Living Simply With Children

Raising children ranks as one of life’s most rewarding adventures. Yet between Mom and Dad working full-time jobs, endless carpooling of overscheduled youngsters, and the never-ending pressures to buy and consume, family life can be incredibly—needlessly—complex. What if you could find a way to spend more time with your children, replace unnecessary activities with meaningful ones, and teach your children an invaluable life lesson in the process? Living Simply with Children offers a realistic blueprint for zeroing in on the pleasures of family life: • How (and why) to live simply and find more time to be with your children • Activities and rituals that bring out the best in every family member • Realistic ways to reclaim your children from corporate America • Helping children of any age deal with peer pressure • Raising kids who care about people and the planet • How to focus on the “good stuff” . . . with less stuff Including sections on limiting television, environmentally friendly practices, celebrating the holidays, and tapping into the growing community of families who embrace simplicity, this inspiring guide will show you how to raise children according to your own values—and not those of the consumer culture—as you enjoy both quality and quantity time with your family.

‘The book to recommend to patients when they face coming to terms with unavoidable childlessness.' – British Medical Journal In Living the Life Unexpected, Jody Day addresses the experience of involuntary childlessness and provides a powerful, practical guide to help those negotiating a future without children come to terms with their grief; a grief that is only just beginning to be recognized by society. This friendly, practical, humorous and honest guide from one of the world’s most respected names in childless support offers compassion and understanding and shows how it’s possible to move towards a creative, happy, meaningful and fulfilling future – even if it’s not the one you had planned. Millions of people are now living a life without children, almost double that of a generation ago and the numbers are rising still. Although some are childfree by choice, many others are childless due to infertility or circumstance and are struggling to come to terms with their uncertain future. Although most people think that those without children either 'couldn't' or 'didn't want’ to be parents, the truth is much more complex. Jody Day was forty-four when she realized that her quest to be a mother was at an end. She presumed that she was through the toughest part, but over the next couple of years she was hit by waves of grief, despair and isolation. Eventually she found her way and in 2011 created Gateway Women, the global friendship and support network for childless women which has now helped almost two million people worldwide. This edition, previously titled Rocking the Life Unexpected, has been extensively revised and updated, with significant additional content and case studies from forty involuntarily childless people (mostly women) from around the world.

Women who opt not to be mothers are frequently warned that they will regret their decision later in life, yet we rarely talk about the possibility that the opposite might also be true—that women who have children might regret it. Drawing on years of research interviewing women from a variety of socioeconomic, educational, and professional backgrounds, sociologist Orna Donath treats regret as a feminist issue: as regret marks the road not taken, we need to consider whether alternative paths for women currently are blocked off. She asks that we pay attention to what is forbidden by rules governing motherhood, time, and emotion, including the cultural assumption that motherhood is a “natural” role for women—for the sake of all women, not just those who regret becoming mothers. If we are disturbed by the idea that a woman might regret becoming a mother, Donath says, our response should not be to silence and shame these women; rather, we need to ask honest and difficult questions about how society pushes women into motherhood and why those who reconsider it are still seen as a danger to the status quo. Groundbreaking, thoughtful, and provocative, this is an especially needed book in our current political climate, as women's reproductive rights continue to be at the forefront of national debates.

Easy recipes, DIY projects, and other ideas for living a beautiful and low-waste life, from the expert behind @simply.living.well on Instagram.

Wordless illustrations of the weather, colors, and activities children enjoy in spring.

Today’s busier, faster society is waging an undeclared war on childhood. With too much stuff, too many choices, and too little time, children can become anxious, have trouble with friends and school, or even be diagnosed with behavioral problems. Now internationally renowned family consultant Kim John Payne helps parents reclaim for their children the space and freedom that all kids need for their attention to deepen and their individuality to flourish. Simplicity Parenting offers inspiration, ideas, and a blueprint for change: • Streamline your home environment. Reduce the amount of toys, books, and clutter—as well as the lights, sounds, and general sensory overload. • Establish rhythms and rituals. Discover ways to ease daily tensions, create battle-free mealtimes and bedtimes, and tell if your child is overwhelmed. • Schedule a break in the schedule. Establish intervals of calm and connection in your child’s daily torrent of constant doing. • Scale back on media and parental involvement. Manage your children’s “screen time” to limit the endless deluge of information and stimulation. A manifesto for protecting the grace of childhood, Simplicity Parenting is an eloquent guide to bringing new rhythms to bear on the lifelong art of raising children.

"Living Values Education Activities for Children Ages 3-7, Book 1" is an updated and expanded edition of the original "Living Values Activities for Children Ages 3-7" resource. Book 1 offers a rich variety of values activities to help children explore and develop values. The eight values units of Book 1 are Peace I, Respect 1, Love and Caring, Tolerance, Honesty, Happiness, Responsibility, and Simplicity and Caring for our Earth and Her Oceans. The Living Values Education Activities in this book incorporate a variety of ways to introduce, explore and teach values. The Peace Unit begins with a commentary which encourages children to imagine what a peaceful world would be like. Art activities, playing with peace puppets and the making of a peace tent help them bring some of their ideas into life. Reflection points explain values in simple ways. Stories, songs, sharing, and teaching skills are combined with playing, art, movement and role playing. Quietly Being exercises help children learn to self-regulate and fill themselves with peace, love and respect. In this peaceful, nurturing and enjoyable approach, personal social and emotional skills develop as well as positive, constructive social skills. These values activities can be used by elementary school teachers, nursery and pre-school teachers, parents, caregivers and day-care center staff. This book reflects the experience of Living Values Education educators ... that children love to explore. They are naturally receptive, enthusiastic about learning, and spontaneously caring and creative. They thrive in a positive, nurturing, values-based atmosphere where they feel safe, and easily assimilate learning about peace, conflict resolution and the giving of respect and love. Consciously modeling peace, respect, caring and honesty, and teaching about values is increasingly important as children in today's world are exposed to violence and inappropriate models of behavior at younger and younger ages. The Living Values Education Activities books are part of the curricular resources offered by the Association of Living Values Education International. Growing from strength to strength, Living Values Education (LVE) has enriched the lives and educational experience of young people and educators around the world since its initial pilot in February 1997. A global endeavor dedicated to nurturing and educating hearts as well as minds, LVE provides an approach and tools to help people connect with their own values and "live" them. A values-based learning community fosters positive relationships, quality learning and quality education. With Living Values Education, educators and students become co-creators of a culture of peace and respect. Educators are welcome to participate in Living Values Education professional development workshops. Creating a values-based atmosphere in which young people are loved, valued, respected, understood and safe helps students "catch" the values being shared.

A Fine Mess: Living Simply With Children is a memoir full of tips for living frugally and simply. Through humor, trial and error, the Hogan's have learned how to scale back, live frugally and have fun in the process. Between homeschooling, owning their own businesses and working at jobs they love, they have been able to stay debt-free and feed their family fresh organic foods for less than $400 a month.