I’ve had a bee in my bonnet ever since Abbey was old enough to eat solid foods. Back then, at the tender age of five months, we were asked often and by many people when we were going to give her things like chocolate, ice-cream, fast food, and so on. I found myself fighting a [...]

I’m tired of mediocrity. I want to teach my daughter that life is more important than a career. That when you’re asked what you want to be, you don’t have to answer with a job title. I want to show her that you need to work hard, but not necessarily in a traditional sense. To [...]

Remember the other day when I said the ‘threenager’ attitude was really funny? Well, today it was not. Today, she pushed me. Attitude, meltdowns, refusing to listen, demanding things – it was constant all day. I wanted to click my fingers to turn her back into her usual, wonderful self. I wanted to kick myself [...]

  When Abbey turned three last month, I was warned by many about the ‘threenager’ theory. They said that three-year-olds develop some serious attitude and can be a little… challenging. I didn’t believe them. Only because I’d been warned about so many things before that didn’t eventuate (like the terrible twos – honestly, two was [...]

We were out for a walk. It was meant to be a trike ride for Abbey, actually, but she decided to walk for a while. I walked slightly ahead, pushing her trike, while she dawdled along picking flowers and collecting stones. I kept glancing behind to check on her, and to encourage her to keep [...]

Sunday afternoon: blue skies, warm sunshine and a slight breeze that cut through the warmth. A local reserve, a stunning spot we often visit for walks and to see kangaroos rest lazily on the hills, a quiet place that’s good for the soul. On this day, we took Abbey’s kite and helped her fly it [...]

We recently helped our daughter get rid of her dummy (overseas readers may be more familiar with the term ‘pacifier’), and a lot of people have asked how we did it. It’s all a bit of a mystery, this giving up the dummy business, and we just made it up as we went along – [...]

When I look at the world through her eyes, I see excitement, joy, confidence, vulnerability. learning. I see hope.

People often do a double-take when I tell them my three-year-old daughter has her own iPhone. And I’m always quick to clarify: she uses Steve’s old phone, which would have been otherwise disposed of. It’s a contentious parenting issue – technology for children. Some are absolutely against it, some think it’s wonderful and others, like [...]

A quick but burning question for you today… Abbey starts kindergarten next year, where she will be for the next two years. This arrived in the mail this week: Do I or don’t I? I always thought the answer would be a straight out no, but there’s a part of me that feels I should [...]