Natural Parenting Articles |
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| A selection of natural parenting, conscious living and sustainable lifestyle articles from Kindred Magazine.... |
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| We all want our children to grow up strong, healthy and happy. What then, when we have a child with special needs? ...more |
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| I received Richard Louv’s new book the day I received the news that I was to become a father for the first time. The book, 'Last Child in the Woods, Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder', is a timely reminder of the challenges that lie ahead ...more |
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| Trees are incredible but it’s so easy to take them for granted. Without them, life would be very different — there would be no chocolate for a start! We pass trees every day but how often do we really take a close look at them? Close your eyes and picture ...more |
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| One rarely thinks of motherhood as political. But as Kali Wendorf, editor of Kindred sees it, mothers, and fathers, need to find their voices in the political domain. "Our world is becoming increasingly sterile and hostile. We are moving away from the ...more |
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| We did everything by the book: birthed at home, breastfed over two years, co-slept and wore our babies on our bodies 24/7 — why then do some attached children seem anxious, over-sensitive, angry and even hostile sometimes?
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| Unschooling is more than an education – it’s life. In natural learning, everything is connected. Our children have gone from classical music to art, architecture, and ancient Rome, and from there to philosophy, Plato, Pythagoras and mathematics... ...more |
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| Australia's own home-based learning community has created a rich tapestry of grassroots networks of folks simply getting on with the job of facilitating learning experiences for their children. ...more |
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| I went home and cried all night. In the morning I rang and cancelled the appointment. That was the beginning of my new consciousness and the search for answers as how best to nurture this child and do what felt right to me. ...more |
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| I was awake, as usual, at 5 a.m., staring at the wall, wishing that I were asleep when I thought I had wet my pants.
I hopped up to go to the loo and noticed a little blood which was the mucous plug coming away. Then a gush of water came that I knew was ...more |
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| A practical and enjoyable way for a dad to spend time with his bundle of joy is bathing. At most maternity hospitals, the midwives are more than happy to give fathers a cursory instruction in the practice of bathing a newborn. ...more |
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| Being informed is the best way to have a good childbirth. Here, the American Foundation for Maternal and Child Health provides some basic information to support the pregnant couple to make wise choices when confronted with over zealous health professional ...more |
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| ‘Stop running with that in your mouth or you’ll trip over and die!’ So yelled a mother to her child in a shopping centre last week. Maybe she’d just had way too many coffees that morning... ...more |
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| In 2001, actress Ricki Lake gave birth to her second child in her home—with the assistance of a midwife. She decided to birth at home after she experienced unwanted medical interventions while delivering her first child. ...more |
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| Western culture has built an entire system of care — obstetrics — around the belief a woman is not able to successfully birth on her own. ...more |
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| Adopting an eleven-year-old boy, Laurie Couture was determined to play catch up with years of missed bonding and attachment for her adopted son. Normally an older adoptee has more history of pain and rejection than someone younger, thus it was a great jou ...more |
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| The average Australian child watches about four hours of television a day! Videos, computer and Playstation games add to the amount of time children spend staring at a screen. How does all this viewing affect their developing minds?
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| My daughter would like to know just about everything, and is not above asking all the questions, all day long. How are teddy bears made? How do you make windows? Who is the Sandman? ...more |
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| There is little doubt that our kids have a greater susceptibility to toxic chemicals. Everyday we expose our children to hundreds of different chemicals in an array of household products and yet remain puzzled as to why they get sick. ...more |
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| As soon as children are old enough to begin to interact with the wider world, the need to form a tribal bond becomes almost a developmental imperative. Because even though young children have little bodies – they don’t have little minds! ...more |
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| Why are chores important for children’s development, and which chores are appropriate for what age? Michele Dennis tells us more.
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| We want the best for our children, so it's easy to think the latest technology of our time will benefit them, but does it?
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| My son is 15 and has brought me nothing but...
'Trouble?' I thought you’d say that! No, my son is 15 and has brought me nothing but joy. 'You’re kidding! How did you do that?' ...more |
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| Death hurts. When we lose someone or something we love, every level of us hurts and is affected. There is nothing that can prepare us for exactly what happens when a sudden loss occurs because every single person responds differently. ...more |
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| Do bulging backpacks mean learning? With his new book, 'The Homework Myth', expert Alfie Kohn says no. Here’s why.
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| Traditionally, being 'smart' has meant having high academic test scores. While this definition may have served us well in the past, for children to succeed in today's world, we need to redefine what 'smart' really means. ...more |
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| Rainbow Food is a fresh approach to eating for the whole family. Rainbow Food is designed to restore our original innocent relationship with food. It is practical, easy to use, and is beneficial to the emotional body as well as the physical body. ...more |
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| Every mother intuitively knows the supreme importance of the relationship between her and her child with every fibre of her being, for Nature has designed it to be this way. There is nothing obscure or esoteric about the bond of intuitive connectedness th ...more |
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| Are these terms mutually exclusive, or can they be complementary? Can they co-exist within the confines of parenthood?
