Working it out: Stay at home or return to work?
Figuring out if and when you should go back to work after you’ve had a child is a very personal and family-based decision. Can you afford not to work? Who will look after your baby? What impact will it have on your career? Is your child too young? What support networks are available to you? […]
What happens when you don’t like being a parent?
Parents come in many shapes and sizes. There are those for which being a parent is the most natural thing in the world. Always knowing they would have a family, they live, sleep and breathe parenting; thriving on the milestones, the naughty steps and the healthy lunchboxes. Others land unsure, but once their brood appear […]
Parents! You can’t be happy all the time and that’s OK!
You must feel sad. Human emotion is not capable of being monochromatic; one must accept the full spectrum of brain chemical combos. You cannot feel happy without allowing yourself to feel sadness as well. Something I found terrifying about motherhood was the unexpected anxiety and despair. Everyone promised the oxytocin highs, the love, the desire […]
‘Someone told me I was a control freak around my baby’
Nothing prepared me for the unrelenting demands of motherhood: the realities of a 24/7 responsibility that left no time for myself, that lonely time after the front door closed behind my husband each morning while I felt like I just had to cope. I had wildly unrealistic expectations of myself as a perfect mother and […]
Short fiction: Becoming a mother – my love’s journey
They say you become a mother at birth. But that’s not what I saw. My sweetheart wept over a small, plastic test as I held her tightly in my arms. I kissed her strawberry-scented auburn hair and told her it would all be OK. She’d wanted this for as long as I could remember. We […]
Hey Mamma, Breathe, You’re doing an amazing job
STOP what you are doing right now new mama (except for anyone about to sip a hot beverage at the right temperature) – early childhood consultant, author and mum Stella Stead wants you to know something. It is a message she believes all parents should be told the day they come home from the hospital […]
It takes a village to raise a mother
I’m sure you have heard the African proverb, ‘It takes a village to raise a child’. I believe there was a second phrase they forgot to add: ‘It also takes a village to raise a mama.’ While ‘mother’ is the oldest role in the history of mankind, it doesn’t mean it’s easy. Nor does it […]
‘I was angry and crying and swearing every day’
Did you know that perinatal depression and anxiety can occur even if it isn’t your first child? It doesn’t just happen to new mums. It happened to Kelley. This is her story … “[With my first child] I had a good pregnancy and indulged my hot chips craving as much as possible. That moment, that […]
How long can you use ‘baby brain’ as an excuse?
I’m a mum, wife, writer and lover of good coffee and I suffer from baby brain. My symptoms include; inability to hold a conversation for longer than five minutes consistent jumbling of words, sometimes trailing off mid-sentence while having a conversation with a fellow adult, while at the same time trying to keep an eye […]
From career woman to baby – top tips to thrive
“How hard can one little baby be?” I remember my sister uttering those words just before my niece was born. And since then, I have heard many women say similar words, including myself. I mean, we’re having a baby, not undertaking brain surgery. We’re successful, smart, accomplished, modern career women. By giving birth, we’re joining […]