Move it with Movitz!

I am loving this band, Movitz, a wonderful mix of hip hop, swing and Swedish.  You gotta hear it to believe it.  So, what's up?  I hope that everyone is well and enjoying this gorgeous month.  We've gone hiking, apple picking and jumped in leaves - among all the usual junk including working, making dinner, packing lunches and picking kids up only to drop them off on the other side of town a half hour later.  We love our two chillin's so much, but they are work.

Two books that I picked up recently to remind me not to lose my cool include: Listen (5 simple tools to meet your everyday parenting challenges) by Patty Wipfler and Tosha Schore, and Simplify your Life with Kids (100 Ways to Make Family Life Easier and More Fun) by Elaine St. James.  Listen is a lovely book that emphasises enjoying your child, playing with them and listening to them better by for example,"staylistening", which encourages children to express their feelings and get back in touch with you and themselves. (This is suprisingly effective with my teenager I've noticed,)  And Simpify gives some good practical advice like "plan a carpool" to help make life easier or "teach kids to put dishes in the dishwasher".  So obvious but somehow I sort of haven't done either of these!

No One is Alone (with Bernadette Peters by Stephen Sondheim from "Into the Woods") is a wonderful song to end this sort of bittersweet lament about children and how to best help them. Parenting is the most important job and one that we sometimes have the hardest time doing well. Remembering that there are good books out there, people to talk to, teachers to help, and family to guide you can help. You are not alone. And of course, living in Sweden wouldn't hurt to make it easier. ;-) Read more about that here.

Looking for work and parenting in Sweden

Hi everyone, still looking for work but a couple of good interviews this week so we'll see.  Fingers crossed!  I wish sometimes that I was back in Sweden where I had a good job with a decent wage and great working environment.  For me that meant set times that I could rely on, a boss who saw my value and helped me improve, and two breaks (coffee and lunch) that Ingelill made me take because I should!  Don't you love that mentality?  That to take care of children, you need to take care of yourself?  I do, and it's true.  A teacher can burn out but with some easy preventive measures, like a 15 minute break with a cup of coffee and a silly magazine, we can get up refreshed and keep giving 100%.  If I was ever in school administration that would be a big part of my mantra - take care of the teachers so they can take care of the kids.

my little Vikings learning outdoors

Here's an excellent article for those of you who would like to  better understand the culture in Sweden and how it results in a different parenting style.  Basically the "it takes a village to raise a child" approach is alive and well in Sweden but instead of your neighbors pitching in there's aftercare for all, and free daycare/school from age 12 months+.  How much easier would it be for me to get a job if I knew that my children would be well taken care of?  It's drives me a little nuts to think of the things I've given up sometimes.  (For example 480 days of paid maternity leave to be shared by the parents.) I sure hope handsome hubby appreciates it!  I love the US (sometimes not so much) but my husband always and truly.