Hearty Blogs

Compliance.  Obedience.  Discipline.  Feel into these words.  Do they feel strict and tight?  Stiff, reluctant, and worn…strained and resigned?    What if instead the…

Get to know the whole Jobb gang like never before! (I think Whole Family Resumes should be a thing!)

It has been an insanely busy time at the Press! So busy that I’ve hired an incredible team of professional clowns, actors, directors, musicians,…

Anyone else just barely pulling this whole Christmas thing off this year? Creating Magic just feels exhausting when the heart is full of aches…

Homemade DIY robot creations have been going strong for 5 years around here and of course Santa will be adding to the metal loose…

It should have been impossible. Or at the very least, a ridiculous gong-show. But it was the best time of our lives... This summer...

Finding ways to thrive in pandemic times might mean more than keeping space between humans; it might be time to open up new space inside humans…including kids! This is an adventure story to help you dream again.

If you believe in ‘capital P’ lost-at-sea deep Play…you’re in this to foster their imagination. You’re looking for gifts that cultivate capacity.

The magnet theme has it all: loose parts, infinite expansion, cheap-thrift, open-ended as it gets, and great evolution of complexity as kids get older.

Adding a measure of warmth is like a spoonful of sugar! Here are a few of our special hygge traditions and ways of bringing in the glow!

"Ramshackle Thrift" is my version of home decor and play. A word that denotes homemade, spontaneous, loosely held together, unpolished, and a little bit...

Did you know that our physical brains require a specific kind of intimate joy in order to develop properly? We need to be looked…

The questions and longings of parents with little ones: Ideas and activities that will captivate, occupy and engage (preferably not too messy).  Playful ways...

Easter is a very small box brought up from the basement. Simply containing: the best remains of former years, little hops of nostalgia and…

This little wordsmithing kit has been travelling around with me for 20 years! Whether you want to make one for yourself, unlock the Sylvia Plath...

I won't sugar-coat it. The day went dang hell-bent witchy on me. It happened right after supper when Davis said (for the 34th time today),...

(a.k.a. My Most Expensive Lesson Yet) Red and blue flashing lights?!  Come on! The sandy SUV behind me turned out to be an unmarked...

This is the story of Six Words to live by, birth by, lose by, and in every way overcome by.   The profound words…

“There are so many things you can do with water,” my 5 year old observed as he looked out over the lake. For me,...

Do your kids ever go into Paradise Paralysis? Like mine this morning! It’s a perfect summer day with dozens of options all around. Yet...

Perfect for the start of summer (but also anytime!), here's one of our favourite strategies for motivating all-star behaviour around home!   Let me tell...

This is about the AWESOME Terrarium Party we did when our daughter turned 11...... Amidst all the other fun of girls just being girls,...

   My terrarium obsession. It started with this $10 fish bowl I found on a buy & sell app….. One of the reasons I…

I love eggs. I use them often… As hand-held emoticons of the soul. As potent vessels of feeling, healing, and revealing. As time capsules…

If your life had toes they would be chafing with every step. If your life had heels they would be raw. Yearning. Impossibility. If...

So Be Good For Goodness Sake! As the Elf-dust settles Mama Santa looks around. It is time to debrief.  Ruminate.  Investigate. In this post...

Christmas is upon us. And so I realize... it's a tad late for masterminding the perfect haul for each and all. Just a few last minute...

We are knee deep into one of our most magical rituals. The gnome population has awakened again. They have emerged from the Blue Suitcase along with...

It begins with the question that Davis, my 4 year old, asked me yesterday: "Is air God?" What would you say? "Hmmmmmm," say I. (never...

  We've all smelled it. Hopefully just one culprit at a time, but sometimes the stink is rising from every corner. You know what I mean...

Maybe because I spent the summer land-locked with a newborn baby and my 3 other kids, I have become rather enamoured with images of the open sea....

There was that time I saw a new mom in Chapters pressing her cell phone to her infant’s head like a taser gun ~ playing white static noise to…

What does it mean to parent by magic? And how does the word magic ~ which implies a certain effortlessness and ease ~ end...

It was an enchanting dream of a birthday party and probably my simplest ever! Such a QUIET party! http://www.parentbymagic.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/IMG_7193.m4v Just the singing of birds and...

Dr. Gordon Neufeld, renowned child development expert, says "we have lost the traditional source of our cues, for what to do and how to...

My fairy wings have been drooping awfully low. Oh, how we ALL need to be ground to a halt sometimes. Clobbered.  Thwarted.   Torn from the sky &...

Dear Mom & Dad... I don't want to be your Everything. That's not why I'm here. Love me, yes! Do love me madly, but...

I often find myself parked on the side of the road in a moment of decision: Go clean the house OR   Magic  Wonder  Discovery...