I am really enjoying my re-read of Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Mate’s book, Hold Onto Your Kids. In this book, they describe how children’s excessive attachment to peers sabotages their development. What our children really need, they say, is a strong attachment to their parents and other positive adults who can provide the invaluable support [...]
We see it often in parenting literature: in order to be as patient, kind, loving as we want to be as parents, we need to fill our cup. This series of articles is intended to help parents explore self-care and recognize the pitfalls faced in implementing it. We’ll begin with a focus on the underlying [...]
A parent’s self care is often a missing piece in parenting advice. We need to be as loving and respectful to ourselves as we are with our children. Therefore, when addressing whining and complaining, we must strike a balance between attending to underlying feelings AND setting loving boundaries to avoid negative behavior and communication patterns. [...]
A client asks, “How can I help my child have good self esteem, when I don’t?” The fact that she can recognize that this is a problem is the first step! So often, parents, particularly those that have personal histories to heal, focus intensely on helping their children to have the confidence they don’t. However, [...]
Six years ago on Saturday, my water had broken and I was eagerly awaiting contractions, ready to meet my baby girl. The way her birth unfolded was a surprise to me and completely out of my control. Compared to my 40 hour labor with my son, once things got rolling with castor oil she was [...]
It is delciously soul satisfying when you find that sweet spot of meeting a need while also doing what you love. This is what I feel after each Wonder, Love, and Connection playgroup. For a long time, as I supported mothers in conscious, self-compassionate mothering , I have been aware of the need for a [...]
The thin veil on emotions that one experiences while pregnant is a divine gift. I have experienced this pregnancy as a time of great shedding; shedding old fears (what if, what if, what if), shedding old limiting beliefs (I can’t possibly mother three, my children can’t handle sharing me, etc.) shedding external things like clutter [...]
Today, I offered Maya a bite of my sandwich so she could try the sauce. She made a face that looked like ‘I don’t want to,’ but she didn’t say anything, so I said, “Oh you don’t have to.” She laughed and said with confidence, “I know I don’t have to take a bite if [...]
Every year, on Easter morning we take our children to Oak Canyon Nature Reserve; the woodsy piece of preserved land that we were married in. As we walk the dirt and oak leaf covered trail, we talk about the new life that is growing all around and within us. We stop and marvel at the [...]
Many have heard this story: A little girl who just became a big sister, is found in the baby’s room, leaning over the baby’s bassinet. She is overheard asking the baby in a whisper, “Tell me what God is like, I’m starting to forget.” Intuition, our natural connection to the divine and wisdom in us, [...]
