麻豆社

A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Guvna B

Good Morning

I was listening to a seminar on attachment recently and the speaker told a story. About ten years ago he read an article about someone opening a shop in West Africa selling baby prams. I think it was in Nairobi. The shop didn鈥檛 last long and closed down within a year. When the owner was asked why, he said, 'our people don鈥檛 understand why you鈥檇 put a child in a machine and push them. We prefer to carry'.

I live in London, and like most parents, I don鈥檛 go anywhere without my two year old鈥檚 pram. It makes getting around easier and means I can multitask and check emails or most importantly, football scores. But just because it鈥檚 normal here doesn鈥檛 mean it鈥檚 the best way.

My daughter often doesn鈥檛 want to go in the pram anyway. And the child being carried in Nairobi is getting a very different sense of the world than my child who is being pushed.

I鈥檓 not saying there鈥檚 a right or wrong way, but for the last week I鈥檝e tried going out without her pram. Apart from needing a massage and realising my back muscles aren鈥檛 as strong as I thought, it鈥檚 been a good experiment.

We laughed more, spoke more, and her speech seemed clearer. It could just be her natural development, but the quality of time we spent together definitely improved.
It made me wonder what else we do in the West that seems convenient but actually costs us in terms of connection.

My prayer is that until my back completely gives out, I鈥檒l keep enjoying the closeness that comes from carrying my little girl and that she continues to grow in a healthy way.

Amen

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