Family and Child Consultants

  There comes a point in parenting when you realise your child believes you are not simply their parent. You are apparently also the activities coordinator, snack provider, referee, chauffeur, tech support, emotional-regulation coach and—when required—a full-time cruise director. “I'm bored.” It is a sentence capable of appearing within approximately 14 seconds of a child finishing breakfast. They may have a bedroom full of toys, a backyard, craft supplies, Lego, books, bikes and an entire collection of things they personally insisted they needed three days ago. Yet somehow, they are standing directly in front of you, sighing heavily, waiting for you to produce an unforgettable day of entertainment. And while it is tempting to reply, “Hi Bored, I’m Mum,” the truth is that boredom is not always a bad thing. In fact, learning how to move through boredom can be an important part of children developing creativity, confidence, problem-solving skills and independent play. First, let’s ...

  This week, I went to the gym. That sentence makes me sound significantly more athletic than the rest of this blog is going to demonstrate. I attend an amazing CrossFit gym in Adelaide called Soul. The trainers are fantastic, the community is incredible, and there is a group of women there who probably do more for me each week than they realise. But before we go any further, let's establish something important. I am shit at CrossFit. There is absolutely no inspirational transformation story coming where I reveal that underneath it all I'm secretly an elite athlete. I'm slow. I don't lift heavy. A large percentage of the time I have absolutely no idea what is going on. I can't keep count of my reps. My concentration span is considerably shorter than a 10-minute AMRAP. And, to be completely transparent, it took me about six months to work out what AMRAP even meant. Apparently it means “as many rounds/reps as possible.” Who knew? Probably everybody except me. Yet fiv...