I don’t do well when I’m untethered. Not for me the glorious freedom of no constraints or obligations; I operate best within boundaries. I think I might fly away without them. The past couple of weeks have been all about getting to know my ‘new normal’. I have alternated between restless boredom and brimming with…
Family organisation for the disorganised
Most people who know you will tell you that I’m a very organised person. When I say ‘most people’, it doesn’t include my mum. My mum knows that I’m an extremely disorganised person at heart. Always have been, probably always will be. So how does a naturally disorganised mum fool the world into thinking she’s…
The unbelievably simple secret to sibling harmony
After taking so much time off over summer to go to Europe, I’ve no holidays left in the kitty at work. So I’m working through these hols. Bart is taking a couple of days each week to keep the kids occupied, and they have been to friends’ places and activity camps and the like. They…
A bedtime routine for non-sleepers
When I first became a parent over a decade ago (and yes, that statement does make me feel old), I was a completely different mother to the mother I am now. Back then, when I held my newborn in my awkward arms, I was an anxious, shaky kind of mother. I felt overwhelmed and insignificant and…
10 things your school kid can do in the mornings
You can’t win on school mornings. Either you’re whirling like a dervish (and I’m pretty sure dervishes can whirl like no one’s business), rushing around like a head with its chook cut off and you’re still late for the bell or… everyone is up incredibly early with shoes shined, hair neatly smoothed, uniforms starched to…
The drip, drip, drip of routine
I’ve always hated routine. Before the Tsunamis I was the kind of person who would mix up the route to work so I didn’t have to do the same thing day in day out. The thought of already knowing today what I was going to do tomorrow was enough to make me feel a bit panicky….
Morning Routine for Working Parents (TM)
Prepare to be dazzled by the Morning Routine for Working Parents TM (MRWP). It is a modern miracle of engineering. The MRWP has been tested on a prototype family group consisting of 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 1 schoolchild, 1 preschooler and 1 toddler. Sadly it has yet to work on the Preschooler prototype who likes…