The title drew me in. “Publishers revel in youthful cruelty” is pretty catchy after all. I was curious why any one person or group would revel in anyone’s cruelty because likely there is a very real someone on the receiving end of it. The title, while catchy, doesn’t quite fit the bill.

The article is part book list and part statement on today’s culture, meets empathetic book authors who were once bullied themselves and are sharing their stories as a means of catharsis, as well as support for others who like themselves, suffer because of bullying.

It got me thinking about the bullying that I have been the target of over the years, as well as the times in my life when I was the bully, whether I was simply blowing it with a lack of skillfulness around my own emotions, or I was unaware of my impact of my actions until after the fact. Thank goodness that given the chance, we can so often make things right again.

It also got me thinking on the many examples that I am aware of where bullying and aggressiveness is rewarded in my world, big and small, near and far. If anyone wanted to, it would be easy to list to bullies who we see in the world, from politicians in all directions, entertainers, professional athletes, religious groups and even corporations. So many who unabashedly bully and intimidate others, often to great rewards such as fame, position and financial payout.

It is not just about harassment in the school yard any longer, not that it ever was if we are to look honestly at the world around us. Children and adults alike are subjects of bullying at school and work, over social media or even through very own phones.

I appreciate the book list offered up in this article, especially as it may also offer up a helpful resource to someone who may be struggling personally with bullying, or to someone who is looking to help someone who is. From the self-help authors who chronicle their own personal struggles with bullying and now offer their seasoned advice, to those authors who channeled their personal struggles into fiction that rings true for so many. The anti-bullying book business is booming today and there are very good reasons as to why.

You can link to the original article through the title.

Publishers Revel in Youthful Cruelty

by Leslie Kaufman, published New York Times, March 26, 2013

Nobody likes a bully — but these days the book industry loves having them to kick around. Antibullying books have become numerous enough to constitute their own profitable genre.

Publishing houses are flooding the market with titles that tackle bullying. The books are aimed at all age groups — from “Bully,” a picture book for elementary-grade students, to the“The Bully Book,” for middle school children, about an average kid who suddenly becomes everyone’s favorite victim, to “Sticks and Stones” by Emily Bazelon, a recent release for adults that includes both stories and analysis. According to World Cat, a catalog of library collections worldwide, the number of English-language books tagged with the key word “bullying” in 2012 was 1,891, an increase of 500 in a decade.

There are even more to come, said Elizabeth Bird, who tracks coming books and trends for youth collections at the New York Public Library. “Bullying has always been a popular topic, but this year we are seeing bullying titles coming out as never before, and there is no end in sight.”

The publishing world’s preoccupation with bullies does not end at the bookshelf. Several publishing houses, including Random House, Simon & Schuster and even Harlequin, have started antibullying campaigns built around their books. Authors have taken action on their own as well. Two young-adult authors, Megan Kelley Hall and Carrie Jones, assembled an anthology of personal essays, called “Dear Bully: 70 Authors Tell Their Stories,” (HarperTeen 2011) by prominent writers like R. L. Stine, with a portion of the proceeds going to charity.

Ms. Hall and Ms. Jones also came together to form and maintain a Facebook site called Young Adult Authors Against Bullying that identifies cruel Facebook pages and lobbies to have them taken down.

Bullying has become such a common topic for authors that in October there will be a conference in Missouri for authors of books on the subject. There is space for only 300 participants but already 80 have signed up to attend.

The surge in antibullying books reflects the broader cultural alarm about the problem, spurred in part by several high-profile cases of cyberbullying that resulted in suicides.

The White House held its first conference on bullying prevention in 2011. In response to government cues, libraries, schools and even bookstores like Barnes & Noble, the nation’s largest retail book chain, have been holding events to talk about the problem and provide help for parents and children. Those resources often come at least in part in the form of books and lectures by authors.

For publishers and authors it has been hard to miss the perfect synergy that results: They can promote a cause that most people avidly support while promoting their own products.

“The intention is service, to help the teachers and librarians who are looking for resources,” said Michelle Fadlalla, director of education and library marketing for Simon & Schuster, which published the early antibullying success “The Misfits” in 2003 and this year published “Justin and the Bully” by the former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy. “At the same time it is definitely an opportunity for us to gather sales because it is such a hot topic.”

