Two days after the birth of my fourth child, I sat in a chair in the living room, crying. When my husband asked me what was wrong, I exclaimed that I was fat. It could be said that I as hormonal. It could be said that my body was still recovering from having a human... Continue Reading →
Anger is a secondary emotion. It always follows after other emotions. While emotions point us toward our met and unmet needs, as a secondary emotion, anger doesn't let us know what is going on. It is important to take the time to discover the primary emotion we are experiencing in order to address what is... Continue Reading →
Sometimes children need a little help getting out of a mood or mode. We can't make another person do something, but we can help by proving an optimal environment. Sometimes a simple change to the environment is all it takes for a person's needs to be met. Ways to change a child's environment: Enrich the... Continue Reading →
The warming temperatures and lure of sprinklers and pools had us out shopping for swimsuits earlier this month. Finding swimsuits for boys isn't very difficult, even if like me, you prefer not to buy anything with commercial characters or branded names on it. While colors and designs differ, they are all basically the same and... Continue Reading →
Empathy allows us to listen to our children without changing their feelings. We can listen and acknowledge their feelings and thoughts regardless of whether or not we agree with them. Through this, we model compassion. Through our compassion, we open ourselves to communication and cooperation.
How we, as parents, approach our children's mistakes can have a profound effect on how they approach mistakes for the rest of their lives. Attribute negative interpretations to their behaviors, and our children learn that their mistakes make them bad. Approach mistakes from a positive position, and they learn that mistakes are merely learning experiences.
Shortly after we moved here, my husband and his brother signed up to spend a day working on a Habitat for Humanity house. The plan was for them to spend the day working on the house and then to head over to our house, where my brother-in-law's wife would also come after getting off work,... Continue Reading →
We have been using the free puzzle maker at Discovery Education quite a bit lately. My kids have been on an activity book kick, as they can't seem to get enough word finds, mazes, cryptograms, and other games. The free puzzle maker allows you to completely customize your games - from the size, words, difficulty, etc.
This post is part of the 2010 API Principles of Parenting blog carnival, a series of monthly parenting blog carnivals, hosted by API Speaks. Learn more about attachment parenting by visiting the API website. Shortly after the birth of our first child, I was on the phone with my grandmother. We had just discussed the... Continue Reading →
In honor of National Get Outdoors Day, our family is joining Leave No Trace's Bigfoot Challenge. We are putting plastic bags in the van. Whenever we are out hiking, we'll use them to collect trash we find along the way and dispose of it properly. It's a small thing to do, but every bit helps make... Continue Reading →
living peacefully with children 