Amazing Offer - Only Valid Today!!

The Essential Parenting Collection by my affiliate partner Mindful Nurturing is holding a FLASH SALE! Be fast, because this sale is only valid
today.

Entering the code MONDAY10 gives you 10% off this wonderful collection of 35 hand selected parenting eProducts. I went through each and every one of these resources and I can tell you, they are worth every penny and they'll give you lots of inspiration for your parenting. The total retail value of this collection is over $750, so at a little over $44 with this code, you know you're getting a good deal!

A little recap of what's available:

6 resources for pregnancy and birth:

• From Maiden to Motherhood. Stephanie Brandt Cornais 
• My newest eBook: The Postpartum Herbal Guide.  
• The Business of Baby: What Doctors Don’t Tell You, What Corporations Try To Sell You, And How to Put Your Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Baby Before Their Bottom Line. Jennifer Margulis (audiobook) 
• Birth Relaxation Kit. Mavi Gupta and Jeremy Dyen (audio hypnosis set and booklet) - this kit alone is worth almost double of the full price of The Essential Parenting Collection. I used it during my last pregnancy and it's a valuable resource for relaxing and reframing.
• Simply Natural Pregnancy. Megan Kimmelshue 
• Stay at Home Yoga. (Three Month Premium Subscription) Jennifer Hoffman

If you're TTC or expecting, this kit really has EVERYTHING to start you off towards a natural, comfortable pregnancy and birth. I used many of these products during my last pregnancy and labour and can certainly vouch for them.

6 resources for parenting the early years:

• The Colic Solution. Nicolette Roux 
• Twin Manibreasto: A Success Story of Milk and Multiples. Mercedes R. Donis 
• Oxytocin Parenting – Womb through the Terrible Twos. Susan Kuchinskas and Bryan Post 
• What Not to Say – Tools for Talking with Young Children. Sarah MacLaughlin - I personally think this is a book every person who interacts with kids should read.
• The Natural Parent’s Guide to Babywearing. Lauren Wayne 
• JUNO Magazine. (one year subscription)

6 Child Development Resources:

• Reaching for the Moon, A Girl’s Guide to Her Cycles. Lucy H. Pearce 
• How Children’s Emotions Work. Patty Wipfler 
• Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More than Peers. Dr. Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Maté (audiobook) - I'm currently listening to this one and loving it! Expect my review soon
• The Drama Years: Real Girls Talk About Surviving Middle School – Bullies, Brands, Body Image, and More. Haley Kilpatrick (audiobook) 
• Gender Neutral Parenting. Raising Kids with the Freedom to be Themselves. Paige Lucas-Stannard
• Why Does He Do That? A Parent’s Guide to ASD. Stella Waterhouse

7 resources on Mindful Guidance:

• Positive Parenting in Action. Rebecca Eanes and Laura Ling 
• Setting Limits With Young Children. Patty Wipfler 
• The ABCs of Conscious Parenting. Lori Petro (eBook plus audio download) 
• Raising Mindful Kids. Yvonne Woloszanskyj 
• Parenting Softly. Bryan Post A Survival Guide. 
• Positive Parenting for Children with ASD. Stella Waterhouse 
• Keep Your Cool – How to Stop Yelling, Spanking and Punishing: What to Do Instead. Flo Gascon

As positive parents, we can all use a little help now and again. These books go beyond the theory and offer you practical advice for day to day situation, ready to apply. A beautiful little collection for mindful parents. 

6 extra resources for parents:

• The Sane Parenting Challenge. Amy Phoenix (eCourse)
• The Transgender Child (audiobook). Stephanie Brill & Rachel Pepper
• Liberation Parenting Program. Teresa Graham Brett (eWorkbook and audio)
• Calm Authority for Fathers. Marcy Axness (audio)
• Embracing a Child-Centered Divorce: Because You Love Your Children. Rosalind Sedacca
• 12 Steps to a More Natural Family Home. Emma Weatherall

Free gifts with purchase:

Gentle Parenting Coloring Pages. Hugo Smits
Conscious Communication. Lori Petro
HighSelfEsteemKids. Dr. Joe Rubino (audio)
Mama is Having a Baby – A Journey to Tandem Breastfeeding (coloring book). Joni Rae Latham

***

Only for today for $44.97. Don't forget to enter your code MONDAY10

Click here to buy

Amazing Offer - Only Valid Today!!

