Babywearing. This is literally the ONLY way I was able to grocery shop with my twins (six months old in this picture.) I wore them in different ways at different ages and I hope this review of the hows and whys encourages you to look into the many different babywearing options there are out there for parents these days. They are two now and our sling is still getting a work out, mostly around the house when I’m cleaning up and with light food prep for dinner these days.

Babywearing makes life easier and more comfortable for all, keeping our little ones close while also freeing up hands. Babywearing allowed me to tend to LIFE (including my two older kids) while also meeting my twins most basic needs. The need to be held. 

As my babes got older, another benefit I enjoyed was not having to drag not one but two VERY heavy baby seats around. Using my sling was especially helpful with grocery shopping as I’d put one of my babes in the cart and wear the other.

There are many great site that will give you ALL the benefits and research behind babywearing but here are the benefits of babywearing at the top of this mama’s list:

- It’s such a fun way for baby to gain head control. Baby gains as much from sling time as tummy time in terms of strengthening body and head control. So many babies in my weekly infant massage classes do NOT like tummy time. This is a great solution as it keeps baby close to mom and still helps strengthen their neck extensors.

-Soothes a fussy baby. Babies love to be held. And so do one year olds. And so do year olds. You see where I’m going with this. Slings save many a mama’s (and papa’s) back while freeing up their hands.

-Babywearing is especially great for parents early on when dealing with colic and reflux. The sling helps create a womb like environment for baby especially those first few months. Being up on your chest, your baby can feel your breathing, hear your heart beat and gets the skin to skin contact they love. All of these things together lower your baby’s stress levels (heart rates, blood pressures and respiratory rates decrease… a good thing!)

-Held babies cry less. It’s true. The original study by Hunziker and Barr (1986) (at portareipiccoli.com) discovered an average reduction of 51% in crying and fussing during the evening hours, when babies were carried an extra 2 hours daily.

Double ring slings are my personal favorite device for babywearing because they are SO versatile. Basically, you can wear your baby in any position you can hold them in. They are good for all ages/sizes AND work for mom and dad without needing to have straps adjusted, etc.

Safety:

Be active in your use of a carrier as you would with ANY piece of baby equipment… car seats, cribs, highchairs, etc.  Check in with your babe frequently to ensure their position is safe and comfortable.
1) Maintain an open airway, avoiding chin to chest position
2) Always make sure your baby has plenty of airflow – covering a baby’s head and face can cause her to “rebreathe” the same air (not good for baby… so don’t do that.)

Stick With It:

I hear sooo often from moms in my massage classes that they gave up wearing their baby early on because they had trouble figuring out how to make the sling “work” for them. In this video I walk you through front carry in a double ring sling good for 2 to 4 months of age on up until you start to use the hip hold which I started around 5 or 6 months of age with my twins. Stick with it and hopefully you’ll love it as much as I do.

Search baby wearing in the My Mommy Manual search box above and to the right for more on this important topic!!! Here is another type of sling called the Hotsling which is non-adjustable but works well for babyearing, especially the hip hold.

If you wear your baby, tell me about it in the comment section below – why, what sling, and maybe some of the benefits you’ve experienced.

Suzanne Tucker, aka Zen Mommy hopes if you liked this article you will subscribe and/or join other mindful mamas here. To keep the lights on, Suzanne runs a holistic health center in St. Louis, Missouri with her husband Shawn. She is passionate about the connection we are and to that end offers Infant Massage, parent coaching and YogaParenting.

There is nothing like parenting to hold that mirror up to a grown person’s face (to my face, to your face…) and show us where we get to grow. Apparently I get to grow in patience and acceptance because these two keep showing up in my dang mirror. They were there yesterday, staring out at me. I recognized them right away.

My eight year old walked into the living room and saw it first. Instead of screaming at the horror she alone was witnessing (which, thinking back to being eight, could have been a fun thing to do) she ran to find me in the kitchen and broke it to me gently.

