Natural Parenting

I am honored today to have a featured post over at the Natural Parenting Group.

Natural Parenting is a broad term that encompasses many parenting practices aimed at being as natural, ecologically sustainable, and holistic as possible. It includes practices such as natural birth and breastfeeding, organic and sustainable food and consumption habits, cloth diapering or elimination communication, homeopathic and holistic family care, attachment parenting, and natural learning.

Natural Parenting is really about getting back-to-basics. These practices seem so simple and straightforward; yet American cultural and consumer trends over the past half-century have lured us away from the parenting practices that were once commonplace. Epidurals, baby formula, disposable diapers, packaged foods and imported goods, pharmaceutical-driven medicine, and efforts to enroll children in schools at increasingly younger ages may have gained popularity for their good intentions, but they have led us to unwittingly abdicate control over home, health and family, and lose touch with our own parental instincts and ancestral legacies.

Natural Parenting, then, is about recognizing the pervasiveness of our store-bought, quick-fix culture, and reconnecting with the essential elements of home and family. It is about discovering ways to shift our homes from consumption to production units. And it is about assuming personal responsibility for our family's well-being.

I am delighted to be part of the Natural Parenting Group community and I hope you will take a peek at the group's resources and forums to learn more.

Weekly Mothering Challenge: Blog

Motherhood is busy. With days consumed by all-things-kids in addition to daily homemaking tasks, blogging can help us step back, take a breath, and reveal the gifts of motherhood among all of the messes.

Whether a mom's blog is public, private, or semi-private, it can be both an empowering and peaceful space to reflect on the joys and frustrations of this important role, and to highlight those cherished moments of childhood that we wish to capture and cork.

Beyond the personal reward of blogging is the possibility of communicating our shared experience with other moms. I value the insights and reflections of the mom-bloggers I follow and eagerly await the latest snapshots of their lives. What are their current motherhood triumphs and challenges? What new tidbit can I gather from their mothering experience? What similar situations have I encountered? How do they approach the dailyness of motherhood? From these blogs, I gather countless insights to enhance my own mothering and am deeply grateful to their authors for publicly sharing their personal thoughts.

What about you? Do you write a blog you would like to share with us, or have a blog to recommend? How does blogging contribute to your mothering experience?

Attachment Parenting Month: Families At Play

This post is part of the Attachment Parenting Month blog carnival, hosted by Attachment Parenting International.

City As Playground

Attachment Parenting International is dedicating the month of October to celebrating families at play. Strengthening family bonds through collaborative fun and laughter is very much in line with the philosophy of Attachment Parenting, a term first established by Dr. Sears to describe a parenting philosophy focused on physical and emotional connectedness with children. And what better way to connect with children than through play.

We use the city as the backdrop for our family's play, often taking advantage of its many playgrounds and museums and festivals, but also tapping into its capacity to trigger spontaneous, creative play. Hide-and-seek games among the trees in Harvard Yard, subway rides to nowhere in particular just for the fun of it, statues and structures that lure us, street musicians and artists who enchant us, vibrant sights and sounds that pique our senses and tempt us to learn more -- the city as a whole becomes our family's playground, bringing us together to explore, to discover, to play.

As the folks at Attachment Parenting International highlight October to celebrate families at play, they remind us of the importance of play in children's development and family togetherness: "When parents engage in play with their children, priceless and precious time, attention and felt love are being shared and experienced in the context of fun."

We use the formal and informal activities of the city to enjoy this "priceless and precious time" of childhood. Whether it's exploring the art museum together, touching the stingrays at the aquarium, or skipping in a city park, the city fuels our play experiences, strengthens our family relationships, and builds enduring memories.