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Free Range Parent???

Toby is exercising his new found ability to climb! In the last 2 days we have found him on top of nearly every piece of furniture under 6 foot high, and the roof of our little tykes ute. He loves the ute and can happily play on it for hours. Unfortunately since discovering he can climb on the roof of it, the roof is his favourite part.

No matter how vigilant a parent is, it is impossible to keep an eye on everything a child is doing. To be honest, I don’t watch everything the kids are doing (particuarly the girls) because I want them to learn to be independent and not always rely on someone else to solve their problems. I guess I am attempting to be a free range parent.

Let me qualify this by saying there is no way I let my 14 month old go outside unsupervised (on the farm he likes to eat sheep poo!), but I believe in letting kids learn from mistakes, and allowing them to have the occasional bump and scratch.

Toby however is testing the strength of our convictions. Today he rolled down the outside stair (only 3 steps) when the Country Boy had his back turned. We have been teaching him to crawl down backwards, but every now and then he forgets and turns around… and he has a bump on his head to show for it (CB feels awful and won’t let me take a photo of Toby until its better :(). I really do not want to have to carry him up and down the stairs or block the stairs off when we are outside, but I was having second thoughts… until about an hour ago.

Off to explore!

I was sitting on the steps when Toby crawled over, turned around backwards, said “back back” and proceeded to crawl backwards down the stair.

Falls and bumps are a normal part of childhood, and today Toby showed me that he had learnt something from his bump. I’m continuing to be free range!  

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Hi, I’m Jo

I'm a city girl turned farmer's wife, school teacher, ideas woman, and mum to three country kids. Country Life Experiment is all about simple country living, growing and making our own food, and life on our family farm in rural Australia. Join me as I give country living a try. Read more...
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A lovely, easy Christmas with family, good food, a A lovely, easy Christmas with family, good food, a few presents, an afternoon swim and dinner on the veranda as the sun set. Time to stop and be thankful for the many blessings of the year. I hope you had a lovely Christmas too!
We have been mulling over how to fix up the drivew We have been mulling over how to fix up the driveway and lead up to our house for a while. Currently it’s just a dumping ground for old bits of metal and a big pile of mulch, but C would like to create a turning area and put in a garden. First up though, there’s a huge old stump that needs to go. What better excuse is there to have a fire on Sunday afternoon? C and the kids jumped on the quad bike and trailer, and hauled back a big pile of sticks and logs to help the stump burn. Once the fire was going, marshmallows were found and roasted. No better way to spend time together.
Team work makes the dream work. We were asked rec Team work makes the dream work. 
We were asked recently whether we “make” our kids work on the farm. The answer is of course not. Having said that, all three love to help out whenever they can. They all work hard because they want to; because they take pride in working hard and contributing in a meaningful way to our family life; because they love living on our farm and don’t remember life before we moved here. Whether it be planting trees or doing sheep work or feeding animals, they all want to be involved. As a parent, nothing is better than watching them grow in skill and confidence as they work along side you. We’re so glad that we get to spend time with our three, working together.
We’ve had an unexpected addition to the family ☘️🐑. She is a lot easier to look after than the other family members but she does try to escape her yard and head butt people. Poddy lambs are super cute but they tend to think they are a human. Clover the lamb is sure that Meg is her mum. Can’t think why… 🤔🤣
The perfect way to end a long winter weekend: toge The perfect way to end a long winter weekend: together, cooking damper around the remains of the bonfire.
It’s been a tough few weeks on the farm. We got It’s been a tough few weeks on the farm. We got through shearing without a hitch (thankfully 🙏) but we’ve had a run of the flu followed by Covid run through the family since then. The kids and I have tested positive (this is my second time getting it 🦠) though so far C has managed to avoid it. There has been a lot of lying on the couch feeling pretty ordinary. Han had to reschedule her driving test for a 4th time due to Covid, which is disappointing for her because she wants her freedom and for us because it would be so much more convenient if she could drive herself places. Just to add in to the mix, our hot water system has chosen now as a good time to die so we’re on cold showers until we’re all out of iso. This is not meant to be a whinging post but sometimes life just sucks a bit and it’s good to be real. Fortunately, the sight of the fire going with a stack of wood next to it cheers us up. Things will improve soon. Onwards we go…

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Hi, I’m Jo

City girl turned farmer's wife, school teacher, ideas woman, and mum to three country kids. Country Life Experiment is all about simple country living, growing and making our own food, and life on our family farm in rural Australia. Join me as I give country living a try. Read more...
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