• Last updated 5/16/13 by Melanie Mayo

By Julie Shaffer   Quite a few years ago I worked as a program manager for a "Home and Community Habilitation" program for adults with developmental disabilities. One day I discovered that one of the employees I was in charge of was billing for times he had not actually been with the client and I had to fire him. The owner of the company joined me during the meeting with the employee and supported me as I confronted him and let him go. Afterward, as I cried a little bit, I told the owner that this job of being a program manager was just not for me and I wanted to... read more

• Last updated 4/29/13 by Melanie Mayo

      Have I mentioned that I have a two year old?  'Tis true.  And she is one HECK of a two year old.  In fact, she has always been an intense child.  As a baby she awoke every hour or two.  (I realize this is normal.)  But she always woke screaming.  I would nurse her back to sleep or do whatever worked but there were never tender nighttime moments with air sucking or fist finding as my sweet one gently showed the signs of hunger.  No, she is designed like a fine race car: zero to 60 in 2.5 seconds.  The intensity of babyhood has... read more

• Last updated 4/18/13 by Melanie Mayo

My daughter, Lucy, is almost three years old, and has Rett Syndrome. It is a debilitating condition that has robbed her of speech, the ability to walk, control her hands, and talk. This makes it difficult to figure out how to let her explore the world as every other child does. When I was a little girl, I spent most of my time outside, playing with my cousins. We did all of the things little kids do: rode bikes, caught tadpoles, made forts, pretended we were getting married with bouquets of ferns, played in the mud and in brush piles, rode four-wheelers, swam...you get... read more

• Last updated 4/12/13 by SmilinMomma

By Colleen Lowe Smith   I’d made the mistake of practically bragging to a friend how Cassidy had never been sick before and that she’s “such a healthy kid.”  Naturally, two days later she was feverish after napping twice the time that she usually naps.  The day after that, still peaking temperatures at 103, I took her to the doctor just in case.  Not much they could do, viral, rest and fluids blah blah blah, come back if she wasn’t better in a few days. Which she wasn’t.   Saturday her breathing was visibly short, and she was still feverish when the tylenol... read more

• Last updated 4/5/13 by Melanie Mayo

By Colleen Lowe Smith   Things are changing.   Cassidy is not yet two and a half yet and I knew this time would come.  It started the other afternoon when I woke her up from her nap.  I didn’t want her to stay up late, and it had already been two hours.   It could have been a growth spurt, needing that extra sleep, who knows.  I should have let her stay in bed.  Instead she roused in protest, wailing, and was inconsolable for the next 45 minutes.  She ran away from me, hiding under chairs and tables, delirious and crying, “Go away, Mommy!”     Go Away... read more

• Last updated 3/25/13 by Melanie Mayo

  Before I was even pregnant, years before really, I began to develop some beliefs about what parenting was going to be like. I felt strongly (and still do) about the value and importance of toys without lights and whistles and ones that don't do all of the playing for a child. I felt passionately certain that I would have the most amazing breast feeding experiences of anyone, ever. I believed that cloth diapers would rock my world and that my precious little son or daughter would never watch television and instead we would frolic happily through the yard;... read more

• Last updated 3/20/13 by Melanie Mayo

Being wrong is just a few creative thoughts or actions from being right.   By V.K. Harber   There is a TED Talk by Sir Ken Robinson from 2007 that I recently listened to. His talk is about how the educational system is killing creativity and his argument is very moving and not easily ignored. (And may be a helpful tool in explaining to people a choice not to educate a child in mainstream ways)   My main takeaway from this talk, at this point in my life as the mother of a toddler, was a very simple phrase. He said, “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll... read more

• Last updated 3/14/13 by SmilinMomma

By Colleen Lowe Smith   I know that children, especially toddlers, are literal, but it still catches me by surprise sometimes.  Cassidy and I were reading a book the other night: “... and the cat jumped out of his skin!”   “Mommy.” Cassidy says.  “Where his skin?”   We started Montessori toddler class together, which is a whole other story.  I’d been a Montessori pre-school teacher for twelve years and the toddler curriculum is familiar to me, and though there are challenges as mommy/teacher I will expound on another time, there are also surprises.  We don’t... read more

• Last updated 3/8/13 by juliemarie13

     Before I was even pregnant, years before really, I began to develop some beliefs about what parenting was going to be like. I felt strongly (and still do) about the value and importance of toys without lights and whistles and ones that don't do all of the playing for a child. I felt passionately certain that I would have the most amazing breast feeding experiences of anyone, ever. I believed that cloth diapers would rock my world and that my precious little son or daughter would never watch television and instead we would frolic happily through the yard;... read more

• Last updated 2/23/13 by VKHarberRYT

A book recommendation.     By V.K. Harber     I am extremely grateful to a friend and fellow mother who recently gave me a copy of The Whole-Brain  Child by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. and Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D. As I ponder the last few weeks with my, ahem, spirited toddler, I cannot help but wish that I’d gotten my hands on this book sooner.   I do not tend to believe that any one parenting book or philosophy is a one-stop shop, as each child and each family circumstance is completely unique, but I do love having as many tools as possible for parenting... read more