The roller-coaster ride of parenting becomes more challenging when Amanda McLeod is diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I lost friends and colleagues who found it difficult to deal with my highs, lows and erratic behaviour. After 12 months of trying to conceive, I was overjoyed when the pregnancy...
Gemma Rolleman faces up to the fact she no longer has all the answers to her kids’ questions. It’s a sad day when your eight-year-old son turns to you for help with maths homework that might as well have been written in ancient Greek. For no...
It’s time to kill the outdated platitudes around what it takes to be the perfect mother. Or at least tune out their noise.
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...
Anne-Maree Brown's instincts saved her daughter’s life....
Kris Bordessa’s sons have a tendency towards truncation in their communication The bright, bold colours of billboards and street signs intrigued my oldest son, Brad, long before he could read. “What does that say, Mum?” he’d ask from the back seat as we whizzed down the...
Michaela Fox encourages mothers to trust their instincts more and listen to others less. It’s a predictable script: you become a mother and sentence yourself to a lifetime of guilt – or so it appears. I overheard a conversation between two mothers at the park recently,...
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...
Leanne Torres finds her daughter’s first day of school is a big adventure for them both. If I try really hard, I can just about remember my first day of school. Maybe it’s the photo that triggers my memory – there I am with my big...
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...
