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 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, I love being a dad, it’s brilliant. I love my son and my partner and I want to be there for them as much as possible. But I am exhausted. I have our baby in the morning, go to work, come home, relieve my partner and then it’s bedtime/tidying time and I’m wiped…
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, Thank you for your original post on mental load. I found it helpful to think about what I’m carrying and how to manage it. I tried to share it with my partner and he responded with how unappreciated he felt. He said that he does so much for us and can’t believe that…
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, I struggle with being assertive and worry about it affecting my children. I have always feared confrontation and have never had assertiveness modelled to me growing up. Often, I feel like I will cry (or do cry) and feel panicked under such circumstances. As a result, I tend to avoid situations where confrontation…
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…
Dear Maxine, My mum says she feels like she can’t talk to me about parenting because I take it as criticism and she’s not wrong, I do feel criticised when we speak about what I’m doing with my baby. This upsets my mum because she says she’s been looking forward to discussing parenting for years…
