Column
Melbourne everymum Verity Mater
tells some of the hard
truths of parenting.
Prior to motherhood, Verity had promising careers as an astrophysicist, Olympic gymnast and polar explorer.
Prior to motherhood, Verity had promising careers as an astrophysicist, Olympic gymnast and polar explorer.
White Food, Red Face and Bruised Heart - Welcome to Parenthood
GOD, what a week. Have arrived at the end of it feeling like an old
sock that's been stuck inside a washing machine forever limp, ragged,
wrung out.
Birthdays always leave me this way, especially when they land smack bang in the middle of the week before Christmas, like my child's does.(Can't think how his dad and I could have let this happen; we planned the finances, bought a bigger car, but never considered the impact of two emotionally charged events careering off each other.) ......
The Sunday Age (26-Dec-2010)
Birthdays always leave me this way, especially when they land smack bang in the middle of the week before Christmas, like my child's does.(Can't think how his dad and I could have let this happen; we planned the finances, bought a bigger car, but never considered the impact of two emotionally charged events careering off each other.) ......
The Sunday Age (26-Dec-2010)
My Darling Child: Genius, Athlete, Thespian (Sometime Monster)
DID I mention my middle child? If not, it's probably because I forgot;
middle children have a tendency to become a vanishing outline in the
family picture, rubbed from the page like a child's stick drawing, or at
least mine has. Maybe it's because he's an easygoing 12-year-old
sandwiched between a brother half his age with special needs and a
bossy, hormonal sister. Joe can't stand conflict; at the merest whiff of a family drama (and
there are many) he vanishes to his friend across the street. I watch him
bang the front door shut on Aiden's latest tantrum, or Ruby's rage,
with a mix of maternal guilt and envy lucky him, escaping into a world
of friendships......
The Sunday Age (2-Jan-2011)
Letters & Emails
The Sunday Age (2-Jan-2011)
Letters & Emails
From Slender Chance to Short, Black, Sparkly and Size 14
SUNDAY: I am in the church of Chadstone. Let us shop. I am being
ironic; buying clothes is not a religious experience for me because,
actually, I am a shopping atheist; the Richard Dawkins of retail. I
don't believe in its healing transformations or therapeutic qualities; a
day trip to Chadstone is equivalent to Dante's nine circles of
suffering, otherwise known as hell.
This is particularly true when I am shopping with my daughter Ruby, who is 16 and "fat" her word, not mine. Still, I can see that fashion for adolescents best suits those who have the face of a teenage girl and the body of a teenage boy. Ruby, with her Amazon thighs and statuesque height, is an anomaly among the slender young things, with their glinting silver navels and matchstick limbs, and she knows it......
The Sunday Age (9-Jan-2011)
Letter & Emails
This is particularly true when I am shopping with my daughter Ruby, who is 16 and "fat" her word, not mine. Still, I can see that fashion for adolescents best suits those who have the face of a teenage girl and the body of a teenage boy. Ruby, with her Amazon thighs and statuesque height, is an anomaly among the slender young things, with their glinting silver navels and matchstick limbs, and she knows it......
The Sunday Age (9-Jan-2011)
Letter & Emails
Familiarity Breeds Discontent and Daydreams of Sexy Guy
I am considering having an affair. I know this is a premature
confession, considering I hardly know you, but I cannot keep it in. All
my life I have tried to be good, and now I am loving the thought of
being bad. I think it has been the sheer effort of being the diligent
employee, the dutiful mother and the loving wife that has virtually
killed me. I am crawling from the wreckage of myself gasping for air and
clinging to the idea that veering off the straight and narrow will
somehow recharge me......
The Sunday Age (16-Jan-2011)
The Sunday Age (16-Jan-2011)