With big eyes and a shocked look on her face she said, “Mom, you are NOT going to like this.” She paused for dramatic effect. I froze and braced myself for impact.

“You are really going to freak out.”

Grateful for the cue, I realized in that moment that I already was freaking out. A quiet, still sort of freaking out, but a freak-out just the same. I took a deep breath, unglued my feet from where I’d been standing and prepared myself for the worst. Quickly, I walked into the next room wondering what could have happened in the last five minutes.

Who was I kidding. Anything could have happened. It had been far too quiet since I’d broken away to wash some dishes. My older two kids had been doing homework and my two year old twins had been playing on the floor beside them.

Parent or not, most human beings would agree, mindful living is a challenge and takes practice. And here’s the good news for us parents (or not so good news, depending on how you look at it) by definition, being a parent means we are going to GET a lot of practice. It’s part of the job description. Being a parent help make our lives a-parent to us. Every day. The laundry, the fighting, the whining, getting out the door in the morning without having a heart- attack or biting someone’s head -off, AND all the magical moments that fall in between. It’s in those sweet moments where your five year old comes down from snuggling with dad and announces “Snuggies are what life is all about.” Or when your three year old says, “Mom, snow is quiet.” We are teaching our children, and they are teaching us.

I get it. I get being mad. I get feeling frustrated. But back to the idea of spanking as discipline, to hit a young child in the name of teaching, this notion strikes me as both misdirected and ineffective.

Spanking denies both parent and child the opportunity to learn and grow from whatever trigger life has just delivered. And as life is persistent in it’s desire to help us grow, it’s going to keep on delivering (maybe through our kids or maybe somewhere else in life) until we figure it out. Why not stop to look at whatever it is we are upset about and allow the moment to teach us, even as we teach our children?

When there’s misbehavior in young children, more often than not, it is in the parent’s behavior, not the child’s, where a solution can be found. I’m not saying the parent of a child misbehaving is bad or wrong or even to blame. Take this instance with my little guy and the markers. It is what it is. I wasn’t in the room, the markers were out and the coast was clear. My two year old grabbed his favorite color and the largest canvas he could find. If you think about it, how fun would that have been? Why would a two year old whose j0b it is to explore the world around him, touching, pushing, pulling, tasting, climbing and jumping his way around the planet NOT do this? That might be a more logical question.

If I was a parent that believed in spanking, I might think that “sparing the rod” in this circumstance would be deny my son a learning opportunity. I might fear that I’m spoiling my child. Other people, well meaning family members for instance, might even tell me I am. Let’s look at this line of reasoning a little closer.

Is spanking an effective form of discipline? Could it have taught my son that markers belong on paper, not couches? I don’t think so, and here is why. Our true parenting power lies not in a quick swat on a child’s backside, but in taking a long, hard look at ourselves, the environment our child is in and other factors that contribute to their behavior. That’s a big statement, I know, but before though-st protest, let me make the case for it.

People seem to get where their true power lies in changing, correcting AND creating desirable behaviors when it comes to their pets. Just watch any of the pet shows where the pet expert is called in to help a pet owner whose dog is acting out. Who gets the training? The OWNER. They are taught to be consistent, to show love, to set boundaries, not to hit, not to yell, to reward positive behavior, to ignore, replace or otherwise correct negative behavior.

We’ve just described the basis for conscious parenting, but we were talking about our dogs.

Image from petsclan.com

Research on learning and brain development shows us that what’s good for Rover is also good for Bobby and Susie. Our power lies in love and connection, not force and fear. How can I say this? Studies show human beings learn far more from positive reinforcement than negative. In the face of fear, thinking moves out of the cerebral-cortex and into the brain-stem. The fight or flight mechanism takes over and no learning occurs. This is what happens within the brain of a child getting spanked. Fight or flight.

Spanking doesn’t teach. It might deter, but if we want to teach a child right from wrong, rather than spanking why not deliver the lesson in a way that the child can receive it? Why not teach to the thinking part of their brain?