A case in point is “Wonder” by R. J. Palacio, a book about a boy with facial deformities that came out last year and is No. 1 on the New York Times children’s middle-grade best-seller list, with more than 350,000 copies. Although it was not written as an antibullying book, many teachers and librarians began assigning it that way to students. The publisher, Random House Children’s Books, saw an opportunity and created a “Choose Kind” campaign based on sentiments expressed in the book, in which individuals or classrooms can pledge to do acts of kindness.

The book’s message of tolerance and empathy is so popular that this year both Fairfield, Conn., and Santa Monica, Calif., chose “Wonder” for their communitywide reading initiatives.

Marketing opportunities do not completely explain the boom in the number of titles, however. Heather Brewer, the author of “The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod” vampire series, about being an outsider, said that bullying strikes a common chord with many authors.

“There is a certain personality to being a writer, a quirky introverted type maybe not as socially adept, and they tend to be picked on a little bit more than others,” she said in an interview.

Ms. Brewer is organizing the antibullying writers’ conference in October in part because she was a victim herself when she was growing up in Columbiaville, Mich. “I would have books knocked out of my hand,” she said. “I would be pinched and shoved. So letting people know about the dangers of bullying is important to me.”

Ms. Hall, who collaborated on the “Dear Bully” anthology after Phoebe Prince, a bullied high schooler from South Hadley, Mass., committed suicide in 2010, said she had to turn away authors who wanted to be included in the collection.

“A lot of the authors say books saved their lives during those difficult teen years,” Ms. Hall said. And authors, in turn, can be fiercely protective of their vulnerable, bookish readers. “They know that their fan base is people like them,” she said, “people who consider reading as a refuge. We want to be there for teens to let them know it will get better.”

Surviving a meanspirited peer is an age-old element of young-adult literature of course. But the context has changed, said Gillian Engberg, an editor at Booklist magazine, a publication of the American Library Association. Instead of being a rite of passage that must be endured or to be overcome, it is now analyzed in a much more psychological way. Some books, like “Leverage,” which depicts the rape of a male high-school gymnast by three football players, are graphic and decline to offer happy endings.

Several books now include the perspective of not just the victim but also of the bully, bystanders and even the adults who enable or ignore the behavior. “There is a nuanced approach,” Ms. Engberg said. “We are seeing more and more of these books that take on all of these perspectives.”

Jay Asher, the author of the best-selling novel “Thirteen Reasons Why” (2007), about a girl who sends tapes to people explaining their roles in her decision to take her own life, said the biggest difference for books about bullying now is the level of adult concern about the issue.

He said he is now asked to speak at schools three or four times a month, as well as to adult groups. What’s more he is often asked to speak in conjunction with others, like representatives from suicide-prevention help lines. Mr. Asher, 37, said he sees a real change from the time when he was growing up.

“What is different now is that adults really take this stuff seriously,” he said, “and they don’t want to turn their backs.”

(Photo : Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D./Child Trauma Academy) Neurologists say that the sizeable difference between these two brains of two different 3-year-olds has one primary cause: the way that their mothers treated them

Lending a voice of science and research, to what mother’s already know well, is how maternal love and support impacts and effects of a child’s brain size and growth. With the size and growth of the brain’s structures relating directly to a child’s (and the adult they will become) potential for learning, as well as long- and short-term memory, and lifelong appropriate stress responses.

First published 2012, this research focuses on the amygdala, which is the area of the brain connected to emotional memory and reactions,  and the hippocampus, which consolidates information from short-term memory to long-term memory, and spatial navigation. To offer more context for the type of impact this may have on a developing child’s brain, the hippocampus is one of the first areas of the adult brain that registers the damage of Alheimer’s Disease.

The image above, from the work of researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, demonstrates how a mother’s love and care-giving physically affects the mass and structure of a her child’s developing hippocampus, with some children showing a difference of a full 10 percent in hippocampal mass between nurtured children and their extremely neglected counterparts.

Read more about these finding in the article shared below.

Chilling Brain Scans Show the Impact of a Mother’s Love on a Child’s Brain Size

By Christine Hsu Oct 29, 2012

Read more athttp://www.medicaldaily.com

This terrific new graphic developed and published by the Women’s and Newborn Services of the  Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH) is offering new mothers and other caregivers a means to identify and meet a baby’s hunger cues. First and foremost a friendly promoter of breastfeeding and nursing, these RBWH tips can be used for breast- or bottle-fed babies, as led by each family.

