It’s been a strange year. I’ve unexpectedly found myself the mother of an only child. Oh, I know having your sibling move out of home isn’t the same thing as never having them at all… and yet. It’s really hard for the only child left behind. My Lottie has gone from being one of three …
#mumlyfe
For many parents, the reality of juggling the demands of caring responsibilities on their time, energy and resources leaves us with little time to take care of our own wellbeing. This can result in “parental burnout”. Although the exploration of parental burnout is relatively new, research has identified it as a prevalent issue across global …
Some days, like today, I’m just a bone-weary exhausted mum. It comes from all the doing. It’s days like this when we are told to ‘just take a break’ or ‘be kind to yourself’ or ‘ignore the to do list’, but that would start a domino effect that I’m just not ready for. As much as …
There’s a strange emotion I’m grappling with now that I’m at the pointy end of parenting: where did those little kids go? My eldest moved out to university at the beginning of the year. My middle is doing her HSC this year and my youngest (gulp) has just chosen her HSC subjects for year 11 …
Many years ago my children would buy me a gift for Mother’s Day at the cute Mother’s Day gift stall at their primary school. They were in love with being able to choose my gift all by themselves and I was in love with seeing what they presented me with on the big day. The …
There are many perplexing things about raising children, but surely the biggest is how they can possibly be so different to their parents. We made them, we grew them, and yet here they are: a total, unsolvable mystery. This is never brought home for me more than during parent-teacher interview season. Does anyone else dread …