Dr Bruce Perry, M.D., Ph.D, American Child Psychiatrist and Ben Drew a.k.a Plan B, rapper and film maker, may not on the face of it have much in common. In an interview with Evan Davis on Radio 4’s Today programme broadcast this morning, Plan B talked about the social exclusion of children and young people …
Stop Blaming the Children, Dr Bruce Perry ft. Plan B Read More »
Bibi Lynch is 46 and always thought she would have children. Her recent article in The Guardian, ‘Mother’s Stop Moaning’ is the guttural shout of a woman who knows that it is too late. It is one of the most honest and moving accounts of childlessness that I have read. Pain and grief lash out of the page in angry …
‘Mothers, Stop Moaning!’: Bibi Lynch Writes from the Gut Read More »
This is my version of the Sunscreen Song. It is a compilation of advice on therapeutic parenting from people far wiser than I and to whom I give thanks. It has not yet been put to music. Ladies and Gentlemen, if I could offer you only one tip, it would be Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff. The …
Growing up with a strong sense of identity is in some ways like being gifted with a golden ticket and yet it is something which largely goes unnoticed by those of us lucky to have it. I had never questioned my own identity, probably because I had never had the need to. I grew up in …
Who Do You Think You Are: Red Dust Road by Jackie Kay Read More »
I was profoundly touched this week by a great example of the best kind of documentary making, My Child the Rioter, shown on BBC 1 on Tuesday evening. It carefully and sensitively allowed young people involved in last summer’s riots and their parents to share their experiences. The gut reaction politics at the time set the agenda …
I watched Panorama, The Truth About Adoption last week hoping to see something of my own experience reflected there: my experience as an adopter of children from the UK care system. I wanted to see something of the tremendously hard task faced by many adopters and something of the adoption myths which hamper us. In fairness …
I love Jeanette Winterson’s writing and her novels are amongst my favourites, but I was reluctant to read her latest book ‘Why be Happy When You Can be Normal?’ her memoir of her experiences of being adopted. Since becoming an adoptive mother eight years ago I have been put off accounts of adoption, written and …
Much is spoken and written about the difficulties of encouraging boys to read. For many of us, sitting our sons down with an improving novel comes way way down the list of priorities. So for what it’s worth and with no professional qualifications in the matter whatsoever, here is what has often, but not always, …
1. The road to adoption, via the cul-de-sac of infertility has been a long and difficult one. All children are precious. I have the privilege of really understanding how precious they are. 2. I have been tested and stretched and challenged every day. I am now a fit, fearless and muscular parent. 3. I know the reality of parenting the …
Seven ways in which adopting children has made me a better person Read More »
Dear Me, You have a great figure, be proud of it, flaunt it. Your skin is great, DO NOT cover it in that awful cheap make-up. You may want to save this particular piece of advice for a few years, but have a bit more ‘fun’, there are a few missed opportunities that you may grow …