In addition to the well-illustrated and identifiable images of this baby as she moves through the progression of hungry, is the gentle reminder to parents and caregivers alike, that when a baby becomes too agitated to eat, that you can help them best by first taking some time to calm them so that they can then feed.

Being a mother myself, I can remember those early hours with my newborn son, when I quickly learned that by first calming and centering myself, I could then help guide my son into a calmer state as well. Hearing our little ones cry, especially as new mothers, can really stir up our feelings of concern, lending a sense of urgency to give our baby what he or she needs…NOW. It was here that I found taking a few easy, full breaths and speaking aloud in a soothing voice helped both me and my son—getting us both back in a place where we could settle in for a nurse together. This practice served me well with my newborn, and it continues to to this day, now that my boy is an energetic toddler zooming around the house at top speed.

I am pleased to introduce the Hibble family: Geoff and Robin, along with their children, Connor, Ethan and Stella. The Hibbles are the next family to be featured in our series of Traveling Family interviews. Having just completed a year of RV travel throughout the USA and Canada, they have just begun another year of homesteading and travel in Australia, Geoff’s home country. You can follow their on-the-road adventures in their blog, Switching Gears.

Here is the interview that Robin Hibble did with Boba Family in January 2013, just after landing in Australia, and at the start of their second consecutive year of traveling together. Get ready to be inspired while also learning some tricks that have helped this family live out their dreams. Please enjoy!

1. Was there a defining moment (or moments) in your pre-trip lives when you and your family realized that long-term travel would serve your highest goals for your life?

A few months prior to our departure, while parked in a cul-de-sac, my husband, Geoff and I were having a fairly common discussion which included topics like, “We are not getting ahead; Life is stagnant; Work has lacked excitement and vigor for years for years now; 4 more years and our oldest son, Connor leaves for college – the beginning of his own life apart from us; If we are going to break the cycle, change it up, expand the experiences, then it is now or never [at least for us with Connor].

2. Why do you think so many families think a traveling lifestyle is out of reach for them?

We would break this into a few reasons.

F.U.D. – Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt of course play a huge role in this.  I think it is difficult for a lot of people to comprehend and except that one is going to pile his family into a vehicle and travel aimlessly around the country and “all will be ok”.   I think all the “What ifs” flood the mind and it mentally becomes exhausting trying to figure out what one would do to pre-solve all of the “what ifs”.

Cost -  “How can I afford to quit my job and pay all the expenses of travel for a whole year?  The mortgage, the bills, on top of travel expenses…”

Relationships – The thought of leaving one’s family and friends can be emotionally heart wrenching.  I am sure the thought of being cooped up with immediate family members is just hard to contemplate too. In addition, the thought of leaving clubs, sports, traditional life and other roles and responsibilities is difficult for many.

Career – We believe there is a strong thought that if you leave your job and travel for a year you will loose your spot in the “Career” you have been building.  And that you might disappoint the business or people you have been working for.

However, I will also reserve that a traveling lifestyle is just not for everyone.  There are people that outwardly state that they just prefer to stay still, not travel, not be cooped up, and despite being happy for us it is just not something they want to do.  Most found it very inspirational too.

3. Opening yourself up to travel means opening yourself up to the unexpected. Please share one unexpected reward and one unexpected challenge that you and your family have met in your many years together on the road. How have each added richness of your travels and your lives?

One unexpected reward is the immensity of the family bonding that occurs when you travel as a lifestyle.  We had been on plenty of vacations, but there is nothing like living in a confined space and seeing amazing things every few days. The boys, Connor (15) Ethan (11), due to age & interests, had quite different lifestyles when living at home. They rarely spent time together.  Our traveling lifestyle, since they only had each other, grew to a much stronger “brotherhood.”

The unexpected challenge was the lack of personal space and the dynamics that it imposes.  Living shoulder to shoulder with no escape means rebuilding you expectation, tolerance, judgement, and response systems.  You just can’t have it your way, you have it have it “everyone’s” way if you are going to co-exist.  Ultimately though, this has made us all far better people and definitely contributed back to the family bonding.

4. Many families begin preparing for long-term travel by selling off their homes and possessions. You and your family went another route; please share with our readers what your master plan was and how it has paid of in spades.  

