When I was about 12 years old I opened our refrigerator and took 2 of my dad’s beers and slipped them into my back pack. I said goodbye to my parents and went over to my friend’s house a couple blocks away for a sleepover. I thought if we could each drink a beer really fast we might see what it was like to be tipsy. I was at her house for about an hour when her mom said I had a phone call. It was my dad. “Abigail, did you take 2 of my beers?” [Read more…]

Gentle parenting is PRO-gentle discipline.

Gentle parenting is not about what we don’t do. It’s about what we DO.

I recently overheard someone telling another person about gentle parenting. She said “we don’t spank, we don’t do leave our babies to cry.” I hear too much about what we don’t do as gentle parents. To me this misses the point entirely. [Read more…]

By “C”

I survived being spanked.

Survived.

That’s really the point, isn’t it? I just… survived.

I remember running from my father in true terror that still sends chills down my spine, while he took off his belt in preparation for a spanking. [Read more…]

If you walk around barefoot in my house you will collect this week’s activities on the bottom of your feet. Oats, crumbs, uncooked pasta, cat food. This will all be held nicely together by the sticky popsicle juice. These are all things that Jack likes to play with. I try to clean about once a week, but it usually happens about every other week. I like a clean house. I am not one of these messy-by-nature people. If you follow my blog you will know that I come from a very rigid place. I like things neat, clean and in their place. Since Jack was born one of the many opportunities for growth has been how to let that go a little bit. I throw toys in baskets at the end of the day and load the dishwasher. That’s a successful day for us.

[Read more…]

By Alice Romolo

I have had my moments.

I would say that sleep and nighttime parenting
have been my last frontier of gentle parenting.

It is my most challenging…

Read this post at Breastfeeding Basics!

I have a supportive husband. I have a healthy son. I am healthy and happy myself. My husband works from home 2 days a week and has weekends off. He helps a lot by taking Jack downstairs while I cook or get dressed. He is always around to play and cook and clean and just be with us. And in the evenings he takes Jack while I take a relaxing hot bath. [Read more…]