My Mothering Heart Needs More Lion, Less Rabbit
Life is often an endurance test. Sure, there are bright moments when joy fills your heart, when you can re-charge. But often it is a relentless quest. At present, my patience as a mother is tested daily by an irrepressible toddler who is now more wilful and dastardly than I thought possible. I need to rapidly acquire new skills. Read full article
Why Do So Many Teenagers Get Into Trouble?
Whether it be managing the unexpected behaviours of teenagers, a chronic disability, an acute illness, or mental health issues, Benison O'Reilly explores why teenagers get into trouble even with supportive parenting. Read full article
How to Silence the Parent's Inner Critic
Is your inner critic getting you down? You know: that little voice in the back of your head constantly telling you what a lousy parent you are. Every parent has one. It’s a stream of thoughts making up an endless real-time commentary on what you are thinking and doing, continuously pointing out and cataloging you deficiencies and weaknesses...So what do you do if your inner critic is getting out of hand? Read full article
Building Empathy in Medicine Using My Big Mouth
I talk for a living. I often get asked to MC events. Over the last few years, I’ve been increasingly asked to speak at conferences pertaining to neonatal surgery issues and research. Not because I know anything about neonatal surgery, but because I’m a parent of a child who has undergone major heart surgery and spent time in a neonatal intensive care unit. What I tell them, is how to do their jobs better. This story is about why I love my big mouth. Read full article
Why Stay at Home Mums Might be More Depressed - New Poll
A Gallup poll in the United States of over 60,000 women found that mothers who stay at home with their kids, when compared with working mums, experience - more worry: 41% compared to 34%; and - more depression: 28% compared to 17%, as well as slightly more anger, stress and sadness.Today, I discussed this in more detail on Channel 9 show, Mornings. View the short video here and join the discussion: What do you think about these figures? Do you think as a society we need to get better at valuing parents who stay at home? Read full article
Are You a Parent Juggling Too Many Tasks? Try This.
A few weeks ago I found myself a bit more disorganised than usual. Among a multitude of jobs I had to do was buying green things for my eight and five year olds to wear to school for St Patrick’s Day celebrations. I found myself standing in a shop asking myself what would be more inappropriate - sending them to school wearing plastic green glasses that look like jugs of beer, or a badge that says ‘Kiss me. I’m Irish’? Read full article
How Supportive Parenting Impacts Your Child's Brain
The importance of parental love and warmth to children’s emotional wellbeing is widely accepted. It makes sense that a loving childhood may protect children from developing mental illnesses later in life. A recent study by experts at Washington University illustrates why good parenting skills and parent wellbeing is so important that it can even affect the size of an important part of our brain – the hippocampus. Read full article
Parents' Time Out - The Absent (Minded) Parent
My mate Karen has a picture in her mind. She sees herself sitting on her best friend's back verandah, surrounded by good friends, drinking wine, listening to music, and talking the night away. Karen gets her energy from being with other people; she loves companionship and conversation, but with three kids under the age of six, she doesn't often get to just hang with her mates. Read full article
