Falling in love with parenting means showing kindness to our partner. It means taking an attitude of curiosity so we can listen to each other’s dreams instead of shutting them down when theirs conflict with ours. It means giving them the benefit of the doubt and trusting in their goodness.
So one big thing we can do to prepare is to write out the kind of partner and what kind of parent that we want to be, to remind ourselves when we fail to live up to those ideals that we are still trying our best.
– Lara Elfstrand
When is a couple ready to have a baby? What are the three babies of pregnancy? What does falling in love with parenting together look like?
Find out in this week’s episode of The Learn to Love Podcast, where your host Zach Beach interviews the parent-baby educator, Lara Elfstrand, on Falling in love with parenting together.
Lara will be teaching our upcoming Bringing Baby Home workshop for new and expecting parents, starting April 22nd. Click here to learn more and register for the course.
Listen on:
Apple Podcasts || Stitcher || TuneIn || Google Podcasts || Spotify|| Amazon Music || Castbox
about Lara Elfstrand
I help couples to fall in love with parenting… together. I do that by helping babies to cry less, smile more, and develop well; helping parents to support growth from a calm, confident, unconditional place; and helping couples to reduce resentment and isolation and manage conflict while increasing friendship and intimacy. I help couples to focus on their relationship as something that needs to be protected and nurtured during the transition to parenthood, as their identities change and they develop their different parenting styles.
I have taught Bringing Baby Home classes to young couples and families in a variety of life stages—considering parenthood, expecting a baby, or with an infant or toddler at home. Learn more about me at little-elf.org
I am a postpartum doula. I have a master’s in early childhood special education and am endorsed as an advanced transdisciplinary infant parent mental health practitioner. I am certified in Happiest Baby on the Block, the Gottman Bringing Baby Home program, and infant massage.
Stay connected with Lara Elfstrand:
Website || Facebook || Twitter || Yelp|| Instagram
Links from the show
- April 22nd-May 27th Bringing Baby Home workshop
- 5 Ways Improv Fosters a Culture of Growth
- Why You Should Celebrate Your Mistakes
- Ways To Help Your Child Express Their Feelings
- More than 120 Nations Provide Paid Maternity Leave
- Colic most often starts when a baby is about 2–5 weeks old and gets better by the time the baby is 3–4 months old
- Must babies always breed marital discontent?
- Trust vs. Mistrust: Learn About Psychosocial Stage 1
- How To Put Your Baby on an Eat-Play-Sleep Routine
- How to Show Your Partner More Curiosity in Your Relationship
- 6 Hours a Week to a Better Relationship
- How to Strengthen Your Relationship with State of the Union Meetings
- Thomas Berry Brazelton
- John Gottman
- Using the language of the child’s behavior in your work with families
- The Goldilocks Effect: Babies Learn from Experiences That Are Not Too Simple, Not Too Complex, but ‘Just Right’
- 6 Bottle Feeding Tips for Dads
- The effects of infant massage on maternal postpartum depression: A randomized controlled trial
- The Happiest Baby on the Block
- The Magic Relationship Ratio, According to Science
Support the show
- Head over to Listenable, use the discount code zachbeach, and try out his How To Be a Better Partner Course.
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