Is it really working mothers' fault... again?
Overweight and obesity is a significant public health concern. More than 60% of Australian adults are obese along with at least 25% of our children. So where do we apportion blame? Well, working mothers apparently.
We’re spending around 32% of our weekly budgets on takeaway food and eating out, according to a recent report by Deakin University. For Hungry Jacks owner and Domino’s Chairman Jack Cowin, this figure is directly attributable to women working more. Not his fault that the dinners he dishes up contribute to the national epidemic; it’s your fault for working.
Sweating the small stuff and frying the big fish
Tell me it's not just me? I mean the big deals, they can be pretty stressful. But it's the small stuff that can really push you over the edge. The small stuff uses up your emotional energy but sometimes there are bigger fish to fry.
One of the junior recipe testers needed a haircut. It should be said that the haircut was badly needed. The junior in question would put Australia's finest merino to shame. He wasn't overly chuffed with the idea of having his haircut, but his hair was ridiculous. Even the barber commented.
Work-life balance is a myth
Work-life balance is a furphy.
There. I've said it. Out loud.
Sorry to burst your bubble. Or perhaps you made that discovery ages ago (and if you did, why didn't you tell me?)
I don't think that's the end of the story though. While it might not be balance, it just might be something else...
Why mums are worth it
I met my mother quite a long time ago, when I was born. I don't remember it. Mind you, she assures me, neither does she. Best practice for childbirth in our case (and with the trouble I apparently caused) saw her knocked out entirely when I was born. She's not sure how many hours or days passed before she came to. ...But that's another story...
Thirty something years after that I became a mother.
Cinderella had the same trouble...
Once upon a time in a land not far from here at all, there lived a maiden not as young as she liked to think. In fact, she was less maiden and more matron... but that's the start of another story.
She did not spend hours sweeping out chimneys and emptying the ashes. In fact, rather than having to while away the hours yearning for a ticket, she was invited to the ball. Prince Charming had turned up many years before, had assumed the role of Senior Recipe Tester and added Junior Recipe Testers to the tribe as well.
But, given that the prince was still cute as ever, she decided to take him along...
The edges of love
Love is a wonderful thing. The commitment of one human being to the wellbeing of another is surely to be cherished and encouraged. But you wouldn't want to take that sort of support for granted. Neither would you want to push that commitment too far.
I perhaps might have...
The one that doesn't smell faintly of dinners.
When the situation calls for it, I like to think I am capable of holding my own in a professional forum. You know the type. The suited up kind. Brushed hair. High heels. That sort of thing.
And recently, the situation called for it. I dressed up. I dug out the fancy handbag, you know, the one that doesn't ever go into the kitchen. The one that doesn't smell faintly of your dinners...
Therapeutic Gardens guest blog
It was my pleasure to write this week for the Therapeutics Garden blog, about what drives me and about our affiliation.
When someone else does the cooking
There is deep joy, I am convinced, in someone else cooking dinner for you. Someone else takes care of the shopping, the preparation, and, most importantly in my opinion, the dreaded washing up.
For Christmas we were given a voucher to a lovely local restaurant. The senior recipe tester and I quickly took the chance to have dinner on our own. But, given that there was money remaining on the voucher, we thought we would have a second intimate dinner. This time for five...
Parenting thesis: Chapter One
When I commenced my parenting thesis, nine and a half years ago, I had not considered that it would take quite so long to hand it in. I had not banked on the required reading list being quite so long, nor the minimum skill set being quite so extensive. This graduation, of course, does not mark the end of the parenting journey. Merely, it signifies the end of the chapter entitled, "child-at-home-during-the-day-several-days-of-the-week".
At the completion of a thesis it is requisite that a paper be published from the work. Now that the junior recipe testers are all at school during the prescribed hours, save those times we are running late due to a flat bike tyre, lost car keys or a tantrum about whether or not sunscreen should be applied and by whom, I feel it incumbent upon me to write.
Parenting is oft described as one of life's most fulfilling pursuits...