Women, particularly young women, find the idea of feminism as something outdated, out of touch. Many of these women may never contempla ...more |
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| Have feminists, in their quest for equality rather than liberation, led women out of the frying pan into the fire, with adverse repercussions for themselves, their families, and social wellbeing? If so, as plans affecting the family develop, it is importa ...more |
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| Hang out at a playground, visit a school, or show up at a child's birthday party, and there's one phrase you can count on hearing repeatedly: 'Good job!'
Here's why it may not be the best thing to say. Even tiny infants are praised for smacking their h ...more |
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| Imagine a group of pre-pubescent girls, their mothers and friends sitting in the afternoon shade weaving, or sewing, or preparing food. There are giggles and stories and cackles and songs and heartfelt sharing. The scene seems simple, timeless, so natural ...more |
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| Dealing with challenging behaviour doesn’t have to be complicated. Here are a few helpful ideas.
Sandra Azar, a Boston-based psychologist, believes there are four main rules for parents to follow if they are to do a ‘good-enough’ job of parenting and the ...more |
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| What would all our Steiner friends think?’ was the initial thought that came to mind. ‘For that matter, what do I think?’ which began a chorus of debate within my head.
There I was at 6:30 am Tuesday morning, my daughter awake, eating a packet of chips, ...more |
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| The history of childhood is a nightmare from which we have only recently begun to awaken. The further back in history one goes, the lower the level of child care, and the more likely children are to be killed, abandoned, terrorised, and sexually abused.
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| The first five years of a child’s life is a window of opportunity for laying foundations through stimulating experiences for their overall development.
Cynthia Ensign Baney, an early childhood music consultant and composer states that the opportunity to ...more |
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| Zachary was so excited, he was nearly beside himself with excitement. This was to be his big day out in Melbourne. He had graciously accepted my offer to go and catch a tram — nay, he had grabbed the opportunity with alacrity. And off we went, he and I, h ...more |
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| World wide community gardens are springing up and with them a growing sense of community, of belonging. Local food, being responsible for and engaged in food production is transforming communities, bringing people together and breaking down the barriers. ...more |
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| Without embodied love, peace is not possible. Without integrative bodily pleasure, moral behaviours of peace, harmony and human equality are not possible. Depression replaces joy and drugs are sought to drown the depression, the anger and rage that escala ...more |
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| When I first began falling in love with Leigh, I couldn’t really relate to her kids. Initially I kept away from them, not wanting to create any attachment that could create trauma should Leigh and I decide not to be together. They were running, noisy, emo ...more |
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| Circumcision — ten years ago I had trouble spelling the word. I would stumble over the pronunciation of it, had I cause to use it, which I rarely did. Then Marilyn Milos entered my life through our founding meeting of the Alliance for Transforming the Liv ...more |
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| When someone dies, in anyone's life but particularly in a child's life, it is important that as much support as possible is provided. Here Maggie Dent provides some therapy options that may assist the child in this time. ...more |
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| Whether you’re on the phone, busy on your computer, or talking to another adult, it can be frustrating when your children constantly interrupt you. What’s surprising to learn is that they do it because they always get a response from you when they do! ...more |
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| Adolescents are a mystery to many adults — especially their parents.
It is a time when three of the great changes of human life occur:
the ability to reproduce, the establishment of an identity and the formal commencement of logical, rational, reasoned ...more |
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| This is a story about Villawood—about why I went there, what I found there, and why I’m still going there today.
Once a hostel for newly arrived migrants who dreamed of a better life, today Villawood is an immigration detention centre for displaced perso ...more |
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| Children have a unique constitutional type. According to the Ayurvedic theory of doshas everything in the universe is comprised of different proportions of space, air, fire, water and earth. ...more |
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| Elimination communication, also known as Natural Infant Hygiene or simply Nappy Free, is a recent trend in Australia. This very natural, gentle, environmentally-friendly way of dealing with your baby’s waste. ...more |
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| Until 1946, cloth nappies were the only nappies that existed in Western society. They were usually cotton or muslin. There were no nappy covers except for knitted wool pants. With few covers and basic washing facilities, motivation was very high to train ...more |
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| Tips on choosing a nappy, facts on disposable nappies, cloth nappy options, washing tips, price and waste disposal, healthy choices for your baby ...more |
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| While environmental issues were on the radar screen when I was at school from the late 70s through to 1990, the issues were not as ominous a concern as they are today. The environment was still viewed by most as a backdrop to life, not an issue that thre ...more |
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| Abandonment, separation, insecurity and isolation. These are experiences that we as a global community are facing. But most sadly it is affecting our children. Gone is their innocence so early, their trust in humanity, and their trust in adults to safegua ...more |
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