A personal bias here, we think selling a bunch of your personal possessions is a great idea.  Lightening the load, as we call it, be it commitments, possessions, financial responsibilities, etc. is all very liberating!  It is often difficult to let go of personal possessions but “less is more” in all sense of the word in our opinion so do it.  We decided that we needed to “downsize” the volume of clutter in our life, so we did a full review and purge of everything on our whole property.  Things either went a) to the motor home b) to craigslist c) to the curb d) Good Will, e) to the waste bin or f) to the shed (our version of a storage unit).  I’d recommend starting this process with the shed.

But from the very start we knew we never wanted to sell our home.  We committed to be on the road for one year and we equally looked forward to moving back into our home at the end of the trip.  We could not afford to pay the mortgage and leave it empty so we had two choices if we were going to keep our house: long term rental or short term rental (vacation rental). Long term has the attraction you don’t need to “manage” the property on a day-to-day basis and a lot lower risk in the sense you can expect a monthly rent deposit.  Short term has the attraction of potentially higher rental income, plus but it comes at a huge cost.   You have to leave the house furnished (accepting it may be damaged), you have a rolling set of customers you have to please, you have to pay the difference between the rents and mortgage on slow months, your home needs to be in a location supportive of short term/vacation rental, and you or someone else needs to “manage” the property on a day to day basis.  For us, it worked best to doVRBO (Vacation Rentals By Owner). I then staged, setting up, and managing the property whilst we traveled.  We were never fully covered our monthly home expenses but we were able to come close.

5. What is the one thing that you would share with other parents who are wanting to make this leap with their own families?

Reach out to multiple families who have done this and draw upon their experiences and suggestions.  Ultimately everyone does it a little bit differently, none right or wrong, but the experience they share might enable you to significantly enhance your own experience (both in preparing and on the road), and keep “F.U.D” at bay too!

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Private Schooling. Montessori. Waldorf. Public Schooling. No-schooling. Home Schooling. Travel Schooling. These are just a few of the many schooling options that families worldwide are exploring and flourishing within. I am typing this post from the road while my family and I are traveling in Gautemala together. Our son will be turning two years old on this trip, and my husband and I are taking every opportunity to practice our own Spanish while teaching our son during our daily adventures together. He can count in Spanish and English now, tell you how old he is both languages, tell our friends “hello” and “good-bye” in both. This and more, especially with words from situations that were especially meaningful for him.

The research behind the way the human brain (and mind) learns and flourishes is expanding rapidly in every field, from behavioral neuroscience to somatic psychology. And what continues to emerge throughout reflects the paraphrased Chinese proverb, “Tell me and I’ll forget, Show me and I’ll remember, but allow me to do it myself and I’ll understand.” Human babies, children and adults learn best from doing things ourselves and what we like to do are those the things that spark our interests and passions.

The information shared in the short film, Born to Learn, is the inspiration behind the group of scientist, researchers and free-thinkers who call themselves the Responsible Subversives Network (RSN). RSN has created three animation shorts so far and it consists of three inter-linked sites that aim to provide the ideas, the inspiration and a community of people interested in equipping future generations to shape a better world.

My husband and I search for ways to live more harmoniously with our son and to do work which pays and supports us with more than just a salary. We look for life at home that supports and enables a life on the road so that we can move easily between them both. We hope to raise our son to look for opportunities in life, work and community and to be creative in making his life his own, however he may be called. For families and communities like mine own, we are keen to support and encourage groups like RSN and others who are leading the charge in highlighting what is working and what is not within our current systems of education and work.

In preparation for my birth, I got reacquainted with the practice of using positive affirmations.  I began journaling later in my pregnancy, and within those pages, I wrote messages to my unborn child that will be shared with him when he gets a bit older (he is not quite two now).  I also tucked beautiful images into its pages, along with leaves, flower petals and photos of me with my family and in my favorite places. I watched for things around me that created more peace and more confidence within in me and I created affirmations from these. I jotted down bits of lyrics, gems from my conversations with friends, guidance from our midwife and most especially, insights from my own experience of myself during the bloom of my first pregnancy.

Affirmations helped me to ground my mind when I felt any fleeting fear and uncertainty come up and they also strengthened my confidence when I was feeling strong and absolutely capable of laboring and birthing my child into the world on our own terms. As my women friends are becoming mothers themselves, some for the first time, some for the fourth, I continue to use affirmations in my daily life, but I now extended this practice to include my friends in their pregnancies, their births ahead of them.