Perseverance, Determination and Commitment - Raising Mindful Kids

Written by Yvonne Woloszanskyj
Originally published on Mindful Parenting Skills

So often I talk about the importance of certain virtues or character traits that we have. Virtues are gifts
we are born with. They are like “spiritual muscles” which we are here in this world to develop. We develop them throughout life as we are guided and inspired by our parents, grandparents, teachers, friends and many others. There are also many times we don’t believe very much in ourselves, the thoughts in our minds are not positive and encouraging.
We hear, “I can’t, it’s too hard, I don’t know how,” and so on, and so on. Sadly, these thoughts often win out if and when we don’t have an inner fire to keep moving forward no matter what…. a desire to be successful. If we are blessed, we have other people who may help light that fire within us. When this happens, the tools/virtues that can be called upon are perseverance, determination and commitment.
These are the qualities that make us “stick with it” and keep going when:

• we want something really badly
• we think/believe we can’t
• something is hard to do
• we need to show ourselves and others that we can

Perseverance: is being persistent. It is sticking with something,  no matter how long it takes or what might show up to stop you. Sometimes it can be our friends, parents or others that may not have the same dreams and goals that you do. When you make up your mind, you follow through doing whatever it takes to get there.
* What other qualities or support might help you to persevere when things get tough?

Determination: focusing your energy on something you are doing or learning and sticking with it until it is learned or finished. It is using your inner drive to do something especially when it isn’t easy or maybe, fun. It means even when something is really hard,  you keep going because you want to succeed.
* Think about what helps you to focus your energy and stick with a task, even when you might not want to do it?

Commitment: is about keeping your promises and agreements, to yourself and others. No matter how tough something may get, you stick with it. You finish what you started out to learn, master or accomplish. You see this a lot in the members of a sports team or in athletes. They give a 100%, holding nothing back. They keep going no matter what.
* Do you have the self-discipline to do what you know you need to do and say you will do? Do you take our commitments seriously?
When we use or call on perseverance,  determination and commitment anything is possible.

About the author
Yvonne loves actively nurturing mindfulness in children and her students in various ways. She is an elementary teacher, Virtues Project Facilitator, Kids Coaching Connection Coach and NLP Coach and Practioner. She has been a camp counsellor and program director for residential camps. She is passionate about nurturing authentic, mindful kids who care, communicate and contribute to their world with courtesy, compassion and love. She believes that more than ever before we have a sacred responsibility in our homes, our school, our communities and our places of worship to nurture each child as a precious gift entrusted to us. For our world to change they need to learn about the virtues within them and how to develop them. Such things as courtesy, compassion, respectfulness, cooperation, responsibility, caring, consideration, accountability, helpfulness, enthusiasm, initiative, unity, tolerance, acceptance and more. Visit her at Mindful Parenting Skills and www.raisingmindfulkids.com

***

Yvonne's book "Raising Mindful Kids" is part of the Essential Parenting Collection, a 35 eProduct collection to inspire parents about mindful guidance, pregnancy and birth, parenting the early years and child development, offered by my affiliate partner Mindful Nurturing.
Get the full collection today for only $49.97 and get access to eBooks, audio courses, virtual yoga classes and much more.

Click here for more information.

Alternatively, you can get the Mindful Guidance mini bundle, which includes these 7 titles:

• Positive Parenting in Action. Rebecca Eanes and Laura Ling
• Setting Limits With Young Children. Patty Wipfler 
• The ABCs of Conscious Parenting. Lori Petro (eBook plus audio download) 
• Raising Mindful Kids. Yvonne Woloszanskyj 
• Parenting Softly. Bryan Post A Survival Guide. 
• Positive Parenting for Children with ASD. Stella Waterhouse 
• Keep Your Cool – How to Stop Yelling, Spanking and Punishing: What to Do Instead. Flo Gascon

The Mindful Guidance mini is on sale for only $19.97, a great deal for a set of products worth over $148. Click here for more info

(and look at that really cute picture of my daughter and husband!)

