It takes time to grow good things

Did you know it can take up to 35 years for a clam to make a pearl?

Or that the life cycle of a Monarch egg can take up to a month to hatch into a beautiful butterfly?

Slowing down is a lifestyle that leads to a more satisfying and sustainable kind of life, where you enjoy more, things are more interesting, you care for others more, and you appreciate more everything and everyone.

Life is definitely better when unrushed.

For example, when you eat slowly, you can appreciate your food and its different flavours better; when you make love without rushing, you can connect with your lover on a deep soul level; when you walk, you can appreciate your surroundings and their features.

The same applies to children.

During the first three years, an age when tasks such as dressing themselves, or eating with a fork, might seem like insuperable difficulties, small children are already learning two of our most demanding human accomplishments: speaking and thinking.

However, sometimes parents themselves introduce unnecessary interference –either consciously or unconsciously- that influence the learning process of young children in a definite direction. This can happen when, for example, a well-intended parent who buys a suitable picture book out of pedagogical enthusiasm in order to teach the child as many new concepts as possible in a short time, without considering that their developing minds might not be ready to receive complex information yet.

When we nurture them with loving and calm presence, they will feel loved, confident, seen, and that they belong to a safe place, where they matter. And most important, where they can freely and spontaneously express the most precious innate gift from human experience: their creative imagination!

Is this too much to ask for our current fast-paced life? It might be if you are still on your mind, believing that “faster is better”. 

But, to be honest, given the unpredictable nature of life, why would you waste even a moment by rushing through it?

When we rush, the experiences we get are definitely not the same… they are more superficial; we don’t appreciate, or learn, or engage, or feel, or taste, or sense, in the same way as when we do it mindfully, allowing us -and our children- to live step by step of the process.

Life is NOW!

Stop! Make a pause in your busy agendas to listen with your hearts the calling of the birds in the morning, or the melody of the crickets when it’s going to rain. Or to smell the raindrops, or the recently cut, wet grass! Feel the gentle breeze! Walk barefoot!

And bring your children to do it too! Let's all embrace the relaxed rhythms of nature, and to discover the meaningful gift of growing slow.

Go to the Store section to learn more about the Stories of an Unhurried Childhood Children's Books, that promote this slow - paced way of living.

With love,

Kizzy Petit

Author - Doula - Female Empowerment Coach