Apparently, parents are unhappy. More unhappy than their non-parent counterparts. In the New York Magazine article by Jennifer Senior ‘All Joy and No Fun – Why Parents Hate Parenting’, Jennifer dives into a wealth of studies which consistently say the same thing, non-parents are happier than parents. This seems counter-intuitive. Everyone keeps expecting the research to say the opposite. And unlike pictures of happy families, children decrease marital happiness. The majority of the studies were American, and while some found the difference in happiness to be statistically insignificant, some definitely …

Welcome to the June Carnival of Natural Parenting: Outdoor fun
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have shared their stories and tips for playing outside with kids. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.
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I often say that if Riley’s not dirty by the end of the day, I haven’t done my job properly. It gives me great satisfaction to see her cheeks flushed …

Sometimes I chain of events happen that give you that extra burst of joy. The redesign was one of them. It’s like moving furniture at home. Everything is the same but different and just a little bit new and shiny. It feeds my gypsy soul.
Another one was having a shower with my beautiful little one the other day, she turned her face up to me eyes closed, enjoying the water and then pointed at the foam letter ‘M’ on the shower screen and said ‘M!’ That feeds my geek.
Then today, …

I came across this on Crunchy Domestic Goddess.
Here are what Lifescript calls the “10 Biggest Mistakes Parents Make:”
1. Sharing a bed with baby.
2. Putting your child to bed with milk or juice.
3. Buying second-hand toys or baby furniture.
4. Showing your child “smart baby” DVDs.
5. Putting kids in the basket of a shopping cart.
6. Sharing utensils with your child.
7. Delaying or avoiding vaccines.
8. Leaving your child alone in the car “just for a minute.”
9. Skipping helmets on tricycle rides.
10. Leaving your child alone in the bath or shower.
Going on that list …

We have arrived. The age of ‘no’ is upon us. I knew it was only a matter of time. Riley is far too persistent and too stubborn for it to pass us by, no matter how easy going she is.
I won’t lie. It’s not particularly pleasant. There is defiance, there is even hitting. And there is just plain melt downs aplenty for no good reason. Example: losing the plot because her dad was helping her with play-doh. Apparently him using the rolling pin was an assault on her empire. It …

I was on facebook this evening and into my feed popped a new piece of information about panadol and immunisation thanks to Be a Fun Mum

Which was interesting I thought. Because various GPs and nurses had often recommended to me that I give Riley panadol BEFORE her shots. And for the record, my mum (who is a nurse) was always very keen on me not giving Riley anything before she was sick. I opted for not because I figured that panadol is fast acting and if anything came up later …

Mothers’ Day has got me thinking about fathers’. Strange, yes but it does. Josh often comments that I am the Queen of left-field comments and will often get me to recount the connections that happened in my brain before the words came out of my mouth, just because it’s a roller-coaster ride.
When I said I was thinking about writing about Dads’ for my next post he said (rather indignantly) ‘you should – it’s like you’re running a one man show’. Point taken. Or point not taken and get your …

Today I read about how the UN wants to ban smacking. My first thought? If they are powerless to influence world leaders, I’m pretty sure they’ve got no chance of changing family choices behind closed doors. Nonetheless, countries who have chosen to outlaw it include Austria, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Germany, Italy, Israel, Iceland, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Hungary, Belgium and Greece. The NSW Committee who examined the current laws opted not to give children the same rights as adults, and smacking (providing it is a reasonable punishment) is still legal.
I’m not …

That’s the assertion made by Elisabeth Badlinter in her new book, discussed in this article. The idea being that it’s a bit of a waste for a parent to sacrifice every part of their life for a child, given that we live for an average of 85 years and childhood is temporary. Her theory is that women get their life back by any means necessary – formula, childcare, whatever it takes – and get back to enjoying their life with a drink and a cigarette. And while I do enjoy …

This month I’m in a partnership with GreenKiddie. They’ll be featuring some of my blog posts on their website, and in this post I’ll be featuring an interview with the creator, Natliya Deleva. This isn’t a sponsored post, although I did win a prize through GreenKiddie’s competition here. It seemed like a great month to focus on green issues. It is the theme this month in the Carnival of Natural Parenting, and it’s probably something that I could focus on more – I’ve talked about my successes and failures in …