Parenting Your Nonbinary Child
Supporting a nonbinary child is an ongoing journey that begins with understanding and empathy. By listening to your child's experiences, educating yourself on nonbinary identities, and fostering a safe and inclusive environment, you empower your child to live as their authentic self.
Interviewed for The Financial Times "Inside ‘gentle parenting’: No punishments. No timeouts. No bribery."
But there is something off-putting about the confluence of social media and for-profit parenting advice. Emma Basch, a Washington DC-based therapist who frequently works with mothers of young children, says she has watched various parenting trends come and go, almost like fad diets.
10 Ways to Raise Body Positive Kids in a Body Negative World
Recently, weight watchers has gotten into some hot water for promoting a dieting app designed for children. In my opinion …
Guide to Taking Care of Mental Health After Having Baby
There is no shortage of advice on what to do and what to get after having a baby. There are an infinite number of…
Why I’m Leaning Back This Year
Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead was published when I was pregnant with my first child, but I had long before ingested her message. I grew up in DC, a city of working moms. It was not unusual for me to see my mom or a friend’s mother being interviewed on CNN one night and bringing snacks to soccer practice the next day. The women around me leaned in hard.
3 Ways to Cope When You Feel Like a Bad Mom
We’ve all been there. The triggers are different but the experience of feeling like “a bad mom” is one most people can relate to. I hear this a lot from my patients and I’ve certainly struggled with that feeling myself. The problem is not the feeling…
My 4-Year-Old Starts Kindergarten This Fall, And This Is What That Means For Me
This fall my spirited daughter will head off to kindergarten. With the birthday cut-offs as they are in our area, she will be one of the youngest in her grade entering school at 4 years old. But this essay isn’t about that…
Traveling with Kids: 6 Ways to Shift Your Thinking and Feel Less Stressed
Is summer travel with your kids stressing you out? There is no shortage of blog posts with great ideas to make traveling with your kids smoother. But have you ever thought about the impact of your own thinking on your travel stress?
Five Tips for Making Mom Friends in DC
There is something uniquely beneficial about connecting with others who are simultaneously experiencing the role and identity shift that comes with parenting. Additionally, other moms can offer instrumental support, validation, gentle guidance, and connection in ways that are unique to these relationships. Whatever the reason, finding your tribe of other moms is crucial. So how do you make “mom friends” in a transitional city like Washington, D.C?.
You May Have Been Prepared for Labor…But Are you Prepared for Emotional Labor?
A few weeks ago on my blog, I spoke about the dip in marital satisfaction that 67% of married couples report after having a baby. There are many reasons why this happens. But in my opinion, the most common culprit is emotional labor.
When Mother’s Day is Hard: 5 Tips on Making It Through
Every May, I find myself talking a lot about Mother’s Day in my therapy practice. For some Mother’s Day is a much-anticipated day of celebration and some well-deserved R&R, but for many, it’s an…
Enough with Work-Family Balance: It’s Time to Learn to Sway
Ready to give up the ubiquitous – but rather inaccurate – term “work-life balance” this year? Dr. Emma Basch joins us again on the Mindful Return blog to offer her preferred alternative to the concept: embracing the idea of “swaying.” Here’s Dr. Basch with 8 concrete suggestions that will help you feel more confident about that working mama juggling act.