I first heard of aware parenting through a friend while pregnant with my son who is now 2 years old. She was helping to promote Aletha Solter’s Australian tour and I was lucky enough
to attend a one day workshop. Having enjoyed the workshop, I bought the book which I read before Conor was born. The principles of Aware Parenting resonated well with me as I was
interested in attachment parenting and have also trained in co-counselling. Interestingly enough though, it was not until Conor was 6 months that I really started to apply them.
Looking back now, I think I fell into the first time mother breast-feeding control pattern. However, he began to indicate that things needed to change and after a few encouraging
emails, discussions and rereads of Aware Baby, they did change and for the better. I stopped feeding him to sleep and instead allowed him to lie in my arms and release at bedtime. I also began to listen to him in a much deeper way which helped me to distinguinsh between his basic needs and that for crying to heal.
Overall I have found the aware parenting journey to be very liberating. It has given me the opportunity to communicate more effectively with Conor and as a result I feel much closer to him. I am able to recognise when he needs to release and I am also no longer scared of crying. I encourage his crying and in doing so I hope that I am allowing him to welcome his ‘saddies’ rather than suppress it which will lead to the growth of his emotional intelligence. I have found that when he is given time to release
his upset feelings he is much clearer and happier. I feel very fortunate to have come across aware partenting and see the results of it’s application every moment I’m with Conor. I would
highly recommend Aletha’s books and website as well as the aware parenting yahoo group which has members from all over the world.