Parenting
The Body keeps the Score
In 2023 I would like to spend a fair amount of blog-space exploring psychological trauma and the impact it has on parenting, relationships and family life. Trauma can be an event, but also a context. A trauma can be once-off (such as a serious car accident), or it can be an ongoing situation (such as…
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Reassurance Seeking: The Quest for Belonging
This blog is for you if you have a child back at school this week who is struggling to settle and is constantly looking to you to reassure them. The human need for love and belonging are so primal and foundational to who we are, when it comes to not having these needs met, we…
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The impossible job
“You try to be a good parent, in every way, but you never know how. It’s not a difficult job. Just impossible.” from Us Against You by Frederik Backman. This quote is from a fictional novel, but I think there is so much truth in it. How often we feel like we’ve gotten to grips…
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The art of showing up
This week and next we’re finishing off the Real Talk: Parent conversation sessions. A four part, intentional but informal series of conversations for parents. We have covered big feelings, anxiety, regulation and parent self-care… and so much more. We have shared hardships, pain, things that work and things that don’t. We’ve confessed our fall downs…
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Parenting Personalities
Pace and energy are impacted by how our personalities evolve. We need to be aware of where we are at, how our energy and pace impacts our children, and also what we need. A key feature of personality make up is extroversion or introversion, but it’s not as cut and dried as we’ve maybe been…
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Hurry
To talk about what you enjoy about them is to talk about what you see in them as a person, and what makes you like them as a person. I invite you to take some time over the weekend to not hurry. Maybe to not hurry feels to some like a luxury, or to some…
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Parenting expert
I am not the expert. I refuse to see myself or label myself as an expert at anything, least of all a parenting expert – except of my own children. And I believe you are a parenting expert when it comes to your own child. Don’t freak out. Let me explain. Definition of expert: a…
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Write them a note
A very simple top tip for increasing connection with your child; write them a note. Or draw them a picture. Hearing you say “I love you” is wonderful, having it written down to look at again and again is amazing. I remember very vividly on certain days when I was in primary school opening my…
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It’s been a week
It’s hard to parent nicely when things are hard. It’s hard to think about extending grace and patience when you yourself are hard-pressed in several different ways. Some of the things that have happened this week: Two full on shouting matches with one child who has dragged heals about a big school work project and…
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Parenting in the midst of community trauma
Dear parents, I hope that you are safe and that you are ok. Your family and your children have been on my heart this past week. We may all still be in shock, still processing and trying to wrap our minds around all of the happenings. Sandy Meyer, an OT friend and colleague and a…
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