A hand-made, home-grown Christmas: this month’s challenge

November. How did that happen? As it does every year I guess. Every year I feign surprise over its arrival – speculating that it’s come more quickly this year. No doubt November shakes his head and thinks “there are exactly the same number of days in October as there were last year, and the year before, and the year before that – why are you people always so surprised to see me?
Home made Christmas
November means Melbourne cup and fancy dresses. It means the promise of holidays. It means long, hot days are coming. It means I had better start to get organised for Christmas.

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The Challenge: Regaining Intimacy

Regaining the intimacy challenge

This month I am focussing on something that can be a bit hard to talk about, but I think is really important: regaining intimacy after having children.

For those of us who have recently (or not so recently) had children, romance and intimacy may feel like a thing of the past. This month I want to explore rekindling the home fires. If you are at that stage, I’d love you to explore this with me.  I will be talking kindness (to yourself and your partner), feeling sexy again and intimacy after babies (gulp!) Read more

The importance of tradition and rituals

traditions
When I think about my childhood and adolescence,this is what is etched into my memory: 

  • Sitting at our dining room table and eating breakfast and dinner together, as a family, almost every day.
  • Driving to Brisbane for Christmas Holidays and staying with my mum’s parents and great grandmother. HUGE Christmas days with my Dad’s enormous family and alternating smaller ones with my Mum’s family.  Read more

Making traditions – 12 ways you can give back this Christmas

A tradition I want to start with my family, especially at Christmas time, is to give back to our community.

I want to raise a family that does’t view its way of life as the only way of life. I want my kids to be well adjusted and to understand how lucky we are to live where we do. Whether we have done it tough or well that year, the things that are important are our health, having a roof over our heads, food on the table and each others love and support.

Giving Back image

It can be really overwhelming at Christmas time when so many people need help, so we have done some research and put together a little list of ways you can give back this year. It’s in no way a complete list but it’s a start for you and yours to consider. Read more

10 ways to protect images of our kids on the internet

10 Ways to protect images of your kids on the internet

As a part of this month’s challenge, we thought it would be irresponsible of us if we didn’t discuss the serious side of keeping our kids images safe on the internet.

Many of us snap and post without giving it a second thought. But what are the risks once we post that photo?

I had a discussion yesterday with Detective Senior Sergent Steve Loth from Taskforce Argos. Taskforce Argos is a specialised branch in the Queensland Police Service that is responsible for the investigation into online child exploitation and abuse. Detective Senior Sergent Loth was very generous with his time and provided some key messages we should all be thinking of when we manage our photos. A lot of it is common sense, but it is a good reminder all the same. Read more