Motherhood and Unrealistic Expectations (A Response)

April 8, 2013 in Children, Fathers, Mothers, Parenting, Pregnancy & Birth

This is my response to Tamsin’s post on Unrealistic Expectations on Parenting Central I’ll start by openly admitting before I had children I had no idea what I was in for. I joke about how dumb I was, or how naive  or how crazy some of my ideas and ideals about parenting were. But I do still have a lot of empathy for that old me (or rather, that young me). I had some pretty strong beliefs about how I would raise my babies. I intended that my babies would go on to a routine from birth, I would do controlled [...]

The Day My Father Died

February 28, 2013 in Anecdotes, Children, Family, Fathers, Mothers

Based on true events… It was a crisp winter’s day, the day my father died. He had been in palliative care for a few weeks, still in a coma that he would never recover from. It was school holidays, and I was at home with my mother. When the phone rang, my mother was told that my father would most likely not last the day. She took the news stoically, as she always did in moments of extreme emotion. Emotions were meant to be expressed in private, they were not for public display. I think that’s why she asked me to ride over to my [...]

Double Standards A-Plenty

February 12, 2013 in Children, Fathers, Gender, Marriage, Mothers, People, Sex

It amazes me that in this day and age, double standards are still such an issue. With things like Gay rights, and Women’s rights, and equality being fought for the world over, there are still some unbeliveable double standards, which are completely mind boggling! Men are Studs, Women are Sluts This one really rubs me up the wrong way. Basically, men can sleep with whoever they want, and they are considered studs, whereas women get categorised as sluts. So to even up the score, I’ve taken to calling one of my guys a man whore. It’s only fair. Men and [...]

Chopsticks

January 10, 2013 in Children, Fathers, Fiction, Humour, Marriage, Mothers, Music, Parenting, Relationships, Stories

Mummy and Daddy were fighting again. Grown-ups were silly. They argued over stupid things like spending money, coming home late drunk, and lipstick on collars, whatever that meant. So she waited at the kitchen door, sucking her thumb. Fighting was boring. “Sally darling,” said Mummy. “Why don’t you go into the living room and practice your piano? Mummy and Daddy have some grown-up things to talk about.” “Yes,” said Daddy. “Play us that song you learnt this week. Chopsticks. I like that one.” “Alright,” said Sally and left them to do their stupid fighting. She walked over to the piano and started [...]

Older Parents: How Old is Too Old?

December 11, 2012 in Children, Family, Fathers, Lifestyle, Mothers, Parenting, People, Pregnancy & Birth

I was 10 when I first realised I have ‘older’ parents. One of my friends was talking about her mum’s upcoming 35th birthday. My mum was 45. After asking around, I soon discovered that most of my friends’ parents were closer to 35 than 45. At the time it didn’t bother me too much, but it wasn’t long before I began to resent not having young parents. It started when my sister had her first child. My sister is 12 years older than me and subsequently has fairly young parents. I got to see the active role my parents had [...]

What’s Really Holding Women Back in the Workplace?

November 14, 2012 in Children, Fathers, Gender, Health, Lifestyle, Mothers, Parenting, Pregnancy & Birth, Work

Monday night I attended a forum on What Women Want hosted by Sunday Life. The forum was absolutely incredible and covered so many topics that I walked out of there buzzing, excited and feeling so full of new information that I just wanted to burst. This was probably emphasised by the amazing people I had the opportunity to meet and talk to including Tara Moss, Jane Caro, Emily Maguire and Jessica Rowe to name a few. One particular part of the forum focussed on why women don’t achieve equality in the workplace. People mentioned the obvious reason, being that women often [...]

Teenagers and a right to privacy

September 19, 2012 in Children, Entertainment, Fathers, Health, Mental Health, Mothers, Parenting, Society, Technology

Where does parental responsibility end and a teenager’s right to privacy begin? There’s been a lot of talk over the last few years about a parent’s responsibility to monitor their child’s social media use. And fair enough, the Internet is a dangerous place and anything you post on there will be around forever. But I’ve been wondering at what point does your child gain the right to a bit of privacy? I’m sure you, like me, had a diary when you were growing up. Or if it wasn’t a diary, it was a book with a torch under the bedcovers. [...]

Commercial Surrogacy: Australian Parents & Indian Women Lose

September 4, 2012 in Children, Current Affairs, Fathers, Health, Human Rights, Mental Health, Mothers, News, Parenting, Pregnancy & Birth

The commercial surrogacy industry in India is worth 2.5 billion dollars. Each year Australians pay $77K for a commercial surrogacy in India. I’ll be honest with you, commercial surrogacy in India is not a subject that I would usually delve in to. When I buy the newspaper on the weekends I admit that I barely skim the world news and if I’m really being frank sometimes I just flick through the whole thing not giving it a second thought. Why? Well, I believe we have a lot going on in our own back yard at the moment especially when it [...]

What I Want for Father’s Day

August 30, 2012 in Entertainment, Family, Fathers, Film & TV, Parenting, People, Self

Father’s day is one of those days that tends to bring out a few groans from children everywhere. Is it just me, or is it easier to find things for mum? Dads tend to be a bit harder to find things to buy for and this year I’ve faced my own new horror – not only did I go through the ‘what do I get dad this year?’, but I also face the dreaded ‘So, what do you want for Father’s Day?’. This is only my second Father’s Day, officially as a Dad, and with it has come an extra [...]

Ownership: Are Buckyballs Responsible for Your Swallowing Them?

August 15, 2012 in Anecdotes, Children, Current Affairs, Fathers, Health, Mothers, News, Parenting, People, Society, Stories

Last Christmas I bought my father a desk toy called Buckyballs. They are a set of powerful magnets that you can link together and build things with them. Both he and I have had a lot of fun playing with them. There are warnings on the packaging saying that they are not suitable for children and are very dangerous if swallowed. Naturally when my much younger cousins came to our house I made sure the Buckyballs were kept well away from them. So I was surprised while watching Channel 7 News that a mother is calling to ban them in [...]