Natural Family Living: The Mothering Magazine Guide To Parenting

Natural Family Living: The Mothering Magazine Guide to Parenting

For more than two decades, Mothering Magazine has been the source for sound alternatives to mainstream parenting. Now Peggy O'Mara, editor and publisher of Mothering Magazine, brings her knowledge and compassion to a compendium of never-before-published parenting wisdom -- and presents, in one convenient volume, a genuinely natural approach to raising our children.Natural Family LivingThe Mothering Magazine Guide to ParentingAn internationally renowned advocate of natural parenting, Peggy O'Mara covers a vast range of timeless and contemporary issues in detail and with authority -- from the practical to the philosophical, from preconception to adolescence:* Embracing a conscious, conscientious pregnancy* Natural childbirth, homebirth, and midwifery* Breastfeeding* Attachment parenting* Healthful eating for the whole family -- and balanced attitudes toward food and diet* Alternative health care for children, including homeopathy, bodywork, herbal remedies, and aromatherapy* Family matters: from discipline issues to home entertainment* Uses and abuses of television, computers, and video games* Approaches to sexuality* Home schooling and alternative education.This groundbreaking book helps parents make informed choices on cutting-edge issues as they strive to create a whole, healthy family environment. Illustrated with photos, and featuring enlightening interviews, Natural Family Living is the only guide authorized by the world's most savvy parenting publication.About the AuthorPeggy O'Mara has gained international celebrity as publisher, editor, and owner of Mothering Magazine since 1980. A dynamic speaker, she has lectured and conducted workshops in conjunction with organizations such as the Omega Institute, Esalen, and La Leche International. She has appeared on numerous television and radio programs including Sonya Live (CNN) and The Susan Powter Show, and has been featured in national publications including USA Today, The Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, Mother Earth News, and The Utne Reader. She is the mother of four children: Lally, 25; Finnie 23; Bram, 20; and Nora, 17.Excerpt. ? Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.Chapter 1: PreconceptionBecoming a parent can radically transform you. But long before you are even pregnant, you can begin thinking about how having a family may change the way you approach your life.Naturally, you want to give your child as healthy a start as possible. Because you may be pregnant for several weeks before you are fully aware that you have conceived, preconception is the time to start examining the kinds of things your baby will be exposed to during pregnancy. At the same time, you can begin thinking about what having a family means to you -- so you can start cultivating the qualities in yourself that will help you become the kind of parent you hope to be. Knowing that you want to create a certain kind of family life will allow you to consider what changes you need to make to bring your baby into a sensitive, responsive, and loving environment.Out of the Mouths of BabesContrary to Freud's notion that every baby is a kind of tabula rasa or blank slate, recent research shows that infants have awareness and consciousness while in the womb. Studies have shown that babies respond to music in the womb and react to loud noises and bright light. They have even been observed to smile and to cry in utero. In one experiment by Italian researcher Allesandra Piontelli in 1992, a pair of twins, observed with ultrasound throughout their gestation, played affectionately with each other, touching each other cheek to cheek on either side of the membrane that separated them. Later, as toddlers, their favorite game was sitting, separated by a curtain, and rubbing their cheeks together.If our memory begins in the womb, then it stands to reason that each of us might remember our own birth on an unconscious level. Indeed, children under three hav