Becoming a parent can trigger a major shift in identity. As your schedule and priorities change, often your core values realign as well. Brie Backus, a Leadership & Fulfillment Coach, Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, and PEPS supporter and sponsor, works with her clients to take stock of their values and find ways to lean into those values in daily life as a parent. Read her tips for identifying your values on our blog.
Brie Backus found community through her parent peer-support group with Parent for Early Parent Support (PEPS). That experience went on to shape her health and wellness support programs as an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach.
I’ve never lived through a pandemic before. But like all parents, I know what it’s like to have my world shrink. My world used to be much tinier than this, those first weeks after I had each baby when I barely left my bedroom, and the months afterward when even a walk down the street sometimes seemed impossible.
The quarantine’s tight intimacy has been strangely familiar, so sweet and so suffocating at the same time. Thanks to those early baby years, I know what it’s like to have my world close in on me and my children, and how to re-craft my expectations around those new boundaries. Luckily, this time around, I have that past experience to guide me.
Hear how one local parent, trained facilitator, and mindful parenting guru uses mindfulness practices to help her through these groundhog days of parenting, one breath at a time.
By Megan Sloan (Estimated reading time: 8 min) When I became a new parent, I had almost 20 years of yoga under my belt and about 5 years of a regular mindfulness practice of sitting almost every day. After sleepless nights and early wake-ups, I found my daily meditation practice of sitting quietly first thing in the morning needed to…
By Holly Koteen-Soule We all know that sleep is essential for rejuvenation, and if you find yourself paddling hard all day long, you may also want to find a quiet mooring place somewhere in the middle of the day. Naps give young children a chance to rest and recharge, but calm times during waking hours are also necessary for children…
Anjelica moved to Seattle two years ago and transitioned from being a stay-at-home parent to a full-time grad student while working. Read about what she’s learned from making the shift and what time-savers her family has implemented to help them enjoy each day.
When I was pregnant with my first daughter, family and friends who’d been there all had the same piece of advice: Sleep when the baby sleeps. It seemed so simple, and so obvious. Of course I would do that. When I was tired. Which wouldn’t be all the time. Then my daughter was born, and, like a lot of babies,…
by Kimberly Chan This post was originally published at https://www.oktobeimperfect.com/preparing-baby-emotional-changes-challenges/. Emotional changes and challenges should be expected with the arrival of a new baby. As I prepare to lead a PEPS Newborn group discussion on Emotional Changes and Challenges and prepare for the arrival of our second child, I want to share my approach with other new and expecting parents…
by Laurie Ganberg, LICSW “I love my baby but I feel trapped.” “Maybe having a baby was a mistake.” “Every part of my life has changed. I miss my old life.” I often hear these statements hesitantly shared by women experiencing ambivalence and regret after a new baby—along with, “I can’t talk about this in the new moms group.” But it is…