Erica Sharplin wonders if we should be teaching our children to take ‘no’ for an answer. Can I have one Mum?” “No. Not now.” “Please Mum.” “No. I said not now. It’s nearly lunchtime.” “Ple-ease!” “I said no! Now stop bugging me about it!” “Please, please, please Mum! Just one.” So you change tack...
The village is most welcome to help raise her child, writes Maxine Clarke, but through practical gestures, rather than unconstructive heckling. For a few short months, I was completely content with the new-found public interest in my condition. Even a few pats on the tummy from...
Jeanie Baxter strives to move beyond the boundaries set by the early death of her mother. This year, I am older than my mother ever was. I am living in time that she never experienced. I watch my eldest daughter move into her mid-teens and know...
Mandy Collins finds the judgements of other women in relation to birth and breastfeeding to be difficult to accept. I clearly remember the morning I decided to stop breastfeeding my daughter. I lay in my hospital bed, tears running down my face, terrified to tell the...
Family medical history, fear and trepidation take their toll on Karen Weeks, even after the birth of her perfectly healthy son. We all know parenthood is difficult. We know because we’re parents and have experienced it firsthand. But before having children, I had no idea what...
Elspeth Ives explains to her five-year-old employer why she chooses to stay home with him and his siblings. “When did you decide you didn’t want to be anything, Mum?” my five-year-old son asked me on the way home from school. My very purpose and many everyday tasks...
Even self-professed exercise junkie MJ Ong struggles to keep up her regimen with a baby in tow. I’m not your average postgraduate student. On the first day of my doctorate course I was eight weeks pregnant. Ironically, my research is on pregnancy and exercise. I was...
Kate King waxes lyrical about bygone times, before realising she is a different person now she is a mother. One night recently our children gave my husband and me a rare and unexpected treat: they were asleep by 7 pm. As we gently pulled their bedroom...
With both her kids now at school, Jean Flynn contemplates a ‘career change’. I’m looking for a job. I already have one, but I’m interested in doing something a bit different – branching out. I’ve been in my current position for nearly eight years. It’s full-time...
More and more employers are aware of their obligations to assist mothers returning to work. This advice from the Australian Breastfeeding Association provides the latest updated information to help parents to make their best choices. Many mothers successfully combine work and breastfeeding. Our work environment continues...