Perseverance, Determination and Commitment - Raising Mindful Kids

How to Engage Kids With Art

Every child is an artist. They all like to scribble, doodle, play with paint and cut and glue basically anything. Most of them like the mess that goes along with it, some prefer coloring books or simple crafts. But all of the kids love to explore their own creativity when they have a chance.

The thing is - how can you make sure they are learning as well? How do you make sure you nurture their creativity, support their unique style and teach them something useful and meaningful in the process?

When I teach kids about art, I love to start by introducing a new famous artist. There is a lot they can gain from exploring the art of Picasso, Monet or Matisse. But we never copy their work. That would, in my mind, stop the creativity from flowing. Instead, I use the masterpieces to ‘set the scene’ and show kids a certain art element or techniques I want them to try.

Let’s say I want to introduce the father or Impressionism, Camille Pissarro. I start by showing several of his paintings, talking about his life, his love for French countryside and about the importance of colors, mood and light in Impressionism. If there is something fun about the artist I like to mention it. It usually sticks with the kids much more than some dry definitions. For example, when it comes to Pissarro you can tell them that one of his paintings sold for $4 million or that one critic said about his work that he hates it because it is impossible “to make Pissarro understand that trees are not violet and that sky is not the color of fresh butter!”

Then I choose one thing I want to teach the kids. For Pissarro, I decided to explore one-point perspective.

 I choose paintings that show it very clearly, explain the vanishing point (the dot in the distance where all things seem to vanish to), show them the horizon line and let them find it themselves in other paintings. Then we start the project. We will create a farm scene with oil pastels and watercolors that will be inspired by Pissarro’s love for French countryside (and harvest time) and the use of one-point perspective.

I help the kids to set up the scene – sketch the horizon line and the vanishing point. Then I show them how to make several lines that go from the bottom of the paper to the vanishing point (those are going to define the field). It sounds more complicated than it is and even Kindergarteners have no problems doing this. And the hard part is over. Now their creativity can take over.

Discuss with the kids what is going to be their vanishing point: the Sun, a farmhouse, a tree or a scarecrow? What is going to be growing in their field? Is it pumpkins, corn, peas, wheat or everything together? Is it at night or during the day? What colors do they want to use? Then let them create!

Try to stay out of their way as much as possible. Often, well-meaning parents try to help and instead they take over. My kids love it when I do the same project myself alongside them. Then, when they are stuck, they can ask me what I did and how and why. It works better than showing them how to do something on their piece of paper.

And when the kids do a really good job, do not say: ‘good job!’ It feels natural but research shows that statements like: good job, that is the best picture you did, or what a cute flower – actually hurt the creative process. When you praise kids for the results and not the creative process, it hurts their work in the long run. Why? Well, would you take bold risks when you knew that taking the safe route would guarantee you the reward? Kids can become less likely to experiment with art because they want to please us. And they may become more likely to feel pressured by our praise to always make the best painting possible, which is a rather impossible task. You should praise them! But try to choose your words carefully and constructively. Try saying: “Wow, I really like the way you combined your colors here! That is a really thin line. Can you tell me about that painting? I see that you decided to use yellow, red and other bold, bright colors; that really makes your work pop!”

And most importantly, whatever you do – have fun! Choose a project that is relevant to your kids. Choose a technique that you are comfortable with (some may be truly too messy for a short project with a lot of kids). And learn something new along with your kids. They will love to explore new artists, techniques and media with you! And you will feel like a child again, at least for couple of hours.

Resources:
If you want to try this project, here is a link to a power point presentation you can use: http://1drv.ms/MhWHB9

About the author:
My name is Eva Soukal and I am a mom of two little artists. I publish arTree, a digital art magazine for kids and I work hard on bringing art education back to schools through arTree program for art docents. I also teach after-school art as well as Little Artists art classes for preschoolers. I have always loved working with kids and I am very passionate about sharing my love for art with them.

