I’ll never forget the day I was driving home with my teenage daughter when we saw her friend, visibly distraught and wandering aimlessly in the 40°C heat. Her relationship with her mother had been rocky of late, just the normal parent-teenager conflict. Mum was fed up with parenting an out of control teenager and had […]
Raising Teens: Parent-Teenager Conflict Read More »
I wrote this prayer for New Year’s Eve over 30 years ago. It was a hard year to let go of. My father had passed away only two months earlier and somehow I felt that by letting go of 1988 I’d be letting go of Papa as well. Forever. And I wasn’t ready to do
New Year’s Eve Parade – A Prayer for New Year’s Eve Read More »
Grief and Bereavement is magnified during the Christmas Season. The irony and tragedy of the meaning we have placed on Christmas.
Grief at Christmas Read More »
Double chocolate Hot Cross Buns, slightly warmed, slathered with butter and washed down with an espresso. I’ve waited all year for this. Not the espresso of course, God knows I couldn’t wait a whole year to have my espresso. This is one of my favourite Good Friday rituals, a symbol of Easter with a message
A Good Friday Message for Lost Hope. Read More »
I remember how first baby’s high school graduation took me by surprise. I don’t know why I wasn’t ready, maybe it was because she’s my first, but for some reason I got to my daughter’s graduation day and it hit me that I had a young adult in my home. And I wasn’t ready to
High School Graduation: Parenting A Young Adult. Read More »
The Wandering Mind In the past I’ve shared my propensity for getting sidetracked in the loo and talking to strange men at Bunnings . The sad thing is, my experience with toilets and strange men is not limited to those two episodes. Quite the opposite in fact. I have a long history with toilets and strange men and
What Every Teenager Should Know Recently I was working with a group of year 7 kids. The focus was on resilience and networks and through our activities the kids were asked to answer a series of questions anonymously. There were a couple of answers, echoed by more than one of the kids, that I was
Two of the Most Important Needs for Adolescence Read More »
Every year around the 14th February I start hearing the same objections to Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day for married couples isn’t important. It’s just another date created by Hallmark to make money. We don’t need a special date to celebrate love, it should happen every day of the year. There’s a number of theories around
Valentine’s Day For Married Couples. Read More »
Honouring and missing my dad on Father’s Day. In heaven there is a special seat by the water, waiting for the day that we can sit and talk again.
Happy Father’s Day in Heaven Papa. Read More »
What does it mean to be a father? Tips for a positive father child relationship, for children to feel valued, and develop self worth. Real man, real dad.
Being Dad: What it means to be a father. Read More »
