This could have been me, if I hadn’t been blessed with a sweet new neighbor who passed your book, “Created”, over the fence one day as we were casually chatting.

Being raised a Christian my whole life, I assumed I already was a ‘dream’ wife. That was 5 years ago, and LUCKILY, my boys were only 2 and 4 at the time. My husband now proudly tells his friends, how I have this book by our bed at all times, just to remind me of my amazing purpose. He calls me his “cheerleader,” and tells me that he wishes his mom would have let him play outside and create heavens knows what, just because boys need plenty of space, room to be noisy and time to make an experimental… well, mess!

My kids are academically succeeding, and surprise me with what they come up with in their Journals. However, 70-80% of their day is playing, talking and running outside. I would never have taken this approach if I hadn’t read your book.

Just a quick comment about the effects of diet on behavior. I would suggest to any mother that you share all your research with your children about the effects of dye, sugar, and artificial sweeteners like aspartame. I did this over a year ago, and my kids independently make wise food choices all the time. My mom recently offered them a piece of gum, and my oldest asked if he could see the package. He passed it back, and said, “No thank you, Gammie; almost all gum has aspartame in it, and it’s really bad for your brain development.”

Those are his exact words! After several examples like this in our lives, our newest saying is, “You can only be afraid of what you don’t know!” I’m telling you, they are sponges that need direction, with ample time to dig, search and think! Just make sure you’re around when those wonderful teachable moments arrive.

I’m always in earshot of my boys, and I could write a shelf full of stories about the things they’ve come up with! My weakness at the moment, is using too many words to make my point to them. My husband has caught me a few times, “over-killing” a topic. I’m learning, just like they are. Life is a gift, live for today, and PLAY with your kids. I have more fun now, then what I did in my entire childhood!