As mothers of young children, our days are full of repetitious routines from feeding, bathing and changing nappies to entertaining our children. The constant demands of caring for our little ones can leave us with little time to properly look after ourselves, including our need for social relationship with other adults. Continue reading “Growing up with our children”
Yulia Coleman
Strong girls
When I initially offered to write a blog on the topic of strong girls, the first thing that came to mind was to offer advice on how to ‘handle’ strong willed girls. I have one of those. My eldest seems to be a perfect combination of both a strong will and stubbornness, which she gets from my husband and me (though I won’t reveal as to who possesses which, or both!).
But on further contemplation, I’ve decided to instead offer encouragement to all mothers of daughters. Because I think at the end of the day we would love for all of our daughters to grow up to be strong. Continue reading “Strong girls”
National Child Protection Week
Protecting our children isn’t always easy, but it is necessary.
Alex, a mum and a ChildSafe Champion, writes: “I was sexually abused as a child for many years and I don’t want the same thing that happened to me happen to my children or anyone else’s children.”
This is a confronting statement as we enter National Child Protection Week for another year. It’s a week where our attention turns to children like my son, innocent and vulnerable but with a world to conquer. It is our time to think about how we protect our children and how far we would go to protect our children and all children. As a nation, is it just making laws, and requirements? Or is there something that we, as parents, can do to take some responsibility into our own hands? Continue reading “National Child Protection Week”
Focus on fathers
If someone doing a survey asked this question, “What gives you the greatest source of happiness?”, the majority of people would say, “My family.”
If a second question was asked, “What gives you the greatest source of grief?” many people would respond, “My family?”
Family can be the greatest source of joy and also the greatest source of heart break. That is why it is so important, as a dad, to do fathering as well as we can. Continue reading “Focus on fathers”
Book Week
I love books. I love reading. I give books for birthdays. I give books for Christmas. I love children’s books and books for teenagers. If you ask me about books for grown ups I pause, I stumble and eventually will name a few to read. Ask me about books for children and I will lovingly launch into long details about this book or that! Continue reading “Book Week”
Cultivating gratitude when life gets tough
Have you ever had one of those days, when something goes wrong and invariably it seems like everything else goes wrong and it ends up just being a ‘bad day’? There may have still been good things in there, but they seem to be overshadowed by all that is wrong. Well, I feel like I’m having one of those years! Maybe you can relate? Continue reading “Cultivating gratitude when life gets tough”
Being a confident mum in the information age
Your child is entering a new stage and you need to make a parenting decision about how to handle some new behaviours…So you hop onto one of the Facebook Mummy groups you’re in and ask a simple question to help you decide.
The answer should be unanimous, right? The research should be clear?
Ha! If only… Continue reading “Being a confident mum in the information age”
Raising boys
Raising boys! A topic I’m passionate about, especially as I have three sons! But also, as my husband recently said, a topic we’re still learning about, as we now navigate the teenage years. If you don’t have sons yourself – please read on, so you can better support your friends who do have sons – who may end up being your daughter’s husband one day!! Continue reading “Raising boys”
Separation guilt
As I write this, I’m watching someone else’s children jump into a pool and I’m suddenly conscious of the fact my kids are nowhere in sight. In fact, my kids are nowhere near me – they are a few thousand kilometres away at their grandmother’s house. We are now in that wonderful stage of parenting where my husband and I are able to leave them for a few days. Continue reading “Separation guilt”
Who are you? Step into the light and see yourself clearly
“Have you ever thought about how strange it is that the only person we are with every moment of every day can still mystify us? We cannot escape from ourselves and yet our actions and thoughts can still confuse us. Continue reading “Who are you? Step into the light and see yourself clearly”