Birthdays can become a yearly source of security, trust, joy, fun, acceptance, happiness, connection, and love for children. Rituals create feelings of awe and magic, and the understanding that life is sacred. Celebrations warm the hearts of children and all those around them, creating strong family bonds. Marking birthdays can enrich, inspire and honour a …
Family Living
Clare Cole confesses she’s lost her way with family toys
We have too many toys in our house. This might sound a bit melodramatic, but it isn’t an easy admission to make as a ‘green’ mother of three. We started out with such good intentions. We were determined our children would have a childhood full of old-fashioned pleasures; of home-made toys and imaginary worlds, of …
Clare Cole confesses she’s lost her way with family toysRead More
The Revolution in Manhood
Healing the father-wound means we don’t have to pass it on to our children. Nothing is more urgent for our world than building a new kind of masculinity, writes Steve Biddulph Family therapists think differently from most people. And that difference can be the most useful thing about us. For example, in family therapy there is no concept of blame. …
Editor Saffia shares five things she learned from editing the Late Summer issue
1. How ‘empowerment‘ can mean many different things While I was putting together the page plan for the Late Summer issue, I realised we had a segment of very powerful writing about supporting girls and women. Aware that many women are struggling at the moment as the perceptions of society shift around us and we …
Editor Saffia shares five things she learned from editing the Late Summer issueRead More
The Calendar of Life by Kirsten Millinson
This is my calendar of life, the start of life as a family. Mine started in the autumn. Families start in different times, different places and different ways. In our journey to family there have been many times our children have spoken to us in many ways and at different times. Before conception, during pregnancy, …
Washable Nappies: Georgina Cunliffe describes the benefits and different types available
The reasons why parents choose to use washable nappies are many and varied. In the UK a typical child will use nappies for 33 months and in that time a parent will spend approximately £800 on disposable nappies. This takes into account multi-buy deals and supermarket own brands. A parent who chooses washable nappies will …
Washable Nappies: Georgina Cunliffe describes the benefits and different types availableRead More
Guilt-free Parenting
For a long time people simply followed the mainstream way of parenting, depending on what the norm was at the time. There are now many different ways to parent, with no one prescribed approach, and much more of an understanding that different children benefit from different approaches. Although these different parenting types are subject to …
Just five minutes: the importance of self-care
It can be hard as a parent to do anything other than snatch sleep and food in between work and childcare. When something is as important to you as your little one is, it can be difficult to have the time or the mindset to take a moment to yourself. But self-care is important. Self-care …
Talking to Our Daughters: Gemma Voce on what she would like to say
We now live in a society that is very different from anything that has gone before. This unprecedented modern world demands that women have all, and be all to all people all of the time. This is an unhealthy expectation and it is causing many women to feel that they are underachieving in all areas …
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Zion Lights asks: Can apps be helpful to gentle parents?
Apps are changing the way we use and treat information in significant ways and it’s a minefield to sort through the ones that are useful to our personal lifestyles and those that aren’t. As with many things, there are gains from using apps, depending on how they are used and the purposes they are used …
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Kate Orson explains how telling your life story can transform your parenting
When Patty Wipfler was a young mother, she met a younger acquaintance who asked her what being a parent was like. Patty burst into tears. She explained that although she had always loved children, parenting was so much more exhausting and stressful than she thought it would be. She confessed that she was starting to …
Kate Orson explains how telling your life story can transform your parentingRead More