Family and Child Consultants

  There’s a point in life where you think you’ve seen enough of the world to understand it. You’ve raised children, held families together, worked hard, paid your dues, and believed—maybe quietly, maybe stubbornly—that people are, at their core, decent. That even when things get hard, we find our way back to kindness. And yet here I am. Angry. Not a passing frustration or a fleeting irritation, but a deep, bone-tired anger that sits heavy in my chest. Because this is not how the world is supposed to be. Somewhere along the way, it feels like things have tipped. Conversations have turned into arguments. Differences have turned into divisions. And truth… well, truth feels harder and harder to find. I wake up in the morning and there’s this strange pull—half dread, half compulsion—to turn on the news. To see what’s happened overnight. What’s been said. What’s been done. And too often, it feels like the people who should know better—the ones trusted to lead, to protect, to think beyond...

  I Miss the Footy, the Washing, the Oranges — All of It This week in Adelaide,   Gather Round   has brought the city alive. Everywhere you look, there are families in scarves and guernseys, kids with painted faces, parents carrying snacks and jumpers and drink bottles, and that familiar rush of people all heading somewhere together. There is noise, excitement, complaints about parking, children asking for chips, and parents pretending not to calculate exactly how much the day is costing them. And as I watch it all, I find myself smiling. Because I miss it. I miss taking my kids to the footy. I miss weekend sport. I miss weekday sport. I miss being on the sidelines. I miss being in the stands. I miss being the one yelling encouragement, carrying bags, hunting for missing drink bottles, and somehow holding everyone together while pretending I was not completely exhausted. I miss being their biggest cheerleader. Not just in the big life moments. In the small ones too. The r...