How to Engage Kids With Art

Breastfeeding Twins - Newborns vs. Toddlers

Written by Mercedes R. Donis, contributor of The Essential Parenting Collection

When my twins were born, I couldn't know for certain if I would reach my goal of breastfeeding them for one year. Now that they are sixteen months, the idea of weaning them seems very strange. It just doesn't feel like our time is up, although nursing toddlers has its own challenges.

Here are the main differences between nursing twin newborns and nursing older twins, in my experience.

Newborn Twins:

• Feed on-demand (aka constantly)
• No schedule means (virtually) no sleep
• Mama worries over babies' weight gain
• Mama worries about making enough milk
• Tandem feeding requires a lot of set-up and an extra set of hands
• Babies are helpless and require physical support for proper positioning
• Baby's wants and needs are the same, though not necessarily the same as the other baby's wants and needs!
• Family members can give a bottle of expressed milk to make things easier
• Nursing provides emotional and nutritional benefits

Toddler Twins:

• If left up to them, they'd nurse more times a day than I'm comfortable with, as it stands they generally nurse 4 times a day and once at night.
• Night weaning has been a necessary process, but they still wake up at night (night weaning does not equal magical sleeping dust)
• Mama tries not to worry, but does, about balanced eating habits
• Tandem feeds are more prevalent, thanks to nursing jealousy. 
• Tandem feeds are much easier as nurslings get in and get the job done with little help from Mama
• Toddlers enjoy gym-nurstics and a variety of positions
• Toddlers' wants and needs are sometimes the same, but they can also WANT to feed when they don't necessarily NEED it (as in, they've just finished nursing and now it's brother's turn...WAIT I WASN'T DONE!)
• Toddlers haven't taken a bottle in nine months or so, it's easier and faster to nurse them. 
• Nursing provides emotional and nutritional benefits

Besides the overall confidence that comes with breastfeeding for one year or more, the main difference,
I believe, is that now we mostly tandem feed during the day. I try to get one-on-one time with each twin when they wake up in the morning and at bedtime. 

When giving advice on breastfeeding twins, I mainly call on my first three months of our journey. These were the most painful and emotional times. Once you get the hang of it, and your babies get the hang of it, and you all get pretty well acquainted, breastfeeding is awesome and I'm so glad I have shared that experience with my two. 

You don't have to resign from breastfeeding just because you're having twins. You can do it. You can survive. You can enjoy it. 

About the author  
Mercedes is a stay-at-home mom to toddler twins. American-born and globally-educated, she has lived in South Africa and Angola with her husband before settling in their current home of Aberdeen, Scotland. Mercedes believes that motherhood has saved her from the soul-robbing apathy of her twenties, and this eternal Michael Jackson fan has begun to do what she can to “Heal the World.” She writes about her journey as an expat-twin-mama at her blog, Project Procrastinot. Her writing has also appeared on The Bump.com, Yahoo! Shine, and in Multiplicity Magazine.

Connect with the author on Facebook - Pinterest - Twitter

***

The Twin Manibreasto is part of the Early Years Essentials of my affiliate partner's Mindful Nurturing's Essential Parenting Collection. Read my review of the book here.
Mercedes' book
Get this lovely gem about breastfeeding multiples, paired with 5 other eBooks geared towards parenting the early years of your child's life. The Early Years Essentials are available for $19.97, giving you access to:

• The Colic Solution, by Nicolette Roux
• Twin Manibreasto, by Mercedes R. Donis
• The Natural Parent's Guide to Babywearing, by Lauren Wayne
• A one-year subscription to JUNO magazine
• What Not to Say: Tools for Talking to Young Children, by Sarah Maclaughlin
• Oxytocin Parenting: Womb through the Terrible Twos, by Susan Kuchinskas and Bryan Post

Alternatively, buy the full collection at $49.97, a real steal for the over $740 total retail value. Get more information here.

Breastfeeding Twins - Newborns vs. Toddlers