The months of May and June mark the time of year that kids are scrambling around to honor their mother and father for that one special day.  Visions of elaborate breakfasts in bed may lead to trails of dripping eggs and clouds of flower in the kitchen aftermath.  Painted handprints create everything from flower petals to butterfly wings, pronouncing each child’s love for mommy or daddy.  So on that day we may ease up on expectations of clean kitchens and even take the time to tune in and admire the most simplistic of our children’s creations. 

However precious these moments are, it is often not long before we find ourselves frustrated by things not being quite as we expect.  Perhaps it is the shrill of the kids arguing over who gets to give mommy the flower or the two hour (two hour!) wait at the wonderful new brunch place. It’s easy to move from being in a place of gratitude to being somewhere much less forgiving and find yourself behaving with a level of unskilled behavior equal to the kids’.  So, what’s a parent to do?

Join us for the next month as we explore concepts of mindful parenting.  Know that most of these ideas will apply to the larger area of relationships as a whole.  However, we will also hone in on unique challenges and opportunities for mindfulness that being a parent highlights.

We are excited to kick off this series with an exclusive interview with author Jennifer Laurent, who will talk with us about her journey with mindful, or conscious, parenting.  Her book, Excerpts From The Heart of a Mom, explores 25 concepts of conscious parenting.  We invite you to submit questions and share thoughts in the comment section below.  We will select questions to ask Laurent during our interview, and we will also address these in our future posts.

Check out community page LiveThroughTheHeart.com

Dr. Klich interviews Jennifer Laurent, author of Heart of a Mom