If we as a society can understand how effective positive reinforcement is with our pets, surely we can make the leap to accepting positive reinforcement as superior to negative techniques, such as spanking, in parenting.

Back to my teaching moment. It didn’t take much for the light bulb to go on in my son’s head. I imagine it went something like this… “Mom took the marker away. She said “all done”, over and over. She moved me away form the couch and then wiped away all my cool circles. She sat me at the table and got out the markers again. She showed me where my marker belong. On paper. She gave me a marker and let me draw on the paper. I get it!”

Even as green swirls were taking over my once tan leather couch, the idea of parenting as a spiritual path jumped into my head. What am I needing to learn about today? Ah yes. It’s my old friends patience and acceptance. Come on in guys. Have a seat. Pick up a rag and help me scrub these circles off the couch.

In times of domestic chaos when I am near my edge it helps me to remember that I am indeed on a spiritual path. The spiritual path of motherhood. This realization alone helps me. It helps me pause, take a deep breath and wonder with each new day of skinned knees and blowout diapers, what is here for me?

Connection rather than spanking. Connection, first to ourselves and then to our children, a true gift for all as we grow along the spiritual path that is parenthood.

Spanking doesn’t work for the child, for the parents, or for society. Spanking… creates a distance between parent and child, and it contributes to a violent society.

- Doctor Sears

Related Articles:

How to: Attachment Parenting and Self Love

How to: Parenting with Boundaries… Peacefully

Zen Mommy Minute: Beautiful Boundaries

How to Parent Soul to Soul

——————

Suzanne Tucker, aka Zen Mommy
In addition to mommy-ing to two magical girls born in 2000 and 2003 and twins born in February of 2010, Suzanne co-owns a holistic health center with her husband Shawn in St. Louis, Missouri  where she practices as Certified Educator of  Infant Massage and health education teacher. Certified in a number of healing and life education approaches, Suzanne offers parent coaching and is the co-creator of the Yoga Parenting approach to positive parenting.

When our friends at Baby Kid Expo asks us to partner with them gain on the Cutest Baby Contest, we couldn’t possibly refuse. Last year’s entries were beyond adorable!!!

We want to see your cutest baby pics… and share them… and gush over them… and have everyone else gush over them too!

PRIZES! PRIZES!
The most-gushed (a.k.a. most voted) will win:
1. On Location photo shoot from Rhonda Jean Photography valued at $100
2. A Basket of Goodies from Tender Tushies
3. Cuddle Bear Book and Stuffed Animal from Sharman Mitchell with Usborne Books
4. a copy of Cool Party, Mom! The Other Three Words Every Mother Loves to Hear by Marnie Ann Pacino

… and more!

TO ENTER
1) Post your pic on our Facebook Wall (yes, you have to Like the MMM page and the Baby KId Expo page) between now and midnight CST on March 15.
2) Go back to the MMM Facebook page between March 16-23 to see if your cutest baby made the 15 finalists and VOTE! The poll will be live by NOON CST on March 16.
3) Winners will be announced on the main stage at Baby Kid Expo on Saturday, March 24 at the St. Charles Convention Center to find out if you won!

*Kids have to be 24 months or younger and they cannot have been finalists in 2011.

“Where love is, so is transformation.

…because love is transformation, moment to moment.”

-J. Krishnamurti

We are now well into the second week of 2012. How’s your New Year’s resolution going? If you’ve all but given up on resolutions, you are not alone. Zen Mommy talks about why most resolutions leave us feeling guilty and looks at the difference between “change” and “transformation” with Carol on Great Day St. Louis.

Maybe you set a New Year’s resolution and are still rocking it; eating better, exercising more, clearing out the clutter that has somehow successfully taken over most every nook and cranny of one’s car, home and office since it was reined in, January of last year.

Maybe you set a resolution for 2012 and have already broken it. If that is the case you now get to decide, is it worth reviving?

