When Our Kids Are Wired Differently
Encouraging Kids to Say Thank You
How do we encourage our younger children to say thank you? Do they need only our good example to copy? Is learning good manners enough? Our kids could just repeat the polite words. But is it better if their response comes from their hearts? Do our kids need to be the receivers of thanks to understand how to thank others?
Is It Wrong to Love Without Limits?
We’re often told that kids won’t learn right from wrong if we love them without limit. But what if the world has things back to front? What if it’s unconditional love that bathes us in the gentle light of self-awareness and spurs us to become the people we were created to be?
How to Parent So We’ll Have No Regrets
When I look at family photos from a few years ago, I remember those chaotic and messy days when I was at the centre of my children’s lives. I felt like those days would last forever.Sometimes, that was good: I wanted to stay firmly in the love-filled middle of my delightful mothering life. But there were also days when I was overwhelmed and tired and felt like I was failing. How would my children survive my parenting? I occasionally wanted to run away from the responsibility of raising kids, but I couldn’t see any way out. I felt sure I would be seeing to the multiple needs of my children forever.
What if Adding Joy to Your Days Was Simple and Inexpensive?
When I ask my husband, Andy, what he wants to do to celebrate his birthday, he replies, "Let's go on a picnic."It's winter. An icy wind has been blowing for days. It's not ideal picnic weather, but does that matter? No. We'll be brave and gritty. We'll face the adverse weather together. We'll be adventurous."What picnic food would you like to eat?" I ask.“Let's fill a thermos flask with tomato soup and have rolls with cheese."
Intuition and Independence: Unschooling Tips and Practical Advice
Unconditional Love: the Glue that Sticks Us Together
I miss my Mother's Day breakfast. My husband, Andy, and some of our adult kids enjoy coffee and pastries after the early Sunday Mass without me. I’m at home, a blanket drawn up to my chin with razor blades scratching my throat and a drum beating in my head: I’m unwell.
Mother's Days, like birthdays, can be full of expectations. We don’t expect to be sick. We want all our kids to remember us. Will they visit? Will they phone? Will they say, "I love you, Mum"?
Live a Radical Life of Unconditional Love
Encouraging My Daughters and Other Women by Embracing My Age
Challenging Ourselves to Put Away Our Phones
An Almost Empty Unschool House
Recently, two of our daughters moved out of home, leaving behind two empty bedrooms, which my husband and I are turning into a study and a studio. For the first time ever, I will have my very own space where I can write, record audio and video, and join in with Zoom calls.For many years, our home was crammed full of children, toys, books, pets, clothes and everything else a family gathers. My kids shared bedrooms, sleeping in bunk beds. They even shared beds, but that was a preference, not a necessity.
When Children Move Out of an Unschool Home
Some parenting ‘experts’ advise us to push our kids out of the family home as soon as possible. They tell us to make our kids stand on their own two feet. But my husband and I have ignored this advice. We’re happy for our kids to remain with us as long as they need to be here. Some of them moved out of home when they were 18 or 19. Some stayed longer. Now, we only have one child left.
How to Respond to ‘Unlovable’ Kids and Cats
Love or Fear? What Guides Our Lives?
Does Love Keep You Awake While Others Sleep?
Parenting: Doing Our Inadequate Best
Do you ever look back - a few years, months or even days - at your younger self and wish you could have done better? Perhaps you remember dragon parent days when you failed to be gentle. Could you have said things you now regret? I know I do.Sometimes, I want to go back and put things right. But even if it were possible to retrace my steps, perhaps it’s unnecessary to begin again.
Do You Need a Happy List?
Is it Risky to Share Our Book Collections? What Will People Think?
Do our bookshelves reveal things about ourselves? Are there times when we'd rather no one knows what we read to avoid possible criticism? Do we use books to project a particular image? Maybe our book collections sometimes deceive? Are some books better than others? Or can we learn something from everything we read? Could sharing the books we're reading lead to some fascinating unschooling conversations?