parents
The boundless love a parent has for their child is matched only by their capacity to embarrass them.
How have the last 18months impacted Child Maintenance?
When parents separate, the needs of their children are supposed to be always put front and centre. Sadly, this is not always the case. There may be little the custodial parent can do about an ex-partner’s lack of emotional engagement with their children.
By Kerry Smith4 years ago in Families
Synchronised heartbeats
It's eight o'clock in the morning, I can hear you in your bed talking to yourself all the way from my bedroom. I know I have to get up and start the day, but I'm tired. Mummy didn't go to bed when you did. I was up making sure you and your big sister were sound asleep and safe. I slowly get myself out of bed and miserably walk towards your bedroom, I can't help but feel frustrated and angry because all I wanted was to sleep in.
By Emma soames4 years ago in Families
Who Am I?
I was 18 when I had my first child. Still a baby myself, and by the time I turned 19 I found myself with yet another baby attached to my side. By the time I turned 30 I had a total of 5 kids. Do the math. I spent my entire adult life, you know the years when you're supposed to be living your best life, as a parent. Not that I am not a parent now, I am just in a different way.
By Heather Graham4 years ago in Families
Things she never told me
Lots of us were raised to follow in someone elseʻs footsteps, as though creating our own path would somehow lead us into something like temptation or damnation or just, possibly, somewhere out of the line of judgement by others who behave, believe, and tell us all that they know better than we do, know better what is best for us, and all of it looks like nothing that we would have chosen or choose to do ourselves.
By Roxanne Cottell4 years ago in Families
Speeding Letter
“Why, just why,” I shouted as tears were flowing down my face. I let my foot rest more on the gas pedal letting the engine’s roar reflect the one of sadness escaping from my lungs. Why did she have to bring that up? She knows we can’t have kids. She knows the clinic denied our health insurance and the adoption agency wants more money than we have. Who can afford 20-80 thousand a kid? I can’t even find any programs to assist with the costs and work won’t give her maternity leave for adopted children...I don’t even get paternity leave if it was our own flesh and blood...
By Raven Diamond4 years ago in Families
Born and Bread
Had it been double-hinged, my jaw - quite literally – would have landed on the kitchen table. We were having tea and some wheaten bread my mother had made, specifically for me, though she’d never have said. She and my father preferred plain white soda bread to the darker, nuttier wheaten in which she’d usually add (in addition to the three big spoons of white flour) three big spoons of whole wheat flour, then another four or five big spoons of whatever healthy was about the place. Oat bran, flax, wheat germ, maybe some raisins or currants were fairly regular additions to the scone bread I’ve always loved.
By Marie McGrath4 years ago in Families
I love my job because...
The day to day is never the same and you never know what to expect. When I was younger, I wanted to grow up and be a pilot. A fighter jet pilot to be exact. I was enamored with all things Star Wars and believed that being a pilot was the closest thing to that dream of flying up to the stars. Unfortunately, vertigo and bad eyesight was a major eliminating factor. I still love flying for travel when I get the chance.
By Suzanne Allen 4 years ago in Families
