Three Tips for Raising Self-Confident and Spiritually Aware Kids
August 2, 2012
By Guest Blogger
Just yesterday, I worked with an eight-year-old client named Ava. She is highly creative and intelligent, yet also struggles with her self-confidence. So I asked her, “Would you like to paint today?” and she replied, “I am not sure if I can do it.” Of course, this is a clear sign that she continues to need help building her sense of outer to inner confidence. Since I also know her family as a spiritual but… Read More >
Five Ways to Not Raise a Bully
July 27, 2012
By Peggy Drexler PhD
Quentin, three-and-a-half, was happily darting around the playground, like usual, when out of nowhere another little boy ran right up and kicked him in the shins. Quentin looked stunned, like he couldn’t believe what had just happened. But he didn’t kick back. First, he cried for a few minutes — not unusual for a small child. But then he collected himself and walked right up to the boy. “Martin,” said Quentin, calmly but with emotion.… Read More >
A Dozen Ways to Get Your Kids to Eat Better
July 11, 2012
By Guest Blogger
Do your kids like kale? Mine neither. They do, however, like a lot of other great vegetables including beets, asparagus, brussel sprouts, artichokes, and avocado. Vegetables and fruit do the body good. Aside from providing much needed vitamins and minerals, they also can: boost the immune system, help protect against disease, improve circulation, regulate digestion, and much more. I know a lot of moms struggle with picky eaters and may find the following tips useful:… Read More >
A Mother’s Grief
May 10, 2012
By Guest Blogger
Grieving is a personal experience. Depending on who you are and the nature of your loss, your process of grieving will be different from another person’s. There is no “normal and expected” period of time for grieving. Some people take a year or more, particularly when their daily life has been radically changed by traumatic and unexpected loss. On May 10, 2011, I lost my remarkable son Anthony to a tragic accident. He was 23… Read More >
Pregnancy, Children and Food Choices
May 9, 2012
By Guest Blogger
I remember receiving a card at my baby shower celebrating the “eating for two” shared belief in our culture. It was all about nine months of indulgence with the message: “If you’re going to be gaining weight, you might as well have some chocolate cake and ice cream to show for it.” There has been a wide range of studies showing that kids are more likely to be overweight or “sugar-holics” if their parents, particularly… Read More >
Raising Confident Sons Who Have Respect for Others
March 9, 2012
By Peggy Drexler PhD
A while ago, I was rushing up the street, carrying groceries and my briefcase, barely closed from all I had stuffed inside it, trying not to be late to pick up my daughter from basketball practice. One of her classmates, 13-year-old Damien, was walking from school toward me. I’d known Damien and his family for years, as part of a study I was conducting on boys and moms. “Can I help you with that?” he… Read More >
Talking To Kids About Cancer
January 5, 2012
By Guest Blogger
Six weeks ago, totally out of the blue, I was diagnosed with incurable metastatic bone disease. My spine and pelvis were apparently riddled with tumors that were the cause of my recent backache. At 38 and as the active mother of two very young children, I had put it down to a pulled muscle from making up the top bunk bed. I’m an elementary school teacher, too, so I have loads of opportunities to pull… Read More >
Tumors in Children: How One Family Thrives
November 28, 2011
By Guest Blogger
I write this as I sit in an MRI room while my 8-year-old son Sami is scanned for the umpteenth time. Here we go – this is a big one. It is a follow-up scan from one just over a week ago. Enhancement. A possible brain tumor. All the other tumors are stable and I am told not to worry yet. This is not possible. But this is not where our story begins. It actually… Read More >
Get More Greens in Your Kids: 5 S’s for Success
October 10, 2011
By Guest Blogger
As a mother of four, one of my biggest pleasures in life is feeding my kids nutritious meals. Unfortunately, it’s not always as easy as I hope it will be! I tend to romanticize while making my evening meals, thinking to myself, “My family will all love dinner tonight! They will wipe their mouths, clear their dishes and give me a hug to say thanks for your efforts, Mom! And then I’m reeled back into… Read More >
Embracing the Unknown
September 22, 2011
By Leslie Carr Psy.D.
