How to shelter our little ones in this world?

Lately I have been thinking about mummy topics a lot - no matter what you do, you constantly question yourself - is this the best I can do for my baby? Should I be doing something differently? Am I doing enough? There has never been so much self-doubt in my life when I know exactly that it would be best to just follow your instincts and be assertive once you have made up your mind.

One of the things that gets to you in addition to the fact that you become thin skinned with the constant interruption of your sleep is the sound of your baby screaming. Never would I have expected it to be this difficult to have to listen to your baby crying. I guess nature has arranged for it to be as painful as it gets. And the worst part is that you are quite helpless in interpreting what's the matter or even if anything is the matter... It can be quite a strain on your relationship to go from two to three and start putting the little one first no matter what. At least from what I hear, many couples are struggling with this at times. Yet, at the same time it is the most wonderful thing when your own baby wakes up and starts smiling at you - so innocent, so sweet, so cute :-)

I realised today that even terrorist attacks affect you differently once you are a parent. Just a few months ago I would have been one of the first to get to know about such an event but now I tried to catch up on sleep and went to bed early last night, only to wake up to hear the horrible news in the morning. My first thought - even before thinking of those poor innocent lives that have been lost for no reason - was what will this world have become when our little boy grows up? And will we be able to protect him from all these things that are unfolding right now? You sometimes feel like World War III is developing without any of us acknowledging it.

But, what can we actually do about this? Unfortunately very little - the only thing we can influence is our own attitude and mindset, being open and receptive.

On the bright side, we had a wonderful little gathering in our living room yesterday, featuring five mesmerized mummies and five babies, aged 3-4 months who started making funny noises, rolling from one side to another and smiling at each other like there was no tomorrow- some were even holding hands - simply adorable. It seems like this company has left our little ones so exhausted that they are putting in a sleepy day today, probably replaying this nice afternoon in their dreams :-)

Clueless of what was going on in the great wide world out there, sheltered by their families - now I know what we can do to protect them - simply try to continue to have them grow up as innocently as possible, teach them love and kindness and have them meet other little friends and be exposed to friendship and community early on so that they value these things.