Category: parenting

To Long For Belonging

She longs for Germany

A walk in the forest with cousins

Land has this mysterious way of pulling at your soul, of beckoning you home, and for our young daughter, this land is Germany.

The longer we expatriate in China, the mightier that tug. She dreams of the family, the colors, the fresh air, the sounds and smells of a land she feels a strong belonging to despite the fact that she only lived there the first 2 years of her life. But our planet is strange that way, isn’t it?

Her dream will come true, at least for a few weeks starting tomorrow as we head west and our lungs rejoice!

Tags child, china, christmas, daughter, expatriate, family, forest, fresh, germany, green, holiday, photography, winter

parenting Photography

Took me by Surprise~

"a story like the wind"~ — A story like the wind

the complex webs we spin~_ — The complex webs we spin

Our children have this magical way of growing up without us even noticing. The greatest miracle of expansion from a little fetus to a wonderful human taking their place in the world, cannot be taken for granted. It is an amazing thing, growth. It’s a golden truth, magical in every way. It fascinates us, we gush over it and it catches us by surprise when our little baby turns 11.

Happy birthday little big girl~

Tags birthday, black and white, canon, child, dslr, family, girl, growth, hair, iphone, love, mobile, parenting, photography, portrait, window

children life parenting Photography

Our Fragile Strength

Today we had a little scare that Lea’s little finger was fractured. It was a close one, but luckily she escaped the worst. We spent some time after that looking at the X-Rays together and we were fascinated by the look of the human bone structure. It is incredible to see how much amazing engineering goes into the mechanics of the human complex, starting with the very foundation of our physical strength, our bones. And then one small accident and we can fracture that strength and spend weeks recovering. I remember breaking my arm 3 times as a child before reaching my daughters age (she is 10), and each time it felt somewhat heroic to go through the whole ordeal. And of course there was the white cast for everyone to sign 🙂

Photo taken of Lea through the X-Ray of her hand.

Tags bone, child, children, family, fracture, iphone, love, mobile, parenting, photography, x-ray

art children life parenting Photography

Slowing Down Time with Crafts

Post author By ~mimo~
Post date December 7, 2014
9 Comments on Slowing Down Time with Crafts

In a world of texting, emailing, and ‘elf yourself’ video cards sent around for Christmas, it is so amazingly soothing to go back to basic crafts and to spend hours cutting, coloring, gluing and handwriting Christmas cards for loved ones. I suspect that as we speed into the future, taking the time to be invested in hand-made craft projects will be a thing of the past, when most things as we know them would be mass-produced and the charm of uniqueness lost forever. The last two days, we took the time, we played Christmas songs, created cards, ate cookies and had lovely long conversations. Another memory for the treasure box.

Tags card, celebration, child, china, christmas, craft, creative, creativity, daughter, girl, joy, life, santa, shanghai, time, tradition

children life love parenting Photography

Holding on to innocence~

As my little girl grows up, I watch with quiet desperation how her innocence begins to recede to the background. The old simple jokes that made her laugh again and again are now silly, the complete freedom with which she skipped all over the world and its problems is beginning to allow bits of worry into her magical world. Questions about the state of the world arise causing a frown to form on her previously every radiant and smiling face. Nothing prepares a parent for the inevitable letting go of their child’s innocence. We hold on to it desperately, we pray that the hugs will last longer, that the laughter will ring louder and that worry will keep its fangs away from our babies.

Tags black and white, child, children, daughter, family, girl, growing up, innocence, love, mobile, parenting, photography, portrait, world, worry

children children's rights CHINA contemplations parenting Photography Yunnan

a bucketful of possibilities~ Yunnan

Post author By ~mimo~
Post date June 30, 2013
14 Comments on a bucketful of possibilities~ Yunnan

Children, no matter where they were born, under which circumstances, hold the whole promise of a better future. In them are the seeds of what has not yet happened and through them the codes of originality and possibility for human development. They are our greatest asset, let’s treat them with care.

Tags bucket, care, child, children, china, fragile, future, girl, human development, life, lijiang, mimo khair, photography, responsibility, street, street photography, yunnan

children CHINA inspiration parenting Photography shanghai street

Child of the alley

They roam the little alleys looking up at adults with wide eyes, they are petted by every passer by, talked to by every grandmother and given treats by every aunt and uncle, they are loved. The more I go to the alleys, the more I walk among the people, the more I feel the warmth and the innocence that transfer between the generations.

Tags alley, asia, black and white, candid, child, china, community, drink, format, girl, gritty, mimo khair, people, photography, portrait, shanghai, square, street, wide eyes

children CHINA Guilin inspiration love old age old people parenting Photography street

Day11~ December 11th~ Guilin

Post author By ~mimo~
Post date December 12, 2012
9 Comments on Day11~ December 11th~ Guilin

It is so endearing in Asia to see how grandparents create a living womb for their grandchildren and how they care for them tirelessly, carrying them on their old backs, feeding them, singing hymns to them, and carrying them into adulthood on a fluffy cloud of love.

How strengthening it must be for the children and how infusing with confidence.

Tags asia, black and white, boy, care, china, confidence, feeding, food, grandchild, grandfather, growht, guilin, help, love, monochrome, noodles, parenting, portrait, tradition, yangshuo

inspiration life parenting Photography story street Yunnan

Day 22~ October 22nd~ Yunnan

Post author By ~mimo~
Post date October 23, 2012
17 Comments on Day 22~ October 22nd~ Yunnan

the faces of innocence — innocence has many faces~ girls in Mushan village~ Yunnan

Have you ever noticed how children can change expressions so fast without being hung up on the effects of each emotion they experience? We adults tend to carry baggage through our emotions that causes us to often hold grudges, feel anger, thoughts of contempt, attachment, jealousy, animosity… the list goes on. When children fight, they are able to make up in a split second and whilst we are still wondering how to solve the problem they are already hugging and running off to play again.