the weather inside
They’re like weather systems, my children’s emotions. The clouds move in with a sniffly hiccup, a lip-quivery frown, and soon escalate like a tornado ripping across the plains of Kansas. Sometimes I...
View Articleorbiting a more peaceful planet
The children are seeming, lately, what it is…{whispering, here}…um, easy and delightful. (Rose just walked in from a hike with Dan and when I smiled at her she pointed at my teeth and said “what’s...
View Article3 ways to raise happy, connected children*
I was recently snuggled up on our couch with 3 Mama friends, one of whom announced, “hey, we’re all raising boys. How do we steer them away from harmful media messages and towards an...
View ArticleThe Good News and Giveaway!
At our local hot springs last weekend, I asked Col, Rose and their friend Kiva, what children need most. “Love,” Col said. “Yup, love,” Kiva agreed. “Love!” Rose shouted and then tackled her brother....
View ArticleGuest post from Dr. Laura Markham
So, we all love the teachings of Dr. Laura Markham now, right? Remember this post where we got to pose a question to her? Well, here is the chosen question with the very helpful answer. I’m...
View Articleparenting our children, parenting ourselves
I’ve been outside planting seeds like a large, semi-verbal toddler trying to regulate a bad mood. If I were a cartoon character, you’d see this black cloud trailing me through the garden as I mutter:...
View ArticleParenting on the same team E-Course Giveaway
I remember walking under December grey Berkeley skies with Dan 3 years ago, shakily pep-talking ourselves through the latest parenting trial, which was that Col was moving slower than a brick wall...
View Articlestanding on the shoulders of giants
Attachment Parenting is so tiring. Happy Friday Everyone, First, giveaway winner of the painting/writing super set is Nancy Walters. Email me with your address and I will send, forthwith. Second, ever...
View Articlethe chasm
Little Drummer Boy Col’s homeschool co-op’s play was amazing, and I mean that in the most unobjective way that everything your child ever does on or will do on a stage is amazing. (Including Col’s...
View Articleguardians of a gift
The Doctor Is In (unfortunately, the doctor sometimes pinches her patients). Thank you for all your messages of empathy and support. Col is healing up well. We’ve had the most peaceful week following...
View Articleshowing up
Rose is delivering school lessons to Polar and Tabby. Right now it’s Spanish, which sounds more like a mash-up of the first five languages you hear on any random street corner in San Francisco. No...
View ArticleParenting is really hard. And we’re all doing a really good job.
Love it when the chickens and the magpies play together. I went back to see Hottie Healer last week. The good news is small amounts of dairy and fruit are now OK. The bad news is that eggs and...
View ArticlePlay is a child’s work
Because when you co-create your own homeschool co-op you get to choose the topics. Yes we did study play for four weeks! Five years ago, before a hunting trip, Dan unloaded a pile of found junk (from...
View Articleparenting as a practice
We’re in the car, returning from celebrating the Jewish holiday, Purim, at Temple Har Shalom. We’ve had a fun night, including participating in the rowdy re-enactment of the Purim story and being...
View Articleempathy in action
We are driving home from our Mother’s Day trip to our favorite wild hot springs. We’re happy and exhausted, muscles noodly, hair reeking of earthy minerals. We’re listening to Simon and Garfunkel’s...
View ArticleThe life coaching program of parenting
We’re returning from an afternoon at the river, and Col is struggling to carry out our deflated, unwieldy innertube, unfurling itself from his arms like an escaping octopus. Col exhales the sigh of the...
View Articlewilling, or, the best roasted tomato sauce ever
I wish I were more casual about tomatoes, more like, “Oh, tomatoes? Yeah, sometimes they all ripen, sometimes not, no biggie.” And then I’d skip off to do something fun and frivolous, something lost on...
View Articleresolutions for training the silly, over-active, sneaky mind
New Years Day soup lunch with the beloveds. Note: tablecloth! And white-out snow conditions outside! It’s 10:30pm on New Year’s Eve, two hours after our children are usually nestled into bunk beds....
View Articlesetting the birds of your consciousness free
It’s 7am and I’m rallying around a cup of coffee; oh how we’re made for each other precisely at sunrise. Col and Rose are awaiting, goggled-eyed, for the arrival of breakfast: exotic, pricey organic...
View ArticleField guide to weathering the (emotional) storm, and *an invitation
We are at 10,100 feet. The sky hangs heavy. The distant mountains, like an art lesson in shading, are veiled in deepening obscurations of grey. Lightning roams faraway peaks. Dan and I exchange raised...
View Article