Or maybe you resist the idea of resolutions all together. You’ve watched them come and go in years gone by, each time largely failing to truly help you reshape an area of your life that you hoped to change, alter or in some way improve, and this year you’ve just chosen out.

If you are in any one of the three above categories, I invite you to join me in setting an empowering resolution for yourself and your life for 2012. What will make it powerful? One simple word. Love. Creating our resolutions from a place of self love and acceptance verse change, i.e. wanting to make something better, more or different (which is where most resolutions come from) makes all the difference in the world.

Let’s look a bit closer at how this works.

Setting Powerful  Resolutions in Four Steps:

1) Write down your resolution.

It can relate to any area of life or be specific to parenting:

EXAMPLES:

• “I’m going to get more organized at home and/or work…”
• “I’m going to start exercising more”
• “I’m going to be more patient with my kids”

2) Now, take a moment and reread your resolution.

As you reread it, look for any negative beliefs you may hold that might be driving your resolution. What is behind your desire to change this area in your life? Many times, our desire for changes comes from an underlying feeling of not being enough.

EXAMPLES:

• “I’m going to get more organized at home and/or work…” (I am so unorganized – life is out of control – there are not enough hours in the day)
• “I’m going to start exercising more” (I am out of shape – I’m fat – I hate my body)
• “I’m going to be more patient” (I am a bad mom – I wish I was more like so-and-so – I’ve probably permanently screwed-up my kids)

3) Next, write down and re-read the negative belief(s) behind your resolution.

Realize that any resolution born from guilt, pain or fear will most certainly set you on a course for failure, leading to more guilt for eventually breaking your resolution. This step is very important.

Before you go to “change” any area of your self or your life, spend some time with it as it is. Breathe and see if you can let go of the story you’ve made it mean… the drama… and just be with the facts of the story. (Ex: The fact behind the negative belief “I’m fat and ugly” could be “I am 20 pounds over weight) Breathe.

Sit a moment with things exactly as they are without judgment. Accept them. Accept yourself exactly as you are right now. See if you can hold love present even as you think about this area of your life exactly as it is.

From this place, where love is present, you can create your life, not just react to it. From this place, where love is present, so too is transformation. If you feel this shift to love, move to step four. If you have any difficulty here and want to move deeper in transforming the negative belief you hold, there are some wonderful tools for forgiveness on this site by Dr. Michael Ryce that will assist you including his forgiveness worksheet that I invite you to check out.

4) Begin again.

Think about your resolution in new words, declaring what you would like to create in any area of your life by completing this sentence:

“The possibility I am creating for myself and in my life is _____________.

After going through this final step, the EXAMPLES from above might read instead like this:

• “The possibility I am creating for myself and in my life is structure and order.”
• “The possibility I am creating for myself and in my life is time for myself.
• “The possibility I am creating for myself and in my life is peace.”

Make sure to write what you are creating, not what you want to avoid, like “to not yell, to not eat bad foods…” If you are still saying what you DON’T want — that is exactly what you are going to get.

Use positive, creative words. Write them down. Post your new resolution all around you on sticky notes to remind you of it throughout the day. Say your resolution to yourself each morning you wake up and every night before you go to bed. The possibility you hold for yourself and your new year WILL begin showing up in your life.

Happy New Year!!! May 2012 be filled with joy, self-love and acceptance for you and your family.

I hope you will share this exercise with your kids. What a BEAUTIFUL gift for we as parents to give our children.

Transformation.

——————

Suzanne Tucker, aka Zen Mommy
In addition to mommying to two magical girls born in 2000 and 2003 and twins born in February of 2010, Suzanne co-owns a holistic health center with her husband Shawn in St. Louis, Missouri  where she practices as Certified Educator of  Infant Massage and health education teacher. Certified in a number of healing and life education approaches, Suzanne offers parent coaching and is the co-creator of the Yoga Parenting approach to positive parenting.

