Hidden Perfectionist

When I read about children who are perfectionists, it clicked. No - she doesn't immediately look like a perfectionist. But the fear of not being perfect is just that. And it's holding her back in so many ways.

How much is it worth to wait?

I am SO impatient with impatience. I mean, just because we CAN have it now, should we? Just because the marketers say "Hey - buy from us and you can have it YESTERDAY" - is that the best choice for me?

Lost in not-very-much space (and other hyphenated phrases)

Baba is my youngest's absolute, all-time, must-have favourite toy. She loved her from the moment she arrived and in nearly every photo of her until she started school you see Baba in her hand. She's a little 'bashful lamb' from Jellycat. When my children were born we lived rurally and several of our neighbours had …

In search of Spring

We keep thinking it's finally reached us. Wherever snow melts, green appears overnight. Even the rocks on the mountainside seem to turn green the day the snow melts off them, as though there's a longing for green welling up from the earth. Then the other day it snowed. And though it hasn't since, it's cold …

Blossoming

What blossoming independence! My youngest (8) has always been a little less independent than her sister. Not clingy (much) but preferring company of others to solely her own. Here in our small mountain town children are allowed a lot more freedom than most city kids of their age. It's something we've tried to embrace, and …

If you’re never frightened…

You're not living! And if you let it get the better of you, well, then it's 1-Fear, 0-You.  And by my age I'd be well into the negatives if I let fear get the better of me. Fear can be a good thing - when it means we're challenging ourselves, we're out of our comfort …

French

I've read, or heard, that when immersed in a new language children absorb it amazingly quickly. By the time the girls had been in school for a month I was expecting to hear the odd French word pop out. Rien. I cajoled them. Some of the French children were practicing their English on my girls, …

The Wild

Suddenly it was May and very nearly the end of the ski season and it felt like we'd barely arrived. I hadn't ski'd enough. Or eaten enough patisserie - the shop was going to shut soon... Plus we were heading towards the start of our third month and the girls weren't speaking French, much to …

RUN!

This is my favourite picture of me, by my youngest daughter. She's done much fancier pictures, more detailed, more colourful - but I just love this. I love that my girls associate me with running.  I love that they are growing up knowing that sometimes Mummy comes first, and running comes first. I love that they want to …

Little Miss Trouble ? There’ll be trouble from me….

  I sent this email today to Egmont Publishing:   Dear Madams and Sirs, Er, what century are we in again? Oh, that's right, it's the 21st Century.  Where we have learnt that hitting children teaches them that violence is the answer, so we don't do that any more.  We understand, don't we, that leading …