Parenting with Soul won’t tell you what to believe, but it will show you how to make spirituality part of your family’s life. It’s about seeing the sacred in our homes and turning the things we do each day into opportunities to practice mindfulness, gratitude, love, generosity, and other soul
Read Full StorySophie's Journey tells of a child's resilience, of the choice between life and death, and of a strength that prevails through suffering. Sophie Delezio has a message of hope for us all. This is her story. Ten days before Christmas. A room of children, napping on mattresses in their childcare cen
Read Full StoryFeaturing deeply personal insights from author Stephanie Dowrick, Sass & Bide founder Heidi Middleton and former Australian cricketer and AFL player Simon O’Donnell amongst many others, Positive represents a collection of 50 voices: cancer survivors‚ carers‚ partners‚ parents‚ siblings
Read Full StoryKids tell it like it is. And they know some very useful stuff indeed. Such as the fact that you can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk. Or it's never a good idea to try to baptise a cat. Our children are bursting to share commonsense advice that will help us grown-ups get through the d
Read Full StoryThe morning after my first daughter was born, my father came to visit us at the hospital. He brought a stuffed Winnie the Pooh toy for his new granddaughter. I loved that, especially because I remember Dad reading Pooh Bear stories to me when I was little. He did the voices so well. It’s one of
Read Full StoryEverything I do at the moment seems to come back to the Ride to Conquer Cancer. Even my Christmas present. I have a trusty but rusty mountain bike that I’ve ridden for ten years now. The lovely people at my local bike shop gently suggested that I might find it hard going to do 200km in two days
Read Full StoryI do wonder who is raising whom, sometimes. My elder child is a night owl (or "night hour", as she would say). Sleep has never come easily for her; she seems to fight it, and we’ve wrestled through many long evenings with her bouncing out of bed and up the hallway time and time again. I can
Read Full StoryMy training for the Ride to Conquer Cancer is underway now. I’ve done one 23km ride and surprised myself by a) completing it and b) not hurting too much. I’ve increased the length of my gym workouts, building in extra strength work to build the muscles that will power me up the hills. Here’
Read Full StoryAn interview with Elliot Perlman in the Sydney Morning Herald's Good Weekend magazine contained a lovely thought about writing and inspiration. I haven't read his books (yet!) but I like what he says here – it also connects with what I've been talking about with other writers lately about needing
Read Full StoryNext August, I'll be participating in a 2-day major cycling event called The Rio Tinto Ride to Conquer Cancer®, benefiting the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR). I'll be cycling over 200 kilometres that weekend through Queensland's scenic countryside, with thousands of other rider
Read Full StoryIn the Dec 11/Jan 12 issue of Melbourne’s Child, I write about what it was like to be struck by grief from two directions just after my first child was born. The morning after my first daughter was born, my father visited us at the hospital. He brought a stuffed Winnie the Pooh toy for his new gr
Read Full Story
Smug, smug, smug – it’s one of those words that the more you say it, the stranger it sounds. What is it about human nature that means we feel better about ourselves when we hear about someone else getting it wrong? It’s why gossip magazines sell in the millions, pushing sales with pictures of celebrities ... ...
I feel like a proud parent. Indeed I am one of those all the time these days, but this week I’m particularly chuffed to announce that my book, Parenting with Soul, has been nominated for the Kibble Literary Awards. ...
Tired of hearing that worn-out phrase, ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’? Like most cliches, there’s a kernel of truth inside the battered casing. ...
I’ve just put three new videos about the ideas behind Parenting with Soul up on YouTube. They’re seriously short (less than a minute each) and each will give you a taste of soul: check them out. ...
Sometimes I think all children have double identities. There’s the ‘at home’ child, the one the parents know and love, and there’s the ‘out in the world’ child, the one that the rest of us see. Here’s what I mean. ...
Whatever you are doing right now, read this. Whether you’re a parent or not, read this. It’s the must awful, beautiful, stop-you-in-your-tracks piece of writing I’ve seen for a good while. MY son, Ronan, looks at me and raises one eyebrow. His eyes are bright and focused. Ronan means “little seal” in Irish and it ... ...
A proverb to ponder For the birds that cannot soar, God has provided low branches. — Turkish proverb A quotation to inspire Let me recognise in other men and women, my God, the radiance of your own face. — Pierre Teilhard de Chardin A blessing ?When there is no way, ?no path, no ... ...
