So I offered to write something for Brett about parenting a child with Aspergers, and I immediately went blank. What do I know? Sure, Tim, my son is nearly 16, and he has Aspergers. But what can I tell you that might be helpful? I dithered, wrote things, deleted them. Tried again. And so finally I decided, let me write up the questions I most commonly get asked, and the answers I try to give. [...]
I’m. So. Tired. And I’m scared. Scared to admit how hard I find it. Scared to let people in to see my struggle. Scared of the judgment I expect to see. Because I knew motherhood would be hard. But I never expected it to be like this. It’s like boot camp. You get dumped in the deep end and you learn to swim through it, while somehow in the process you earn entry into the [...]
Parenting is the hardest thing I have ever done. That’s stating the obvious, right? I mean, one can’t open Facebook without finding a meme that involves children and the need for copious amounts of wine (or maybe that’s a reflection on how mommified my Facebook feed has become?) I don’t think there is a parent out there who doesn’t feel tired (emotionally, physically, mentally) MOST of the time. Steve and I have been married for [...]
Marriage can be amazing. But it is not always the easiest of things. My friend Catherine shares some of her journey with Alastair: “So how’s married life treating you?” My husband and I look at each other, shake our heads slightly and smile. It’s everybody’s favourite question but nobody wants the honest answer. We’ve stopped telling our friends the truth and started telling them what they want to hear. “Yeah, marriage is good. All good, [...]
Greetings and Welcome to Brettfish.co.za - this has been a LONG time coming and huge thanks to my friends, Mandy Papenfus and Simon Streep, for helping me get to this point. The hope of a cleaner, crisper, fresher look for my blog as well as a space to add videos and book sales and other fun things when i get the chance. 2016 feels like it is going to be a significant year, specifically in [...]
I never fully realised what an impact one little girl could have on a community, just by being herself. Adoption has always been on my heart. I can remember asking my parents, repeatedly, for years, for a baby sister for Christmas. Preferably adopted. It’s obviously something that I’m meant to be involved in. I got my baby sister when I was thirteen. And then a baby brother when I was nineteen. And there have been [...]
Continuing to share some of Aaron's story of his journey with and away from testicular cancer which you can find in full over here, i decided to grab three sections from three longer posts to share some of the insights he gained along the way as well as some of the challenges he faced and encouragements he received along the way. There is something for us all to learn here: = = = = = [...]
This is a piece that was shared with me by Leigh Geary but which originally was published on her blog, The Mom Diaries under the title, 'The Terrible Twos: Am I being punished for all my sins?' Lets talk about the terrible two’s shall we? Holy Moley! I think I’m about to lose my shit in a big way but lets face it that would just be teaching him that tantrums and inappropriate behavior are [...]
For the past 3 weeks, Masi has really been struggling to go to sleep. And when I talk about Masi struggling, I don’t mean that he just lies in his bed and plays with his fingers and can’t doze off – I mean he jumps out of bed and slams the door repeatedly, he pulls the curtains down, he opens his cupboard and flings all his clothes around the floor, he jumps on his sister [...]
[Candice is one of my oldest [as in time spent together] Improv friends and now that she has moved to Australia i am realising how much i miss not having her around… but she has written an excellent post which i’m sure is going to resonate with and encourage many of you so here goes…] Because I am going through a challenging phase with my teenaged daughter and many of my friends are having babies [...]
