Category: Parenting
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It’s ok me, I got this
The single most powerful and liberating psychological practice I have ever done is reintroduce myself to my inner child, and show him who I am now. Yes, it sounds wanky and flowery but I truly don’t care. I gave this a crack and the positive change has been nothing short of AMAZING. ‘I want you…
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Where was the bubble wrap for my head?
Moving house recently was not only a massively tiring task, it was also a hugely emotional thing for me, too. A couple of months ago I moved to a new place, one in the outer-west flanks of Melbourne. It’s a move I made for a combination of reasons, but had the primary benefit of giving…
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A love letter to inner-west Melbourne
This will be my final column as a full-time resident of the inner west. I’m moving further out west, beyond the fringes of Melbourne, to be nearer where my kids go to school and have their extra-curricular activities. The driving back and forth was fine and manageable, but with my eldest starting high school this…
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Dear parents, please don’t choose to die…
*** Content warning: Suicidal themes *** Dear dad or mum to a child or children, Firstly, let me declare I’m one of you. I have children of my own and hopefully like you and yours, my kids are the best part of my life and I’d do anything – anything at all – to see…
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There’s a spotfire in my head, and our home is burning, too.
Nothing I write feels ‘worthy’ of the page or screen right now. How could it? Our country is burning and our ‘leaders’ credibility even more up in smoke.
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Looking forward, looking back. I’ve come a long way down the track
Five years is a brilliant achievement for a printed publication, these days. Let alone one that is community-focused and produced largely by volunteers. FIVE. YEARS! Let’s all pause for a moment (or five) to acknowledge that in a period of time when printed newspapers are thinning in both quantity and genuinely-local content, The Westsider is…
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Like father, like son? No. Not at all.
27 March this year was the last ‘coming-of-age’ milestone of my father’s suicide. He took his own life twenty-one years ago, in 1998. Ordinarily I’m overcome with a sense of dread in the weeks before this annual milestone, but this year, I wasn’t.
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It’s about time all Aussie Dads were screened for depression, too
In announcing an expansion of its mental health program, the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) said the men “will be automatically offered a comprehensive mental health assessment and sign-posted to professional support if needed.” Australia should go even further.
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How we learned to co-parent peacefully after the separation
The reality of how my kids’ mother and I were, and are, as parents really surprised me. Our personality types and general approach to life ended up being the opposite to our parenting styles. As we created our family and brought children into the world, I assumed we’d be those same people in our parenting…
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Dads: brush up on the ‘girly’ stuff
You’re all over the doodle and ballbag, but brush up on the female body, too. Your daughter (and your partner) need you to get over yourself. My brothers and I were told fairly early on by our mother that boys have ‘doodles’ and girls have ‘fannies’. Our friends had been bestowed with similar expertise in…