I was cozied up with my little one today, sharing a snuggly afternoon nurse and watching the leaves fall from the trees outside when I began thinking of our dear friend who is newly pregnant and who is over-the-moon excited about this new life within her. I was reflecting back to my favorite affirmations from my own pregnancy and offered a few up to bless her way ahead. And then it got me thinking, what if all of us who care deeply about birth used birth-positive affirmations not just for ourselves and our family and friends, but offered them up with our most sincere intentions for every woman, every child, for every birth. I feel like so much is possible for us all in our births and in the healing of our collective experience of birth. I also know that my intentional  practice of encouraging positivity in my own mind and body during my pregnancy (here are some ways that I did this) served me well throughout the pregnancy, but especially during our birth and now as a mother. I also know how much goodness I feel in my own self when I bless another mother’s way with my prayers and loving support—it feels really wonderful to be part of it all!

So, let’s give it a go together! Let’s all lend some heart to a subtle, yet irrepressible shift toward healing birth by beginning with our own thoughts and emotions surrounding birth. I hope that you will join me in me in offering up affirmations with heart-held intentions to benefit everyone around us—men, women and children. We must all be included and touched in order to heal our collective idea of labor and birth.

Here is a list to start us off in our work together. Please use the ones that hold the most significance to you and that touch your heart. Add your favorites, say them out loud, speak them silently inside your mind, write them down and read them often, share them with others, share them with everyone. Let’s do it, let’s create more birth goodness in the world one thought, one mind at time, beginning with our own.

“Remember this, for it is as true and true gets: Your body is not a lemon. You are not a machine. The Creator is not a careless mechanic. Human female bodies have the same potential to give birth well as aardvarks, lions, rhinoceri, elephants, moose, and water buffalo. Even if it has not been your habit throughout your life so far, I recommend that you learn to think positively about your body.”

Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth: Updated With New Material

My heart and body know exactly what my baby needs, my mind is learning.

I am a powerful, loving and creative being.

My pelvis releases and opens as have those of countless women before me.

Good strong contractions help my baby come into the world.

My body contains all the knowledge necessary to safely birth my baby.

My baby knows how and when to be born.

Birth is a safe and sacred experience.

My baby will be born healthy and at the perfect time.

I am a strong and capable woman.

I am a powerful, loving and creative being.

I am willing to meet myself with kindness in all that may arise.

I accept this labor as my labor and believe it is the right one for me and for my baby.

I feel the love of those around me.

I proudly step forward and take my place within the collective of motherhood.

•

Since long before I became a mother, I imagined (a dare say dreamed) of traveling to lots of far away places with my family. Friends who travel with their little ones and the examples of long-term family travel we’ve featured here in our blog have inspired me to no end. Certainly, I’ve started a bit on the right foot by starting my family abroad, but really that’s just made the departure location different, right? Both long-term or short-term travel appeals to me and I’m starting to crave arrival gates far far away.

I’ve got some favorite destination spots in mind; India, Ireland and Bali head up the list, but what are the best ways to get there, are they family friendly, and what sorts of things can we enjoy with our baby girl once we arrive? Babywearing, there seem few things we can’t do with our child travel-wise, but thinking about these questions led me to start digging up some family-related travel resources. I’ve compiled some of them with notes here to help other parents like me get a little closer to the international travel we crave! Enjoy and I’d love to hear your own tips and experience if you’d like to share in the comments!

The Usual Contenders

Lonely Planet
Who of us with stamped passports haven’t loved and messed up well at least one Lonely Planet guide? Those books are pretty good if purchased recent to our trips. They have a Travel with Children Guide that I’m considering buying, as in one review that I read, it includes destination ideas all over the world and lots of how-to tips for packing, keeping everyone healthy, and “special” family circumstances like single-parent traveling, traveling with teens, children with special needs, etc. Reportedly, it’s pretty broad as far as destinations go, so you’d still want to do more specific research and probably get the Lonely Planet Guide for that local, but sounds like an especially good primer for parents taking the international travel plunge for the first time. All that aside, the Lonely Planet website is pretty helpful, too. The blog offers a lot of direct experience and has a nice forum where you can join groups like World Family Travel to swap stories, get ideas and the like. Because the site is destination-based, it doesn’t have the usual family travel section other travel sites have, so you’ll want to dig right into their Thorn Tree travel forum and head to The Lobby where you’ll find the forum Kids To Go, get ideas, then head back to the site to explore the destinations and armchair travel a bit while you dream of your little wearing a sari or swimming in the Adriatic, or something else muy deliciosa!

