The strains of sustaining the central family fire in a consumer family are more often signs of these trying times than our inadequacies or inexperience as parents. Until a century ago, and in many places far more recently, the family depended for its health on continuous exchanges with extended family, neighbors and a local community. […]
Miki’s Blog
Overparenting and social monoculture
Parenting implodes in a social monoculture. The social ecology we’ve depended on as parents until recently, is today many times frail and tattered. There is little social cohesion around our homes, few of us have a living community in which to plant our children. In a few generations, the communal life that held our children […]
Breathing through a feeling
Feelings are fleeting. Anger can be over in a flash. Sadness can settle and seem endless. But it’s in the nature of all feelings that they pass. And they pass faster if we don’t do violence to ourselves by supressing or fighting our feelings. Your child can learn how not to be overwhelmed by her […]
Medicine for your child’s soul and spirit
There’s a prophylactic medicine bundle for the disaffected child, homeopathic in its dosage, with a recommendation for daily applications. This time-honored multi-vitamin for your child’s spiritual health and soulful development has five active ingredients. Song: Fill your family days with song. Croon your baby to sleep with a lullabye. Make a family anthem from the […]
Seeing the north star
It’s March, and for a few months longer on the northern hemisphere, until dimmed by the long summer days, the stars will strew the night sky. This is a good time of year to head out with your child after nightfall, to introduce her to the North Star, this fixed axis point on the firmament […]
Where the sun rises
There’s a spruce-covered ridge by our farm, and for much of winter, the sun doesn’t clamber high enough to crest it. Then come February, and one morning, suddenly, there it is. As a family it always surprises us, and delights us to witness its return, the warm herald of early spring. Where does the sun […]