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Co-Sleeping: FAQs
If you would have told me five years ago that we would wake up in bed with two toddlers, I would have laughed, then probably cried. Our bed was a sacred space for the two of us; a place where we found a safe haven when we were at our most vulnerable, a place of rest and rejuvenation. It was not a place for little children. Or so I thought. We are a Co-Sleeping Family Co-sleeping (more specifically, bed-sharing) became extremely valuable for us because our firstborn was not what people would call a “good sleeper.” His frequent nighttime wakings and our decision not to sleep-train is ultimately what led…
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“Actually, we don’t Celebrate Halloween”: Parenting According to Personal Values
“What are you dressing up as for Halloween this year?” the sales-woman asked. Levi looked at her, then me, and walked away. Typically, I gently encourage him to converse with the people talking to him, but in this case, I knew that I would have to answer on his behalf, since he had no idea what she was talking about. In the moment, though, I wasn’t sure how to answer, either. “Actually, we don’t celebrate Halloween. I despise the holiday, actually, and while I think dressing up little kids in various costumes is cute, I wasn’t planning on doing it with my children this year.” I wasn’t sure if I…
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Co-Sleeping: How To
Before we had kids, Kevin asked me, “What would you say about our future kids sleeping in bed with us?” I scoffed. “Never happening.” “Really?” he asked. “Why?” I went onto explain that I wasn’t allowed to sleep in my parents’ bed. I would sneak into their room and my Dad, who is a light sleeper, would compassionately give me advice and send me back to my room. Children just weren’t to be in their parents’ bed. Kevin, on the other hand, was often welcomed into his parents’ full-sized bed whenever he had trouble sleeping. “I always felt so safe between them,” he recounted dreamily. “Well,” I said, “That’s cute.…
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Co-Sleeping: Why We Do It
When I was pregnant the first time, I had expectations about where and how my baby would sleep. I had set up a pack-n-play across the room from us, a good 15 feet away from where I rested my head so I could easily access him in the middle of the night. Our baby would sleep in there a few weeks, then, before he got too used to being in our room, I would transfer him to his crib in the room next door, where he would sleep blissfully through the night. Oh, sweet naivety. A Brief Overview of Our Experience The night of Levi’s delivery, he slept…
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Kids Need Nature and Other Take Aways from Last Child in the Woods
When I made the quick decision to homeschool Levi for preschool, I began doing what I do best: compulsive research. I looked into different homeschooling blogs, followed different homeschooling moms on Instagram, and began to understand a few of the various styles of homeschooling out there. One book that kept coming up in my research was Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Many homeschooling moms referred to it while explaining why they placed tremendous importance on having their child outdoors in nature. This was something I identified with. Two years ago, on a near-perfect autumn day, I took Levi to a local park. It…
