• Last updated 11/21/12 by Cynthia Mosher

I share with you today a blog post from my sweet husband Ricky, who brings the gift of absolute 100% presence to our children.  He is my teacher and inspiration, and (bonus!) the love of my life.  When I consider the Mama Renew journey – the unfolding into motherhood and all the lessons learned along the way, his words below represent the very heart of the experience.  Our growth as parents and human beings is shaped by the gifts our children share with us. As he shares so beautifully at the end of his post: “Someday I’ll be as good a Man as my... read more

• Last updated 11/21/12 by Cynthia Mosher

My son, Reeve, was just home from college for the Thanksgiving holidays. He was here for the whole week—nothing else planned—and we managed to pack in a whole lot of “nothing”—leisurely time where he and Tim and I just hung out: laughed a lot, talked a lot, went on long walks, made up games to play, watched YouTube clips of Danny Kaye movies. . . Got me to thinking how fulfilling the simplest things can be (just BEING together, for example) and remembering how simple “simple” used to be, back when the boy was little: • M & M cookie and a glass of milk... read more

• Last updated 11/21/12 by Cynthia Mosher

  Who isn’t busy all the time? But around the holidays we’re crazy busy. At least women are, and those lights in our lives we call children make the pace even more frantic. Sure we make efforts to simplify and de-stress but for most of us the additional joy of holiday decorating, baking, cooking, shopping, wrapping, gifting, visiting, hosting, and merrymaking have to fit right into our regular (overburdened) schedules. It’s not like we can make more time where there is none. Well, maybe we can. At least we can use our time differently. I... read more

• Last updated 11/21/12 by Cynthia Mosher

This past fall, I went back to college for the first time in years.  I have done periodic online classes since my children were born, but I’ve never done fully in-person classes.  Part of it was location; we lived nearly 2 hours from my college.  But part of it was balancing the act of going to school with being a mom.  Now that I have returned, I find it a great balancing act.  How do I give enough of myself to them, to my schooling, to their schooling, to housework, to my sanity, to my friends, to my family?  Many nights I have left the house amidst pleas of... read more

• Last updated 11/27/12 by Cynthia Mosher

Last year, my son came home from sixth grade with a tale of some playground bullying. “And,” he said, his eyes widening, “it’s anti-bullying week!” It’s Bullying Awareness Month again, and I’ve been thinking a lot about Lisa Solod’s excellent feature we ran in 2006 on bullying and the role that parents play in it. Because those flashbacks happen, don’t they? One moment, you’re listening to your kiddo talk about what’s going down socially, and the next, you’re in your retainer and weird bangs, holding your lunch tray and wondering where to sit and whether... read more

• Last updated 10/18/12 by emilyfrischmann

By Elizabeth Holman Issue 111, March - April 2002 Being a parent today can be overwhelming and isolating. We live in a society where rugged individualism, competition, and the quest for the American dream have left many parents feeling alienated and disconnected. Extended families are rare. Fences run high. Neighbors zoom into garages and disappear into houses, exhausted by the frantic pace of life. Economic status is often the only common thread linking us to our neighbors. Dissatisfied with traditional neighborhoods, a growing number of parents believe that... read more

• Last updated 11/30/12 by Cynthia Mosher

Thursday, November 10, 2011 6pmPDT/9pmEST Dr. Laura Markham, Ph.D FREE TELECLASS “Attachment Beyond Babyhood,” and “Empathetic Limits.” REGISTER HERE! I will be interviewing Dr. Laura Markham, PhD, in a live, FREE teleclass. YOU ARE INVITED TO JOIN IN THIS EXCLUSIVE CALL!! Click here to register. This teleclass is the kick-off for the pre-launch of the Ultimate Parenting Course. It was in writing my Ask AN Expert column for Mothering.com’s Ask An Expert forum with a global online community that I realized that... read more

• Last updated 11/30/12 by Cynthia Mosher

  “You can’t be what you can’t see,” Marie Wilson, founder of The White House Project, explains in this powerful film. Yet the media preaches that a woman’s value is found in beauty and sexuality rather than in her leadership abilities.  What can be done? This revealing documentary has some answers. It premieres Oct. 20th at 9/8 central on OWN.  Filmmakers suggest hosting a house party to watch and discuss it together. The film’s site is packed with resources and ideas for empowering youth. Here are some some of the issues raised by Miss... read more

• Last updated 12/4/12 by Cynthia Mosher

  Dear angry woman at the restaurant giving my child the evil eye, We obviously have very different opinions on how to raise children.  I gathered that you probably take your preferences from the outdated & destructive school of thought that children are to be seen & not heard.  I, on the other hand, base my philosophy on attachment theory—a field of study involving psychological & evolutionary theories, which, when applied to parenting, show that happy, strongly attached children grow into happy, healthy adults.  Our world is in desperate need of... read more

• Last updated 12/4/12 by Cynthia Mosher

Image courtesy of type-zero.deviantart.com “Why don’t you know any answers?” my then three-year-old asked me. He was exaggerating. I always gave him a straight answer when he asked what we could have for dinner or when we were going to the library. But it was true, sometimes I had to look things up. That’s because I really didn’t know answers to questions he posed like, “Do bees have intestines?” Still, I knew what he meant. I tended to respond to his questions with inquiries of my own. “What do you think?” or “Let’s find out.” Of course... read more