Frommers
Like every major travel site, they’ve got a section for family travel ideas and tips. There’s a decent blog on Frommers, too that includes some family-oriented material (though it is definitely weighted on the commercial end with nods to places like Disney and Club Med, lol) and you can always use their forum to get advice from other travelers (though admittedly it doesn’t seem highly-trafficked). All-in-all Frommer’s isn’t really my kind of travel site, but it might be yours! Easy and clear, albeit mainstream all the way.

TripAdvisor
Keeps the recommendations light and general, with links to lists of activities in major destination cities geared towards young children. You won’t find many personalized tips here, but will get a basic sense of attractions for young families. Again, a typical mainstream travel site that gets you in and out and may open doors into your own more targeted research.

Some Lesser Knowns

Babble International Family Travel Guide
Tucked into this popular parenting site is an extensive guide to international travel as in what to bring, where to stay, documents and medications, etc. specifically for families. I like…

Kids Can Travel
Just like the site title indicates, this one is all about the kids! It is definitely one of the best family travel resources I found online. They have destination guides, a section to help with the basics of traveling with children, uploaded family travel slideshows, an educational section for kids, and more.

Family Vacation Critic
This site, just as it sounds, offers tons of direct insight into popular and unusual destinations from a family point-of-view. It’s chocked full of destination info and lots of searching categories.

Family Travel Alternatives

Digsville.com
This housing swap club helps you coordinate a housing swap so you can delete the accommodation cost from your travel budget. Digsville has a popular forum with listings for housing available as well as a useful tips and testimonials forum.

VolunteerFamily.org
Why not go somewhere to make a difference in the world while you’re seeing it together? While this seems best for families with older children, there are some great ideas and opportunities to check out on this alternative family getaway site.

Farm Stays
I’ve heard this is popular in Europe, especially Italy, but I just learned recently that there is a growing trend of farms in North America opening their doors to vacationers who want a dose of life in the country – and who of us wouldn’t love to let our little milk a cow? This blog post from FamilyEducation.com is an overview of the idea and  has a few farms listed to get you started.

National Park Camping
Well, any camping is a great family idea really, right (and not all that alternative)? This post from Travel Channels reviews top U.S. National Parks, not really from a family perspective, but a good way to familiarize yourself with more than Yellowstone, and you can dig in from there.

Camping and RV Clubs
We’ve probably all seen these make-shift seasonal communities featured in movies (I recall Into the Wild gave a glimpse into a surreal RV Club world complete with campsite talent show). Why not check out the idea of hitting the road with other families in your pop-up or Airstream? I use to dream of owning a truck, a little airstream and a dog and traveling all over the U.S. I can easily see adding the man and baby to the vision. The link above is a RV Club Directory a mile long. Worth a look-see, I think!

I want to give a special nod to and recommend Finding Dulcinea for the great post on Alternative Family Travel I found will digging up links. Check it out!

There are his words, and his dance moves that are so perfectly in cue with the beat, there is his love of running as quickly as he can, and jumping in place while hooting with glee. He is enjoying his body and all the ways he can move and express himself with it all. As his momma, all of it is so incredible to watch emerge and take shape. This little person, so perfectly complete and whole in the ways that truly matter in this life, just as he is now, at 22 months, and just as he was a birth.

My son will be turning two in just a few more months. And what an incredible journey it has been for my husband and me, to be growing right along side our first child. Since his birth, our boy’s voice has been a joyful constant in our home. And over the last year, his thoughts and wants and needs are being shared through words that have in recent months become sentences. Each day there is more to share, as his words and excitement give way to being recognized and responded to within our own family, and by the adults and older children we spend our time with. Even our neighbor’s dog, a funny little Schnauzer named Pickle, responds to him when he is called over, much to my son’s delight.

My husband and I are avid readers ourselves, and have followed our son’s lead and his own love of books from early on. Our local library hosts fantastic cruisers-and-crawlers, toddler and children’s story time hours and sing-alongs that are free to the community and that are scheduled throughout the week. Each group meets separately and focuses on developing early literacy skills and supporting a child’s natural curiosity and love of books. The groups are facilitated by a librarian who focuses on books and activities that are developmental appropriate and that are also incredibly fun.

