Slow parenting isn’t really all that new. It followed the whole Slow Food movement when the term was coined a few years ago by Carl Honore in his book In Praise of Slow, in which he uses the term Slow Parenting to talk about bringing balance into the home.

In the past several weeks, there’s been a lot of press about the latest swing towards slow parenting. Lisa Belkin, New York Times Motherlode Blogger extraordinaire, whose blog I follow religously, wrote about it in an article called Let the Kid Be. The Today Show had a segment with our own Slow Family, Carrie Contey on set. There have been blog posts galore and slow parenting is just on the general radar for being up these days. It is touted as being necessary in the face of the recession but it is also a bit of a backlash against the idea of hyper-parenting, or helicopter parenting, that has become so widespread in our society these days.

I’m glad about this movement and this discussion being brought into the mainstream. I think it’s time for people, families specifically, to find ways to slow down. But the part that is being lost in this current discussion, is the idea that Slow Parenting and Slow Family is about the idea of finding balance and truly connecting with each other and finding the joy in family life. Slowness is not just about slowing down and doing less, but about connecting with the whole process of parenting and with family life as a whole and with each individual family member as well. And that premise: slow down, connect, enjoy is the very foundation for this whole Slow Family movement of ours.

In all the teachings and writings of Slow Family Living, we really believe, and want to help others see, that family life can be the well where members go to fill up, to find inspiration and to have fun. We strive to provide the science, the practicals and the lens for understanding, believing and appreciating the richness of building and maintaining lifelong family connections. It’s not just about slowing down. Although that is a major part of it. It’s also about connecting and really enjoying family life. Finding the fun in it all and savoring it as it comes. And I guess the slowing down, the pausing, the really looking, hearing and seeing each other is what allows that connection to form and be sustainable for the lifelong.

Our children are only children for a relatively short portion of the whole parenting experience. Soon they grow and turn into adults with whom we have adult relationships. So this idea of Slow Family and Slow Parenting, it’s not about doing less or more. It is however about pausing long enough to really and truly connect. For now and for all time. And I firmly believe, above all else, that the connection really is what most people want. With our families, with ourselves, and with all the people with whom we encounter in a day.