Much to this mom’s dismay, my 19 month old daughter climbed out of her crib after nap-time yesterday… and then I’m pretty sure lured her twin brother (4 minutes younger so there’s that!) to do the same. I walked in and my baby boy was sitting on the floor in front of his crib with a not so very happy look on his face saying “BOOM! BOOM!” Baby girl (can I still call them baby at 19 mo?) on the other hand was happy as a lark, walking around the room pulling blankets out of drawers, reveling in her new found freedom and POWER! ^_^

I set up the camera to catch her in the act. This is what I found.

Anyone else had a baby get out of the crib this early? My other two went 2.5 years before moving to big – girl – beds and never even attempted to climb out. Please share your creative thoughts on managing this. I’m all ears! Thus far, I’ve decided to lie down on the floor ’till I am certain my ‘lil Houdini has safely drifted off to slumberville. My boy ain’t in ANY hurry to throw himself over again, that’s for sure.

BOOM!!!

——-

Suzanne, aka Zen Mommy
In addition to mommy-ing to two magical girls born in 2000 and 2003 and twins born in February of 2010, Suzanne owns a holistic health center in St. Louis, Missouri where she practices as a physical therapist, Certified Infant Massage Instructor and Parent Coach.

I needed to be reminded by my own message today. Tune in. Trust.

Thank you spirit for this reminder that came in the form of a conversation with my friend Katharine — a loving mama (to a very lucky little five-months-old boy) who is navigating the sometimes crazy road of mothering an infant, seeking balance as she lives with sleepless nights  and the many questions we moms face as first time (heck, as ANYtime) moms. “Am I doing it right? What does my baby need? Am I a good mom?!?”…

My friend is a warrior because she is taking the spiritual path of motherhood ON. It’s not always an easy path, but what it lacks in ease it makes up for in soft baby kisses and looks of love that could charm the devil himself.

Here is what I am remembering today.

—-

Ok…where’s the manual??? How many of us have felt that way when we are first sent out of the hospital with our little bundle of joy held snuggly in our arms? It would be nice though. Just turn to page 3 on crying and you will see exactly what you need to do. Not sleeping? Please turn to page 12.

Well, this may be hard to believe, but our children do come with a manual. And we actually get a different one with each child, each manual as as unique as they are. And like all manuals, just because we are given the manual doesn’t mean we immediately have all the knowledge inside memorized just by holding it. No, we will actually have to READ the manual if it’s going to help us. Or in the case of the manual that comes with each child, we need to LISTEN to it. You see, this manual is called our intuition.

The hard thing about intuition and parenting is that so often, as new moms, we are clear about one thing…we know nothing!!! I know it feels that way. But I am here to tell you, and hear me loud and clear, “Yes you do!!!” If it feels like you were absent the day this thing called “a mother’s intuition” was handed out, relax. It might just be that you are standing there holding it in your hands, wishing you knew what it said inside, frustrated that you don’t. Hey, I got an idea. Let’s OPEN IT UP and let that information in!

Developing Your Intuition

Sound hard? It’s not. It can be as simple as taking a deep breath and asking yourself (silently in your head or people may start to wonder about you) what you want to know and then waiting for your body to give you the answer. What if your body gives you two answers you ask? No problem. Try them both on and see how they feel.

If, for instance, you are deciding whether or not to go grocery shopping now (with your child) or later (when your husband is home and you could go alone) try them on. Say the one option and feel what that feels like. Now say the second and get a sense of how that feels. Now for the moment of truth. If I were standing right there in front of you and quickly demanded to know which felt more “right”, what would you say? Quick! Now! Survey says? There is no right or wrong answer, just go with your gut. Yeah, your gut; that is so often where intuition lives.

