Setting Limits with Children Effectively


Choose Small and Slow Solutions, Create Vision and Respond to Change, Cultivate Diversity, Make No Waste, Maximize the Edges, Observe and Interact, Obtain a Yield, Parenting, People Care, Permaculture Ethics, Permaculture Principles, Self-Regulate and Accept Feedback

When I read about respectful parenting or mindful parenting I was always confused about setting limits.  There are very few examples in the literature, which makes it hard to figure it out.  Once we did away with punishments, I found myself at a loss for what to do.  When I was no longer relying on […]

March 31, 2016

Empathetic, But…


Choose Small and Slow Solutions, Create Vision and Respond to Change, From Pattern to Details, Inner Permaculture, Parenting, People Care, Permaculture Ethics, Permaculture Principles

I have written before about how my family values extreme empathy.  We try to meet each other first by empathizing, whether it’s adults or children.  We try to validate feelings and then work to find solutions.  What is becoming clear to me is that even though we have this goal, it isn’t always achieved.  There […]

August 7, 2015

Dirt Cookies: Sharing the Heaviness of Life with Children


Choose Small and Slow Solutions, Earth Care, Fair Share, Integrate, Obtain a Yield, Parenting, People Care, Permaculture for Children, Permaculture Principles, Self-Regulate and Accept Feedback

How is it possible that we have people so impoverished that they have to eat dirt cookies in order to trick their stomachs into thinking they’re full?  They have no food.  My husband brought up that he had seen this video last week as we sat around the dinner table.  The children were curious, asking […]

August 5, 2015

The Day After the Day After


Catch and Store Energy, Cultivate Diversity, From Pattern to Details, Inner Permaculture, Make No Waste, Maximize the Edges, Obtain a Yield, Parenting, People Care, Permaculture Ethics, Permaculture Principles

A predictable schedule works for our home.  We have a predictable rhythm to our days.  But summer seems to throw a kink in this wheel, making it wobble and veer to one side.  There are more things to do in the summer, and as it seems, so many reasons to cast aside the schedule we’ve […]

July 15, 2015