Keeping Perspective
The line I’ve heard that describes parenting the best is “The days are long but the years are short”. Today as our family took a digital walk through our past by stumbling across some old photos on the computer, it was especially relevant. My days with the kids are very full things. I typically spend [...]
Leading With Compassion
The world or parenting is one filled with choices. One kid or two? Cloth or disposable? Homeschooling or public schooling? The list goes on and on, with new choices to be made cropping up every new day and with every new stage. In the area of natural parenting just as with any other style of [...]
Self Care: A parenting must-have
As parents, we go through some pretty intense experiences. We grow and birth these little folks who fill our eyes and our hearts in ways we never could have imagined. We learn that random bodily fluids and sleeping through the night are really not that big of a deal. We spend hours watching our babies [...]
But I was too busy
The house is a mess. Nobody has clean underwear. I can’t find my kitchen counter and the kids look like they were rolling in dirt. I was going to clean and get back on top of things, I swear I was! I was going to wash the dishes. I even had the sink full of [...]
Chalkboard visualization
All of us parents have had those days. We finally make it through bedtime, and as we look at our child’s sleeping face we replay all the hard moments from the day. We hear our harsh words in our minds, we remember the moments we let our kids down, we berate ourselves for all those [...]
Let me should on you
The world of parenting is a land of ”should”s. Other parents, the media and professionals of all sorts have long lists of things parents should do. You should breastfeed. You should buy stimulating toys. You should have a minimalist home. You should buy organic foods. You should stay home with your kids. You should enroll [...]
The myth of having it all
Tonight, my mind is whirling after some inspiration from a fantastic piece of writing on mothering and feminism, and also from a friend’s blog entry about her struggles. Together, these pieces of writing have me pondering the disservice of the “You can have it all!” myth. Children are told they can be anything they set [...]
The Shaping of a Mother
I’ve been pondering lately the profound impact children have on their parents. In studying my course material the other day, I was reviewing charts which show the ebb and flow of hormones in pregnant and lactating women. Prolactin, oxytocin, and estrogen are some of the main hormones which rise and fall during various stages and [...]
From there to where?
My dear friend Erron wrote a fantastic piece on her blog today about parenting styles and the judgment and guilt that go along with our choices. I’ve been mulling it over all day and trying to put to words my feelings on the whole topic. First, I believe that judgement in parenting is real. I’ve [...]
A Decade of Days
Me and my little Nick and my friend Jo. Ten years ago today, I gave birth to Nick at the hospital I can see today from my bedroom window. I was young and unaware of what was in store for me, he was small and beautiful and soft. Right about at this time on that [...]
