Category: Being Mum
Changing the plan, not the goal
What is normal? There is the thought that normal is just a setting on a washing machine or tumble drier, that no one has a normal life. Most of the time I subscribe to that thought. I can often be heard saying “but this is normal to us”, usually at...
Are you gonna spend your day down in the dirt?
As I write this, it is the morning of Friday 8th March, 2015. The day after the General Election. The day we realised that we are highly likely to have a Conservative Government for the next five years. The day Esther McVey lost her seat The day Ed Timpson kept...
When Debs met Andy Burnham at Radio 5 Live
Last week, I was invited by Radio 5 Live to be part of their “Your Call” hour. This time it was to be part of a panel of “the public” interviewing Andy Burnham before the big day tomorrow. This was a much more formal set up than the last time...
Do you ever just feel tired of it all?
Like many of us, I have children who believe that sleeping through the night is just an urban myth. Oh the joy of having to cope with a full day of paperwork or appointments when you have had a few hours split sleep. Sleep deprivation is torturous, as you know, but...
What does Participation look like as a diagram?
As I sat scrolling through Twitter a few weeks ago, I came across a conversation that set me thinking. Kath Evans (Head of Patient Experience at NHS England) was asking if people preferred an image showing “the ladder of participation” or “the circle of involvement”. Circle, Ladder or Venn? Initially...
I have a dream
On St George’s Day, as we approach the next General Election, I wanted to remind us of the awe-inspiring speech by the Rev Dr Martin Luther King on August 28, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial. The speech was a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement. One person with a...
Save Furness School – a parent’s perspective
Parents in Kent are petitioning the proposed closure of Furness school in Hextable . Furness is a specialist school for children with ASD and also emotional and behavioural issues. “KCC are in consultations with the intention of closing the school due to the number of pupils that attend. However the number...
Parenting – how do you know you’re getting it right?
When you find out you’re pregnant, you wonder what sort of parent you will be. When your child arrives, you wonder what sort of character they will be. As they grow, you wonder if you are getting this parenting job right. Is your parenting helping your child to be confident...
