Positive Discipline Parenting Blog

Soaking it up with Cloth Diapers

When I was 24 years old I took a small motorboat through the Amazon jungle in Peru from Pucallpa to a village of the Shipibo tribe. The boat was full of locals returning to their home from the closest town with supplies. It was hot and sticky and the ride was long.   There were […]

My Top 5 Toddler Parenting Tools

My little baby is now a full-blown toddler. Every stage of development has been such an exciting leap, but it’s at this stage that I’m getting a glimpse into the inner dialogue of my little one’s brain. He is learning to talk and along with language comes a newfound sense of independence and autonomy. This is great when I need to clean up after meals or shoot off a couple of emails, because he can now play by himself for longer periods of time, or even better, help me around the house. It’s a challenge when I have an agenda of what needs to happen now and it doesn’t align with HIS plan. I now understand why virtually every parent of a toddler says their child is “strong-willed”. There’s a parenting myth about the terrible two’s, but what I’ve found is that it doesn’t have to be so terrible if you have some solid Positive Discipline parenting tools in your back pocket.

Hitting. When will it end?

How to stop toddlers from hitting TWENTY TIMES! I remember thinking, I’m pretty sure I’ve repeated myself twenty freaking times today. I was so annoyed and irritated but eventually became angry and absolutely exhausted. “Gentle hands. We are always gentle with other people’s bodies. You can say, ‘excuse me’ and place your hand gently like this to get their attention.” “Let’s practice. How can you get my attention gently? We were visiting my parents and I was traveling alone with my two-year-old.

Singing to Sleep

Sleep. Sleeeeep! SLEEP! Oh, how I miss a good night's sleep. My mind is so jumbled most days that it’s truly hard to concentrate and prioritize. My partner and I were actually talking yesterday about how we can prioritize our to do list better. This was never a problem for me before. The old me was efficient at managing my time and getting everything I need done. The new me starts something, gets halfway done. Starts something else, gets a quarter of the way done. Walks into a room and forgets completely what I was about to do.

Preparing for Parenthood

I’m a planner. I like to go into a situation with as much information as possible to ensure success. I like to make sure I have everything I need in case ANYTHING happens. I mean, I worked in emergency preparedness for years. I loved it and that takes a certain kind of person. Mass fatality […]