SMART PARENT STRATEGIES    Children are still multi-sensory and naturally averse to Monotony. This is a good thing! We can harness this innate capacity to help make homework a safer, more enjoyable space. Here are some tactics that help to create a Healing Homework space for small children:     Decrease after-school run-around. Today, the […]

PART ONE: UNDERSTAND THE REALITIES OF YOUR CHILD’S WORLD “The string of the bow should not always be drawn tight.” (Chinese proverb) Why? Because the bow will lose its elasticity. By allowing the string to fall back to the relaxed position the archer protects the capacity of the bow to keep shooting arrows. In the […]

Goldarned consciousness!   You gather your courage to look at how you grew up and what do you get? NOW you see lots of crazy patterns you have to change. Goldarn it! You may even have a list in front of you that is sooooo long that it just makes you want to take two […]

In the 21st Century fame, greed and opulence are widely peddled but CALM is much undervalued.     In my suburb many of the modest dwellings of the 70s have been bulldozed to make place for concrete mansions. A neighbourhood that used to consist mainly of small homes with gardens that ran to the street […]

One of the first ways we know that our child is going through a developmental shift is that their tastes and preferences shift, often quite dramatically. Sometimes it feels as if we put them to bed as one person and they woke up as someone else!   While it can be tempting to suspect aliens […]

New Year Resolutions rely on us focusing on what we haven’t yet done. Too often there isn’t enough emphasis on the…YET.   So often the act of setting resolutions becomes the baton of guilt with which we beat ourselves about the year that has passed – hoping to self flagellate into glorious perfection in the […]

At the moment our home looks like a cross between Winter Wonderland and one of Pink’s rock concerts. At this time of year I find myself asking,      “Why don’t I live more like this the rest of the year?” At the end of the Christmas celebrations it is like watching the circus be taken […]

In the West it is women who create Christmas for their families – particularly when children are small. The sense of responsibility to create happiness for others can seem overwhelming. It can be encouraging to know that we can create a happy Christmas messily, imperfectly and even at slug level. [As per my last message […]

LET IT GO… What happened to my adorable baby and WHO is this temperamental toddler? Where’s my baby? as they march off to school. “You’re not old enough for that!” as they enter teenage. “Don’t you want to be with me?” as they enter early adulthood.   All of these plaintive cries mean we missed […]

Here is Gail’s story: “The kids next door are always in my house. They are mean to my youngest boy and won’t let him join the games. This results in constant fights and tears. My neighbour spends a lot of time on the internet and the kids just drift over. She also sends them when […]