When my baby was about five weeks old, I visited a friend. From the moment we stepped into her place, I could tell that my baby was uncomfortable about something; I’m not sure about what. But I knew for a certainty that she didn’t want to go into anyone’s arms; she wanted to stay with… Read More To All Thoughtful Parents: Respect Your Parenting Decisions Even If No One Else Does
I am extremely lucky to have four friends going through pregnancies around the same time as I did. The five of us have a group chat in which we exchange everything from news to tips, from joy to tears. I love this group of mine; while tips from parents with little to loads of experience… Read More A True Measure of Good Parenting
{ This guest post was written by my childhood friend Esther } Before finding out about my pregnancy, I had been speaking with friends a lot about the idea of transformation, something that should “manifest itself both outwardly and inwardly”, and should “affect both its inner life and external conditions.” Pregnancy, the most literal human… Read More It’s Not All About The Nausea: Pregnancy As a Transformative Experience { Guest Post }
{ This guest post was written by my lovely friend Emma } When my son was born, I spent many hours sitting in one place feeding him, pinned to the bed or the couch. It was in these moments that I reached for my smartphone. I remember thinking how did my mother and women of… Read More Being a Mother – Or, Everything You Do Is Wrong, So You May As Well Do What Suits You { Guest Post }
The concept of success remains a broad, complex, and very subjective one–all the more so when it comes to assessing one’s parenting skills. For example, I can define a successful parent as something you will consider completely unimportant. But even if we don’t agree with a certain definition of success, some of them still generate… Read More Redefining Success as a Parent: Raising a Child is Not a Competitive Sport
One of the things that bothers me to no end is how fathers are underappreciated. I won’t ever forget how, despite his exhaustion and the emotional toll of worrying about his wife and baby, no one took care of my husband during our baby’s birth. The most ironic part of this story is that because… Read More Helping My Husband (Not): How The Best Intentions Can Go Wrong
Every parent I know had a certain image of what life would be like with their children. And every parent I have talked to tell me the same thing: that life with their children is not all like what they thought it would be. What happens next is also really interesting and has got me… Read More Enjoying the Reality Instead of Grieving the Fantasy of Parenthood
Speaking of guilt: I’m a very avid advice seeker. I mean, why not prevent things from happening by getting the advice to do just that, rather than fall into the same trap as others have? And so, right after we got married, my husband and I started reaching out to our generous and loving friends… Read More Dealing with Parent Guilt: Some of the Best Advice I Got
This is a very difficult post to write, mostly because of the sensitivity of the topic at hand. But please bear with me—I think it is an important topic that we, as members of a community, really need to deeply think about and, hopefully, be inspired to do something about. There is something so horrific… Read More From Nurturing to The Opposite: The Dark Forces that Take Mothers from One to the Other
I have been told and have read time and again that taking care of one’s children means taking care of one’s marriage, one’s spouse, oneself, and, of course, one’s children. It makes sense theoretically, but in practice, it can be quite a challenge when there are only 24 hours in one day. What would I… Read More Coherence: Answering The Needs of Baby, Daddy, And Mommy At The Same Time