Raising resiliance

I've learned a lot about my kids in the last month.  As parents, we think we have a pretty good idea of our children's capabilities.  And then they surprise us.

We packed up many of our belongings 6 weeks ago to ship them by boat to have here in France.  We left our big furniture but packed up the a lot of the rest.  Truthfully, it wasn't worth the cost of shipping it but there's a lot of sentimental value many of these items, especially those that belong to the kids.  When the packers were gone, Audrey's room was completely bare, except for a borrowed mattress on the floor.  I thought she'd flip out when she saw the bare room for the first time.  But she didn't.  Instead she ran around in circles in the empty space that once housed her bed, dresser, books and toys as if she had been waiting for this freedom for a while!  Over the past six weeks she's slept on a variety of mattresses, blankets or cushions never once complaining.  We brought with us a small box of toys that has entertained both kids since the movers took the rest of them.  Audrey has yet to ask for any of the toys that were packed up.  She has remained content with the few that we brought and some others that have been borrowed.  Both kids have a suitcase of full of clothes in their room even though I haven't even made it half way though the piles.

Although I am looking forward to the arrival of our belongings tomorrow, I realize how many of those things are not as necessary as I first thought.  We paid by volume so I was careful to sort through what we didn't need any longer to have only the essentials.  However, I realize that there is a significant portion of the goods that I am dreading seeing tomorrow even though a month and a half ago I thought I couldn't do without them.  It's funny how living without these things made me realize just that - we can live without them.   I'm thinking of just leaving much of it boxed up and pulling things out little by little (if at all!).

Audrey and Thomas have been perfectly happy without all those extras that are soon to arrive.  The move has made me see how resilient and adaptable kids can be, much more so than adults at times.  Although I didn't plan it, I have enjoyed seeing how our transition has turned things upside down for the kids, but they are able to take it in stride and adapt to their new surroundings.  I can't help but think that this is building their resilience and setting them up for adapting for other changes later in life.

I've attached a picture of Audrey's last night in her bare room.  It's ironic how hard it was to get her to sit still and stop playing around on the her "bed" for me to take the picture.

Wish us luck on the unpacking!!