Few words strike such terror in the hearts of parents as “teenager.” On my final night in London last week I gave a talk at the London College of Spirituality entitled “Nurturing Evolution: Raising Ourselves and Our Children as Peacemakers.” Since many of the attendees were young people yet to begin families, I harnessed the fact that they were not so long ago teenagers: I invited them to connect with their “inner adolescents” and together we rode on that wave Read the rest of this entry »
Honoring Adolescence, Tending Teens
“Light on Parenting” Conference Gems — Pt. II (Photojournal added 5/24!)
NAOMI STADLEN
This author of What Mothers Do — Especially When It Looks Like Nothing changed the tone from the statistical, socio-biological, and clinical bent of the morning session to the immediacy of direct experience and the narrative of mothers about the “special time” in the early months after baby’s arrival. She highlights the importance of a parent’s sense-making of the early months, marked by such themes as an “extraordinary mixture of chaos and love,” “…like being inside a bubble…” “…like having a thin skin enclosing themselves and their babies buffering them from the rest of the world…” Read the rest of this entry »
“Light on Parenting” Conference Gems — Pt. I
I had the privilege of participating in a unique London conference a few days ago, with some folks who may not be so well known in the U.S., but should be! Consider this my introduction of some of them to you. This was written in present tense as the conference took place:
I’m sitting in a lovely auditorium at the Institute of Child Health at University College London where the “Light on Parenting: Conception Through the Early Years” conference has just begun. I’m realizing that the best way for me to share the gems from this conference is to do it pretty much in real time. Highlights. Things that pop for me (and hopefully pop for you). So here goes! Read the rest of this entry »
Turbo-Charge Baby’s Brain Development w/ the Mommy Mind Meld
The Power of Parental Example
[Even though I refer to the “mommy” mind meld, these principles apply to whomever are the two or three connected, nurturing adults in an infant’s life — father, grandmother, consistent (not rotating) caregiver.] 
Imitation is the young child’s primary form of learning, which is why one of my first bits of guidance to parents coming to me for counseling is Read the rest of this entry »
When Mothering is a Secret Struggle: Covert Postpartum Depression
How crazy does this sound? My children were both in their teens before I realized that I had experienced postpartum depression with both of them. What led to this tardy epiphany? Not the several years of deep therapeutic work with two different therapists and a variety of bodyworkers; not the many years of deep scholarly work pursuing my doctorate in early human development, including the study of pregnancy, birth and postpartum issues; and as you can probably guess, not from my own OB/GYN.
I have Brooke Shields to thank for my big ah-hah. Read the rest of this entry »
Can You Hear Me Now, Mama…?!! Cell Phones & Pregnancy
In the conception chapter of Parenting for Peace, I devote a section to the 21st century issue of EMFs (electromagnetic fields) — cell phone radiation, wireless and electronic gadgetry, the whole shebang — and a discussion of how it might perturb the minute processes around conception and early embryonic development. Well, yesterday came news of a new Yale study finding ADHD-like symptoms and other brain abnormalities in mice whose pregnant mothers were exposed to cell phone radiation. Read the rest of this entry »
Womb Peace to World Peace: Protecting Children From Toxic Stress
“Building a strong foundation for healthy development in the early years of life is a prerequisite for individual well-being, economic productivity, and harmonious societies around the world.”
So reads the opening line of one of the most important articles published this year that you will most likely never read or even hear about. The article, entitled “An Integrated Scientific Framework for Child Survival and Early Childhood Development,” was published in a recent issue of Pediatrics, the prestigious journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Not exactly bedside table reading. Or what’s tops on your Kindle. Read the rest of this entry »
