Category: Parenting
-
Why I Cried In A Star Is Born
For those of you who know me and my need to spew verbal rubbish at least twice a week as a means of therapy, you might have guessed that my past few weeks of silence has nothing to do with laziness or writers’ block. However, this time, it is not my story to overshare. Instead,…
-
9 Reasons Why Empty-Nesting Is So Much Better Than I Expected
Since Kurt left home – the last of our young adults to leave the nest – friends keep asking us how we are coping with our loss, how much we miss him, and whether we’ll get another dog? Photo by Caleb George on Unsplash And my diplomatic answer is a resounding YES – of course,…
-
What Advice Would You Give Your Daughter As She Transitions Into Womanhood?
When I was growing up, I wish someone had told me to bury the past, to keep my eyes focused firmly on the road ahead, and to embrace the company of women. An out-of-the-blue email from an old girlfriend prompted me to write this post. The first true girlfriend of my adulthood – ie. after…
-
Empty-Nesting: You Know When It Is Time…
Photo by Mantas Hesthaven on Unsplash The old man and I became empty-nesters this week. Kurt has left the building. I swear he wasn’t pushed. We view our negotiations as closer to a manipulation that made sense – primarily, for him. Not once did we bring up the subject of our sanity in the conversation.…
-
Should We Share Our Birthing Stories Online? Absolutely!
There has been a backlash recently against new mothers who share their birthing stories online. Some people don’t like this latest version of “oversharing” because they think it traumatizes pregnant women. Although, not as much as the birth… I hasten to quip. I have to admit that I always felt a bit cheated after the births…
-
And The Progress Prize For Best Father This Father’s Day Goes To…
I’d like to say an early “Happy Fathers Day” to all those men for whom fatherhood hasn’t been quite what they expected, perhaps due to their own issues, the pressures of “toxic masculinity”, or perhaps because, (as in the old man’s case), they produced a square peg. First of all, I should probably justify my…
-
Rule No. 1 Of Feminism: Never Bleat About How Hard It Is To Have It All, When Fighting To Have It Al
It appears to be the fate of women in search of equality that we’re damned if we do and we’re damned if we don’t. And that’s why I loved Serena William’s honest proclamation in her speech after losing the Wimbledon final. “To all the mums out there, I was playing for you today,” she said.…
-
Kids’ Birthday Cakes: Or As I Like To Call It, The Public Shaming Of Mothers That Can’t
Yep, there it is – new evidence of my failure at motherhood in one of its major disciplines – Kurt’s twenty-first birthday cake. Kids’ birthday cakes have always felt to me like one of the ultimate tests of motherhood; rather like keeping your kids alive when as toddlers they seem hellbent on killing themselves. In…
-
Abortion Has Never Been Something Women Take Lightly
I do not begrudge the third of Ireland’s voters who wanted to keep the existing abortion laws in the recent referendum, to protect the rights of the fetus; we are each entitled to an opinion in a democracy. Which is why I get to share mine so freely on this blog, and why you are…
-
My Kids Will Be Able To Say A Lot Of Things About Me, But Never That I Didn’t Love them.
A friend asked me the other day about how I felt about Mothers Day, and I knew that the question was loaded – you see, I haven’t had a mother for a long time. And for the first time, it struck me that I don’t view the celebration from the perspective of my own mother.…
-
Royal Baby #3
I like to think that I am a good person, but fundamentally, I must be a bitch, (as well as a hypocrite if you look at my last post about women supporting women), because I can’t help feeling a tad jealous about the way Kate squeezed out another heir, seemingly without a perfectly-coiffed, soft-curled hair out…
LOUISA SIMMONDS 