What This Blog Is Not

There are many amazing blogs out there written by pediatricians and other medical experts about issues that are common to parents, such as how to deal with colds, what to feed your toddler, when to know that your child needs to be seen by a physician.

You will not find any of that information on this blog.  I do not plan to reinvent the wheel.  There are many other wonderful blogs by other pediatricians that address those issues.  Google search "pediatrician blogs" and you will find a wealth of amazing information.

This blog is all about things that I wish someone told me when I encountered difficulties in raising my own children.  Okay, let's be honest.  I STILL encounter difficulties in raising my own children.  The only reason I have any idea that my children are actually good for society is that their teachers or other parents and adults have commented positively on them, whether it be sports, in school, or letting them stay with friends and family and we are not physically around.  Which to me speaks to how we are actively choosing to raise them: to be positive contributors to society. 

My passion in keeping children healthy goes beyond assisting parents with diagnosing and treating a rash, figuring out if a child has an ear infection, or differentiating between a common cold and a pneumonia.  Those are things that I feel are best left to a family physician who knows a child's underlying medical health history. 

What This Blog Is

This blog is about child well-being in the holistic sense.  It is about the greater importance of emotional intelligence over academic intelligence in order for children to become successful adults.  It is about the importance of social-emotional regulation, active parenting, and striving to be an authoritarian parent, which according to Angela Duckworth, PhD, is the best parenting style to grow children who have tremendous grit. 

This blog is about the importance of the words we choose to praise children; where natural brilliance and intelligence is not nearly as important as effort, according to Carol Dweck, PhD. 

This blog is about the need to foster good gut health through nutrition, in order for optimal gene expression to occur.  What this means is that who we REALLY are, is a by-product of the bacteria that LIVES INSIDE OF US.

This blog is about things such as what really motivates us, as outlined by business expert Daniel Pink and business economist Dan Ariely, or understanding what it really is that makes children succeed, as outlined by Paul Tough in his book, How Children Succeed.  All of this can be applied to the health of our children. 

While I pull from my expertise as a physician, I also received B.A in anthropology with a concentration in human biology.  As an indigenous practioner, I deeply connect with references to anthropology and psychology, as well as embrace theories in child education and business.  People often think of business as a cut-throat way to cheat someone else out of money; however in reality, to run a successful community or organization, and especially a successful family or personal relationship, behavioral economics is significantly important.  Bringing together knowledge from different disciplines is genuinely intriguing to me: it reiterates that WE ARE ALL CONNECTED, our disciplines, our health, our well-being.

This blog will primarily focus on topics important from prenatal through 5 years of age; a key time period for establishing the foundation for a child's brain as it grows into adulthood.  Therefore, putting the information learned here in the blog will work best if you start your journey during the prenatal period; in other words, while you are pregnant.  It will work even better if you start before you have conceived a child.  It will still work if you apply the teachings before your child is 5 years of age, but having experience in applying this after my twin daughters were 5 years old, I know personally that it is much harder, but possible.  It is important to accept that if you start later, the road will be tough and rocky. 

This blog is best understood reading it from foundation towards developmental growth.  What this means is that even if you start when your child is older, you should still begin building a foundation with lessons outlined for the prenatal period.  A foundation needs to be built from the very beginning, irrespective of your child's age.  A child's social-emotional development, which is the most important part of child development in terms of growing towards maturity, needs a solid foundation before it is able to flourish. 

Therefore, I will say upfront, I have no magical pill.  There will never be a single lesson in this blog that says, "Try this 10 minute solution and you will immediately fix your child's problems, whatever they may be!" There are NO quick fixes.

If I have not scared you away yet, then let me leave you with one final note.  While being a parent is THE most rewarding occupation I have ever had in my entire life, it is one of THE most difficult. Actually let me retract that.  Being a parent AND having a parenting co-partner (in this case, my husband) is THE most difficult thing journey I have ever begun.  Being a physician is EASIER than being a parent; at least when it comes to trying to be a parent that cares deeply about the well-being of my child, a parent that sees the role of being a parent as truly a gift, as well as a trying to be a parent who truly respects the opinion of the co-parent, but does not always like the opinion of the co-parent...yes, being a physician is by far easier.  

I fall far from perfection on a regular basis - any of my children can vouch for that.  So why do I feel I can speak as an expert on this subject when I am far from a perfect parent?  Because I have watched my children grow into competent and capable people, enjoyable to myself and others, caring and compassionate, and uniquely wonderful.  I deeply believe that is the conscientious work that we put into raising our children that has helped them to grow in such a way. 

 After reading this lengthy introduction of what the blog is NOT and what the blog IS, if you are interested in learning more, check out The Mahinaona Pages: First Posting.