In cruisers-and-crawlers, we sang songs together and played with the sounds of individual letters, vowels and built them up into words. We were introduced to wide range of vocabulary and illustrations through the carefully chosen books. Books, which our lovely librarian pointed out, are an ideal way to bring an unlimited variety of words, ideas and sounds into a family’s playful learning. She introduced to us books that featured animals, people and situations that were uncommon for most people’s daily life, but that introduced us to some wonderful fundamentals of the wider world; that chicks emerge from eggs and that there is indeed an animal named “hippopotamus” that can walk on land and swim underwater.

In this youngest group, our babies would intently watch our mouths as we sounded out new words and sang songs together. There was so much learn packed into these hours of fun. And outside of being a relatively easy outing for my son and I when we were still getting the hang of leaving the house together, we were also spending time playing and learning with other families and building our community.

Look to your own community library for programs and activities that they may offer. Libraries are eager to have families searching their shelves for books to check out and to enjoy at home.  And if your local library does not currently host family programs, ask if they can meet your requests for story times that are led either by librarians or community volunteers. If you run up against tight budgets or scheduling issues, ask if your family, and others who are interested, can meet within the library and create your own story time. Each family can then take turns choosing books and leading to the group.

Here is a link to my local library. You will see that there are many different groups and weekly events for various ages, as well as educational support for teachers and parents, as well as home-schooling and no-schooling families. There is even a “Read to a Dog” event when young readers can develop their out-loud reading skills while keeping a certified therapy dog happily entertained.

My husband and I have enjoyed bringing home our own childhood favorites to share with our son and looking for new books to read together. In recent years, the publication of children’s books has skyrocketed, with topics reaching far and wide. Your own family’s favorites are on a shelf just waiting to be enjoyed together.

1) Could you start us out by telling us a little bit about yourself and your family?

We are the Bradley family! Billy is a classically trained actor and wellness coach, and I am a writer and stay at home mom. Our little one is Kaya Alaqua, who turned 4 in March.

2) Why do you think that so many families who dream of travel [mistakenly] believe that living abroad or a traveling lifestyle is out of reach for them?

I think families assume that travel is expensive. The thing that I have learned is that it really isn’t, IF one really does enough research. The thing is that some good hotels and guest houses are not listed on mainstream travel sites, so it takes either knowing a local or posting in a forum about places in your price range.

3) How do you keep the dream to travel as a family alive and in practice? How do you and your husband work with your own doubts when they creep in?

Well we did things by accident, very differently then other travel bloggers. We had initially wanted to move to Italy, but my husband kept stalling until eventually he said he wanted to live in Asia. Our dream has always been to live in Japan, although recently we decided we wanted to settle down in the UK ( I’m British and have family there). We left LA and went to South Korea, where my husband taught for a year. We adore Korea and really, deeply miss it, although that year was very challenging for us; we lost several family members and Billy was perpetually working. We then decided to spend a month in Phuket and headed over to Italy, where we thought we would settle down, but my husband really loved Phuket (and so did Kaya) so we moved back here!

We have made good and bad decisions but I am happy that we ‘felt the fear and did it anyway’. Our family is not too keen on us traveling, and it was a challenge finding work in Phuket, but we both really love our lifestyle and things have worked out well!

4) Many parents worry that traveling as a family means their children won’t have a greater sense of “home,” but you share in your blog that you are homesteaders and nomads. Can you tell us more about how you do both?

I think there is a lot of truth in that, but not the physical dwelling itself but the community. Our society desperately lacks community. In so many towns and cities, people barely know their neighbors. And there is so much criticism within some families that it makes it very hard for members to get along. But I think travel has taught us a lot about the necessity of community, and about just how important it is to find the right one for one’s family. Some people stay in the same hometown their whole lives, despite never fitting in, and I think they are missing out. Somewhere, there is a place where they will feel welcomed and have permission to be themselves. All in all, travel is a great teacher and can show a family or individual exactly what they are looking for.

5) Money and time seem to be the two biggest mental blocks for most people who dream of traveling with their families. Can you speak to both, offering us an example for each on how your family makes it happen and flourishes together on the road?

