The other day, while poking around on the Interwebs, I ran across a quote that I’ve seen more than once, never attributed, along the lines of: To the believer, no proof is required; to the skeptic, no proof is sufficient. Though this statement is partially accurate — a person who believes in God, for instance,…
I generally try to keep evidence-based information on one “side” of the SquintMom site, and bloggier things on the other side. A book review would typically go on the blog side, but in this particular case, the concept behind Baby Unplugged and Blue Manatee Press is so well supported by scientific evidence that it’s going…
I wrote here about unusual mothering milestones that aren’t often celebrated or discussed in parenting books, but that are nevertheless very meaningful. Well, we’ve just reached another. This morning, W and I were sitting on the couch hanging out together. I was checking my email, and she was watching cartoons. She was dressed already, even…
We’ve been working on the very start of potty learning with W, which mostly means that we talk a lot about the potty, read books about the potty, and every time I use the potty, I narrate a running commentary. The constant potty talk appears to be breaking down my social barriers that would normally…
As moms go (especially first time moms), I like to think I’m pretty relaxed. I let W do quite a bit of exploring, and while I’m certainly not going to let her experiment by sticking a fork in an electrical outlet, I’m not against letting her learn from experience that if you jump on the…
We’re home after spending the last two months traveling. It’s been a wild and fun summer, and W’s grown up a lot. One of the biggest changes in the last few weeks is that she’s telling me in many ways that she’d like to start learning about the potty. It started with an increased interest…
So, I talked here and here about my attempt to sleep train and night wean W, and I thought you all might like an update (well, that, and also a reader asked for an update), so here’s the scoop. Shortly after I wrote the second post on sleep training, we totally gave up on it….
I received the following research story via email, and found it fascinating. This was written by Marise Daigle of the Sainte-Justine Mother and Child University Hospital Centre in Montreal. I have added emphasis (bold type) to highlight particularly salient points. MONTREAL, Canada, August 1, 2012 – Children who exhibit oppositional behavior run the risk…
Now that W is almost 18 months old, many of the mommies who gave birth at the same time I did are pregnant again, or at least trying again. I increasingly find myself fielding questions — sometimes from complete strangers — about whether and when we’ll try for #2. While I’m not offended by these…
The Atlantic recently published an article online titled What Everyone’s Missing In The Attachment Parenting Debate. It made many excellent points, including mocking that abhorrent, desperate bid for attention of a recent Time Magazine cover that tried to throw fuel on the fire of the “mommy-wars.” From a personal standpoint, however, I found it helped…