Having my baby boy has led to an exponential growth in love in our family, but it has also made me very angry. Not at him or anyone close to us, but at our society that continues to devalue family and children.
By not fighting for change, we can just wish away the research and continue to live in the old paradigm forever, still able to believe that we are "good parents". But we can't.
I hear people argue all the time that we don't need to be as responsive to our children because there aren't wild animals anymore. We couldn't be looking at the issue any more wrong if we tried.
For many of us, we grew up with physical punishment, yelling, shaming, even full-on abuse. We so desperately want to change that cycle, but how? It can be unbelievably difficult to do. One mom asked if I could do a post on ways to change and work towards being the gentle parent we want to be. So here we are.
I feel like it’s time to not just point out what many of us having pointed out over and over – namely that education is key – but to truly examine why these places are feeling the need to take this route and what’s wrong with their approach (beyond the obvious).
It was spring – April or May – and I was out for a walk with my daughter to the grocery store. We passed by a house when I noticed it.
