Parenting ideas that fly.

Making A Soul Connection With Your Baby

“There are three kinds of people who look at you this way…lovers, the insane, and babies.” – Magda Gerber commenting on an infant’s gaze. When it comes to our relationships with our children, it’s the quality of the connection we have that truly matters. Whether we’re responding to our baby’s cries, setting limits for our toddler, deciding whether we should trust or direct our child’s development,...

Please Don’t Handle The Children

“My husband’s only brother got married, and we were all invited to be in the wedding, even Nicky.  I’m so proud to say that Nicky walked down the aisle successfully, even when nobody (not even his own grandparents) thought that he would understand what was asked of him.  Then, when it was time to exit down the aisle, a stranger from the bride’s side reached out and touched Nicky’s head as...

Infant Surgery – Giving Babies Respect When They Need It Most (Guest Post by Nadine Hilmar)

“My son spent an HOUR playing with a small metal tea kettle on the deck, the kind made for one serving of tea.  He used that tea kettle in so many ways. He opened it and listened to its insides and then experimented with making noise into it. He explored each and every facet of it thoroughly. He experimented with different ways to open it and close it, put different objects in it and took them out. He watched his...

Setting Limits With Toddlers – The Choices They Can’t Make

‘Respect’ is vital to parenting, but the word can confuse us, especially when it comes to setting limits with toddlers. Children need lots of opportunities to be autonomous and have their choices respected. At the same time, they also need to know they’re not in charge, and we demonstrate that through our confident, decisive, gentle leadership.  It can be tricky figuring out how to balance these seemingly...

The Mommy Mind Meld (Guest Post by Marcy Axness, Part 2)

Through all my struggles with mothering, I never stopped striving — for insight, for healing, for wholeness. And that changed everything, and I believe it is why my son and daughter have both flourished into their early adulthood. What does this miraculous striving look like day to day? Presence. Mindfulness. Renouncing multi-tasking in favor of uni-tasking. Being fully engaged with all of you in whatever...

Turbo-Charge Your Infant’s Brain Development With The Mommy Mind Meld (Guest Post by Marcy Axness, PhD)

“It was my four years of RIE classes (two with each of my two children) that set me on the path culminating in what I’m writing you about today. I’m struck by the deep similarities in our stories.” This was my introduction to Marcy Axness, Ph.D., a professor of prenatal development, “parents-in-progress” coach and popular international speaker who trains childcare, adoption, education and mental health...

The Key To Nurturing Patience, Diligence And Focus

Parents often ask me how to get their children to focus, but that’s not our job, nor is it necessary.  Our responsibility is to provide open-ended opportunities for kids to choose what they wish to focus on.  When children practice focusing of their own volition, beginning as babies, they eventually learn to tune in and stay “on task”, even when what they’re doing isn’t especially exciting to them. In...

Calming Your Clingy Child

It’s good to feel needed, but when we become parents, we realize we never knew “needy”.  As Magda Gerber aptly noted, parenting brings with it a “feeling of un-freeness”, whether we’re in the presence of our children or not. Toward the end of the first year of life (when children become more aware of the separation between themselves and their parents) and periodically throughout the early years, we...