Wolf Mother. 1

Rose will be one year of age on 18th April. It does fly by - everyone is right. But not everyone is right when it comes to the phrase ‘once you have a child, your dogs will come second’. In fact, I have invited my understanding of canine behaviour to help guide me through this parenting process, to which my dogs undeniably remain as much a priority as Rose.

I am writing this blog because I want to share with you my connection to nature, when it comes to raising children. When I was pregnant, as well as throughout my post-natal journey, I have been force-fed information on how to raise a happy, healthy, resilient, successful, well-socialised, well-rounded child. And, in addition to this, social media has instructed me on not only how cute it is to raise dogs and kids together, but also how dangerous it can be as well. You too??

The amount of information churned in and out of the internet is overwhelming, hopeless and confusing. And so despite having a successful fifteen year career in ongoing professional development in the latest science on canine behaviour, I have decided to bring raising my child back to the very core of our successful beginnings.

So, if you are expecting a baby, have a baby, a toddler, child, adolescent or grandchild… or, if you have a dog without all the others, this blog is written for you. There are moments every day where I feel I am a wolf mother with all of my dependants, and I want to share these insights with you. This is not a perfect instructional model on how to raise the perfect child and/or dog. Please, can we delete that stupid word (perfect) from the dictionary?! This is an open and honest blog about how I actually run my household each day.

The human and wolf condition is closely linked in which both species have survived along this evolutionary path to set their offspring up to become successful independent individuals. So, why is it that we subscribe to how famous (for the sake of being famous) people raise their kids? Why do we take on other people’s advice? - twenty different styles of parenting, all conflicting, most not peer reviewed scientific research, and many designed just to make you feel like shit? Well, in this series, I plan to reveal why we succumb to the lure of the arbitrary influencer’s unqualified paediatric advice, and how we can free ourselves… and our dogs… and our children, as well as their relationships with each other through

…

drum roll

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common sense, instinct and real science.

I hope that you follow this series, as I pour open my heart and head, sharing how my parenting is working with Rose, and why after all these years, with all the evolving knowledge I acquire, that I have decided to listen to the science, but also to listen to my instinct. Wolf mothers have been doing this for millennia. And if they weren’t good at it, wolves would be extinct. And before you rebut by claiming that many wolf species have indeed gone extinct, remember this… it certainly wasn’t due to how well that species was raised. It was arguably due to how poorly our own species has been.

Tune in to the next week’s blog, where I look at how wolf mothers and human mothers get it right, and where they get it wrong. Just don’t read it during a full moon. ;)

Laura Vissaritis