Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Finding 'quiet'
Today, April 28, is International Noise Awareness Day. Did you know that certain rattles, squeaky toys, toy telephones, and musical toys measure over 110 decibels (comparable to power tools), and that health experts agree that continuous exposure to noise over 85 decibels (about the loudness level of city traffic), over time, will eventually harm hearing in children? Admittedly, that is probably also the level of noise MADE by the children in my household, especially in the late afternoon, and of course I then have to top that, in order to get my message heard... One of the homework items for my 6-year-old this week is finding a quiet place to relax his whole body for a while. Maybe this should be part of our, i.e. parents, homework every day, finding that quiet time and place for our children. That same boy used to like laying down on the floor with me during my last pregnancy doing progressive relaxation. We already know that the level of stress-hormones and the heart-beat goes down when we practise variations of meditation, slow breathing and relaxation. Today I will do my best to find 'quiet' for myself and my children, even if only for ten minutes, it might just do us some good.
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You have to show me progressive relaxation
ReplyDeleteWhat a great reminder. As a mother of four, I feel more and more the need for silence, both for me and my children.
ReplyDeleteWhen my first child stopped taking a nap, we installed "quiet time" when the baby napped. She would either lay down, or just play quietly by herself. This was wonderful for us both! My second child preferred having the quiet time with me, or rather on me. The main thing was, we were silent, and it was relaxing, even without sleeping.
I'm your friend's sister, by the way. Found your blog trough Facebook.
My son recently said to me 'can you please not be on the computer, and come and just sit down on the couch for a cuddle'... usually I'm pretty good at telling them up while I'm doing something online, when he said that though... Whatever I was doing just wasn't that important anymore :)
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