Recently in my life I have been faced with a considerable amount of uncertainty. As my partner and I decide whether we want to have children and, pending our conclusion, whether we should get married, I’m forced to confront the fact that I do not currently know what the future has in store for me. When all of this came up a couple of months ago, it was a shock for me. Until that point… Read More >
Turn Those Kids Upside Down for Fun, Focus, Confidence and Calm
July 28, 2011
By Guest Blogger
There was a time in the not-so-distant past when kids used to run out of the house after breakfast, then scoot home when the street lights came on in the evening. I know, because I lived that time. Activity-filled days for kids have been replaced by hours of watching videos and playing computer games. And when summer comes, that’s where the majority of the day is spent – staring at a screen. But there are… Read More >
Three Ways to Support a Friend Who’s Dealing with Infertility
July 19, 2011
By Guest Blogger
You know that your friend has been trying to get pregnant, so over lunch you ask how it’s going. You’re just about to dig into your quinoa pilaf when you see her eyes drop and you know she doesn’t have good news. As she tells you the latest, you scramble for something helpful to say, but nothing feels right. What do you do? Infertility affects one in eight couples in the U.S., so odds are… Read More >
What Motherhood Taught Me About the Rest of Life
May 30, 2011
By Guest Blogger
By Lisa Catherine Harper It’s one of the pressing questions of family life: Does having children make you happier? Recently, I’ve seen studies that evaluate the relationship between a mother’s happiness and any number of factors: the number of children, the children’s age, their gender, their birth order. (Apparently parents of two girls are the happiest; parents of four girls are the least happy.) There’s even a study that measures a couple’s happiness relative to… Read More >
7 Eco-Friendly Tips for Raising Your Baby
May 13, 2011
By Kristen Suzanne
When we decided to have a baby, we knew we wanted to keep the experience as eco-friendly as possible. What we found out is that raising an eco-friendly baby can be really fun and easy on both the earth and your wallet. Here are some tips to get youstarted. 1. Breastfeeding: More Than a Trifecta – Not only is breastfeeding the best way to start off your baby nutritionally, but it’s also better for the… Read More >
Big Nutrition for Small Bodies
April 8, 2011
By Alejandro Junger, MD
Virginia Woolf said, “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well,” and I couldn’t agree more. Especially when it comes to kids. Fresh, whole, unprocessed, low-sugar fuel is like filling a vehicle with premium gasoline (or better yet, with sustainable butynol); it runs better, cleaner, faster, and lasts longer. Not that children are necessarily to be compared to cars, but it’s a commonly used metaphor in the food world… Read More >
How Meditation Changes Your Life
April 1, 2011
By Rolf Gates
“The ego is a dysfunctional relationship to the now.” Eckhart Tolle I did not start meditating in earnest until my daughter Jasmine was born. Twelve years before I had bought a book on Zen meditation and began a seated practice on my own. The results were dramatic. A few weeks after I started, a friend of mine asked, “Rolf, what happened to your car? It’s clean!” I smiled and said, “Meditation.” I have always loved… Read More >
How to Get Your Kids to Eat Healthy Foods
March 21, 2011
By Guest Blogger
by Natalie Duhamel So you want your kid to eat healthy foods, but they just want pink, green and blue cereal with stars and marshmallows. What to do? Kids are all about the fun factor. Think about it: When was the last time you heard a kid turn down fun in favor of something that’s good for them? Even kids who like things that are good for them (like reading, for instance) regard them as… Read More >
The Yoga of Parenting
February 9, 2011
By Elena Brower
When I’m asked how yoga has impacted my parenting, I parse it down to one point, which every other type of work on myself has corroborated for the past 13 years. In every moment, I magnetize my own state. Translated: However I am behaving will be reflected in everyone around me, especially my kid. There are many simple examples of this popular topic. If you’re happy, people smile at you. If you don’t trust yourself,… Read More >
How to Make Your Meals More Meaningful
November 29, 2010
By Guest Blogger
You may know Laurie David as the producer of the documentary film, “An Inconvenient Truth,” or for her other groundbreaking efforts to stop global warming and protect the environment. Today, Laurie is here to discuss another topic close to her heart and home – the sacred tradition of sharing meals with family and friends. So pull up a chair, pass the veggie stew, and take some tips from Laurie on how to make your meals… Read More >
Is Your House Ready for Guests?
November 5, 2010
By Alejandro Junger, MD
My son — a very important guest to us — was born last month. For nine months, my wife and I had been asking ourselves: Will our house be clean and ready for his arrival? Before this, I’ve been working at cleaning the planet (one person/body at a time) telling anyone who would listen that what is making everybody sick isn’t bad genes, bad luck or bad karma. It’s bad food and lots of toxins.… Read More >