And don’t get all crazy if you can’t solve the major issues over night. Was Rome built in a day? Did Mark McGwire stand over home plate and knock the first pitch ever throw at him at age 5 out of the ball park? No, probably not. And so it stands to reason that you too may need some practice here. Start with little issues and as you build confidence with your “inner knowing”, start to tackle the bigger ones. Do I give you peas or corn today for lunch? Corn, I think. Smile. Do I change your diaper now or after we get to mom’s house? Now, I think. Smile. Do we try to go to dinner while mom watches you for the first time? Yes. Smile. Are you ready to move from my bed to a co-sleeper by my bed so I can sleep better ’cause I’m so worried I’ll squish you? Yes. Smile.

Okay, and now you are ready for the big leagues. Keep this up and by age 3 you will be tackling, “Do I put you in time out or take a deep breath and smile and ask you to do what I was hoping for you to do…again?” You breathe and smile. Hurray…your tot listened! And then the World Series. You sweet little baby is now 13 and you have ever so many different issues to manage. Breathe, tune in and act.

Intuition. You have it. I promise. Of course it’s still okay to ask other moms, to read all the parenting books or what everyone is saying on mymommymanual.com; but in the end, it’s your intuition that will tell you if what you read or hear is right for you and for your child. Use it, and it will grow as surely as your child will.

You have your child’s parenting manual. It’s right there within you. Tune into it. Trust it. Open yourself up to the powerful messages it has for you and let it guide you.

Local volunteer community organizers came together in 2009 to support the first reading of the play, Birth, by Karen Brody in St. Louis. Then, in 2010, volunteer organizers and sponsors built on their former success and hosted the first ever local full production of the play. Watch the 2010 cast in this inspiring short film of the play by RaileeProductions:

Plans for 2011 include another full production of the play, Birth, on August 28th, 2011 at the Tap Room in downtown St. Louis! Click here for more information on how you and/or your organization can get involved!

Karen Brody wrote Birth after interviewing 118 women across America about their birth stories. The play tells the story of eight of those women, representing the spectrum of experience among low-risk, educated, birthing women in the US today. Each performance is followed by a talk-back, giving audience members a chance to discuss pertinent issues from the play.

BOLD, initially called Birth On Labor Day, was founded in 2006 by playwright Karen Brody. Brody offered cities around the world the opportunity to perform her documentary-style play called Birth as part of BOLD. Her goal was to use the play to “make maternity mother-friendly.” Well-known women’s health expert Dr. Christiane Northrup called the play  Birth, “The Vagina Monologues for birth,” a label it has lived up to through BOLD.

BOLD runs three core programs: Performance and Talkbacks of the play Birth, Red Tents events, and the College Campaign. BOLD programs raise awareness and money in local communities to improve childbirth choices for mothers and have raised over $115,000 to date. This grassroots initiative reaches over 20,000+ women, men, children and families (and growing!) every year through local events like ours. For more details on the play and the national event, please visit the national BOLD web site at www.boldaction.org

We have never seen so many adorable babies. Although it was very, very tough, the 15 Finalists have been selected. Each of them will go home from the Baby Kid Expo in St. Charles Missouri on April 30 with their very own Kolcraft Wonderbug Activity Center!!!

The Grand Prize:

But the title of Cutest Baby can only be awarded to one — and YOU will decide. Vote and whoever has the most votes will also receive a gift basket ($250 value) with goodies from http://www.snapstories.com, a photography package from http://www.treasuredpicks.com/ AND will be featured in the 2012 Baby Kid Expo ad campaign. You can only vote once but tell all your friends and family to get in on the fun and support your favorite.

How to Vote:

Visit the My Mommy Manual Facebook page and “Like” it — then click on the Contest Survey link either on our wall or here and VOTE. It’s that simple. (It’s picking just ONE of these cuties that will be the hard part.)

We will be at the My Mommy Manual booth all day, Saturday, April 30th from 9 am to 4 pm at the Baby Kid Expo and would love for you to come by and say hi to Ria and I!!! We have even MORE goodies to give away to our friends that do AND we’ll announce the winner of the Cutest Baby Contest LIVE on stage at the Expo at 2:45 pm so be sure to stick around!

