They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. As a Marital and Family Therapist, I agree! When possible, I prefer to help people prepare and prevent problems.  Pregnancy offers expectant parents an opportunity to prepare for parenthood. Making educated decisions about birth, newborn care, and parenting practices is an investment in the child and the relationship between parent and child. Education is the key to preparing for the difficult decisions required of parents and is an ongoing process. That is why I enjoy teaching parenting classes and continually educating myself through reading and taking classes too!

Here are a few ways that you can prepare yourself for pregnancy, birth, and parenthood:

• Reflect on childhood experiences and current beliefs about parenting
• Explore parenting styles
• Work through feelings surrounding the pregnancy
• Commit to a strong, healthy relationship between parenting partners in ways that do not undermine the attachment process between mother and baby or sacrifice the developmentl needs of the baby
• Have extra help after birth (nurturing the mom so she can nurture the baby)
• Use a birth and/or postpartum doula
• Educate yourself about developmental stages and needs
• Get counseling to process and come to with your own childhood especially if it involved abuse or neglect or other impactful unresolved experiences.
• Reflect on previous pregnancy, birth, and parenting experiences that you may have and think about what worked and what didn't. You can draw on both your own experience and the experience of others.
  

Susan's upcoming Parenting Classes at Natural Lullabies include:

• Discipline Workshop (all ages) - September 27th 1:00 pm
• Sibling Preparation - October 11th 1:00 pm
• Happiest Baby on the Block (newborns - 3 months) - October 11th 3:00 pm
• Toddler Care (1-4 yrs) - October 15th 1:00 pm