How do you feel when you see photos of babies and young children on social media? Does it make you smile, or do you feel slightly uncomfortable? Being a mother of three children with a huge passion for the digital world and social media, these are questions I’ve asked myself on numerous occasions. And when it comes to my own children, the realisation that I have reached a point of no return in terms of my kids’ online presence wasn’t an easy one to face. Continue reading “On raising a generation of babies born with cameras in their faces”
Category: motherhood
Cutting the cord again: My struggle with pre-adolescent detachment
I’ve heard of adolescent emotional detachment but after thinking about it for some time, I think the phase I’m currently going through with my sons is “pre-adolescent detachment”. I suppose it’s the milder, slightly less challenging version of it. Continue reading “Cutting the cord again: My struggle with pre-adolescent detachment”
Why so many of us fall out with our mothers during pregnancy
I was having a conversation with a friend recently about how volatile our emotions get during pregnancy, and how damaging this can be to our relationships with the people we love the most: our significant others, typically – but also our mothers. And today I’ll focus on our mothers. My friend, who also recently gave birth, could relate. I personally found it difficult to control my emotions during pregnancy and my loved ones endured quite a few of my meltdowns. They also witnessed the occasional fall out between my mother and I. Not surprisingly my main excuse for behaving the way I did towards her was the ‘hormones’. But what if there was more to it? What if there were other underlying issues that neither of us could really fix until the 9 months were over and we both took a step back to just enjoy the new baby? Here’s a little list of what I believe is the cause for these fall outs. Continue reading “Why so many of us fall out with our mothers during pregnancy”
Unplanned and unassisted ~ You won’t believe my home birth story
It’s 6.30am on December 11th and I’m now 40 weeks and 5 days pregnant. I wake up with what feels like contractions that are stronger than the pre-labour pains and Braxton Hicks contractions I’ve been feeling over the past few weeks. By that time, as you can imagine, my patience was starting to run out. No one likes to go overdue. I tell Rom that today may just be the day we meet our princess, because those contractions are getting stronger and occurring at regular intervals. My hospital bag is packed: a large suitcase for me and a beige travel bag for the baby, both waiting at the bottom of the stairs and ready to be thrown into the car at any moment.
Continue reading “Unplanned and unassisted ~ You won’t believe my home birth story”
Our baby’s nursery
This week I gave birth to a little girl, and today I’d like to share with you photos of her nursery, which I started working when I was about 20 weeks pregnant. We had a spare room in the house that was always intended to be for a new addition to the family, so working on this little project as soon as we found out we were having a girl was very exciting. I decided what type of furniture and colour scheme I wanted, browsed Pinterest for design ideas and got on with it.
My public secret affair
Pregnancy is probably the most visible physical experience a woman can go through in her lifetime, yet at the same time the most personal. For some, so personal that the goal is to keep it under wraps for as long as possible. From conception to birth, the details, the ups, the downs, the aches and pains… the less is revealed the better. I am (or I have been) one of those women, to a certain extent. Culturally speaking this is how I’ve been raised and these are the beliefs my mother instilled in me. Where I’m from, pregnancy is as biological as it is spiritual. You’re taught to protect the life that is inside of you by revealing as little as possible about it. You’re told pregnancy is a private matter: the unborn baby is precious, and ‘hidden’ for a reason. And I’ve always embraced this way of thinking. Continue reading “My public secret affair”
À la Waïki 