Should We Share Our Feelings With Babies?

This provocative question came up in a parents’ discussion I led recently at the RIE Center about establishing healthy boundaries. I was responding to a mom’s query about dealing with her toddler son pulling her hair. I encouraged her to try to stay calm while she kindly, but definitively stopped him. I suggested she take his hand away or put him down and say something simple like, “I won’t let you pull my...

Breastfeeding For Comfort (The All-Night Diner)

A discussion I had with Annie from “PHD In Parenting” a while back (Attachment Parenting Debate – For Crying Out Loud!) sparked some interesting commentary. A couple of days ago I received this new comment and question… I am beyond excited to have found your blog Janet, and this debate has been so revealing for me. My daughter is almost 1 year old and I have been practicing Attachment Parenting because it...

Breaking An Abusive Cycle Through AP And RIE (Guest Post by Suchada from Mama Eve)

Please, don’t let them grow up like me…  I have three vivid memories of growing up: The first is of my mother when I was five or six years old. I was getting ready for school and had difficulty putting my shoes on the correct feet (being slightly dyslexic), and my mother went ballistic. She hit me, over and over, all while yelling at me how stupid I was for not having it figured out by now. The second...

Baby Discipline, Person To Person

Hi Janet, My question is about my almost 13 month old son. He is extremely curious and engaged in the world around him. We have always tried to empower him and make him feel safe and supported to try anything and everything (within safety, of course). Drawing from my experiences working as an educator in a school that was very much inspired by Reggio Emilia and Montessori, I try to speak to him in terms of what he...

Toddler Testing Toy Story

Hi Janet, We got a very un-RIE gift — Penguin Race – and here’s what happened. Mia really loved it, and then she tried to break it. These mechanical penguins climb stairs and then slide/luge down a big slide, then climb the stairs again. It’s cute, noisy, fun to watch, but that is all there is to do… watch. She kept asking to “play” with it, and then every time the play...

Safe At Home (Guest Post by Loren Chadima)

Loren, her husband and son are participants in my RIE parenting class, and have become my friends. They had a tragic experience with their beloved first son Chase.  Loren courageously volunteered to share her story in the hope that it would help others, even though reliving these events has been extraordinarily difficult for her…   In her book, Dear Parent – Caring For Infant With Respect, Magda Gerber...

Toddler Testing – 3 Steps To End The Nightmare

Hi Janet, Could I ask your advice again? So Audrey is great (GREAT!) at independent play. She can spend quite a long time happily playing with her basic simple toys and babbling to herself. Except, in the mornings, when I am trying to get breakfast ready, lunches ready, dishes done, and stuff ready to get out the door, she is REALLY clingy. I don’t understand. If I am sitting still in the afternoon hanging out...

The Baby Social Scene – 5 Hints For Creating Safe And Joyful Playgroups

A recent post, Is Your Baby A Bully? Genius? Shy? Why We Should Lose Labels, stirred up unexpected controversy. Several parents were apparently shocked by my suggestion that babies could play together with minimal intervention, without adults reminding the babies to share, or asking them to give something back because “so-and-so had it first”.  The comments that surprised me most...