For Parents of Children from Birth to Six Years

It's Nice to Know You're Not the Only Parent Under Pressure

"I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it."

—Harry S. Truman

When your child is having a meltdown in the middle of the produce aisle and a mother with a toddler in tow gives you a wink as if to say, "Hang in there," it's nice to know you're not alone in struggling to get through "The Parenting Game."

Here are several articles, journals, and books by mothers and fathers whose experiences can give your heart a lift when your body and mind are exhausted.

From Here to Maternity: Anne’s Pregnancy Journal

San Francisco writer Anne Marie Feld felt a little too footloose and fancy-free for motherhood—until fate intervened. While Anne and her husband Dave are thrilled to have a baby on the way, they're also a little terrified about the changes looming and the end of sleep as they know it. As Anne chronicles her journey to motherhood, armed with a newly sensible wardrobe, high-carbohydrate snacks, and a raging case of hypochondria, you are sure to identify with many of her emotions and situations.

Life with Harry: The Toddler Years

In her weekly journal, Brooklyn, N.Y., mom Kristin chronicled the adventures—and challenges—of keeping up with 27-month-old Harry's nonstop energy. But she manages to remember to savor every moment in her weekly journal.

Bringing up Ben and waiting for Birdy

Catherine Newman, a mother in Amherst, Massachusetts, chronicles her life of juggling motherhood with her son Ben, 3, her relationship with Ben's dad, Michael, work, and pregnancy. You can read her ongoing journal at the link above and you can buy her witty commentary in the complete book, Waiting for Birdy: A Year of Frantic Tedium, Neurotic Angst, and the Wild Magic of Growing a Family.

Raising Eleni, 3 ½, and adopted from China

In her weekly journal, single mom Laura Broadwell shares the adventures of her daughter, Eleni (pronounced ee-LEN-ee), whom she adopted from China, as well as the challenges of solo parenting.

How holiday rituals nourish this mother

This link is on the website Siliconmom.com, where you'll find lot of personal stories to which you can relate. This particular story, by Denise Roy, talks about a wonderful idea for a family ritual. It begins: .

"Today my 10-year-old niece, Christine, called to tell me that she has designed a new holiday ritual that she’s named 'The Nine Days of Thanksgiving.' She borrowed elements from Advent and Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Thanksgiving, and wove them together to create something new.

"Here’s the way Christine described it to me: Nine days before Thanksgiving, put a menorah in the center of the kitchen table, placing brightly colored candles in each holder. Each candle represents an area of life (Talents, Love, Holidays & Birthdays, State/Country/Planet, Flowers & Plants, Animals, Communication methods, Home, Everything). At dinnertime, light the first candle, and then go around the table and have each member of the family name one or two things that they are most grateful for in that category. (She told me, for example, on the Flower night, she would give thanks for the Golden Poppy.) Continue to light a candle every night until Thanksgiving.

"I love the idea of this. I also love the fact that Christine used her imagination to create a meaningful, memorable ritual."

You can learn more about the author and read other pieces by her at her own website, Family Spirit.

© Copyright 2005, Arlene F. Harder, MA, MFT

Don't Panic. Help in on the Way.....

....In the form of a journal And baby makes four written by Julie Tilsner, who has a three-year-old who thinks she's a puppy, a newborn, a husband starting law school, and a book to write in six months. How does this humor writer and author do it while living in student family housing in Berkeley, California? Read this wonderful journal and find out.

Better yet, buy her books Planet Parenthood: Adapting to Your New Life-Form and Attack of the Toddlers!. You are likely to agree with one of the reviewers of the latter book that she "gives parents permission to laugh at the hardest parts of raising a toddler. Reading her books is like commiserating with a good friend who really loves and understands kids — AND has a terrific sense of humor."

Some Mothers Who Need Your Help

Too many families are unable to afford, or perhaps even read the vital health information that can make a big difference in their baby's future. That's why the What to Expect Foundation gives families in-need education and support…so they, too, can expect healthier pregnancies, safer deliveries and happier babies.

Their book, Baby Basics, is written to both a 3rd and a 6th grade reading level and takes into account the special health, economic, social, and cultural needs of low-income expectant families. Years of research went into the making of the book and it has been lauded by health care providers, literacy experts, and the mothers and fathers for whom it was written.

For only $7.50 you can put a copy in another mother's hands.