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Summer Vacation Offers Opportunity For Deepening Relationships With Our Children I loved my childhood summer vacations, but what is it like for parents?	The Myth of Balance: How This Mom Created More Time With Her Kids Some days, I feel like I do a pretty good job of balancing my career, my family, and myself. Other days, it feels like I'm falling desperately behind and failing on all three counts.
An Ever-Changing Village: Why Parent Support is Crucial for Military Families One of the many reasons parents find their way to Nurturings is that they're seeking a community and Nurturings can connect them to local parenting groups.	Want To Raise A Creative Child? First, Believe You Are Creative! Then Open Up 15 Minutes Of Your Day We tend to believe that only a few people are genuinely creative, that they are born knowing they are creative and that they go through life with that creative spark undimmed.
Seek Progress Over Perfection with Ourselves and in Parenting Perfectionism is probably the biggest creativity block I run across. When we speak of perfection, we actually are reaching for an unattainable goal, because as human beings, we aren't perfect.	Growing Up Different is OK! What Autism Has Taught This Mom About Raising Her Daughter One of the hardest challenges with raising a special needs child is trying to keep people, including us as her parents, from attmepting to force her into being a "typical" child. Jackie is different.
The Artist's Way For Parents: Interview With Julia Cameron, Artist & Creative Coach Julia Cameron came up with the idea of authoring The Artist's Way books more than two decades ago while sharing ideas with a few friends in their living room. Today, more than 30 books include her byline including The Artist's Way for Parents.	Falling in Love with Our Children is Scary: 3 Tips to Make It Easier Love opens us up, wide open: no armor, no defenses. We're naked and vulnerable when we're in love. Love is powerful. It's not just cupids and chocolates and diamonds.
Love Not Always Floodlights & Fireworks, But Sometimes It Is My son is sleeping on my husband's chest, snuggled in an "O" against his broad shoulders in a snuggly nest, resting easy, gently. I want my son to wake up, because I haven't seen him this morning.	Quick Ideas To Reconnect With Children This Holiday Season Making time to share time and interests with your child refills your love-tank and lets you bounce back after struggles. Small moments in every day, every week, keep us connected.

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A mixed methods approach to understanding the relationship between attachment and child outcomes: The connection of related findings, theory and cultural implications as explored through the perspectives and practices of attachment parents. Wedmore, H. V. (2013). A mixed methods approach to understanding the relationship between attachment and child outcomes: The connection of related findings, theory and cultural implications as explored through the perspectives and practices of attachment parents. In Chapter 2 of this paper, a quantitative analysis investigated the association between positive couple interaction and child outcomes (externalizing behavior and social competence) as mediated through positive parenting and a secure parent-child attachment. In Chapter 3, a qualitative approach was used to explore the perspectives and parenting behaviors of mothers who identify as attachment parents Additionally, the implications of attachment theory, evolutionary theory, and the societal context in which parenting practices are embedded are explored. A connection between the quantitative and qualitative findings of this study is drawn in Chapter 4 via the discussion section. In addition, consistencies and inconsistencies were explored between the results of both studies as well as between previous research findings and pre-established theory.	New Mothers and Media Use: Associations Between Blogging, Social Networking, and Maternal Well-Being McDaniel, B. T., Coyne, S. M., & Holmes, E. K. (2012). New Mothers and Media Use: Associations Between Blogging, Social Networking, and Maternal Well-Being. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 16(7), 1509-1517. Blogging, but not social networking, fulfilled a means of social support to new mothers, providing feelings of connectedness and well-being.
First-Time Mothers: Social Support, Maternal Parental Self-Efficacy and Postnatal Depression Leahy-Warren, P., McCarthy, G., & Corcoran, P. (2012). First-time mothers: social support, maternal parental self-efficacy and postnatal depression. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 21(3-4), 388-397. Social support was associated with a new mother’s confidence, which was further related to less postpartum depression.	Social Support, Volunteering and Health Around the World: Cross-National Evidence From 139 Countries Kumar, S., Calvo, R., Avendano, M., Sivaramakrishnan, K., & Berkman, L. F. (2012). Social support, volunteering and health around the world: cross-national evidence from 139 countries. Social Science & Medicine, 74(5), 696-706. Personal health was associated with social support, which included relationships with family and friends as well as volunteer opportunities.
Parenting Style Trumps Work Role in Life Satisfaction of Midlife Women Kasimatis, M. D., & Guastello, D. D. (2012). Parenting Style Trumps Work Role in Life Satisfaction of Midlife Women. Journal of Articles in Support of the Null Hypotheses, 9(1), 52-60. Parenting style determined mothers' midlife life satisfaction while mothers' work roles did not, and authoritative parenting styles were directly linked to midlife happiness.	Social Influences on Neuroplasticity: Stress and Interventions to Promote Well-Being Davidson, R. J., & McEwen, B. S. (2012). Social influences on neuroplasticity: stress and interventions to promote well-being. Nature Neuroscience, 15(5), 689-695. More research is needed to explore brain plasticity in response to social influences. What is known is that stress affects humans and animals similarly in changing the activation and physical structure of different parts of the brain. It also appears that positive emotional qualities can be acquired through training of the mind.
Infant Sleep and Paternal Involvement in Infant Caregiving During the First 6 Months of Life Tikotzky, L., Sadeh, A., & Glickman-Gavrieli, T. (2011). Infant sleep and paternal involvement in infant caregiving during the first 6 months of life. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 36(1), 36-46. In solitary sleep arrangements, mothers were more involved in nighttime parenting than fathers, and breastfeeding was related to less father involvement. More father involvement early on predicted fewer night-wakings by 6 months.	Effect of Mother/Infant Skin-to-Skin Contact on Postpartum Depressive Symptoms and Maternal Physiological Stress Bigelow, A., Power, M., MacLellan-Peters, J., Alex, M., & McDonald, C. (2012). Effect of Mother/Infant Skin-to-Skin Contact on Postpartum Depressive Symptoms and Maternal Physiological Stress. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, & Neonatal Nursing, 41(3), 369-382 Skin-to-skin contact lessened the mother’s stress and postpartum depression symptoms within the first month after childbirth.
Perceived Partner Support in Pregnancy Predicts Lower Maternal and Infant Distress Stapleton, L. R. T., Schetter, C. D., Westling, E., Rini, C., Glynn, L. M., Hobel, C. J., & Sandman, C. A. (2012). Perceived partner support in pregnancy predicts lower maternal and infant distress. Journal of Family Psychology, 26(3), 453-463. Women who received more support from their partners during pregnancy experienced less distress postpartum and reported that their infants were happier, too.