Tuesday May 15, 2012
The parenting world is all abuzz about the most recent issue of Time Magazine. It is partly about the article on attachment parenting but mostly about the cover which features a toddler standing up, nursing at his mother's breast, with the evocative title, "Are You Mom Enough?"
Attachment parenting is all about staying physically and emotionally close to your children, particularly for mothers. The Time article talks about the pros and cons of attachment parenting, quoting a variety of parenting experts and parents who have been practicing attachment parenting for many years. One element of attachment parenting (one among many) relates to the importance of breastfeeding as an emotionally and physically healthy feeding approach. But there are many other elements that also have positive implications.
There are many parenting styles out there, and each family should explore their options and find elements of the many styles that work best for their families and children. Attachment parenting has a lot of good and certainly is child-centered. Our children were raised with many attachment parenting principles in place and while we were not obsessive about it, we worked hard to use the concepts as we reared our children.
More on parenting styles:
Image courtesy of Pando Hall / Getty Images
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Saturday May 12, 2012
Every now and again I take the time to read a book that both entertains and makes me want to be better. A.J. Jacobs has done it again for me with his latest book Drop Dead Healthy - One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection.
If you haven't read A.J. Jacobs' other books then you are in for a real treat with this one. His other books, The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World and The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible are written in a similar vein, chronicling his efforts to become perfect in intellectual and spiritual pursuits. Drop Dead Healthy takes the same approach to trying to attain perfection in his personal health.
If you are looking for a great summer read, Drop Dead Healthy should be on your list. You can read my summary and review, and then get this book on your list to read soon. You will love his writing style, his adventures in learning and living healthier, and you will find yourself laughing out loud as he encounters others and develops his own sense of perfect health and wellness as a man, a husband and a father.
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Tuesday May 8, 2012
I love seeing entrepreneurs embracing the need to help families with some of their toughest tasks. Folks who have created online calendars, iPhone apps, allowance programs and more can bring important tools to families.
The latest tech-based tool for families to teach financial responsibility is Tykoon.com. I love the concept here. In essence, parents can set up chores, responsibilities or behaviors that they would like to reward and post them on Tykoon. As their kids accomplish something that has a reward established (financial or otherwise), the login and record their accomplishment. When financial rewards are attached to the behavior, the child builds an account from which he can save, spend or give to charitable causes.
Tykoon is incredibly easy to use and they have built lots of security protections into the program. Parents can access Tykoon at the family computer, with a mobile app or anywhere via web browser. And kids can watch their savings grow and save for things they want to get or for supporting a variety of charitable causes.
So check out Tykoon and see if it can help you and your family learn more about being responsible stewards of your resources.
More on teaching financial responsibility at home:
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Saturday May 5, 2012
One of the important skills I learned early in my parenting years was the skill of active listening. I will be the first to admit I don't do it as well or as often as I should. I tend to be easily distracted and my efforts at multitasking often leave me trying to focus in too many areas at once than I should.
But taking the time and paying attention to whomever is communicating with me at any given time is actually a big time saver. If you fail to actively listen, you usually have to have the same conversation multiple times. And it helps you come to appreciate the other person even more when you take the time to listen and to communicate the value that the person has to you.
So, take a look at my primer on active listening and see if it can help you in your important role as a parent!
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