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Andrea’s Story

After the swift and beautiful birth of my daughter Raania, my midwife challenged me to explain and define the aura of peace he experienced on entering our home shortly after her birth (she flew in like a bird, my midwife arrived 20 minutes later!). I remember Pete giving me a thoughtful challenge after the birth of my son…would I have done anything differently, he asked? I enjoyed writing my thoughts and feelings and recollecting my first birth experience in the little book I created for Jahnu before his entrance into the world. This time my midwife wanted definition of the nature of things! How, he asked? Why, he asked? How and why have your experiences of birth been so peaceful, so inspiring and seemingly so much fun? My midwife is a bit of an intellectual. My midwife is also a man, which almost meant he might not have been my midwife! Continued.

Raising Media Savvy Children

tv…advertising…..video…playstation…net nanny…palm pilots..DVDs…SMS advertising………OVERLOAD!!!! Our children consume a daily diet fed to them by marketers, advertisers and media designed for the lowest common denominator. How can we, as parents guide them how to ration their daily consumption and teach them how to consume it consciously with awareness and a questioning mind? “We are all wired. Caught together in a web of resonance… joined to everyone else on the planet by cables, lines, signals and satellites.. the air waves crackle with billions of invisible forms, realities that buzz across the sky..the world mind broadcasts through all of us.” wrote Scoop Nisker in 1977. Continued.

Mothers’ Day Proclamation: Julia Ward Howe, Boston, 1870

Mother’s Day was originally started after the Civil War, as a protest to the carnage of that war, by women who had lost their sons. Here is the original Mother’s Day Proclamation from 1870. Continued.

Read a mother’s day blessing

Mothers Are as Total as the Sky
 
Mothers Are as Total as the Sky
Older than the earth, and more enduring,
They’re rooted in our hearts like ancient trees,
Halfway down to seething lava seas;
Emblazoned on our sail, and on our mooring.
Returning home, we dwell within their sigh:
So maddening, so rich, so reassuring.
    
© Nicholas Gordon

Young Australians ask “how can it be right to lock up children?”

Children and young people from around Australia express their concern about the government policy of detaining asylum seeker children. When the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission (HREOC) announced its Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention, the United Nations Youth Association (UNYA) sent out a request for young people to send their opinions on this issue. The young people who wrote to UNYA and Amnesty International were unanimous in their belief that children who have committed no crime should not be detained. A girl from St Michael’s College in Brisbane wrote “As young people we feel accountable and guilty for the young people so similar to ourselves. Why should we be the lucky ones born outside the fence?” Continued.

Midwives to deliver without doctors

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Midwives at a NSW hospital are expected to get permission to assist women to deliver their babies when there is no doctor on duty, in a state first that may herald a shake-up of public maternity services. Justine Caines, the Maternity Coalition’s NSW president said, “When midwives have one-to-one care of women, their results are stunning.”

Read the full report here.

Attachment Parenting by Dr Sarah Buckley

Parenting in our culture is a struggle. Bookshops are overflowing with advice to help us with crying babies, sleep problems, feeding problems, toilet training, temper tantrums and discipline; the same areas our parents had difficulties with, and probably our grandparents too. But these are not issues for parents in many contemporary cultures, and it is only in recent generations that these have emerged as the norms of parenting in western society. What has changed, and how do others manage to avoid difficulties in these areas? Read on.

Babywearing – ancient wisdom embraces the present.

In touch with the natural rhythms of life, tribal and other more communal peoples knew – from experience! – the value of baby wearing. A state childhood experts call “quiet alertness” replaces crying and fussiness. A sling distributes the broad weight from shoulders and hips, aligning the baby’s center of gravity close to the wearer. Many scientific studies now show how a carried baby receives the exact essentials of pressure, motion, pleasure, warmth, security, sound. Read on.

Getting a Good Night’s Sleep- another perspective.
by Dr Sarah J. Buckley
Advising parents to ignore the cries of a distressed child, for however long, does not produce a loving and trustful parent-child relationship. I wonder how many of us would want our partners or friends to treat us this way, if we were alone at night and feeling upset and frightened. But it is not only the hard-heartedness of these suggestions that concerns me. All of the scientific and anthropological research that I have read supports my instincts and experience. Read On.

Is it a Cheetah?
by Stephanie S. Tolan
It’s a tough time to raise, teach or be a highly gifted child. As the term “gifted” and the unusual intellectual capacity to which that term refers become more and more politically incorrect, the educational establishment changes terminology and focus. A cheetah metaphor can help us see the problem with achievement-oriented thinking. The cheetah is the fastest animal on earth. When we think of cheetahs we are likely to think first of their speed. It’s flashy. It is impressive. It’s unique. And it makes identification incredibly easy. Since cheetahs are the only animals that can run 70 mph, if you clock an animal running 70 mph, IT’S A CHEETAH! Read On.

Getting a Good Night’s Sleep- another perspective.
by Dr Sarah J. Buckley
Advising parents to ignore the cries of a distressed child, for however long, does not produce a loving and trustful parent-child relationship. I wonder how many of us would want our partners or friends to treat us this way, if we were alone at night and feeling upset and frightened. But it is not only the hard-heartedness of these suggestions that concerns me. All of the scientific and anthropological research that I have read supports my instincts and experience. Read On.

Is it a Cheetah?
by Stephanie S. Tolan
It’s a tough time to raise, teach or be a highly gifted child. As the term “gifted” and the unusual intellectual capacity to which that term refers become more and more politically incorrect, the educational establishment changes terminology and focus. A cheetah metaphor can help us see the problem with achievement-oriented thinking. The cheetah is the fastest animal on earth. When we think of cheetahs we are likely to think first of their speed. It’s flashy. It is impressive. It’s unique. And it makes identification incredibly easy. Since cheetahs are the only animals that can run 70 mph, if you clock an animal running 70 mph, IT’S A CHEETAH! Read On.

Healing Birth, Healing the Earth
by Dr Sarah J. Buckley
Birth, She is dying.
This primal and unspeakably powerful initiation, the only road to motherhood for our ancestors, has been stripped of Her dignity and purpose in our times. Birth has become a dangerous medical disease to be treated with escalating levels, and types, of technological interventions. What is worse, perhaps, is that the ecstasy of Birth- Her capacity to take us outside (ec) our usual state (stasis)- has been forgotten, and we are entering the sacred domain of motherhood post-operatively, even post-traumatically, rather than transformationally. Read On.

Breastfeeding
New studies have confirmed that breastfed babies are smarter. The study, published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, showed a link between the duration of breastfeeding and intelligence in young adults. Continued.

They’re singing your song
When a woman in a certain African tribe knows she is pregnant, she goes out into the wilderness with a few friends and together they pray and meditate until they hear the song of the child. They recognize that every soul has its own vibration that expresses its unique flavor and purpose. When the women attune to the song, they sing it out loud. Then they return to the tribe and teach it to everyone else. Continued.

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