When we water our stories well
Spin
Inside the Creation Stories of Dancing Mother
When we water our stories well
by Mother Mother Binahkaye Joy
Our stories are our wealth.
This is a truth I live and practice everyday as a dancing mother, and in all things Wildseed. Each moment that we show up to the intense, dizzying labors of nurturing generative learning moments for our children and our families, we are weaving together mighty stories about who we are and who we are becoming, about what we think we understand about humanity, the planet, and our universe, and what we are just beginning to dream into and imagine for our futures.
The stories we create through our daily living, our continuous faith in discovery, our big hopes and tender heartaches, and our willingness to walk the unchartered paths—all of this matters and it is actively shaping our lives and our children’s lives. The choices we make when mapping out lessons, or sifting through library stacks, or coordinating activities with other families, or researching the next project—these seemingly intimate labors for our family learning practices have a greater reach than what we can now see. Maybe something we devise in our family studies could one day, and maybe much sooner than we think, make the world a better place for all of us.
The beauty of our stories is that they add so much breath and nourishment to our lives right now. Our stories inspire, teach, heal, illuminate, evolve, and so much more. When we water our stories well, when we tend to them, and listen and sit deeply inside the brilliance of them, when we practice writing them down, recording them, and sharing them with others in thoughtful ways—our stories can also sustain us.
I am dreaming into more supports and practices for parents like me who are raising learners in the wild, and who have courageously reconfigured their learning systems to center joy, curiosity, and freedom. I am creating more spaces for learning and experimenting with writing, archiving, and documenting tools that support vibrant, expansive story building. Even more, I am cultivating practices rooted in a consciousness of the power of our family’s unique story to reveal something essential and transformative about what is more possible for our collective human story.
I live and create primarily in soft-time, because, as a mommy of 5, I know that finding time for dancing, creating, story-tending, writing, and archiving is something I do in varying bits of time, magical pockets of possibility that fluctuate dramatically hour by hour, minute by minute. I offer my stories and experiences as invitations to busy parents everywhere that we get to be gentle with ourselves and the tending of our stories. Let this be a reminder to anyone showing up to the dizzying, liberating labor of raising learners in the wild: we can always come as we are to ourselves. When we are messy and tired we are also wondrous and whole, and all of this is what makes a story full, transformative, and alive.
Supports for parents & Educators
Mother Mother offers curated, soft-time portals of engagement for curious folks who want to grow and enliven their family’s learning practices, archival systems and portfolio creation. Parents, educators, and leaders receive tailored support at their preferred pace, and expand their toolbox for navigating their sovereign learning programs with more joy, ease, and creativity. Mother Mother also hosts boutique workshops for small groups exploring innovative ways to integrate the Curious Seeds story building methodologies into their learning experiences.
Read Mother Mother’s Wildseed Stories
