parenting

Outrage: When parents cross the line

January 19, 2011




Where's the line? The imaginary line. The line between "do what is best for your family" and "that is cruel, abusive, neglectful." Where is it?  Do you have one in your head? That dividing line between "not my cup of tea" and "wrong, wrong, wrong"? I do. Sometimes. It shifts and moves a bit, but [...]

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Who wins? Playing games with kids

January 13, 2011




My American expat in Germany friend Yelli (I miss everyone in Berlin!) from 50% of my DNA had a question that she hoped I would answer. She wrote: I wanted to know if you let your children win games? This is coming up more and more often in our household and to be honest, I [...]

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I keep pouring

December 23, 2010




Have you ever poured your child a glass of milk, put the milk away, and sat down only to hear "Mama, can I have some more milk?" So you take the empty glass, fill it up, put the milk away, sit down again, and then hear "Mama, I'm still thirsty." In his book, Playful Parenting, [...]

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Nature? Nurture? Neither? More?

December 15, 2010




After writing my last post, I had a lot of interesting side discussions about the old nature versus nurture debate. Some of those discussions happened in the comments on my last post. Some of them happened on twitter. Some of them happened in person. While I think I have made it fairly clear that I [...]

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Parenting styles to the extreme

December 2, 2010




When I wrote last week about Erica Jong's essay on attachment parenting, a lot of people commented both here and elsewhere that one of the big problems in her article is that she confused attachment parenting with helicopter parenting. Certainly, the two are not the same. In fact, they belong on different axes altogether. While [...]

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"Baby training" begins at birth

November 15, 2010




At what age is it okay to start sleep training? When should you potty train your toddler? At what age should children learn to read? When do you lay down the law when it comes to table manners? These are questions that parents ask and that many, many parenting books offer answers for. My answer, [...]

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Uninspired

October 15, 2010




I want the words to flow, but right now they don't. My daughter Emma has been having a rough time with some changes at school. All of my emotional energy has been poured into that. I think we have turned a corner now and things are improving, but I'm still waiting for my words and [...]

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I don't know

July 12, 2010




Dear Child, I love your inquisitive nature. I want you to keep asking questions. I want you to keep seeking answers. I want to look for those answers with you. But sometimes, I just don't know. I don't know why that woman is staring at you. I don't know why that girl chose to go [...]

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What should you tell expectant/new parents?

July 11, 2010




I have a list of 10 things all new parents should know. Jessica has a list of things she should not tell new/expectant parents. What do you think expectant/new parents should be told? What do you think we should let them figure out on their own? Image credit: Emery Co on flickr

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Oh those technology obsessed neglectful parents…

June 17, 2010




We all have good days and bad days. Some days are full of smiles and laughter. Other days are full of arguments and frustration. There are always moments when the kids come first and moments when something else has to come first. That happens on both good days and bad days. We cannot make our [...]

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