I’ve seen a number of posts recently encouraging mamas to ‘keep going even though it’s hard, even though you’re exhausted, keep going’. And I’m curious about what it is they’re encouraging us to keep doing. Is it not to give up on living? Or is it to keep running ourselves into the ground? I wonder…
Could this be the hardest part of self-compassion? Knowing our limits and accepting them? Noticing that we’re tired and accepting that we can’t do everything we had hoped. Noticing that we’re tired and not doing more than we would usually do, just to prove to ourselves that we can. Knowing that we don’t have enough…
Dear Maxine, I know this isn’t necessarily on the topic of ‘mum guilt’ or even parenting, but I was wondering if you had any thoughts on how I could make peace with my post-baby body. There are parts of my body that I used to be quite proud of and now they look totally different…
Dear Maxine, As lockdown eases, I’m feeling increasingly anxious about losing control of my baby. That may sound intense but she was born during lockdown and it’s only been me and her for this whole time. Now that more and more people are allowed to come into our lives and our home, I’m starting to…
Why? Why would we want to notice our mum guilt? It already feels like too much. It’s painful and uncomfortable and we spend a lot of our lives trying to avoid it. So why am I suggesting it might be helpful to pay attention to it? The first thing that comes to my mind is…
What do you notice about your child’s play? Recently, I’ve been thinking about how they always push themselves to learn that little bit extra. Have you noticed this? Or maybe your child doesn’t do that. Maybe your child still plays with the toys they were playing with when they were 3 months old, in the…
Dear Maxine, Thank you for your post on finding playing with your children tedious, it really resonated with me. Do you have any advice on how to overcome the intense feelings of guilt I have when my child is playing on her own? It’s worst when I start doing something else. I feel most guilty…
Hi Maxine, I came across you Instagram and blog recently and I just wanted to let you know how much I love the content. So much of it aligns with how I want to parent my children. Do you have any plans to do any posts around ‘mum guilt’ of finding playing with your children…
When I wrote ‘8 of our children’s key psychological needs‘, I knew I’d eventually have to write the post about accepting feelings. If I’m honest, at the moment, I would say that this is the key psychological need your child has. I’ve put it off and I’m curious about why. Maybe because I know how…
What comes to mind when you read ‘space: a key psychological need’? Do you think of physical space – enough room to move? Or do you think of metaphorical space? Freedom to move? To think? To feel? Physical space What kind of space makes you feel safe? Do you like things to be ordered or…