I can speak a lot about this subject. When we arrived here, the job we had lined up basically fell through. We were very scared, and had to think creatively. Billy found a local teaching job at a great school that offered him almost a part time schedule, and I’ve spent the last year attempting to work from home. I made a lot of errors but they all taught me my greatest lessons. The best advice I can give is to figure out what you like to do or can do/make, and then invest in educating in online marketing so you can sell your product or service. Digital Nomad Academy, Site Build It, and Keyword Academy focus on this, but a lot of popular ‘you can work from anywhere!!’ books don’t, they just repeat the same thing over and over and never get into marketing or how to make a landing page. For newbies I recommend Site Build It and Keyword Academy as well as reading 4 Hour Workweek.

You can visit the Bradley Family and their inspiring blog at sattvicfamily.net.

In Ayurveda, we are taught that the first 42 days after a woman’s birth is pivotal time that will mirror how a women will then move into her menopause. Therapeutic belly wrapping is one for the most supportive and beneficial points of care that can be offered to a new mother, therefore supporting and benefiting a woman as she moves into her third phase of life as well. Excellent postpartum care is an incredible investment for a woman and her family.

While belly wrapping may be uncommon in the modern medical system, it serves as a powerful tool for new mothers in most traditional systems—as essential as good rest, healing herbs and beneficial foods. Different traditions will highlight a variety of benefits and techniques, but here are some common benefits among the many traditions.

Benefits of Postpartum Belly Wrapping:

• Compression Offers Gentle Support to Back and Abdomen
• Helps Restores Organs and Muscles to Their Appropriate Positions
• Aides the Body In Filling Empty Spaces
• Allows for the Application of Therapeutic Oils
• Lessens Likelihood of Postpartum Depression and Accompanying Colic
• Gentle Compression Supports Post-birth Digestion and Elimination
• Offers a Deep Feeling of Comfort and Support
• Helps to Stabilize Mood and Ease Transition of Becoming Un-pregnant
• Reduces Appearance of Abdomen More Quickly — Loose Belly Weight
• Supports Return of Sexual Pleasure and Interest

There are wraps and binders on the market today–simply Googling “postpartaum belly wrap” will pull up page after page. I cannot speak to these products, but I would like to share what I did during the first weeks after my son’s birth. In Ayurveda, the use of therapeutic oils is considered highly valuable, so I knew I would be utilizing oil in my own care as well. Taking in the factors of our climate, the time of year and my own personal constitution, I chose to use (untoasted, organic) sesame oil during the first few days at least. Sesame oil is highly valued oil within Ayurveda and is used in many applications. It also has a warming quality that benefited me with a December birth.

Next I purchased a flannel pad at my local health foods store that is designed to help apply oils to the body. The dimensions of the pad were 18″ x 12″ and it was three layers of high-quality flannel sewn together with finished ends. With the flannel and oil readied, I searched our home first-aide kit for a few rounds of Ace bandage (stretchy, reusable athletic wrap) and then I went to the kitchen to find plastic wrap. I gathered all of these items and added them to the birth kit that our home-birth midwife had us prepare in advance for the birth.

Within hours of my labor and my son’s birth; I applied the oil liberally across my belly and sides, then I layered the flannel pad over the oil, and then added a sheet of wrap just over the pad (not wrapped around your middle). On top of the oil, pad and wrap, my husband then wrapped my middle with Ace bandage. It took a length and a half of wrap for the first few weeks, but that may vary for your size and shape. As you begin to apply the wrap, remember that it is not a tight wrap or aggressive support. It is a gentle compression that feels really good. Your breath should be full and easy, the pressure should be comforting and supportive, not restrictive in any way.

After the first few days, I stopped adding oil to my abdomen as the flannel had absorbed enough from the initial wrappings. I also stopped using a sheet of plastic wrap because the oil was contained in the first two layers of flannel that were next to my skin. You will adjust your wrap and technique to fit your needs once you get underway.

Wrapping my belling and the use of oils in my early postpartum care were a tremendous comfort and benefit for me. There is such huge shift from having your baby, the placenta and fluid within your body, and then an emptiness that was unlike anything I had experienced before. Wrapping my belly stabilized my walking, helped me sleep more comfortably and supported me when I was carrying my son. I could feel the support of the wrap deep within my body. Along with the placental medicine that I had encapsulated, it is the wrapping that I feel helped steady my mind during the shifting of hormones that we all share after birth. It is a powerful postpartum tool.

If you would like to know more about Ayurveda Postpartum Care, search out wise women like my teacher, Ysha Oaks, and her graduate, Sonja Bastow. Susan Weed and her Wise Women Tradition is another excellent resource for prenatal, pregnancy and postpartum care.