Welcome to part 5 of my blog on the wonderful book “Parenting Well in a Media Age” by Gloria deGaetano. This week we are looking at Chapter 4 – The Second Essential Need: An Interior Life. What is an “Interior Life”? “An interior life is to our minds what an enclosed porch is to our house. It’s a place separate from, yet a part of the structure in which we live. It’s a place to meet ourselves and have a good chat. It’s a seclusion to muse and ponder. It’s a timeout where we can regroup and understand ourselves better. We enter when we wish and leave when it’s time. Hopefully it’s a room of light; a place where we achieve clarity and purpose”. – Gloria DeGaetano The importance of having the time to be in our “porches” cannot be underestimated especially now in the busy lives we all lead. It is during this time that we have time to think, reflect, self-talk and simply “be” which is an essential component for all human beings, particularly children, to function well and develop “inner” quality skills such as integrity and resilience. DeGaetano believes that: “Nurturing An Interior Life Leads to a …Read more →

However you wish to look at it, most of us would probably agree that the foundation to parenting well comes down to relationship – relationship is primary. Whether you phrase it “connection” or “attachment” or “bond” it is a crucial element in forming the foundation to parenting well. In today’s blog, I will be covering Chapter 3 “The First Essential Need: A Loving Parent-Child Bond” in the book Parenting Well in a Media Age by Gloria DeGaetano. “The bond between a parent and child is the primary bond, the foundation for the rest of the child’s life. The presence or absence of this bond determines much about the child’s resiliency and what kind of adult they will grow up to be.” – Jane Fonda Maintaining healthy, strong relationships takes time and effort and it is human nature to sometimes take our “nearest and dearest” for granted. As parents in todays busy, media influenced, highly scheduled world it is especially hard to “find” the time to spend quality time with our children. Just being in their company is not “enough” for what is required to really bond with them. If we want to build a strong connection with them, we need …Read more →

Welcome to part 3 of this “Parenting Book Club” blog on the book “Parenting Well in a Media Age” by Gloria DeGaetano. This week we are looking at Chapter 3 – Reclaiming our Parenting Identity. To parent well, we need a sound “inner gauge” to choice-making to keep us on track and help us and our children thrive in this exciting but challenging world. This inner gauge needs to be reflective of many things as it helps contribute to our parenting identity: who we are, what we stand for, our intentions, what we believe in and trust in influencing the choices we make. Regarding the Parenting Identity of today’s parents, the author goes as far as saying that: “The *unsanity of parenting in an industry-generated culture has ushered in a parental identity crisis of major proportions” *“Unsane”: Somewhere between sane and insane ie. we know it is not sane but it is not yet to the extent of being insane. It is quite clear that DeGaetano believes that a strong parenting identity is paramount to parenting with success and making sure that your children follow your messages over the media/industry-generated ones. They need to know WHO you are and WHAT …Read more →

Welcome to Chapter 1 – “Todays’ Parenting Challenges” in the book Parenting Well in a Media Age by Gloria DeGaetano. When I write about Parenting Challenges, I usually find myself writing about the more “typical” challenges that most parents face. However, as much as these challenges exist and are not to be taken lightly, I feel that if we, as a parenting community, continue to over-look the bigger picture, we are going to struggle to find SUSTAINABLE solutions to our “everyday” challenges. Why? Because I feel that many of our ‘smaller’ challenges stem from the big picture, that being, TODAY’S CULTURE. The unfortunate truth is that the Band-Aid “quick fix” approach often fails to meet our real needs as it deals with the symptoms but not the real underlying cause. In this opening chapter we are going to take a dive into the “bigger picture”, the challenges that life TODAY presents all parents and by “life” I mean more the governing culture that we are all a part of. The question that comes to mind here, as listed by the author is: “How can parents meet their children’s real human needs and their own human needs in a larger culture that …Read more →