InnerSelf

by Chris Keam. For parents, cycling with their children opens up a range of possibilities. A bicycle can bring out the kid in a grown-up — and give a kid a chance to show resilience and strength. When those things happen, everybody wins...

by Barry and Joyce Vissell. For almost every couple, the thought of bringing a child into this world triggers a whole range of emotions. There can be a tremendous thrill of joy, and many couples are aware of this; but all too often this joy is covered by fear, doubt, or...

by Frederick Leboyer, M.D.

For the baby, the world is a terrifying place. It is the vastness, the enormity of the whole experience of being born which so terrifies this little traveler. Blindly, madly, we assume that the newborn baby feels nothing. In fact, he feels . . . everything. Everything, totally, completely, utterly, and with a sensitivity we can't even begin to imagine.

by Lucia Capacchione.

The first few days of a baby's life can bring a deeply spiritual opening between parent and child. The sheer mystery of birth and the vulnerability of this tiny being you hold in your arms are truly awe-inspiring. Many mothers and fathers have told me that they had no way to predict the powerful emotions that poured forth during those first days of parenting. In some cultures, the time immediately following birth is sacred and protected for both mother and child.

by Jack Heinowitz, Ph.D. It's pretty hard dealing with the idea of really being a father. Scary feelings come up about accepting it, getting involved, learning what to do and how to participate in family life. The commitment part is a heavy thing for me right now. The dramatic lifestyle changes that accompany the entry into fatherhood bring up fears of all sorts.

by Francesca Cappucci Fordyce. Just because a father lives at home, does not mean he is available to his son or daughter. Fathers often overbusy themselves, so they don't have to deal with their own responsibility and subliminal pain from their childhood. A parent has to resolve his own issues before he can completely be present and mindful of his children.

by Ellen Kreidman, Ph.D. Some of you might be thinking, "I'd love to start dating, but who would want to date someone with four children, a dog, and two parakeets?" Don't assume just because you have children, you're less desirable. There are plenty of people who like children and who want to date someone with children.

by Diane and Julia Loomans.

Ask your children two simple questions: "What is a happy home like?" and "What makes our home feel good?" The answers are usually about small, everyday things. Feeling good, encouragement, kindness, play, and connection with mom or dad are at the top of the list. Almost never have children mentioned exotic trips, pools, large houses, or expensive clothes or toys.

by Lucia Capacchione.

Birth can be scary, and it can also be glorious. Fear of the unknown causes anxiety in many expectant parents. Empowering yourself with information, knowledge, and the support of experienced people can turn fear into joyful anticipation. It can mean the difference between being a passive recipient of health care services and becoming an active participant in the experience of welcoming your child into the world.

by Diane Chambers.

How your young children spend their time out of your care will have an enormous impact on how well they perform, both socially and academically, in the future. The following are a few suggestions about choosing daycare and how to ensure your child is getting the most from a childcare situation.

by Mario Kamenetzky.

The most important decision faced by a modern household with children is how to harmonize the time and energy invested in satisfying financial needs, career ambitions, parental responsibilities, sexual urges, and intellectual and recreational cravings...

by Jann Mitchell. Parents of teenagers, take heart! There is affection after adolescence. Even friendship. For those of you who’d like to deep-freeze your teen till twenty-one — you’re not alone. It’s a toss-up whether puberty is tougher on the kids or the parents...

by Susan Fitzell.

Positive role models are critical to a child's development. Girls need adults in their lives who model assertiveness, strength, caring, and responsiveness. We need to empower them to make decisions and solve problems within the safety net of our love and guidance. Girls need to see us working to continually improve our ability to communicate our needs, hopes, and concerns so that we nurture others but don't lose ourselves.

by Annette Geffert and Diane Brown. Adolescence is an amazing time, filled with countless opportunities and challenges for your daughter. She is facing many of the decisions that will shape her adult life. To successfully handle these potentially life-altering situations, she needs a strong internal decision-making center.

by Johann Christoph Arnold.

 It is one thing to read (or write) about bringing up children, and quite another to actually do it. Words are easy to come by; so are anecdotes and suggestions. Yet without deeds, the soundest educational theory is useless...

by Johann Christoph Arnold.

I have always been regretting that I was not as wise as the day I was born.  Vast numbers of children are endangered by a one-sided approach that sees them solely in terms of their ability to be fruitful -- that is, to achieve and succeed.

by Lee Carroll & Jan Tober.

Anger is at a high level, mostly due to the frustration of a generation of parents and educators who feel that they've done their best, but that something has slipped between the cracks. We continue to believe that the core answer to the phenomenon...

by John Taylor Gatto. For a while I think we need to make community service a required part of schooling. Besides the experience in acting unselfishly that it will teach, it is the quickest way to give young children real responsibility in the mainstream of life.

by Johann Christoph Arnold.

One of the oldest pieces of advice for families is the Fifth Commandment of Moses: 'Honor your father and your mother,' which continues, 'that your days may be long in the land...' This is the only one of the Ten Commandments that includes a blessing and a promise.

by Lorna Wing, M.D.

Parents have to cope with a series of problems, some of which are practical and some of which are emotional. The parents of any child with a long-term disability have to undergo a change of attitude when they first learn the truth and this is a painful process. They may have feelings of guilt, which are a waste of mental energy that can be turned to better use.

by Robert Rabbin.

During the first few months of 2003, I was taught something remarkable by 123 children, from 2 to 13 years of age. There is something remarkable about kids: they experience life in a way that expresses deep and profound wisdom. Their wisdom is born of their own connection to life and to living things.

by John Izzo, Ph.D. Children seem able to find wonder in the simplest of things -- an unusual bug on the sidewalk, a puddle that is particularly deep, a small paper airplane. As we age, somehow our capacity for awe and wonder is diminished, just as our skin loses its elasticity. So how do we recapture the experience of wonder?

by Susan Winston.

Twenty-four of us sat nervously on unforgiving wooden benches. It was a day of mixed emotions. We all knew that behind our own personal happiness was a deeply disturbing practice here in China, a quiet genocide that yearly claims the lives of thousands of female babies and children. This was the day my husband, Jim, and I were to adopt our daughter, Nikki Kate Winston.

by Dean Van Leuven.

We use anger in disciplining our children because we become upset by what they do, and we then become angry. We then tend to mix our anger in with the lessons we are trying to teach the child. But when we mix the 'lesson' with our anger, we end up teaching our child that it's okay to respond with anger to things that upset us. When we respond with anger, the child learns anger.

by Thom Hartmann.

Individuals with ADHD may be our most creative individuals, our most extraordinary thinkers, our most brilliant inventors and pioneers. The children among us whom our teachers and psychiatrists say are 'disordered' may, in fact, carry a set of abilities -- a skill set -- that was necessary for the survival of humanity in the past, that has created much of what we treasure in our present 'quality of life,' and that will be critical to the survival of the human race in the future.

by Susan Jeffers, Ph.D. Certainly, in our role as parents, teachers, or care-givers, we watch as our children are shaken up by the inescapable barrage of scary news involving death, bombs, enemies, and the like. They are frightened and confused?