Respond with Sensitivity

National Spank Out Day – Positive Discipline Resources

April 30, 2012

April 30th is National Spank Out Day, which was established to promote non-violent discipline of children. Today, we aim to raise awareness about physical punishment for children, as well as educate parents about effective discipline practices that do not involve hitting and spanking. Here, we’ve listed some of API’s resources on positive discipline, as well [...]

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How to Raise a Disrespectful Teen

March 30, 2012

There have been a lot of opinions published online regarding the Dad who shot his teen daughters laptop. His whole point is that too many parents are being lax and ineffective and are raising spoiled, entitled children. I view it not so much as lax parenting, but uninformed parenting – the kind that increases the [...]

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Mommy Has Testicles!

March 22, 2012

“I bet you didn’t know my mommy has testicles!” I bet you didn’t see this one coming, I’m thinking, as my precocious four-year-old daughter, E, my second born, bounces up to the man who I was hoping to become a new client. A father himself, he’s been dabbling in selling vegetables from his home garden [...]

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Two Steps Forward, One Step Back.

March 14, 2012

Any of my mama friends who come across this post will probably meet it with a rolling of the eyes. I just recently hashed out this very issue over the course of several days. Following my whining, their loving comments, my venting, their loving comments, I came to a realization…my little boy is growing up. [...]

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Baby Signing a Practical Way of Communicating

February 29, 2012

I was never one of those people, pre-kids, who romanticized parenting. I worried instead about how my baby and I would communicate and how I would deduce from her cries the action required to meet her needs. My sister had used some basic baby signs with my niece Dakota, teaching her to sign “more” and [...]

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Diaper Free in the Middle East

February 13, 2012

API appreciates encouragement and support of our parenting instincts, and enjoys when the support transcends geographic borders and language. Please note that Attachment Parenting helps parents reclaim their instincts through API’s Eight Principles of Parenting and grow in their parenting confidence, to make the choices they find best for their own families. Elimination communication, going [...]

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Nighttime Parenting Isn’t Always Pretty

January 16, 2012

My first had always been a good sleeper. We co-slept through about 18 months or so, and when we moved, Little Man jumped right into his big-boy bed and that’s where he wanted to sleep. After I had my second child, we went through a phase where Little Man would wander into my bed in [...]

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Flirting with babies

December 16, 2011

As the parent of a young toddler, the idea of “flirting” has been on my mind for a while. Whenever we’re at a restaurant, my daughter – like many other young children – enjoys catching the eye of new people, and making them smile. Our society likes to call this “flirting.” Our perceptions of babies [...]

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