positive discipline Archives - The Badass Breastfeeder

Bad Day From a Kid’s Perspective

How can I say this? Today was shitty. Yes, shitty, that works.

It started off grand with a 45 minute run through the park pushing my 2 boys, sun shining, healthy breakfast, I was kicking life’s ass and it wasn’t even 9am.

Then we decided to go to the beach. It’s in the 80’s here in Chicago and we never miss a chance to crowd onto the streets when the sun is out. But with a plan like this with a 6-year-old and 3-year-old you must have zen-like patience. And I have the patience of a crocodile. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Attachment parenting // Tagged: attachment parenting, motherhood, parenting struggles, positive discipline

A New Kind of Birth Control

The wait is over. Have you been searching for the perfect birth control method? Are you tired of swallowing pills and inserting medical devices into your body? Do you need a 100% effective way of preventing pregnancy? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Attachment parenting // Tagged: attachment parenting, child discipline, disciplining children, gentle parenting, instinctual parenting, motherhood, natural parenting, parenting advice, parenting blog, parenting challenges, parenting skills, parenting stress, parenting struggles, parenting styles, parenting tips, positive discipline, positive parenting, raising children, raising kids

A Book Review of Benchwarmer: A Sports-Obsessed Memoir of Fatherhood

By Andy Malinski

My dad owns a baseball signed by a man named Carlton Fisk—once a catcher for the Boston Red Sox. But it’s not his affiliation with the Red Sox which caused my dad to make this purchase—after all, my dad is a life-long Yankees fan, so such a piece of memorabilia treads toward sacrilegious. He has this ball because, as young boys, my dad and Mr. Fisk played sandlot ball together in Vermont. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Reviews // Tagged: adjusting to first child, attachment parenting, book review, child discipline, disciplining children, fatherhood, gentle parenting, instinctual parenting, natural parenting, newborn days, parenting advice, parenting blog, parenting challenges, parenting skills, parenting stress, parenting struggles, parenting styles, parenting tips, positive discipline, positive parenting, raising children, raising kids

What Does a Playground and the Moon Have in Common?

On July 20, 1969, four days after blasting off from the only planet known to have life, Neil Armstrong flew a Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) to the surface of the moon. Buzz Aldrin sat next to him secretly sweating out the final seconds while Neil found the perfect spot to land humans on another world for the first time. Neil sat the LEM gently down on the dusty surface and billions of people breathed a sigh of relief and heart-pounding excitement at the same time. [Read more…]

5 WAYS PARTNERS CAN SUPPORT BREASTFEEDING MOMS (A DAD’S PERSPECTIVE)

by Danny Pitt Stoller

When I read articles and stories about breastfeeding, I frequently come across the comment that breastfeeding leads to a diminished role for the dad. After all, if only Mom can feed the baby, how will Dad get a chance to bond with his child? This comment always surprises me because my experience wasn’t like that at all. I have two sons, and both of them breastfed. (They subsisted exclusively on breastmilk for the first six or seven months, and continued nursing for a significant period after solid foods were introduced.) But at no point did I ever feel excluded, nor did I feel I had a lesser or unimportant role in my children’s lives. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Attachment parenting // Tagged: attachment parenting, child discipline, dad's perspective, disciplining children, family support, gentle parenting, husband support, instinctual parenting, natural parenting, parenting advice, parenting blog, parenting challenges, parenting skills, parenting stress, parenting struggles, parenting styles, parenting tips, partner support, positive discipline, positive parenting, raising children, raising kids

Crappy Days: Attachment Parenting With a Temper

I woke up tired today. I guess I didn’t sleep much, but what’s new? I have a 1-year-old who nurses through the night, a 4-year-old who still nurses several times a day, and let’s face it, after 4 years of breastfeeding I just don’t sleep that well on my side for hours on end. I’m pretty much tired all the time. I figured I would get dressed while my husband was still around so I wouldn’t have to try to entertain the Tantruming Twosome while trying to brush my teeth and hide my boobs. [Read more…]

The X-Files: A Story of a Second Child

Recently I was carrying Exley on my hip and rushing around after Jack. Suddenly I started spinning and darting my eyes around the floor.

“WHERE’S EXLEY??!!” I yelled.

It took my mom to burst out laughing for me to realize what I had done.

Two Different Moms

I feel like 2 different mothers sometimes. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but not the flying into a rage part. Well, ok, sometimes the rage part. OK, OK, often the rage part! Get off my back!

But what I want to highlight here is that I feel like each child brings out a different part of me. It’s the anxiety ridden mother versus the calm, cool and collected mother. I had heard from other mothers that the second baby is easier. I didn’t know until I actually had a second baby what that meant for us. [Read more…]

The Exclamation Point

Jack is 3.5 years old, but it feels like he has been the closest person to me forever. He changed me in ways that no one has. He changed my purpose in life from little things to the biggest things. I always knew I wanted another child. I also knew that I would experience a heartbreaking change in my relationship with Jack. I predicted it so vividly that it made me choke with sobs. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Attachment parenting // Tagged: adjusting to second baby, adjusting to second child, attachment parenting, child discipline, disciplining children, gentle parenting, instinctual parenting, motherhood, natural parenting, parenting advice, parenting blog, parenting challenges, parenting skills, parenting stress, parenting struggles, parenting styles, parenting tips, positive discipline, positive parenting, raising children, raising kids

Sibling Relationships and Avoiding Rivalry

I am not any kind of parenting expert, but we have now welcomed number 2 into our home. It has been 10 months and there is one measly little thing that I can say that I feel like I am doing well. It was a concern of mine, and many parents who are adjusting to 2, that my first son, Jack, would feel left out or jealous. I knew that Jack would have complicated feelings about my second son, Exley. I wanted to be sure not to shame him for his feelings. I wanted him to feel as doted upon as always. [Read more…]