• Last updated 10/6/11 by Mothering Editorial

Related Articles:Sidebar: Making the Big Day Special By Betsy R. Rosenthal Issue 101, July/August 2001 My soon-to-be three year old's birthday was rapidly approaching. We avoided making a public show of Joel's first and second anniversaries. We got off easy. He didn't ask; we didn't suggest. Frankly, I needed a break after hosting parties year after year for my two older children. But this year my little guy specifically requested a party--a big party. A Spiderman party. Since we don't go in for hired outside entertainment (I'm not sure whether it's a sign of the... read more

• Last updated 1/17/13 by Melanie Mayo

A Special Message from Jan Hunt of The Natural Child Project. The Natural Child Project has promoted compassionate parenting and natural learning since 1996. We are grateful for the opportunity we’ve had to provide information, advice and encouragement to thousands of families around the world. However, the current economy is making it difficult for us to continue. In fourteen years, we have only needed to ask for special help once before. Our current situation is critical. We are sending this message to our readers to ask for a small donation. If... read more

• Last updated 1/17/13 by Melanie Mayo

The red peppers and onions dangled overhead. The hams and the venison hung in their paper wrappings, and all the bunches of dried herbs, the spicy herbs for cooking and the bitter herbs for medicine, gave the place a dusty-spicy smell. Do you remember that description of the attic from Little House in the Big Woods, where Laura and Mary would play house with pumpkins for furniture and a corncob for a doll when the late autumn chill drove them indoors? Maybe, if you’re lucky, you’ve re-visited the world that Ma and Pa worked so hard to sustain with your own... read more

• Last updated 5/10/11 by Mothering Editorial

Baby on Board: Bicycling with Your Child By Paul B. Cooley Issue 111, March - April 2002 When I finally worked up the courage to bicycle with my infant daughter, I discovered that drivers treated me with more politeness than I had been accustomed to, either as a bicyclist or a motorist. This new courtesy was a relief. Although bicycling in traffic with Sadie terrified me, the degradation of our environment and community caused by motor vehicle use, and the ease with which I fall into the habit of jumping into the car whenever I need to go somewhere, terrified me... read more

• Last updated 10/26/12 by Melanie Mayo

By Heather Cori Rader "Mom, why don't people love the Earf?" asks my son, Jamin. He holds a bag bulging with the trash that he and his dad have picked up from our street. "Because we don't teach our children about reverence," I reply. I smile as he tries the word out for the first time, forming his mouth carefully around the sounds. Reverence doesn't just roll off his tongue - it sounds more like wevewence - but the meaning holds true. I respect Jamin's questions by answering with genuine explanations, even if they are difficult to comprehend or pronounce. In... read more

• Last updated 1/25/13 by Melanie Mayo

On the drive home this evening, my three year old was feeling a little grumpy. ‘Don’t ask me about my day, Mama,’ he warned with a growl as I buckled him into his seat after I picked him up at day care. So I didn’t, and silence filled the car until the moment I rounded the corner onto our street, at which point Gabriel nearly broke out of his five-point harness for pure joy, shouting, ‘Look, Mama! It’s the MAIL TRUCK!’ Sure, he likes trucks. But the excitement that melted away his bad mood was all about the mail. If anyone happens to notice when Miss... read more

• Last updated 1/25/13 by Melanie Mayo

Thank you to food expert and Edible Living blogger Sarah Copeland for this guest blog. Keep an eye out for her forthcoming book “The Newlywed Cookbook: Fresh Ideas and Modern Recipes for Cooking With and For Each Other.” Babies learn to enjoy and prefer nutrient rich foods not just from tasting the foods you eat as parents, but also by interacting with the taste, textures and colors of food at their source. Even before they are ready for solid foods, babies can begin relating positively to healthy foods by picking, touching, and eventually tasting fresh... read more

• Last updated 1/25/13 by Melanie Mayo

Thank you to Rachel Jonat from Minimalist Mom for this guest post. This is part three of her three part series for us on minimalist living. Read post one and two. Check out her site for even more great information. Radical minimalism, counting everything you own and moving into the smallest living space you can find, isn’t for everyone. When I first approached simplifying what we own I felt intimidated by the more extreme approaches. We love where we live, I do like my espresso machine and our 1100 square foot condominium – small for North American standards... read more

• Last updated 1/26/13 by Cynthia Mosher

“Happy. Mother. You can really use both words in the same sentence” is the tag line to Meagan Francis’s popular blog, The Happiest Mom. Now this Michigan-based mom of five has a book out by the same title, The Happiest Mom: 10 Secrets to Enjoying Motherhood. As part of a cyberspace book tour, Meagan is visiting Mothering Outside the Lines this week. Though I haven’t finished her book yet, I’ve enjoyed what I read so far (full disclosure: the publisher sent me a review copy) and I’m delighted to have her here! Today she writes a guest post about finding easy ways... read more

• Last updated 1/26/13 by Cynthia Mosher

When I was in my twenties I used credit cards to pay for almost everything. The convenience! No jangling change in your pocket! No waiting to save before you buy! In those days with only one mouth to feed (I was skinnier back then) and a job in corporate philanthropy, I almost always managed to pay off the balance in full each month. Now that we’re a family of six, when I use our credit card we struggle (and usually fail) to pay it off. Though I’m sincerely grateful to Mr. Visa for financing our recent escape to rainy California, I no longer see... read more