Week 2 blog Mental Health of Mothers and Fathers and the impact it has on children

I started researching articles on parental mental health and the effects that it has on their children.  As I was researching this topic, I came across this article, EFFECTS OF FATHER AND MOTHER PARENTING ON CHILDREN’S MENTAL HEALTH IN HIGH- AND LOW-CONFLICT DIVORCES by Irwin Sandler, Jonathan Miles, Jeffrey Cookston, and Sanford Braver.  I decided to discuss the mental health of a mother and a father after divorce and how that affects children. I chose this topic because I am a single mother of two children and I never thought I would be a single mom due to divorce.  I am always concerned about my children and found this article very interesting.  After reading, EFFECTS OF FATHER AND MOTHER PARENTING ON CHILDREN’S MENTAL HEALTH IN HIGH- AND LOW-CONFLICT DIVORCES, I understand how important it is to keep conflict to a minimum and that I need to foster a good relationship with my children.  These two things are the most important when dealing with children and divorce.    http://www.public.asu.edu/~devra1/index_files/15_sandler%20miles%20cookston%20braver.pdf

Surprisingly I also found that divorce is looked at quit similar in the Middle East.  Many Middle East people are Islamic and therefore have laws that allow the woman to divorce their husband. I also found that the Jews faith does not allow the wife to divorce.  This website was a source for different religious thoughts about divorce that I found interesting.   http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/w_islam/divorce.htm

Week 1 Tisha Luthy

Week 1 blog

To be a mom was something I had dreamed about for years.  When the time came that I learned I was pregnant, I had never been happier.  I gave up caffeine, ate healthy foods, and exercised.  The day finally arrived to give birth to a beautiful little girl, who we didn’t know was a girl until she entered the world.  She arrived being five pounds.  I was not worried when I heard her weight.  I knew my mother had had small babies and I thought everything was fine.  When the next day the doctor came to visit and checked the baby’s weight again, she looked at me very accusingly and said, “I guess you smoked during your pregnancy.” Being 27 years old and a very quiet person I looked at her and said, “No why?” She continued to say that there had to be a reason the baby was so small at full term.  I told her I had never smoked and that I tried to do everything right.  I really felt like I was a failure.  I look back on this and feel that genetics had played a role in my daughter being born small (5pounds – not that small) However, the Doctor seemed to think only that teratogens were to blame.  As a 38 year old mother, I now believe I would have responded to the doctor in a different way.

Through my studies this week I have learned about skin to skin contact with mother/child.  South Africa uses this method and I have learned that this is a practice that has now been used for about 35 years.  It is called Kangaroo Mother Care.  They began using this for premature infants.  Being a mother that delivered in the states, the common practice is to wrap the children in a blanket right after birth.  The skin to skin contact does not happen.  After I have thought about this practice, I am trying to understand why this is not common practice for every mother giving birth.  It seems so natural to me.  I gave birth 13 and 10 years ago.  I feel that my children and I both missed out on such an important bonding moment.  I have found myself telling my pregnant friends about this practice.  We were all talking about this in the lunch room the other day and it was like a light bulb went off and we said this makes total sense.  I feel this has changed my thinking and I will promote this practice.