The Primal Parent

Doesn’t it just suck when you’re taking a peaceful walk through the neighborhood and all of a sudden you come around the corner to a dog barking his head off at you? You hear him as you approach, while you pass by, and long after you’ve left his turf.

What is wrong with this dog, you think?

Its bark is so persistent and annoying that you just want to yell, “Stop!” But what good would that do? The dog doesn’t know what you’re saying and he’s going to express his agitation regardless of your words anyway. Yelling at the dog would only serve to raise your own blood pressure.  So, you ignore him and you move on. It’s only a passing moment, after all, and not all that big of a deal.

But what if that dog lived in your house?

You’re reading a book at the breakfast table, the silence and plot are thick, and then suddenly, nails scratch at the floor, the bark begins, and the dog goes into a fit of panic as a person passes the window – each and every time a person passes the window.

The constant loud and piercing sound is enough to deplete magnesium levels which, if experienced regularly, could lead to depression and irritability.

If you have ever been in the presence of one of these dogs for an extended period, you know how trying it can be on your nerves. If you’ve ever owned one, you might not have realized that the dog was the cause of your tightly wound nerves and low mood. Dogs can be a significant source of stress to any perfectly well meaning, healthy person.

Baby’s cries aren’t really much different, at least not insofar as the level of physical response it elicits in us.

Babies can be just as disruptive to a person’s harmony.
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The other day I got an email from a parent concerned about his kid’s use of a security blanket. I replied a lengthy reply regarding my own experience but for his sake, I said I’d do a post about it with more info and the potential for a rich and revealing comment board. So here is my experience with and research about the matter. Please leave your own book recs, personal experience, and even theories for Enrico with the two boys, years 2.5 and 4, who are attached to their blankets!

Baby wearing around the world

Have you ever noticed how calves, horses, and dogs – to name a few – can stand up almost immediately after being born? Isn’t it interesting that these animals who are significantly less intelligent than we are have such superior coordination at birth?

How is it that humans can get away with birthing such high maintenance babies? The answer is the baby sling.
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Masai mother sooths her child

Eliminating favorite foods, adding less favorite ones, eating less, throwing out your tv or just watching less of it, exercising more, rethinking old friendships, searching for new ones, quitting smoking, switching to decaf, trading out beer for wine…

These are all challenges that a switch to the Primal diet and lifestyle may entail. Making so many sacrifices may seem like an insurmountable ascent at times but you know the climb is worth it with your gaze fixed on the horizon. Nevertheless, all the benefits and expectations don’t change the fact that giving up old habits severs well established neural connections in the brain, which can make you feel irritated, confused, and alone.

Your children face this frustration too.

But your children aren’t anchored in the knowledge that fuels you. They aren’t guzzling down theory and science all over the interweb. They aren’t a part of any support groups. They can’t explain to their friends why they are so different. Your children are probably more frustrated by all the changes than you are. They are following you blind through this upheaval and the only one that can assuage their frustration is you, their parent.

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