Because supporting families is so important to me, I want to share a few thoughts with you about where my heart is now as white people wake up more and more to the fact of entrenched racism—and how deeply destructive it is to families and communities of color and to our society. I want you to know where I stand, and to ask for your help.
Read moreHow I Almost Let Shame Get in the Way of Supporting My Son
We were traveling last weekend, visiting my parents in Florida to celebrate my dad’s 90th birthday. It was lovely, but possibly slightly boring for a 5-year-old. So, the day after the party we hit the mall to find some play spaces for him to move his body a bit. (That’s how they do it in Florida!)
The mall had a High Jump—one of those contraptions where they hook you up to a harness and some bungee cords and you can jump super high on a trampoline. Naturally, our kid was like a moth to a flame.
My son had to wait for a couple of other kids before it was his turn, sitting in a little chair inside the ring containing the High Jump. At one point, excited by all the jumping, he stood up. The ride operator immediately barked, “sit down!” He did, chastened.
Read moreGet Ready for Your Baby the Respectful Parenting Way
There are so many opinions out there about what you need to do to get ready for your new baby. As useful as these tips can be, they overshadow some of the most important kinds of preparation. We need to be prepared for how to be with our babies, not just for what we’ll swaddle or stroll them in.
Luckily, the Educaring Approach® (commonly known as RIE® parenting or respectful parenting) is the perfect support system for the intense early days of parenting. Here’s how you can practice some of the Approach’s most effective—yet quite simple—tools before your baby even arrives.
Read moreThe Best Gifts You Can Give to Your Child This Holiday Season
It’s upon us: the holiday season! Thanksgiving is around the corner for those of us in the U.S., followed by the winter holidays, which usually means one thing for many of us: time with family.
Before we have kids, this time of year can feel like a lot, even if we have healthy and uncomplicated relationships with our family (ha!).
But when we add kids to the mix, the things we weather during this time of year—travel, delays, long meals, family dynamics, big feelings of all kinds, and increased stress due to all of this—can make us want to put a pillow over our heads until January 2nd.
While we can’t necessarily change our complicated family dynamics or remove all the stress from the holidays, there are a few things we can do as parents to make this time of year easier on all of us, especially our littlest members.
Read moreWhat to Do With a Baby
“What do I. . . DO with her all day?”
A slightly baffled mom asked this question about her newborn baby in a RIE® parent-infant class. We all laughed—including her—but I also knew part of her was very serious.
No parenting class had prepared her for this part of being a mom. After the diapers, feeding, bathing, dressing… what was she supposed to do with the kid?
If you’ve ever wondered this about your baby, you’re not alone.
Read moreHow to Weather Big Transitions
My son starts at a brand-new school tomorrow. At 4.5, he’s starting preschool later than a bunch of his peers, but it was the right decision for our family to keep him in his sweet, small daycare for an extra year.
These kinds of transitions are part of parenting for all of us, whether it’s a move to a new school, a new home, or to becoming a sibling instead of an only child. Here are a few tips for weathering these kinds transitions with respect for your child’s process and your own.
Read more4 Ways to Meet Your Child's Resistance
I happen to know that my child is not the only one who resists the normal, everyday aspects of his existence with a kind of endurance that would be admirable were it not so darn aggravating.
Here are a few tips for managing your child’s resistance respectfully, and with an eye toward deepening her sense of connection (which—you guessed it—also can help lessen the resistance). All of these tools work well with babies, toddlers, and older children as well.
Read moreThe Four Keys to Limit Setting
In a recent post about limit setting, I argued that, for our passionate little movers, limits are like the railings on a beautiful yet precarious dance floor. We need them to provide safety and security as our kids explore the world and their place in it.
In this post I want to explore in greater detail how limit setting can look, through the lens of a beautiful path for living and relating to others called The Four-Fold Way®.
Read moreWhat is Respectful Parenting (or RIE®), Anyway?
You may have heard about the Educaring® Approach, or RIE®—sometimes called “respectful parenting”—on the playground or from a friend who is a parent. But what is RIE® really all about? Is it right for your family?
Magda Gerber, who founded RIE®—which stands for Resources for Infant Educarers—believed that babies are whole, capable people deserving of our respect from the moment they are born.
Read moreResponding to Tantrums with Respect
Learning a little bit more about why tantrums happen, as well as what we can do to weather them in a way that supports both our child and our own needs, can help us get through these long moments with more of our sanity intact.
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