Reader! Hello. So last week, I wrote about how I hadn't nailed it with the intentional conversations with my kids. I hit send on that email, closed my laptop and said goodnight to one of my kids.... who promptly burst into tears, threw their arms around me, and sobbed. It is *so hard* to be a teenager. Life is incredibly confusing and overwhelming, and our kids desperately need us. In recent times, a few people have said to me that their sons aren't interested in talking to them. I am not...
over 1 year ago • 3 min read
Reader! Hello. When I came up with the five things for this newsletter, life looked a bit different for me. Since then, it's become a little...intense, and it's made me acutely aware that having solid conversations with your kids requires three things: time, emotional energy and intention. This week, I've had the intention and the time but not the emotional bandwidth to act. I've felt grateful for the in-built accountability of writing this email that keeps me focused on my priorities and...
over 1 year ago • 2 min read
Reader! Hello. In just over three weeks, my family will embark on a six-week trip, mostly around Italy and Turkey. It's exciting, but we are woefully behind with planning - there are so many things yet to be organised (why is life so crazy?!?). If you've been lately and have any hot tips or things you think are a "must-do-see-eat", then I would love to hear them. Meanwhile, onwards...! This week, talk to your kids about body language & attention. We have been having a lot of conversations...
over 1 year ago • 2 min read
Reader! Hello. I'm writing to you from Noosa this weekend (for my international friends, that's a beach town in Australia). We are here with all our clan, to celebrate my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. What an achievement hey, 50 years?!! Our family is a fairly rambunctious bunch, so it's been loud, colourful (in all the ways you can understand that word), and full of laughter. This week, talk to your kids about LOVE. For obvious reasons, some of the questions we've asked our kids this...
over 1 year ago • 1 min read
Reader! Hello. Let's dive straight in.... This week, talk to your kids about…prioritising & missing out. Okay, so let's talk FOMO. We have been having some big conversations with our teens about managing their time - especially in relation to school work vs socialising! Relate? By the *third* iteration of the *same conversation* this week, I just wanted to say, "The. Answer. Is. No." when I walked into our bedroom to hear my husband on the phone coaching our child through the options, helping...
over 1 year ago • 2 min read
Reader! Hello. It's Sunday night, and is it just me, or is life just next-level hectic at the moment?! My to-do list is out of control, and I’m employing *all* my strategies to keep the anxiety at bay (not sure they are quite cutting it, tbh).It was tempting to skip this email this week (I know, week 2 - I'm ridiculous!) But if meaningful relationships *really* matter to me, then they don't just happen. We need to create the headspace to prioritise them (even when it means taking a bit of...
over 1 year ago • 1 min read
Reader! Hello. A couple of weeks ago, after I'd spent h.o.u.r.s. driving my kids around to various places, I got thinking about how we could use these otherwise dead moments to move us closer to the kind of lives we want. And I don't know about you, but unless I make a plan for this - my head is so full of the day-to-day that I find it hard to capture the opportunities right in front of me. This email may seem out of left field, as I've been discussing friendships and community. But, isn't...
over 1 year ago • 2 min read
Reader! Hello. So many of you have written to me since my last email, and I could have cried. Yeah, Ok, I did cry. My anxiety was a bit off the charts when it came to pouring my heart out to peeps I've not talked to for a while...but no surprise, you are the same beautiful souls you have always been. Kudos to you! I started a story the other day - so, what happened next? ... My husband and I spent the early years of parenting with our heads down, getting through the days. I was running a...
over 1 year ago • 3 min read
Reader! Hello. If you've ever felt scared and alone, you will relate to this story... 11 years ago, I sat in the kitchen of my unrenovated weatherboard house in Melbourne's inner north, looking at a decidedly miserable 10-month-old. Because he was my third child, I was pretty unfazed. I made him a green smoothie, snapped a photo, and then, out of what I considered to be an abundance of caution, booked him in to see the doctor later that day. “Poor kiddo, it’s horrible to be sick.” The next...
over 1 year ago • 2 min read