100% Fool-Proof Parenting (7 Key Ingredients)

“You know what I have found- NOTHING works all the time.  I hear people saying that peaceful parenting doesn’t work and I hear people saying that spanking doesn’t work.  Frankly, I can’t think of anything that is 100% fool proof and works for every child all the time.” – Mama Birth I hear (or read) statements like Mama Birth’s all the time.  It doesn’t matter what school of child care...

Loving Babies Without Wearing Them

If bloggers got year-end bonuses, this would be mine. In this note, a new mother shares her discovery of infant expert Magda Gerber’s child care approach and the profound effects it has had on her family… Dear Janet, I stumbled on your blog through the guest post on “tummy time” when my daughter, now six months, was about two months old.  I was totally captivated by the video of Baby Liv and then spent...

10 Secrets To Raising Less Stressed Kids

A couple of years ago I was driving my daughter home from high school, and she shared something from her Human Development class that day.  The students were asked to draw an illustration of their emotional state. “And mom,” she said, “everyone drew pictures of stacks of books and things like that.  I think I’m the only one who’s not stressed. The only pressure I ever feel is the pressure I put on...

Baby Teamwork (Sharing Because They Want To)

When we stay out of the way while babies play and allow them to interact authentically, we can expect the unexpected. Over the years, as both a parent and RIE class facilitator, I’ve made a conscious effort to observe sensitively, keep an open mind about what play should “look like”, and intervene only minimally (when babies might hurt each other). I’ve been rewarded with more surprising, enlightening...

Don’t Cramp Your Toddler’s Style – The Power Of Trust

“There are certain things children are obliged to do, but in play where there is no obligation, they come to something new and fresh. Play is a trying out experimenting. It’s not a joke, children don’t play for fun. They play for real, and adults don’t understand that; they laugh at what children do. To children, play is very serious.” –Educator Margaret Flinsch Imagine you and the...

Gentle Discipline In Action (Seeing Is Believing)

Do toddlers like to learn rules and follow directions? Are they capable of restraint, making decisions, self-discipline, patience, even unsolicited acts of kindness? Seeing is believing. In this brief video, not just one, but five extraordinary 14 to 18 month old toddlers demonstrate these things and more… (No actors were hired!) This is the first few minutes of snack time (traditionally consisting of bananas and...

Baby-Led Adventures – 5 Reasons Babies Need To Lead

Babies are born adventurers. If we give them our full attention and a completely safe, reasonably interesting place in which they are free to move, they’re on their way. Even the youngest infant can lead us on play adventures if we watch closely and use our imagination, because long before a baby has motor abilities, the wheels are turning. He’s seeing, hearing, feeling and thinking. He’s never “just lying...

To My First Baby

This one’s personal…a graduation letter to my daughter that I never intended to post. But then it occurred to me that these reflections and recollections (some of them found in an old journal) might inspire you to record some of your own. Dear Charlotte, Such a monumental time in the life of such a monumental girl (funny, I kept typing “momumental”), which must be why this letter has been hard for me to...