• Last updated 12/6/12 by Beth Berry

By Beth Berry     I wrote this piece a few years ago in the thick of stay-home parenting of four young children. I wanted to share it with you now along with a bit of reflection... While I remember what it was like to feel wholly overwhelmed by the balancing act of maintaining a household and making time for play, that period is quite suddenly behind me. No one is asking me to play ponies. Our days are filled with school and homework, chores and pep talks, argument mediation and hormonal meltdowns. There are other things, too -- lovely things like watching... read more

• Last updated 12/6/12 by Melanie Mayo

By Savvy Homeschool Moms   In this episode the moms chat about Halloween fun, the History Odyssey curriculum, and maintaining cultural sensitivity during Thanksgiving.         Some links in this episode: Math Wrap-Ups Kids Thanksgiving Books Google Art Project     To see the full show notes, including a LOT MORE links to all the resources mentioned, please visit our website: The Savvy Homeschool Moms, episode 22. To subscribe to or download our show, check us out on iTunes, or our website. This episode is sponsored... read more

• Last updated 11/28/12 by Melanie Mayo

Is anatomy destiny? Former Mothering features editor Candace Walsh was raised in a family where medicalized birth was the default. She thought, when she got pregnant with her daughter in 2000, that the only next step was to start seeing an obstetrician. But the hurried, brusque doctor didn't make her feel safe or cared for at all. Her maternal instincts were screaming, "Run away!" That led her on the path to seek out a midwife, Sylvie Blaustein (later featured in The Business of Being Born.)    When she and her then-husband moved to Santa Fe in 2002, it was only... read more

• Last updated 1/14/13 by Marcy Axness

Somewhere along the way it became generally assumed that praise builds self-esteem, leading to the daily parental litany of “Nice job!” and “Great throw!” and “Gorgeous painting!” and on and on ad nauseum. Pundits call it “affirmation” and “positive feedback.” B.F. Skinner called it “positive reinforcement.” Does praising children really build their self-esteem, as many people assume it does? Or does it erode their intrinsic motivation, pleasure and self-satisfaction?   The gift-giving holidays are fast approaching and if it doesn’t happen to you this... read more

• Last updated 11/19/12 by Hoyamum

By Lisa Hassan Scott         “Well, when you come to visit, I can try to see if I can get a portable crib.” My husband and I were planning our first visit to his parents’ house, and my in-laws were really excited.  “That won’t be necessary,” I said, “the baby will just sleep with us.”  A silence.  “With you?  But won’t you roll on top of her?”  And so began a conversation about parenting that has been going on for ten years.  At first, I felt uncomfortable and defensive of our choices.  Everything we were doing was so, well, different from the choices our... read more

• Last updated 11/13/12 by Melanie Mayo

  Contributed by Mothering blogger Sarah Clark   As I watch attachment style mothers sometimes I wonder if some of us forget that attachment parenting is called attachment PARENTING not attachment MOTHERING.     Attachment as a style of nurturing and loving our children is a beautiful thing.  It also can be quite exhausting- especially if all the attachment, co-sleeping, feeding, loving, holding, answering, nurturing, and touching is done by just one person.     Mom.   But it isn't called attachment mothering, is it. It is called Attachment... read more

• Last updated 11/9/12 by Marcy Axness

Nancy Verrier is an adoptive mother, therapist and author of the groundbreaking book The Primal Wound: Understanding the Adopted Child.  In a session at today's Adopt Salon conference in Los Angeles, Nancy shared some reflections almost twenty years after publishing one of adoption's landmark works.  In the following interview (that I did some years back), Nancy shares her views on a variety of adoption’s “hot topics,” but all emerge from a basic theme:  adoption creates “different kinds of relationships” and some unique challenges for adoptees.   MA:     I’m... read more

• Last updated 11/13/12 by Marcy Axness

For generations, formal adoption in America consisted overwhelmingly of white babies who were born to white, unwed women and were parented by white, married couples. Our laws, policies, practices, attitudes and understanding were based on that reality – and they have not significantly changed. Yet the population of adopted children – and the characteristics of expectant and prospective parents – no longer look anything like the ones for whom the institution was created. We need to examine the historic changes that have taken place, and ask ourselves: Is it time to stop... read more

• Last updated 11/9/12 by Beth Berry

By Beth Berry     Pop quiz: What do the following have in common? Disposable diapers. Food your baby sucks from a bag. That empty threat you made that got him back in his carseat. The soccer tournament you missed when you were home puking. The movie they watched while you laid in bed and did nothing. The fact that what's-her-face brought handmade, gluten-free, agave-sweetened, almond-flour cupcakes with raisins she dried from grapes grown by her guru and all you could manage was a jumbo box of cheddar bunnies. You guessed it! Guilt. And not... read more

• Last updated 11/7/12 by Melanie Mayo

Talking about adoption honestly supports healthy emotional development for both children and parents. Yet it is not always the easy choice. False cheer and inaccurate platitudes often feel like the less challenging way to go. (As Mitchell discovered in a light-hearted treatment of this issue on a recent Modern Family. He found it easier to tell Lily her mother was a princess--until she became obsessed with princesses!)   The road to adoption is invariably a challenging one for many adoptive parents, marked by many losses—the children they might have had, but for... read more