Some people call Bear a wimp, others call her a fraidy cat, and others just call her a mama's girl. I've decided that Bear is a sensitive soul. And I'm OK with that. In fact, the next person who calls her a negative name is going to see the full potential of a Mamabear. The reality of Bear's life is that a lot of things make her nervous: Dogs, cats, pumpkins, strange men, a room full of people, loud unknown noises, Pookie pretending to be a monster, and the list goes on. She doesn't often wander off without me in a strange place or a known place. Bear is easily overwhelmed and needs to be held to be comforted.
The other side of Bear is this: she is a cuddler, loves hugs and kisses, is sensitive to the moods of others and tries to comfort them, loves to smile and laugh, is fearless in climbing, jumping and swinging, falls down and gets back up, loves to touch gently and says I love you all the time.
A friend recently went to a conference where they learned that we are raising a generation of emotionally neutral children. In a world where TV and gaming dominate, researchers are finding that even though we can learn to increase our physical reflexes, we can never increase our emotional reflexes to stimulus. So, in order to compensate for that, we begin to 'flatline' our emotional responses. Making us incapable of showing any real emotional depth. You can see that in abused children or those that commit unspeakable crimes and show no remorse. Is that what we want for our kids?
Not me. I am raising a sensitive soul. And I'm proud of it.
4 comments:
I agree with the comment regarding neutral when it comes to our kids and emotions. I do not like it at all; but the sad fact is that we are seeing more 'neutral' kids these days. We have 2 children...a girl who is 12 and a boy who is 11. They are day and night. The girl is neutral, and the boy is the sensitive soul. Where one will be able to tune into other's emotional state and offer comfort and nurturing, the other will quickly register the person/situation and shrug...yet that same shrugger is able to lavish love and caring on young children. Even this mamma scratches her head at it. The compassion is indeed in there…it's just shown selectively, I guess. And like you mamma bear, when I hear negative things said about our sensitive soul, my hackles raise and I need to force my own emotions into neutral; least I release the beast within on some poor person who lives within the judgments of our stereotypical world.
I guess the question (for me) is: what in the heck happened to have one so sensitive and one so 'blah'? Are they just wired like that? Did I do something wrong in their formative years? Ah...motherhood. When we are not blaming ourselves for something, we are wondering if we are doing well enough.
I forgot to mention, it me..your sister in law, Ann...I have a blog on here too...http://thesocialworkerinme.blogspot.com/
Thanks for your words Ann...and yes, I was kinda wondering at who found my blog and was commenting!
oma bear (ontario) loves your sensitive and out going bears
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