Recently a mother asked the Mentors at Natural Parents Network a valuable question about parenting gently with several children in the family… “I have been working the last couple of years to become a parent I can be comfortable with (doing away with spanking, anger, yelling, and an authoritarian mindset…though my husband is not on [...]
What do you do when you feel anger? Does it turn into feeling angry – quick? Anger is a neutral signal, neither bad or good. It often signals that we feel powerless. We may not be not fully aware of our choices and feel seized by the presentation of the emotion in our body, as [...]
Parents have a lot going on. We are faced with challenges, daily. One way to keep our focus on what is truly important to us is through developing a mantra, or mantras – and bringing our attention to them. A mantra is a a commonly repeated word or phrase; a sacred verbal formula repeated in [...]
When a little child becomes acutely aware of the fact that the word “no” carries a very high energy at times something mysterious happens. “No” can turn into a battle. The most important thing to remind one’s self of when “no” erupts from either the child or the parent is that “no” also carries a [...]
You know how you reach into your cupboard for something in a can, package, or cook book? It has a label attached. You begin to identify the item based on what the label says and your experience proves it to be true – that what you read on the outside is actually what is on [...]
Very commonly parents are encouraged to separate the child from the behavior. It goes kind of like this… If you do not like the way your child is “behaving” talk to the child about the behavior and let them know that you love them, but you do not like the behavior. To some degree, this [...]
A few months ago I sat on my couch talking on the phone with a close friend while I attempted to explain the fact that we are born with an innate sense of self-preservation. Through nurturing this sense, we can learn to direct ourselves away from danger or negativity and toward what is helpful for [...]
Part of embracing the power of now in parenting includes the valuable tool of transitioning one’s perspective. One way to do this is observe our children and make questionable or undesirable behaviors into strengths. Some examples of this might be… the toddler who climbs on everything becomes an adventurous, graceful child the child who doesn’t [...]
Amy explores why boundaries may be more about us than our kids.
A few years ago I realized that my thoughts and emotions largely influence my experience of life in more ways than can be completely described. They touch my children, whether I voice them or not. They contribute to my actions, my inaction, and the ways I guide the kids in life. Quite literally, thoughts and [...]
