Why did I decide to start this blog?

When I was a young mother, I lived in a community made up of lots of other young families, and didn’t have any older, more experienced parents to model. There was no one to ask my questions of – I talked with my friends about parenting difficulties, but very often, it was the blind leading the blind – all of us were trying our best to figure it out as we went along. But often, we were simply clueless as to the right way to handle situations. Despite my mistakes and missteps, I gradually developed and implemented an approach to parenting that has been productive and satisfying. We are privileged to homeschool, and I spend all day, every day with my kids. I love spending time with them, and I love the people they are and are becoming. But it didn’t happen by itself – it took a lot of consistent and conscious effort.

I believe that there are many women who are in the same situation I was in, ‘winging it’, trying to figure out what to do and say in every conversation with their child. I regularly see and speak with young mothers who desperately wanted to be good parents, but just don’t know how to go about it. Many parents today are Generation Xers, who grew up in daycares and as latchkey kids, and can’t ask their parents how to handle parenting issues, because their parents just don’t know.

Over the past couple of years, it has been suggested to me a number of times that I give parenting classes, write a book on homeschooling (which I actually began but lost when my computer crashed), and most recently, start a blog. As drawn as I was to the idea of helping younger moms navigate their way through the parenting sea, I didn’t see how I had the time for it, nor a venue that would reach enough people to justify finding the time for it.

And then we started the pillow business, and the idea that had been at the back of my mind for so long suddenly seemed viable and doable. After all, if new moms are browsing my site, maybe I could include a link to a page that would include parenting tips. And from that came the idea of a blog integrated into the site, to help as many women as possible.

If you have parenting questions you would like to ask, feel free to post them. I am far from perfect and I don’t pretend to have all the answers. But I have learned alot about raising good kids, and as they say, the proof is in the pudding! If there is a question that I don’t have insight or experience about, I will say so.

Looking forward to sharing experiences together!

Avivah