Conscious Parenting

By Lee Lozowick

Book Overview

Anyone who cares for children needs to attend to the essential message of this book: that the first two years are the most crucial time in a child's education and development, and that children learn to be healthy and "whole" by living with healthy, whole adults.
Conscious parenting, says author and child-advocate Lee Lozowick, includes love, affection and life-positive boundaries for our children, and requires honesty, generosity, compassion and common sense from parents and caregivers. Parental role-modeling is the most essential component, the author affirms, since we can't give our kids what we don't have ourselves. Lozowick invites parents and educators to examine areas of selfishness, ignorance and unconsciousness in their own lives, pointing out how these can jeopardize a child's well-being. While the book is not based in a sectarian religious philosophy, the author, a respected spiritual teacher, presents a strong case for making parenting a substantial part of one's spiritual practice throughout the childraising years.
This is not your run-of-the-mill parenting book. Lee Lozowick decries the status quo of much contemporary thinking and practice about who children are and what they really need. His words have commonsense appeal, but offer no sweet consolation to those who are unwilling to make their parenting responsibilities a top priority in their lives.
The book begins with a discussion of conscious conception and continues with a treatment of conscious pregnancy, birth and bonding. Lozowick, like so many other child advocates, stresses the importance of breastfeeding and keeping the infant "in arms" especially in the first two years of life. Giving children this optimal start is absolutely vital to their mental, emotional and physical health and well-being.
Later chapters include such relevant topics as honesty in our communication with children; our use of language as the descriptor of reality; an holistic context of education and the homeschooling alternative; and play, emotions, and energy management.
"Children are like sponges," Lozowick writes, "and what they pick up will influence how they grow up, which in turn will have effects on the world-at-large that we can't possibly imagine; one's relationship to children has an impact on many levels of existence. Conscious parenting, then, is not only about the welfare of an individual, but more about the well-being of the Earth."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1935387162
• ISBN13: 9781935387169
• Release Date: October 2010
• Publisher: Hohm Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

This is how kids SHOULD be raised!!

While he is a little strange in some of his beliefs, such as: when delivering a child at home, to not have clothes and a mess around your room because it will somehow upset the baby!, I found most of his beliefs to be great. Most of this has been known for years but most parenting books do not want to print it for fear of upsetting people because they tried to "Tell them how to raise their kids". My sister has done many of what he has suggested, without ever reading this book and it has done wonders. her children are nothing like what I have always seen kids to be. They are polite, kind, sweet and very secure

a Gold Standard .... but

I have read this book many times, and always find something new, and evaluating it, time and time again in different ways, which is amazing in itself. Most parenting books I scan, and think, yeah, mostly common sense and never read again. The first and most important thing to me is its subject. There are hundred of books on spirituality out there, and I have a few of them myself - but how many mention children? Virtually none. So I find it quite frustrating often, this lack of spiritual application to our lives with our children. With many booksI'm afraid on spirituality, its somehow assumed they don't exist, that we're all ready to "drop everything" and do a meditation, a retreat or whatever, which is fine if you haven't children or if they have grown up, but what if you have a toddler like me? in my opinion this book does set some kind of Gold standard: its original, alive and passionate, often full of common sense, sometimes taking a very relaxed approach, and it does really set the groundwork basics of being a parent to young children from an alternative view. his knowledge and insight is often very interesting and he doesn't have the kind of Do This, 1, 2 3, kind of approach which make many parenting books both tedious and undermining for parents. So I highly recommend this book, whether you find it agreeable or not, i believe it is very thought-provoking about what passes for mainstream childcare 'out there'and I found it also generally inspiring. However, I do have a But, its a small But, but important. For me, the book does set a gold standard but life does not always support that. To give a recent example, the author is very much against TV for babies and young children, something I agree with myself, and I have never put my son in front of TV or videos to amuse himself. However, with my son at age 1 1/2, I got ill. I am a single parent with virtually no social support. And, yes, I let my son watch a video. He became pretty much addicted to it over a period of a couple of weeks, which became a real pain, and he is only now just gradually getting bored with it. it would have been hugely stressful for me to try and cope with all the demands being made on me at the time. The author sometimes writes about his normal American background, other times he writes about the community he lives in and what mothers do there - but many of his readers will not live in a spiritual community where everyone helps everyone: life can be a little more complex than that in everyday world. That said I am very grateful that this book was written, I simply wish there were more of them out there.

A Totally Useful Handbook

Lozowick's wisdom is gleamed from years of experience as a parent as well as his far reaching knowledge of human psychology as a leader of an intentional community. In conventional terms, this book will seem highly controversial and push many peoples buttons. However, you don't have to agree with everything he says to benefit from the book. A reviewer below makes the unsubstantiated claim that breastfeeding a child until five years old is child abuse. My child just stopped breastfeeding at five, and as a Father it was sometimes hard for me to get used to, BUT it has definitely Not been an abusive circumstance to my child. If anything, my daughter is a more secure individual who feels the world is a very safe loving place. She is percieved by many to be unusually intelligent, aware and extremely well behaved. Why?(all parental bias aside) because of the principals found in this book. Most people are afraid, or totally unwilling to consider such ideas. This book is filled with plenty of sound reasoning. Yes, there are some esoteric claims that even rubbed me wrong, but overall the basic ideas are completely sound. Lozowick has also done his fair share of research, so some of his claims definately do come from areas of independent research. As a parent, most of the people I have shared these ideas with are reluctant to consider them. In my opinion, they are not willing to examine their own assumptions and conditioning. This book is an antidote to such things. It will enable any honest well meaning parent to rexamine themselves and their motives, their past, etc. The concept of Bonding is too little understood in the United States. My daughter never had a stroller, we always carried her close to our bodies in a sling and I know she is the better for it. Many parents are just plain lazy, or not willing to think/feel for themselves and stand behind it. This book for the most part is heavy on common sense, which is growing rarer these days as we allow quick fixes and technology to further invade our lives. Conscious Parenting's underlying premise, in terms of methodology, is that there is no easy answer, but rather that good parenting is achieved through conscious sacrifice, total commitment and the constant willingness to own up to our own short comings. For most, that is unreasonable. But really, How unreasonable is it to Not use the television as a babysitter, and to preserve your child against the constant onslaught of violent images that flood every avenue of media. I praise Lozowick. if you do not rush to judgment, and are willing to contemplate some of his ideas over a sufficient length of time, you cannot but be richly rewarded.

If you're serious about parenting, READ THIS BOOK!

If you are looking for a book that will allow you to justify mediocre parenting--this is not it. If you are looking for a book that will say "Don't feel guilty for making your child sacrifice her needs to yours"--this is not it. If you are looking for a book that says you can raise a happy, healthy child by pulling them out of the crib, sticking a bottle in their mouth and shuttling them off to daycare--THIS IS NOT IT!With that said, this book is a deep and honest look at how the way we parent affects our children. It covers most every conceivable parenting issue, giving real insight and practicle advice. But don't expect to be spoonfed! Conscious Parenting teaches that to raise a whole child, you must be a whole parent. To do so, you must be willing to take a hard, honest look at yourself. It can be very unsettling to see how many neurosis we have developed since (or because of) our own childhoods. The book reads easily. Lozowick is down to earth, reflective and funny. His life experience and sincerety make this book much more than just another parenting manual--this book will help you become the parent you wish your parents were--conscious ones.I have read this book four times, and recommend it to everyone!