Cutie Pies!!!

Here are our 15 Finalists! Follow the instructions above and vote for your favorite.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Cutest Baby Contest

Come See Us! Baby Kid Expo

Well, there are million and one things to do to get ready… just ask Zen Mommy. She did it times two!

If you are in St. Louis on April 30, join us at the Baby Kid Expo. Why?
1) Because we will be there with our friends at Kolcraft, giving away tons of great new baby products including… drum roll please… the new WonderBug Activity Center.
2) Because your baby could be the winner of the MMM/Baby Kid Expo Cutest Baby Contest!
What? You haven’t entered yet? What are you waiting for? Entries are due April 20 and then the voting begins! Click here for details.
3) There are TONS of activities for the whole family and it’s FREE!

Today I had the honor of being a guest on Dr. Phil Dembo’s Blog Talk Radio show called The Parent Coach. If you’d like to hear this 15 minute interview, inspiring us as parents to slow down, click here. We talked about a fabulous topic (and one we post about frequently here on MMM) the “slow” movement in parenting.

For me, as a parent of four, when I think about slowing our family life down, there are a few important places I look to in my approach to parenting:

1- Tuning into intuition. It is important to my husband and I that in our home, we value emotion as equal to if not more powerful than intellect. This may seem counterculture as when we look to the world around us it tells us and our kids that the head rules, that things need to make “sense” and that following the heart is the weaker path. But we question this in our home and value being a high EQ family… not just a high IQ one. As parents, when we trust our little voice inside – our kids learn to as well. What a powerful gift to model trusting ourselves for our kids. Intuition. It resides in our body. Body wisdom. It is present for us, holding wisdom and truth in this moment… not the past, not the future, but right here, right now. When we practice tuning in – breathing – and seeing what is there for us, we are actually practicing mindfulness. What a powerful way to slow life down. Pausing to listen to that still small voice that resides within each of us, even if, especially if, life is feeling crazy.

2- Valuing connection. Talk about the connection you have to one another in your family and how important this is to you. Talk about the connection you have to your self – that your child has to his or herself. This conversation of connection has been shown to be the most important thing you can do for your child to ensure their happiness as an adult. It’s been shown that of 12,000 tweens and teens, the most important indicator of if a child will avoid behaviors such as drug abuse, early sexual activity, depression and suicide is if they feel CONNECTED at home and at school. (I talk more about this study here.)

3- And finally PLAYFULNESS!!! Being playful is a wonderful way to slow life down. Begin by moving at your child’s pace for one hour of one day. Let them lead the fun. Stop and examine the worm on the sidewalk or the weed growing out of the crack between the step and the house that your little one notices as you all are heading to the car. Normally you might have brushed this opportunity off, saying, “That’s nice, now come on. Let’s go. Hop on in the car sweetie!” It works with older kids too. Just give them the opportunity and they will lead you to the fun. Our kids are MASTERS at being present to the joy that each moment holds. If we but slow ourselves down to be playful with them – if we let them lead and we but follow, we can be present to the silliness and sheer joy of this moment. Let’s slow life down by being more PLAYFUL PARENTS. Our kids have something to remind us— how we once PLAYED through the day instead struggled through it.

For those interested in learning more about the online course Dr. Phil and I discussed called Yoga Parenting, we’d like to offer you the opportunity to receive Lesson One on Centering free.

Related Articles:

How to Find Balance for Life

How to Raise Your Child to Be Happy

____

Suzanne Tucker, aka Zen Mommy

In addition to mommy-ing to two magical girls and twins born in 2010, Suzanne co-owns a holistic health center with her husband Shawn in St. Louis, Missouri where she practices as a physical therapist, Certified Educator of Infant Massage and health education teacher. Suzanne is the Co-creator of My Mommy Manual and the online parenting course, Yoga Parenting.