Why I am a Helicopter Mum
Something I have been thinking about lately is the fact that Mr Point Five and I are helicopter parents. For better or worse we tend to wrap our boys in cotton wool and be over cautious with them and what they do. Despite other neighbourhood kids doing the same, our boys have not ridden their bikes down our street without me standing/sitting at the bottom of our drive to watch their every move. I accompany them to the skate park. I refuse to let them go on the school bus with the other kids to the next town up...
Gentle Parenting – my mantra.
Did anyone else see the article in The Daily Mail slamming David and Victoria Beckham for Harper, aged 4, having a dummy? Its here if you missed it. As parents, we all cop a lot of criticism for the way we raise our children and obviously even celebrities aren’t immune to it. You see it in the media; in facebook groups; not such subtle looks from other Mums in the playground; and even worse, from friends and family. I remember being judged terribly for G Man still being in nappies well after his third birthday and Master J still having a dummy coming up to his...
Are you a Good Mum? Yes, you ARE!
So G Man has made a little friend at school whose name is Sam. Sam lives with his Mum, Dad and three sisters just out of town and has had a few sleep overs here with the boys. Its the first time I have had another child stay with us and I had to laugh when I had his Mum over for a cuppa a few days back and she said how much Sam liked staying here – cos he got a picnic for dinner! I mean, I know G Mans dinners are not quite the norm, but I...
Ranty Pants Alert – Breastfeeding at FIVE, damage control.
I think we all have our own opinions and ideas as Mothers on when we should stop breastfeeding, if we choose to breastfeed at all. Its a decision that we all make and it is ours alone to make. We also live in a country where it is not the social “norm” to breastfeed your child beyond the World Health Organisation recommended age of two. Whether you agree or not with the mothers below who practise extended breastfeeding is irrelevant really; they are doing it (assumedly) in the privacy of their own home and is of no concern to us. My...
My Top Three Parenting Tips
The boys and I were invited to our first playdate yesterday since we moved to town in November. I was keen to make a good impression so typically my normally cheery Master J was in a funk from about 10 minutes after we got there. He tried climbing over the furniture to get to my lap, demanded to be inside when it was outdoor play, was being rude to his brother and after he threw a toy at me I smacked him; not hard, just a three finger tap on his leg to let him know I wasn’t joking...
Choose Happiness
I remember reading a facebook status by another mummy blogger a few months ago about her saying just how frustrating the time of day between dinner and bedtime is and how it was completely doing her head in. She was just about to lose it with not being able to do anything she wanted to do and was just willing the clock to say it was bedtime for the kids. I remember nodding and sympathising, cos it shits me too a lot of the time too and then I had an parenting epiphany of epic proportions. You just have...
Rising six and breaking hearts.
This is our G Man. He is now rising six. He is a little sweetheart, our good child, our angel. He loves to have rules to follow and is eager to please. We have never had to discipline him, so very different to his little brother who is just plain mischief and pushes all our buttons! He has severe dyspraxia which we initially thought was ASD and we had him assessed when he was three. Some of the traits which led us to these thoughts were behaviours brought on by his inability to communicate due to his dyspraxia; shyness,...