Dear Maxine, Whenever my son is upset, my heart breaks. It’s got to the point where I find it difficult to go out because he gets so upset. I know I need to do stuff for me but it tears my heart apart when I see him so upset. I know he’s fine after a…
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, Thank you for sharing your ideas for reflections, I find them really helpful. The only thing is I feel like it’s too late for me. My child isn’t a baby anymore and I’ve been an angry, stressed and controlling parent for so long, I don’t know how to come back from it. I’m…
Dear Maxine, I’m really struggling with my two year old. He doesn’t do anything I tell him to. I feel like the world’s worst parent because I don’t have any control over him. I can tell him not to do something 15 times and each time he’ll stop and then go straight back to it. Sometimes,…
Dear Maxine, I feel like a terrible parent. Recently, I have been so shouty with my child. She is just doing my head in. I feel like nothing I do for her is right and we’ve totally lost the connection we used to have. She’s angry all the time, which is making me angry all…
Dear Maxine, Now that lockdown is easing and people can go out and do all the things they used to be able to, I’m starting to feel really boring and like I’m always putting a downer on plans, particularly with my friends who don’t have children yet. They are all really understanding and flexible, but…
Dear Maxine, I love being a mum, but I’m finding it difficult to accept that as my only job. I used to work full-time and I really enjoyed my job. Although I’m so happy to stay at home with my children, I’m struggling with how society responds to me now that I don’t ‘work’. I…
Dear Maxine, How can I manage the mental load of motherhood? It’s one of aspects of motherhood I wasn’t prepared for: all the invisible stuff you do for your children – the planning, researching, organising. It’s exhausting. I find it hard to delegate as I don’t always trust it will be done as thoroughly as…
Dear Maxine, With lockdown easing, I’m really pleased I can now have some freedom and go back to eating in restaurants and visiting cafes. However, I’m now terrified of taking my daughter to a restaurant. How will she behave? What if she has a tantrum? Or just gets a bit over-excited and starts to disturb…
