Parenting Pep Talk is a weekly series of guest posts all about encouraging other parents by sharing some of our happy moments, the advice that has worked for us and some positive words of encouragement.
Today’s post is from Liz Lowe who is a London-based freelance writer and freestyling mother. She blogs at Parenting Calm about mindful living and positive parenting, with a sense of humour. Liz also loves wine, yoga, reading and chocolate, and can currently manage three out of four at the same time.
1) Tell us a little bit about you and your family
We’re a family of four: me, my husband, our 2 year old daughter and our 10 week old son. We live in South West London. We became parents later than some – I’ll be 40 later this year, and my husband celebrated that one a while back!
2) How would you describe your parenting style?
We’re quite relaxed. I read up a lot on parenting, as I’m really interested in the psychology of it all, and we try to follow an approach often referred to as ‘positive parenting’. So we set kind, respectful limits, we aim to coach and support rather than control and we focus on making sure our kids get the connection they need. Most of the time anyway…parenting is tough work, and we both lose the plot sometimes!
3) What’s your favourite thing about being a parent?
There are so many things, but seeing the world through childs’ eyes is one of them – it’s like learning about the world all over again. And the cuddles – it’s all about the cuddles.
4) What one piece of encouraging advice would you give to a new parent?
Look after yourself. It’s so important – we have to give so much to these little people and that’s hard to do when we’re running on empty. Figure out what small things help you get through tough days, and prioritise them (good coffee, fresh air, disco tunes before breakfast…).
5) Can you share one of your favourite parenting moments?
Tough question! It would probably be one of the big ones, like when my daughter met her little brother for the first time. She was very proud and really excited about holding him – it didn’t last long though!
6) Anything else that you would like to share to encourage other parents?
I love the books by Dr. Laura Markham, and her website – Aha Parenting. I also recently did a course by Hand in Hand Parenting and would recommend that (Patty Wipfler is amazing!).
I try to use mindfulness and various other tools to help me keep my cool when buttons are being pressed. These are a few posts about my efforts!
- Surviving life with a newborn and toddler
- Mindful parenting: 4 things I’ve learnt so far
- A mindful life hack for when you’re feeling off track
Thank you Liz for sharing your positive parenting moments and the advice you have found helpful.
You can connect with Liz on the following social networks:
If you’d like to share some of your positive parenting moments on the Parenting Pep Talk, then let me know in the comments below and I’ll email you with more details.
So good to read about another blogger Mum who is using Mindfulness in her day-to-day life. I love Laura Markham and the Aha Parenting philosophy too. Hats off to Liz for keeping up with the blogging with a newborn and a toddler at home. Good to find out more about the lady behind Parenting Calm via #ablogginggoodtime x
It is so true that we need to remember to recharge our batteries sometimes. #ablogginggoodtime
awww I do love this series. It is so nice to hear the positves about parenting and hear the lovely bits.
Thanks for linking to #ablogginggoodtime