Blog to Inspire: In Praise of Boobies

This following post was an entry in our Blog to Inspire contest. The opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and not necessarily those of Eco Baby Steps or Parenting By Nature.
Blog to Inspire entrant Dumaresq Kiddo is Debbie Dumareq met her husband Chris in 1997. They have been chugging along together [...]

Positive Discipline, Kind and Firm

We all want to guide our children to become confident, independent people capable of self-discipline. It isn’t necessarily obvious for a parent to figure out how to get them there, though. As a parenting model, Positive Discipline seeks to give parents tools to build independence and confidence in their children, avoiding the fear [...]

Blog to Inspire: Loving My Breast-only Baby

This following post was an entry in our Blog to Inspire contest. The opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and not necessarily those of Eco Baby Steps or Parenting By Nature.
Blog to Inspire entrant Baby Fingers is Jenny Harmon. She and her husband Jordan have two beautiful daughters, Suzi and [...]

Plantable Seed Valentine’s Day Cards

If your children are looking forward to making Valentine’s Day cards, help them celebrate by sharing the coming spring. Children can easily make plantable paper, embedded with seeds.
This is a simple craft project that could even be a step into more serious and creative papermaking.

Materials

Recyclable paper - Make it porous paper like a [...]

Chocolate - It’s About Dignity and Sustainability

Mmm. Chocolate. Valentine’s Day approaches, and there are many opportunities to indulge in a little piece of delight as it melts at your body temperature spreading across your tongue. Dark chocolate, milk chocolate, chocolate bars, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate nibs, chocolate cake. I adore chocolate.
Once your body chemistry returns to its pre-cocoa levels, or [...]

Is the Glass Half-Broken. . . or is it merely in need of a little perspective?

I remember a Saturday Night Live sketch from years back about a Disposable Toilet. Basically, one flush and you found yourself completely unbolting the thing from the floor and installing a new one. It was ludicrous, but it made a point.
Just about everything these days is disposable.
Even things not marketed specifically as “disposable” [...]

Nonviolent Communication with Children

I aspire to meet my children’s needs through clear, honest communication. I first met attachment parenting while pregnant with my first child, and I first met nonviolent communication (NVC) while pregnant with my second.
“NVC shares two key premises with attachment parenting: Human actions are motivated by attempts to meet needs, and trusting relationships [...]

Reminding Myself to Get Life Right

Groundhog Day is one of my favorite movies—one of those I can watch over and over. Every time, it reminds me of such a great lesson: we have to live consciously and deliberately to get life right.
Phil Connor, the mean-spirited weatherman, wakes up and lives the same day every day for what [...]

Blog to Inspire: Live and learn…and then some

This following post was an entry in our Blog to Inspire contest. The opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and not necessarily those of Eco Baby Steps or Parenting By Nature.
Blog to Inspire entrant A Natural Mama is Jenni Bush, a homeschooling mother of 7—6 girls and 1 boy.
Live and learn [...]