denise

I was guided by the image of Marie Curie's mother (she had 'consumption' - TB) sitting, ill, in the loving room with her children, supervising their learning (and, I assume, trying not to breathe on them), and occasionally patting one on the head. They knew she cared.

It is a valuable thing to do with one's time.

I just hope to keep answering the challenges until NETHERWORLD is finished, and the unnamed-as-yet third volume is completed as well. I'm over 2/3 through the second. It has been a challenging couple of years!

Whenever I hear your stories, Alicia, I am so fascinated. You are a shining example of not letting extreme challenges stop you.

At 40 I came down with ME/CFS. I had two little boys, and a baby on the way. I had two choices (and husband finally came around): spend my tiny bit of energy getting kids onto a schoolbus in the morning/lunches/homework/being very useless as a participating parent at a school OR homeschooling them with that same tiny bit of energy. I chose to spend my energy, limited as it was, directly on them. When I was out of steam they had SO much stuff to choose from at home. And we had a great group for limited time, and scouts/dance/music/etc.

I say we homeschooled accidentally - I was a research physicist at Princeton when this happened - and I'll never know whether I would have quit working to do this. But we treasured the process, and they still talk about it. They know they got every speck I had to give.

Hahahahaha! That's hilarious.

100% true.

One of the things I wanted to be able to do when I had a child was to be able to work at home and be very involved in parenting. As a software trainer that HAD to go to the classroom at that time, this was a challenging shift. It took 10 years, but the shift finally happened. I know I'm lucky to have skills that translated, but it was still a ton of hard work.

But here's what I learned...it's the little moments that matter. And it was an important part of my daughter's development to watch me work, and learn that she sometimes had to wait, and to see that my job, and my writing, matter. My husband was a big part of that, but I also see how little appreciated most stay-at-home moms are and that job is SO HARD. I couldn't do it 24/7 and stay sane. The day job is wa-a-a-ay easier than raising kids.

Want your kids to spend time from their very busy lives with you, when they're independent? Then give them your personal love and attention when they're dependent on you.

Rats! Immaden42 beat me to my Churchill comment! I'll respond with a line from "Grease":" "The rules are there ain't no rules." I think above all, the writing is yours.