This is a new season.A pause that wasn’t planned, but was necessary. Life has been lifing. In all the ways people say lightly, but mean deeply. The stretching, the surviving, the recalibrating. Somewhere between showing up for everyone else and trying to keep myself steady, this blog fell quiet. Not intentionally. Not dramatically. It simply…
A few weeks ago, I had given my younger daughter the task of learning some of her time tables that she had been struggling with. She was fine remembering them in order, but just seemed to struggle with remembering them randomly and this was something that she needed to learn. I, therefore, decided to make…
This week, I have been reflecting a lot on the impact of loss and how we tend to celebrate our relationships with loved ones more when they are gone than when they are alive. To illustrate this, I have written a short story below and titled it “Can I call you later?”. Deja was always…
Think of how you feel when you get compliments. “You are beautiful; You light up a room with that smile; you are so confident; You are kind; And the best one, “You are fearfully and wonderfully made” (God’s affirmation to us). These are words of affirmation that improves a person’s outlook of themselves when spoken…
So this week is Mental Health Awareness Week and the theme is nature. Personally, I am not big on the outdoors, I prefer to stay home, under the covers and that really makes me happy. However, the few times (especially during lockdown) that I managed to get out of the house and embrace the beautiful…
As a parent, nurturing our children to be the best version of themselves is something I believe we should strive for. But when you have more than one child, you very quickly find that the personalities of our children are often different. For me, both my girls couldn’t be more opposite. And although I am…
Recently I noticed I had become very irritable. I didn’t feel like talking to anyone or have the motivation to complete pending tasks, but one thing I couldn’t take time off from was being a parent. I had to continue to push through even when I felt tired with pressure from work and other commitments,…
Have you ever found yourself embarking on something you know very little about or what the end result would be? Sometimes, it may even feel like a spur-of-the-moment decision that you haven’t given too much thought to. This was me a few years ago when I decided to hike up the highest mountain in the…
The theme of this year’s international women’s day is “choose to challenge gender bias and inequality” with the aim of creating an inclusive world where women can exist without fear of judgement and stereotypical beliefs of what “Womanhood” should be. This got me thinking about these stereotypical roles women have come to hold in society…
Growing up, I remember having conversations with my peers where we all had something in common; all our parents came top of their class in school. Back then, we never really thought to question this until much later when it became apparent. If they all came top of their class, who came bottom? This is…
I am sure that we can all agree that effective communication is a key element of any relationship; it can either foster or break the relationship. This is particularly true in the way that we communicate with our children where it can create either a safe and secure environment for them to build trust and…
Saying the words, “I am sorry” to anyone is often an acknowledgement that we have done something wrong which isn’t always easy because it requires you to be vulnerable admitting that you were wrong; how much more, to a child. I remember growing up, the expectation was always on the child to apologise to the…
This week, I want to explore the importance of partnership parenting and the need to unlearn gender-stereotyped parenting in the home. When I had my first daughter, my parents came over to stay with us from Nigeria to fulfil the “Omugwo” requirement which is an Igbo term in Nigeria for the custom of postpartum care….
It was my birthday this week and it is always a time of reflection for me. It is important for me to take stock of the things that have been good, as well as those that haven’t, and the lessons I have learnt over the last year. Among other things, I am grateful for my journey through…
A few weeks ago, my younger daughter Toni, came home and very casually told us about an incident that occurred in school with a girl she occasionally played with. She explained that the girl had told her she didn’t want to be friends with her anymore because she was black and was a Christian. As…
This post is an appreciation to teachers and parents who are doing the most in this lockdown to keep children regulated in such incredibly difficult and unprecedented times. At the start of 2020, who would’ve thought that we would be right in the midst of a global pandemic, trying to figure out how to get…
Parenting is no doubt one of the best gifts, but it can also present with its own challenges especially when it comes to setting boundaries and laying down the rules at home. Children need boundaries because it keeps them safe and helps them harness key values and ethics that they can take into adulthood. In…
A happy new year and welcome to 2021! What a year we just had, if you are reading this, I am thankful that you made it as no one anticipated the whirlwind that we survived in the form of COVID-19. I remember January 2020, my husband and I had made all these plans but with…