Bounce, bounce, bounce, goes the ball. Hitting the patio, over and over again. It’s not me. It’s not my son. Despite it being the hottest day of the year so far, we are locked up, inside the house. “You’re clever and intelligent but sometimes you do stupid things. Don’t do the stupid thing today.” The ball…
Families
A Letter To My Mum On Mother’s Day
Dear mum, We’re a funny old pair, me and you. I bring the funny, you bring the old – obviously. We’re no good at affection – not to each other anyway. There have been so many times when I’ve waved you off with little one and said, “do you want to tell nanny you love…
Thinking About Becoming A Single Mum By Choice
I’m a divorced mum to an only child, it’s a far cry from the life I had imagined for myself: four children and a partner to boot was how it was supposed to end. It only takes an innocent photo of friends’ children playing and bickering (oh yes, I’m realistic) to set my womb on fire.…
Christmas Expectations Vs Reality
As usual Christmas reality doesn’t quite match up to Christmas expectations. Expectation: Christmas eve would be spent singing carols around the piano with my family. Reality: I sang out of tune, my son banged on the piano keys and whacked family members incessantly. The grand finale was provided by a traditional family arguement because – well because it was…
10 Ways I’m Raising A Feminist Son
As a feminist I’m all about equality – equality for girls and boys; men and women. Here are some of the ways I’m raising a feminist son and passing on my feminist zeal. 1. Teaching consent. My son is a cuddly little thing, sometimes he asks first, but he often just dives right in and, let’s be honest, some…
Motherhood: The Art Of Mothering
Mother – it’s a word we hear and use nearly every single day. So what is mothering? Is there a way we all mother? Is there an art it? What shared experiences bring us together on our motherhood journey? Some of us go down the breastfeeding route, others bottle feed, some of us cry it…
When Co-Parenting Fails: The Reality
This is my story of when co-parenting fails. Two years after separating, it seems almost comical now how naive my initial expectations of co-parenting were. At the start I believed those advice pieces about the importance of creating a strong co-parenting relationship. I thought that the first time my son had a 40+ temperature his dad would…
When Your Husband Suffers Psychosis
Trigger warning – this post talks in detail about psychosis and mental health. It may be upsetting for people who have experienced psychosis or seen others suffer. The blogs I have read on mental illness tend to be clean and tidy. The moral is clear – goodness wins out in the end. I can only assume that an unspoken,…
The Good Times
I have written a lot about the challenges of motherhood – single motherhood especially. As I put up posts like missing in action and this shit just got real, I worry that should I, or my son, (or really anyone) look back on this blog in years to come and think that this is the whole…
Why Having No Routine Is Great For My Son
I’m pretty sure talking about toddler routines in the negative is sacrilege amongst the parenting population. So I’m readying myself for the backlash at this brazen statement, but I mean it when I say not having a routine for my son has been good for him and for me. Contrary to popular opinion, babies and toddlers*…