Presence

Toddler Chaos Clean-up

February 19, 2013

I’ve swept up the Art Room. This room is my writing room and has also become my son’s chaos room. He paints here, plays here, and learns here. It is a womb of flashcards, water color trays, brushes, paper, stuffed animals, clothes,  crayons, play kitchen items, toy trains, race cars, and other toddler toys. Ten [...]

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Four Principles To Use In Raising Children and Creating Peace In Your Family

November 13, 2012

Love. Patience. Presence. Respect. Our role as Parent is constant…ever-changing and ever-growing. We each have different parenting styles and we each face challenges differently as well. As an attachment parent, four of my fundamental principles are Love, Patience, Presence and Respect. There are many others but these four will sum up an important message I’d [...]

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Baby: from Other to Teacher

September 28, 2012

If you survey mainstream Western baby-care advice from the past two centuries, you’ll see a common theme: the perception that babies are wild beings who need to be tamed in order to be incorporated into family life. The concept of “otherness” is familiar in the history of humankind – it’s a driving force behind the [...]

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The Practice of Attachment Parenting

February 9, 2011

There are days when I think to myself, “I shouldn’t call what I do attachment parenting – because quite honestly, today was anything but.” I never thought of attachment parenting with any interest until about a year ago, right after Bella was born. Before that, I just knew I didn’t want to spank or hit, and [...]

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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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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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Outdoor Families, Part 1: Hiking with Children

May 28, 2010

Summer is upon us, folks! Summer in our house is… well, not really spent in the house. We are outside as much as possible and have already gone on several hikes and camping trips. This is the first installment in a series of informative posts to help you and your families enjoy the great outdoors [...]

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Fully Present

December 30, 2009

Most parents are skilled at the art of multi-tasking. The busyness and pace of life with kids demands that you learn how to do more than one thing at a time. You have to be one step ahead, you have to be prepared, you have to learn to anticipate where your day is going to [...]

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