I rarely raise my voice and if I ever snap at Lotus I will always explain later why I did so.

Last week was the first week of school holidays, a time that is only new in our world. Now being a ‘school Mum’ has certainly brought about a new bunch of challenges, one being the fact that every 10 weeks we are thrown into disarray as I have a constant companion with me day in, day out. Now don’t get me wrong, I actually really love school holidays as I have my little buddy back by my side, and it’s nice not to have to do the whole school run daily. However when you work in business for yourself you never really stop working. I am constantly teaching, updating social media, working on my website or researching my next endeavour. So add in playing, beaching, riding, walking and adventuring with my little Lotus and life becomes a massive juggling act, one in which I occasionally drop a ball, or 4.

I subscribe to the ‘no technology’ school of parenting, being that I believe our lives are way too full of screen time already so by limiting this as much as humanly possible throughout childhood we can set our kids up to be more socially balanced and at one with the world around them, don’t get me started on this as I’m terribly passionate about it and will go on and on…but that’s not what this blog is about. So last week I have Lotus with me and I find myself with my phone in my hand, my iPad on my lap and my computer in front on me and I stop….whats wrong with this picture? How the hell can I expect my child to stay off screens if she see’s me on 3 at once, regularly? I am able to hide this from her when she is at school but it becomes much more difficult when she’s with me 24/7. So I had to have a little talk to her, and myself.

Kids learn through observing, they do as we do, not as we say. So what is it that you want your kids to do that you are not doing yourself? And how do you want them to act and live in the world that you may be going against completely? If you tell your kids not to yell, then why do it yourself? If you are trying to feed them good foods, then why the hell are you taking them to McDonalds? Since having Lotus I most definitely have become a better person simply because I am well aware that she is watching every single move I make, and will one day be repeating them. I’m not saying that I’m striving for perfection as this is an unrealistic way of living that I don’t want Lotus to feel she has to live up to, however I am saying that I want to lead by example, and hope that Lotus follows in her own way. I decided to write a list of a few things I would like Lotus to grow up knowing as part of her way of life, almost like the mantra’s I want to pass on to her, here’s what I came up with….

• We eat healthy, clean, unprocessed foods from the earth
• We move our bodies daily, because it feels good to do so
• We honour and respect the world around us by taking care of it and making rituals to show our gratitude for it
• We live in this moment, rather than thinking about the past or worrying about the future, we are here and now
• We show compassion for all living beings, and know that everything works in harmony
• We can do absolutely anything we set our minds to, we simply need to work hard, be patient and persistent

What’s your list?