Let's consider, for a moment, your influence on other parents.

At Nurturings, we train Certified Attached at the Heart Parenting Educators and encourage local parent support groups. There is always need for more certified parenting educators and groups in local areas. Face-to-face connection with like-minded parents is a critical foundation of parent support.

Sometimes, we'll hear from parents asking for a local group who don't feel confident in their ability to lead a group. They may feel they are too new to parenting or too new to parenting with a nurturing approach or that they make too many mistakes.

Here's the deal: You are already a parent support leader with or without official training. And if you have friends who are parents, you are already a leader of a local parent support group (your friendship circle) because you and your friends are naturally looking to one another for validation and ideas.

Parent support groups are just a group of parents coming together to talk about raising their kids.

The best parent support leaders are parents without any agenda other than the desire to get connected with other parents who are raising their kids in a similar way. Parents reaching out with questions make especially great parent support leaders because of their motivation to gather with others to find answers. We bond as we find ways through our challenges together and grow together on this parenting journey.

We encourage you to join us in organizing a local parent support group. We can provide resources and training as you like, but know that you don't need to have any special qualification to be a parent support leader other than be raising kids. All it means to be a leader is being a friend to fellow parents!

#normalizenurturing

There's a saying that "it takes a village to raise a child."

For sure! Parents need a solid support circle, but it's incredibly important that the people included in your supportive social ties be aligned with your parenting goals.

This is especially true for new parents. We grow in our confidence, as parents, as we grow in our parenting. As we all are with any new skill, our confidence can be a little shaky at first and we can be impressionable when first starting out and still solidifying our parenting goals and approach. 

If my parenting goal is to response sensitively to my children when they are angry, seeking support from friends who punish their angry children can undermine my goal. The same goes with any area of parenting...understanding child development, feeding, nurturing touch, sleep, discipline, consistency in care, and so on.

This doesn't mean that we can't be friends with others with different parenting goals. We can certainly be positive influences for change! But when we find ourselves asking questions or needing validation, and oh we find ourselves doing this frequently all the way through our parenting journeys(!), it's vital that we seek support from someone with similar parenting goals.

I further suggest having a mix of experience in your parenting support circle, if possible: friends in the same stage of parenting as you, friends with older children, friends with grown children, friends with fewer children, friends with more children. Each different perspective offers more ideas to try!

You'll find that some in your parenting circle are more natural at validation and that others may become your go-to for questions. Different people may offer more helpful support during different seasons. 

The hope is that your parenting support circle provides ample opportunity to enrich your life and that you are able to return the favor to others. We all need this! 

#normalizenurturing

We, at Nurturings, are committed to supporting breastfeeding and World Breastfeeding Week. 

Organizationally, Nurturings is a member of two powerhouses in the protection, promotion, and support of breastfeeding: the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) and the U.S. Breastfeeding Committee (USBC).

A global network of individuals and organizations, WABA is the organizer and coordinator of World Breastfeeding Week, held annually August 1-7. This year's theme is "Step Up Together for Breastfeeding."  

Each year, WABA selects a theme for World Breastfeeding Week that aligns breastfeeding with one of the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

WABA's goal is to use World Breastfeeding Week as a campaign to not only raise awareness of the need to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding but to galvanize action in our governments, health care systems, workplaces, and communities to do so.

USBC is a coalition of 100-plus nonprofits, advocacy groups, federal agencies, and other organizations working to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding in the United States. USBC is also the organizer and coordinator of the U.S.'s National Breastfeeding Month, August 1-31. This year's theme is "Together We Do Great Things."

Nurturings offers advocacy and support to parents through a close relationship with La Leche League International and referrals to local resources to parents through our Certified Attached at the Heart Parenting Educators and affiliated parent support groups. 

We are also committed to aligning our infant-feeding messaging with the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes. 

Many breastfeeding articles and stories can be found archived at The Attached Family and APtly Said, and we are seeking parents to share their breastfeeding stories on this new blog (normalizenurturing.org). Email for more information on this opportunity to support other parents in this important way.

#normalizenurturing