Keep Calm and Carry On

This thing is everywhere these days, and it has been driving me crazy. I had no idea where it came from or why it was popular, but it kept popping into my head. I decided yesterday to make it my New Year's resolution. But before I could do that I felt that I needed to have a bit more information. I still don't know why it's popular now (anyone care to enlighten me?), but I know where it came from. It was a poster that was put out by the British government at the beginning of World War II to boost public morale (thanks Wiki!). I like it. And I think that the message it sends is the single most important thing I can do to improve my life and my family's life day to day. So I'm going to hop on the bandwagon and buy one of these posters and stick it somewhere where I have to look at it all the time.

I had a really nice chat with an employee at the Brown Hotel in Louisville the other day, a British lady as it happens, and she said that her secret to raising happy, well adjusted children was just staying calm no matter what. She claims that neither of her two boys ever had a tantrum. Well, I don't believe that for a second - time erases the pain of childbirth, I'm sure it can also wipe out a few of those humiliating writhing-on-the-grocery-store-floor experiences - but I do believe that it can make a big difference.

Another thing that I think goes along with this is doing things to prevent problems in the first place. Whenever E gets into things she shouldn't, I always ask myself why I left those things within her reach if I didn't want her to get at them. She's very good at not rooting around where she doesn't belong. She's not very grabby or destructive. So if I just make sure to not leave dangerous/breakable things lying around, we won't have a problem. It's one of those things that is so obvious, but when you're walking around with mom brain all day sometimes you need them spelled out.

There you have it. 2011 will be a peaceful, productive and HAPPY year for our family. Put that in your fortune cookie!