Thank you for sharing your story

Mine told me to find the middle path, don’t go extremes. People tend to overreact and go the other extreme when hard things happen. The trick is finding the middle ground and balance.

My plan was: deliver my baby so it’s safe for them and me and if anything goes wrong, my husband was to stay with our baby and call someone in to stay with me. Safest delivery ended up being a c-section and baby was taken to the special care nursery so my husband went too.  I think plans are okay if they cover what your wishes are, all things being possible and what you want if things deviate. 

@daijobou I think your right and have always thought ‘happy mum, happy baby’ will always be the biggest influence on a baby’s well being. I struggled with breast feeding but every lactation consult was so supportive of my journey with it and I was never shamed for it. I certainly did not find pumping soul destroying as the article states and I think breast feeding is so incredibly nuanced that there isn’t a one size fits all solution. For me having more support after birth whilst in hospital would have done more to prevent badly cracked nipples as I would have been provided feedback that bubs wasn’t latching properly. It was hard giving up on the idea of breast feeding as I had had so much medical intervention to fall pregnant and deliver that I wanted something that was more natural but I had to look after my mental health and what was best for me.

I’ve always gotten up early as am a morning person and coming from a large family it was the easiest way to carve out peace and quiet at home and kept it up for years. I did struggle the early years of having kids but now am well and truly back on track with it. Biggest motivator is, it’s my only alone time during the day so if I don’t get up I lose that and I always feel better for it

@gu3st They only changed Queen Elizabeth’s father’s name from Albert to George as it had been his fathers name and King George was taking over from his brother who abdicated. It was meant to show some continuity and stability whereas that’s not really needed in this case and King Charles name is more well known due to how prolific media is these days compared to King George’s day

I think you need to look at the whole school life of a child. A child may be ready to start at 4 turning 5 but what are they going to be like in high school and when puberty hits or when puberty hits their friends but not them. I think the changes are in the right direction and sound like it’ll make it easier for parents to start their children at school later if it’s needed

I had to laugh at your last one of it’ll just happen if you relax. I finally pregnant with IVF when I was at my most stressed, at my least healthiest, most heaviest weight.I never fell pregnant when I tried to do everything right. IVF works when the universe decides and for no other reason. All the rest is to make yourself feel like you’re doing all the right things when it doesn’t make any difference at all.

I think he’s also very inclusive. On Lego Masters he includes the contestants in his jokes and build their confidence and comfortability on TV. His jokes never go beyond what the contestants are comfortable with. There is a real comraderie that Hamish facilitates with the contestants and viewers alike. And I don’t think many people have that ability. It’s a real gift of his

@becky It did give a chance for so many other children who didn't get a voice to see some parent in the same situation will give their child a voice.  It gave them a chance to tell their stories.  I'm not big on posting online but I do respect the authors desire to be held accountable for her behavior and I respect her for acknowledging what she did

The baby stage didn’t bother me but am dreading the teen years. I can cope with sleepless nights and not being to go out as easily etc but I’m not looking forward to the emotional roller coaster of teen years. There is so much that can go wrong 

@grumpier monster And at times it's learning how to roll with that lack of control

I think the hardest part about parenting will be different for every parent. I had a baby who woke hourly every night, but as an insomniac, I could cope with that.  My friend had a baby with colic but she said she could cope with colic better than a baby who did not sleep as she needed to sleep 8 hours a night and her baby slept through the night from an early age.  I would have struggled with a baby that cried for 15 hours each day with colic.  Different things are hard for different people.  I think also there are hard things and easy things at all the different ages and stages kids go through.  There will be some things you love about different ages and some things you are thankful that ends as the child gets older.  It's a hard question to answer 

I am profoundly grateful social media and the internet weren’t around in my youth and remember having this conversation with my 14 (at the time) year old niece. I think you guys have it much harder with online bullying and technology than we did. And I hope your generation does a better job than the previous ones

I think there is a lot of people who are trying to avoid getting it and are minimising their social contacts. We are as I have a child who can’t get immunised (due to age). And I know and work with people who have been getting tested before every visit they have with someone who is vulnerable. Yes it’s likely we will all get it at some point but that doesn’t mean I can’t do what I can to support the vulnerable in our community

We only started this last year and my son has reached the age where he doesn’t believe in Santa any more. He’s now asked for the job of moving the elf each night for us. Have happily bequeathed the job on!

Dance concerts and that’s not even as a parent. Why does every dance concert have to be 3.5 hours long. Dance teachers need to think short and sweet not how long can we make this concert!  Record is 3 concerts in a row for different nieces. True act of love.  So glad my child hates performing.  And no 20 days wish my child told me about their day. They are too busy living in the moment and moving onto the next thing to tell me what happened 5 hours earlier!

I am so glad Cleo has been found

I have rarely experienced and in fact my experience has been the opposite. We renovated our house (two bathrooms, kitchen, painting and flooring) this year and overwhelming the tradies and bank were more than happy to deal with me and did so on a regular consistent basis and were overall great and easy to deal with. I’m glad that it hasn’t been and isn’t an issue. 

Thank you for this