Book Review: Parenting With Purpose by Nina Garcia

I hadn’t got far into Parenting with Purpose before I knew that I was going to like it. In the first page of her introduction, Nina Garcia says: “We’ve got this discipline thing all wrong. We assume discipline is about punishment… We mistakenly believe that the main purpose of discipline is to stop tantrums at all costs, as quickly as possible.” … Read More

From Mommy Wars to Mother Love #1000Speak

In I Only Knew Her Peanut-Butter-Lovin’ Son From Fliers Taped On Storefronts  Julie Jo Severson writes about a time when as a student journalist, she interviewed the mother of a boy who was abducted by a gunman, never to return. Twenty-five years on, Julie Jo is a mother and, in her own words: “at times, I ‘overparent,’ hovering over my kids more than I … Read More

Thankful For A Loss

In sharing this story, I do not wish in any way to negate or belittle the experience of anyone who has gone through miscarriage and is still grieving. My hope is that by sharing my story I can perhaps offer others hope or resolution. Motherhood came later in life for me than it does for many women. In my twenties, I had no … Read More

Let Go of Trying to be Better Than Your Parents

Russian dolls standing in a row

This post was originally published on my Inquiring Parent blog on Sep 10, 2013, and was updated on April 26, 2018.  In the weeks before my father died, we had many conversations. Sometimes, he expressed regrets. He hinted that my sister and I had done better at parenting than he did. He thought he’d done things that weren’t kind; he … Read More

Inquiry: Parents should always be consistent – Is it true?

I haven’t updated this blog for a long time for several reasons one them that my kids have been growing into teenagers and they are not so keen to share the foibles of our family life. I believe it is important to respect their wishes, so if I was to continue writing here, I needed to find a new way to … Read More

Not Crying Over Spilt Milk

When we are present discipline isn’t even an issue, whereas when we are distracted by beliefs about how children should be life becomes a battle of wills, an endless task of trying to mould children into whatever they currently are not! Being present, aware, awake –  whatever you like to call it –  is something I sometimes am, and sometimes … Read More

Children as Mirrors

One night when my elder daughter was about eighteen months old, she and I were upstairs getting ready for her bath. She wandered out onto the landing and stood on tiptoe peeping over the stair gate. In a sing-song voice she called out, “Jeh-eee!” (My husband’s name is Jerry.) She stood quietly for a few moments, and then she said, … Read More