Don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone

Now I can hear ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ in my head. But I digress.

I never knew the awesomeness of my younger body, until pregnancy and aging caught up with me.

Before this time, I didn’t really think about my body. It just was.

Finding instinct

Maternal instinct is a tricky concept. Why? Because it makes it all too easy to fall into the trap of ‘I should know this!’ And once you fall into that trap, it becomes harder and harder to ask for advice, get help or seek information.

‘You’re failing as a mother,’ goes the little voice in the back of your mind as you realize that giving birth had not endowed you will a instant mental baby manual.

You’re a good mum

To the mum who’s breastfeeding: Way to go! It really is an amazing gift to give your baby, for any amount of time that you can manage! You’re a good mum.

To the mum who’s formula feeding: Isn’t science amazing? To think there was a time when a baby with a mother who couldn’t produce enough would suffer, but now? Better living through chemistry! You’re a good mum.

Sesame Street Careers

Princesses have been in the news recently. Not actual princesses (although Kate Middleton’s pregnancy continues to make headlines) but fictional princesses, most obviously the Keep Merida Brave campaign.

Why ‘just don’t buy it’ just doesn’t work

As a parent, I have become increasingly consciously interested in the debate on the sexualization of childhood and gender-stereotyping.

Sexualization of childhood is not new. I vividly recall my mother refusing to let 7-year-old me buy an off-the-shoulder party dress like one of my schoolfriends. And it goes without saying that gender stereotyping has been around for longer than any of us can remember.

The Grandparent Files: Play in 20 Years

Another pearl of wisdom came forth from my mother-in-law recently (can you guess she’s been visiting?)

So, here’s the scenario. She came to visit. She played with BabyBoy and BabyGirl. She noticed that my parenting involves teaching my children (shocker). She’s had a son.

The Grandparent Files: You’re a Teacher!

Adding to the list of ‘did my mother-in-law really mean that’ sayings…

18-month old BabyGirl was being a bit cheeky – she was standing on a battery-operated toy. I told her ‘we use our hands, not our feet’ (something I’m saying on a daily basis right now), and when she just sort of looked at me I went over and gently moved her feet.

What shall we do?

As a parent, it’s easy to feel like you owe your children everything. After all, you brought them into the world, and/or you took on the role of raising them.

Safety….versus Feminism?

Hong Kong’s Security Secretary stirred up a media firestorm recently with comments advising women to drink less alcohol in light of the recent increase in rape statistics in Hong Kong.

I’m not going to debate the rights and wrongs of a public official making such comments in this post. I want to look at this from a parenting point of view. As a parent, will I encourage my daughter to avoid getting drunk? Absolutely.

Come on, you’re a boy…

My kids are only 18 months old and, as is normal around this age, they sometimes experience separation anxiety, and are sometimes a bit clingy to mummy.

Not that they are incapable of playing on their own, or even being left with the one or two people that I and Multidaddy trust to look after them in our absence. And they often toddle off and explore things by themselves at playgroups and on playdates.

But sometimes, sometimes all they want is the reassurance of a mummy hug.