This picture is so sweet that I had to share it with you. This is Jordyn and her daddy, Darren. Darren is this very tall man who has the most tender heart towards his precious wife, Brittnee and their daughter, Jordyn. Brittnee was my client when Jordyn was born. She is pregnant again, and I am so sad that they have moved. They now live in North Dakota, so I can’t be their doula. Such a sweet family!!
If You Give a Mom a Muffin
By Beth Brubaker
If you give a mom a muffin,
she’ll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
She’ll pour herself some.
Her three year-old will come and spill the coffee.
Mom will wipe it up.
Wiping the floor, she will find dirty socks.
She’ll remember she has to do laundry.
When she puts the laundry into the washer,
she’ll trip over shoes and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan supper.
She will get out a pound of hamburger.
She’ll look for her cookbook
(How to Make 101 Things With a Pound of Hamburger.)
The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow.
She will look for her checkbook.
The checkbook is in her purse,
which is being dumped out by her two year-old.
Then she’ll smell something funny.
She’ll change the two year-old.
While she is changing the two year-old, the phone will ring.
Her five year-old will answer and hang up.
She’ll remember she was supposed to phone a friend
to come over for coffee.
Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.
She will pour herself some more.
And chances are,
if she has a cup a coffee,
her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.
Sleep is becoming a hot topic! There are many books written about the subject, and so many seem to have all the answers. When our children were babies and toddlers, it broke my heart to ever hear them cry. Especially when it was a situation when they simply needed ME or my husband. When it came time for bedtime, we established a family routine that worked for us. While there were times that it was a challenge, I knew that someday they would be able to sleep through the night without ‘needing me’. Today I received this tip from Rebecca Thompson with The Consciously Parenting Project and wanted to pass it on to you.
Sleep is precious, yet overrated. Meeting your child’s nighttime needs is very important. Children should never be left to cry alone. Children cannot soothe their own stress and need a responsive caregiver to help them learn to calm themselves down, especially at night. This investment results in positive associations with sleep and helps create calmer children during the day. Think of it as an investment rather than a sacrifice!©Rebecca Thompson, 2008
The Consciously Parenting Project
http://www.consciouslyparenting.com
Recently a friend of mine, shared the idea of having your child paint a wooden Easter egg every year. I thought it would be great fun to try it with my grandson, Lincoln. First, I painted the wooden eggs with a yellow base coat. Then we stripped him down to just a diaper, and put 3 colors of acrylic paint in a pan. Then we painted his hands and let him play with the eggs. When he was done (or rather we were done), we quickly got him straight into the bathtub. After the paint dried, I put his name on the bottom of the eggs and put a clear coat of sealer on them. I plan to do this every year with him!
We will find a book or article on almost any subject anywhere that we look. We will find parents and well meaning adults who think they have the answers for how you child should be developing. This can be challenging determining what is right for your child. When I read this from Rebecca Thompson, I knew that I needed to pass it on to you
Optimal development is about allowing the unfolding of the child. It isn’t on your time table or an author’s time table in a book you’ve just read, but rather it is about allowing your child to develop at the rate that is right for her. You may find this challenging, because many children do not follow the charts indicated in parenting books. Let go of the numbers in books and focus on the child you have right in front of you. For example, most babies are not sleeping through the night at 3 months, like many parenting books suggest, but much closer to 2 or 3 years when the part of their brain responsible for regulation of sleep has developed. Follow your child and let go of your own interpretation of what normal is.
©Rebecca Thompson, 2008
The Consciously Parenting Project
http://www.consciouslyparenting.com
The Consciously Parenting Project
By Alvin Powell
Contributing Writer
America’s “let them cry” attitude toward children may lead to more fears and tears among adults, according to two Harvard Medical School researchers.
Instead of letting infants cry, American parents should keep their babies close, console them when they cry, and bring them to bed with them, where they’ll feel safe, according to Michael L. Commons and Patrice M. Miller, researchers at the Medical School’s Department of Psychiatry.
The pair examined childrearing practices here and in other cultures and say the widespread American practice of putting babies in separate beds — even separate rooms — and not responding quickly to their cries may lead to incidents of post-traumatic stress and panic disorders when these children reach adulthood.
The early stress resulting from separation causes changes in infant brains that makes future adults more susceptible to stress in their lives, say Commons and Miller.
“Parents should recognize that having their babies cry unnecessarily harms the baby permanently,” Commons said. “It changes the nervous system so they’re overly sensitive to future trauma.”
To read the rest of the article go here:
“Children aren’t randomly born to parents. God orchestrates the right children to be born to the right parents. Being the mom God wants you to be starts with the understanding of how important your job is in God’s eyes. He entrusts you with one of his own children. He chose you out of all the moms in the world for this one child. Remember, you, too, are highly favored by God himself to receive such a special gift.”
Max Lucado
“When I was about twenty years old, I met an old pastor’s wife who told me that when she was young and had her first child, she didn’t believe in striking children, although spanking kids with a switch pulled from a tree was standard punishment at the time. “But one day when her son was four or five, he did something that she felt warranted a spanking–the first in his life. And she told him he would have to go outside and find a switch for her to hit him with. The boy was gone a long time. And when he came back in, he was crying. “He said to her, ‘Mama, I couldn’t find a switch, but here’s a rock you can throw at me.’ All of the sudden a mother understood how the situation felt from the child’s point of view: that if my mother wants to hurt me, it makes no difference what she does it with; she might as well do it with a stone. “The mother took the boy onto her lap and they both cried. Then she laid the rock on a shelf in the kitchen to remind herself forever: never violence. Because violence begins in the nursery–one can raise children into violence.” ~From a peace prize acceptance speech given by Astrid Lindgren, author of Pippi Longstocking.
Kathryn DiPalma
(559) 287-3231
Email Me
Send a Message
