Parenting is meant to be just a natural part of life. You just think you know how to do it but, of course, it's much more complicated than that.
Don't listen to anyone's advice. Listen to your baby ... There are so many books, doctors, and well-meaning friends and family. We like to say, 'You don't need a book. Your baby is a book. Just pick it up and read it.'
I'm pretty earthy; I nursed forever because I liked it and my kids liked it, but at the same time I'm very laissez-faire about stuff like bedtimes and food.
I am trying to live as natural as I can with my son.
When I became a mother, I was trying so hard, using reusable diapers, washing them, looking for organic supplies even though it's much more expensive, and facing so many challenges attempting to do the right thing.
I feel that the connection with children and mothers is so strong in places where there are not so many 'things' to get in the way, no electronic distraction devices, no high-tech baby equipment, just a mother carrying her little one everywhere, sharing a family bed and having the help of all the other women around to raise the baby.
Baby-carrying means your hearts are close together. It's a very intense and beautiful way to bond with your baby, very intimate. It's also easier than a stroller.
The best way to direct kids is to be natural and honest.
Sleeping with your child, wearing your child in a sling as opposed to pushing them around in expensive strollers, those are things that matter biologically and sociologically for the structure of a family.
The more people have studied different methods of bringing up children the more they have come to the conclusion that what good mothers and fathers instinctively feel like doing for their babies is the best after all.
I've become sort of an accidental advocate for attachment parenting, which is a style of parenting that... basically, the way mammals parent and the way people have parented for pretty much all of human history except the last 200 years or so.
Some of our kids are adopted and some kids are natural-born - I forget which ones are which. Family's just amazing. We think that of everything that we could do in the world... if you don't take care of your family and raise your kids, you lose.
You don't have to be an at-home parent to be an attachment parent.
