Welcome. Let me introduce myself a bit. I am a nurse by training, a teacher of nurses by trade and a mother of three by design. Over the past 30 years I have made it my intention to seek out, read, listen to and learn from the leading infant development researchers in the world. The main topic: children, parents, how they affect each other, how parenting can be joyful, magical and the most delightful path a person can ever experience. My work has been to help nurses see beyond the "to do" lists and tasks and find the magic that is happening every day in every maternity hospital. I teach them how to protect and support families during this early, sensitive time.
It is a great gift to be allowed to study a topic for 30 years. Some would say that you become an expert. Others would say the more you know, the more mystery there is. Either way, the infant's abilities, consciousness, and ability to communicate starting at birth is a fascinating and ever expanding science. And I believe it is time we invite parents to see their babies and children differently. There is magic in this relationship that can last a life time, but you have to be able to see, feel and enjoy it.
It may require some parents to put away their desire to shape or control the behaviors of their infant or child. Their need to make them behave like adults. And instead encourage them to act like children. This is not about being a "perfect" parent or a parent with children "under control". This is about finding joy in the chaos.
The science is clear and gives us wonderful instructions as to how to bring about the unfolding of the magical child. This is the most profound work on the planet, forming the minds of our next generation. And the hard-wiring of that brain is in your hands. Parents are the infant's world and the infant's brain pathways are hard-wired to connect with the parent in ways that are vastly more complex than we will ever know. Participating in this process of hard-wiring is not an option. It will happen with or without you, but we all hope that every parent will take this opportunity seriously and joyfully. You essentially get one shot (over the first years) at setting up this little brain to trust or not, love or not, have compassion or not and intellect or thinking, we now know, is built on this foundation. Sounds pretty harsh and I can hear you groan. Overly dramatic, we all know that as adults we can still unlearn our early patterns, right? Well, maybe not.
Not just any parent should read this blog. Only if you truly want to feel the joy of parenting every day and see the magical qualities of your child. If you long for the day when you can sincerely feel confident that you are on the path to raising a child that you will find delightful when they are two or thirteen or twenty one, then this blog is for you.
The conversation that is about to unfold on these pages, is a conversation of hope, growth and requires us all to take a leap of faith into the unknown realm of joyful parenting.
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