Category: Parenting
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Modern Parenting: A Full-Time Job With No Off-Switch
Parenting needs a rebrand. With more of us working and the pressure to parent perfectly, “doing the best we can” seems much more achievable. With unacceptable behaviour escalating in classrooms and youth suicide on the rise, something must give.
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When The Worst Happens: Embracing Acceptance
Control isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There are valid reasons we put certain people in positions of control. However, as we’ve seen in recent stories of coercive control in relationships and the fears many of us felt about Trump’s win, it can be dangerous when it is abused. Relinquishing control is something some parents also…
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How to Support A Loved One Struggling with Mental Health Issues
With a decade of experience in this area, I feel an obligation to share with anyone in a similar situation the strategies that have helped us support our loved one and our own mental health along the way.
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Tragedy at Bondi Junction: Who’s really to blame?
None of the current conjecture matters to the victims of Bondi Junction. They won’t witness any hasty amendments the government implements to knife laws, mental health care, or mall security. They won’t see the wreaths of flowers left in their honour, the tears and lifelong sadness of their families, or their children grow up.
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Mental Illness: Why Love and Acceptance Must Be the First Line of Treatment
With love and acceptance – what I believe should be the first-line of treatment for people with mental illness – people like my son feel less isolated, judged and ashamed. Though “tough love” may be the gold standard approach to care for some mental illnesses, it is a risky choice and one that doesn’t necessarily…
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Do You Consider Yourself “Woke”?
There are many “boomers” and middle-aged parents like me, I imagine, who have been forced over the past couple of years to ask their kids for the meaning of the term “woke”. Which was why I was less ashamed to admit my ignorance about the word “sonder” when a family member mentioned it recently. Have…
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11 Painful Truths About Living With Men
To be honest, I thought I’d done my time in share houses until COVID-19 attacked our shores, but it turns out that the most confronting change brought about by this virus is not my fear of catching it but my forced cohabitation with two men. Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash Some of you know…
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Pity The Parents Whose Boomerang Children Have Been Forced Back Home By COVID-19
One aspect of COVID-19 that is rarely mentioned on the news is the impact on families who – due to recent job losses – have had grown children return back home. Some of you, I imagine, view the bounce back home of our Boomerang Generation as an opportunity to rebuild relationships, fatten them up and…
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There Is No Better Education In Love, Compassion And Empathy Than Having A Child With Special Needs
A few weeks ago we went to a fundraiser. It was a black tie event to raise money for the family of an old colleague of the old man’s whose son broke his neck and damaged his spinal cord in a freak rugby accident recently. Alex Noble is their son’s name, and if anyone feels…
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The Meaning Of Life And Why People Who Live In Hot Countries Suffer From Depression As Well
Kurt experienced a few personal setbacks a few weeks ago and because I know that many of you follow this blog because you too have young adults who struggle, I thought I’d take you through what we’ve learned from it. Obviously, I won’t go into precise detail about what happened, but suffice it to say…
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Mothers: Admit It, We Never Stop Worrying About Our Kids
Mothers, be careful with those little comments you drop into the conversation each time you see your adult kids (who have left home) and look like they haven’t eaten a square meal that month. Photo by Caroline Hernandez on Unsplash You know the type – How much fruit are you eating? ARE YOU EATING? You’re…
LOUISA SIMMONDS 