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…
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, 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, 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, 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…
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…
