Rebecca Thompson Hitt, Author at The Consciously Parenting Project

Better Sleep Through Story Healing

Beata, 2 ½, had always been a restless sleeper. It was a challenge to get her to sleep each night, and once asleep she would burrow herself into the side of one of her parents. She woke up screaming inconsolably from her naps each day and many times at night, as well. Sleep training was something that her parents decided

Do we have mistaken ideas about sleep?

My oldest son wasn’t a very good sleeper. In fact, I didn’t know how little sleep one could survive on and still talk in complete sentences until he came into my life. When he was diagnosed with colic and reflux, I was told to prop him up to sleep, and to feed him rice cereal in a bottle (which I

Helping Kids in School – Movement is Key

Originally published in Good Living Magazine Take a moment right now and check in with your body. Are you hungry? Are you tired? Are you thirsty? Do you need to move your body? Do you need to go to the bathroom? Seriously. As parents, we often disconnect from our own bodily needs because we have so many other things that need our attention. Can you

5 Simple Ways to Nurture Relationships

Lately, I’ve been really reflecting about what families can do to create more nurturing experiences. With my recent experiences with the work of Hedy Schleifer and Crossing the Bridge, I have some ideas that might help you start thinking about the simple things you can do to create more love, connection, and nurturing in your family. Hint: It doesn’t have to take a

What You Probably Didn’t Know About Breastmilk

Did you know that breastmilk contains stem cells? How cool is that?! You won’t find that in any infant formula. The short and long-term benefits of breastfeeding may be something that you’ve heard before, but new research has identified 1000’s of factors and co-factors in breastmilk that we are just beginning to understand. I’d like to share with you a

The Gift of Experiences

My youngest son’s birthday was on Tuesday. He turned 16! I’m still not sure how it happened that my youngest child is 16 years old, but here we are. He’s so delightful, funny, curious, and adventurous. For his birthday this year, we’re in Mexico. That’s a first that we’ve been outside of the United States on his birthday, so we

Behavior Diagnosis: Does it Help or Hurt?

I received an email yesterday talking about yet another “new” disorder. This disorder was for people who fixate on eating healthy. The author was talking about how people who don’t care what they are eating are “healthy” and those who do have a disorder. Hmmmm…. That just didn’t feel right to me. So, after hearing about this “disorder,” I decided

Making Room for Feelings: A Story of Connection

I have a memory of sitting on the floor with my 4 year-old-son. He was completely losing it because I had turned off the television after our agreed-upon time. He was hysterical. I wasn’t far behind. I was trying to figure out what to do when he was so upset. So far, nothing had really worked. I had read a

Less “Fixing,” More Listening

I’ve been in the middle of a very large storm. My oldest son, my 19-year-old, has been really sick. We’ve spent the past couple of weeks going to different doctors, trying different diets, and trying to figure out why his digestive system is completely inflamed. This is the kind of stress that makes it hard to do anything else. It’s

Nurturing Connection Through Play

Excerpt from Nurturing Connection, Rebecca’s 3rd book in the Consciously Parenting series What do our children really need to be emotionally healthy and to feel nurtured in our relationship with them? Playing is one of six things discussed in Rebecca’s upcoming book that we can do to nurture connection with our children (and our friends and partner, too). We take parenting really