Here’s another woman whose advice I wont be paying much attention to. Her name is Samantha Ettus and I only know she exists because I read an article about her yesterday which probably gave her all the exposure she wanted. She clearly writes to alienate, in fact she quite smugly suggested she’s already getting hate mail and the book she’s written isn’t even out. Goals.
Here’s a great way to ruin your child’s digital footprint. And their self esteem
September 14, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Let me tell you something about living with teenagers; it’s Hormone City and that place is not always packed with sunshine and happy times. Teens are moody and emotional underdeveloped adults. They take risks and they rebel against their parents while still leaning on them for support and protection. They sulk, they grunt and they process things in a different way to those with a fully developed frontal cortex. (They are also pretty awesome)
And it has always been that way. Even back in “the good old days” where discipline reigned supreme, we seem to have forgotten that teenagers were always tricky subjects. [Read more…]
Motherhood guilt is a sickness
August 24, 2016 by 2 Comments
It’s a long time since I’ve been consumed with guilt by my own parenting. In fact many a month has passed since I have been tied up in knots of self-reproach and it’s been quite liberating. Admittedly it’s much easier to escape guilt when your child is a teenager and you aren’t invested in the squabbles and competitiveness of playgroups and online parenting forums, but still.
The thing is I was blissfully unaware of how guilt-free I was until this latest bout hit.
So many accidents involving kids. Who is to blame?
June 2, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Of all the things my son has ruined, my ability to sleep for a whole night is the one I miss the most. And I don’t even think that was an accident on his behalf – it’s just one of those things that babies do. Then they grow up and have real accidents.
Kids climb into zoo enclosures when they shouldn’t, they steal Chupa Chups from the supermarket checkout when we aren’t looking, they put toast in the DVD player (in the good old days when we had such things), they break toys (sometimes willfully), they cut their siblings hair and make them look like they need special attention and they eat the dog food. They are kids, they do stuff like that. And more. If you have a kid you know that they’ve done some spectacular shit that you try to laugh about after some simmering down time has passed. [Read more…]
Why teenagers are better than toddlers: the baking edition
May 27, 2016 by 1 Comment
I always thought I would be the mother in the Disney movie remake of real life. Not the evil witch mother but the caring, nurturing, play on the floor and bake cookies kind of mother. I loved children long before I had my own and after enduring a childhood fairy tales most definitely aren’t based on, I had it firmly in my mind that I would make my child’s life magical and wonderful. Wistful and dreamy even.
But, as every mother of young children knows, that’s not always how life goes. My attempts at doing craft quickly became sessions that will no doubt be relived in his therapy sessions when he’s older. I would not be surprised if the sight of craft paper or a glue stick instils fear in him even now. Let’s just say patience is not one of my virtues, in fact I embarrassingly remember screaming at him once for ruining my vision of his year K project. (Why on earth do they give Year K students projects?).
I slept on my own last night. It was tough
April 19, 2016 by 3 Comments
It finally happened, last night I slept alone in my bed and it was awful. I watched the entire series of The Katering Show on IView followed by the whole series of When I Get A Minute. When I started thinking of writing in to tell Leigh Sales and Annabel Crabbe I preferred them on podcast I knew I was over tired. But still I couldn’t sleep. I read three chapters of a book I’m not loving and even that didn’t bring sleep. I counted sheep and did the A-Z of boys names and girls names and even attempted car types but I got bored and still didn’t sleep.
My husband is away at least one night a week so sleeping in the bed without him is not the stress. In fact it’s something I quite look forward to, not the sleeping part as much as the cereal for dinner and choosing not to watch any sport on TV part. [Read more…]
Being present for the joy
February 10, 2016 by 4 Comments
It is my son’s 15th birthday today and as such I am sure I am meant to come up with some meaningful and heartfelt post about how awesome he is (because he is).
But he’s fifteen now, which means he’s half man and it’s probably not so cool for me to write about him all over the internet (if it ever was).
So I’m not going to share with you how awesome he is or how proud of him I am. I won’t tell you about how people who come into contact with him rave about him and make my heart swell. I won’t tell you about his compassion and kindness and his sense of humour which surpasses his dad’s by far – and is a teeny, tiny bit of a fraction off mine. I won’t tell you how much joy he brings to the people around him or how .. oh okay I see what I’m doing, I’ll stop. [Read more…]
A smug mum once told me…
January 5, 2016 by 11 Comments
“I’ll have to wait 11 years before I have a kid free New Year’s Eve again” I overheard a wistful sounding mother say the other day. I felt one of those sentimental pangs you get when your child is no longer a toddler and you’ve embraced that smug “older and wiser” satisfaction you probably don’t deserve.
“Hang on to it while you can” I wanted to say to her which would have been very odd and possibly a bit creepy because (I hope) she wasn’t even aware I was eavesdropping on her conversation. It would also have been awful because I am not a fan of the smug, know-it-all kind who tell you how to nurture/care for/raise your kids. My worst is people telling you how you should feel. Especially about your own kids. [Read more…]