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More Compassion for Other Moms

Parenting is one of those topics that we all feel very strongly about. I mean, our kids and their well-being is at stake, right? So, of course we’re going to be opinionated about what’s OK and what’s not OK. The problem with this is that it alienates other moms who, after all, are just like us, trying to do their best to care for and support their kids.

I think we can connect with other moms and dads and support them even if their parenting style is different from ours. Well, maybe not if it’s TOO different 🙂 but you know what I mean. I am an attachment parenting, cloth diapering, elimination communication, extended breastfeeding, Montessori at home, work from home mom who uses positive redirection and gentle discipline rather than punitive discipline. But does that mean I can only be friends with parents who are exactly the same as me? No way! read more

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Encouraging an Expanding Vocabulary

(This post is dedicated to my dad, Bernard B. Birger for always using big words with me and describing complex concepts in great detail, even when I was only three years old.)

Wow, Julia is absorbing language like a sponge on steroids. The other day I casually mentioned to my husband that a friend of ours is “a bit of a boozer” and we both had to avoid eye contact and stifle our laughter when our eighteen month old daughter repeated the word “boozer” about six times in a row. Oy, I really do have to watch what I say around her! read more

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Guest Post: Making Meal Planning Easy

Everyone says meal planning saves money, and they’re right, it does. But when I began planning meals, I hated it. Yes, I saved a significant amount of both time and money, but it was such a chore. Planning all sorts of different meals for days, weeks, even a month in advance just seemed so daunting. How do you pull that out of thin air?Well, you don’t. You use the pantry principle.The pantry principle entails making a list of every food item I have or would like to have in my home on a regular basis and shopping only to replace those items. Then, I make meal plans based on what I already have on hand.It’s really quite simple, which is just how I like it. Here’s the run-down of how I do it: Keep it simple

I focus on incorporating a lot of fresh produce. Rather than eating new and exciting adaptogen supplements and veggies every week, I focus on getting more of the same ones into our diet.

My grocery list has less than ten veggies on it. That may not seem like much, but we eat them fresh and we eat them often. They can also be mixed and matched and cooked several different ways.  And I do make a point to rotate in seasonal items.

Stock your pantry

I look at weekly ads stores put out, but I don’t let them determine what I purchase or what meals I make. If I do see one of my staple items at a great price, I stock up. read more

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Loving Ourselves and Acknowledging Our Gifts

I have some pretty incredible people in my life. My friends and family members are constantly inspiring, encouraging, and helping me with all sorts of things. And each of them has such unique and wonderful gifts. But here’s the thing, as far as I can tell, none of us is able to see our unique and wonderful gifts clearly, all by ourselves. For some reason, maybe because we’re such social creatures, we seem to need one another to share, acknowledge, and reflect our awesomeness back to us. And when that happens, it’s like finally getting a clear view of an image that’s been blurry for years. It’s an “Aha” moment. read more

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Joyful Discipline: Setting clear boundaries with joy in your heart

I’ve been doing some online research into discipline and wow, there’s a lot of misleading and just plain ineffective information out there! Just yesterday I saw an article that was actually quite disturbing to me. The article suggested a lot of punitive discipline but the one that really struck me was the idea of creating a “consequences jar” and when a child misbehaved, just going over to the jar and pulling out a random consequence and applying it to the child. Whoa. This is not only ineffective; it’s just plain mean. I don’t want my child to be afraid of doing the wrong thing and then forced to make up for it by performing some random task. read more

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