From the category archives:

Principles

Part1: Rewards, Incentives, Consequences, and Punishments (Oh, My!)

August 31, 2010

At a recent API meeting, a few moms asked questions about the differences between rewards and punishments which I thought was very useful.  We hadn’t specifically discussed them before, and it was helpful to define our understanding of the words we often hear regarding discipline.  Based on attachment parenting, positive discipline, and unconditional parenting, here [...]

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Motherhood’s Magic Mirror

August 17, 2010

My daughters had a hard time using the word “please.” I noticed this several years ago, when I was constantly correcting their demands, making them insert the word before I would honor their request. They always said, “Thank you,” just not the “p” word. I remember the moment when I discovered why this phenomenon was [...]

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Is She Too Attached?

August 11, 2010

My 8 month old daughter, Penelope, is going through a separation anxiety phase.  If I walk out of her eye sight, even for a second, even if Peter, my husband, or someone else is sitting with her and playing, she cries.  She is a MAMA’S GIRL right now.  When her anxiety first showed up, I [...]

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The Days of Our Lives

August 9, 2010

I had a chat with another mother which is not remarkable in and of itself but apparently our conversation was. At the end of the conversation we were discussing how other parents we had been around did not talk about these types of things. How sometimes they left you with this feeling of guilt and [...]

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Involving Children in Food

August 4, 2010

I breastfed both of my babies. Once we got the hang of things, it was easy. When they were hungry, or wanted comfort, they nursed. Simple. Then I introduced solid foods, and the world changed. Feeding with love and respect took on new meaning. Food altogether took on new meaning. Suddenly, there was a question [...]

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If You Can Grow Kids, You Can Grow Anything

July 30, 2010

I spent this morning digging up garlic bulbs with my delighted 5-year-old daughter. She shouted every time she brought one out of the earth and into the scorching July sun. We stopped at 50 bulbs; both of us hot, dirty and reeking of garlic. It was fun for both of us, but also profound. She [...]

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Keeping Your Breast Milk Healthy

July 22, 2010

Breastfeeding is widely touted as the healthiest way to feed your baby. Each mother’s milk is tailored to her baby’s specific needs. Breast milk is highly digestible and full of maternal antibodies. Breast milk from the source is always warm, never spoils and has never been recalled due to contamination. However, several recent stories in [...]

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Wearing a Toddler

July 5, 2010

My son Jacob is 22 months old. He loves to run and climb and jump and throw balls and all those things that toddlers do. He is no longer the babe in arms that he was for the first months of my life, carried from place to place by others. Today, he motors under his [...]

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