From the category archives:

Provide Consistent & Loving Care

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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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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Chip, Chip, Chip

July 2, 2010

Last night, I put the kids to bed, poured some wine, popped in a movie and picked up my knitting. Then I heard it: the awful sound of something, or someone, falling down the stairs. All of them. THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP! Sure enough, it was my 3 year old, who had gotten up to [...]

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If Spanking Does Not Work in the Long-Term, Why Start Spanking at All?

June 25, 2010

Hypothetically speaking, let’s pretend there is a parenting practice with the following attributes: while it usually results in immediate compliance, it is generally ineffective in modifying longer-term behavior (it is even ineffective from hour to hour or day to day); it causes strain on the parent/child relationship; and it can only be used for a [...]

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Time for Friends

June 24, 2010

Last night I got a glimpse of my parenting future. Elia was out with friends riding bikes around the neighborhood.  We had worked out a plan as to where she could go, and what time to be home, but it was nevertheless HARD to send her out there with only her friends for guidance.  Fast forward about 10 [...]

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Healthy boundaries

June 21, 2010

At our home there is a continual rotation of people. We have interns in and out pretty much all year round. Most of these people are temporary, staying anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 months with us. Just recently we had a young man, the brother of my brother in law, stay with us for [...]

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Baby Top Ten List: What your baby is really trying to tell you

June 17, 2010

Falling in love with your baby is easy, taking care of a fussy baby… not so easy. All that crying really is your baby’s way of communicating. Now, what on earth is he or she trying to say? And why didn’t anyone warn you about this before you had children? Don’t be tempted to call [...]

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