Mami Rhedeg

OK. So. I know we're barely a week into the official summer holidays here in Wales, but, September is looming large on the horizon. We don't have a word for "the start of the new school year". For me, "la rentrée" encompases so much more than the physical act of entering the school gates every September. There's the excitement. The planning. The school supplies shopping and organising. That feeling of growing up as you start each new year. This September, my 7yo starts year 3. The beginning of the next chapter of her school life. Except, this year, there will be no photo in front of the school to show her first day... Because us parents, we're not allowed through the gates. There's no school bag shopping or stationery acquisition either. Apart from the fact that we can't go spend hours in the shop while she decides which ones she wants... I'm not entirely sure she's even going to be allowed to take a bag or pencil case from home in. I...

OK, so, emotional well-being in a Pandemic is almost an oxymoron. Is it actually possible for any of us to maintain our emotional wellbeing whilst everything we thought we knew about our daily lives changes overnight? Possibly not, but, some of us are more able to deal with the curve balls that life throws at us than others. And the current global Pandemic has only served to amplify that difference. But, this article published by the BBC , only barely touches the surface of the issues facing those who need to access services for the first time or who have their usual services suspended or altered. Recognising you need it, and asking for help us difficult enough at the best of times. When you can lift the phone, make an appointment and go to see your GP in person, in private. The switch to GP triage over the phone doesn't encourage people to contact them if they are unable to guarantee that the call they make is confidential. That their housemates aren't listening in.  Many supp...

Having a baby in a pandemic is one thing. You have to shelve all of the ideas and activities you thought you'd be doing. Get used to just being you and bubs. Focus on the new life that's born into a crazy situation.  But, this pandemic is taking so much from our children. It feels like it's damaging an entire generation.  We don’t really know what our children will have lost out on by over the course of this chaos. It will largely depend on our children's own resilience.  Their developmental and social ability not just their age.  At this point, with so many things cancelled and so little real social interaction, some degree of developmental damage is likely for all our children... Whether academic, social or emotional.   Months have passed without access to essential support services for children and families. Virtual learning with stressed parents cannot replace the in-person teaching they would have received at school.  As a Mam, I'm watching my 7yo...

                                                                 Feeding babies is a journey all parents make, and how we do it is a decision we take, which then hopefully works for us.   I breastfed my eldest until she was nearly 2 years old.  I stopped because I physically couldn't cope any longer ... because when you're back in work nearly full time, with a 2 year old and no local support network, it's a killer.   The start of that journey was fraught.  I almost gave up when she was less than a week old ... except one of my friends was a BFN trained supporter, and came and sat in my living room that Good Friday and sorted me out enough to cut through the sleep deprived fog and get me started properly.  Once established, it was easy(ish) and usually not pain...

I've acquired my Mam and my Grandparents' determination that Christmas shopping is something to be done at leisure. Something you do over time, not in a hurried, panic-ridden fashion in December. That does sometimes lead to interesting decisions and conversations though.  I bought the first 3 2020 Christmas presents back in January, and have stored them ever since. When I see things, or when things pop up on my Facebook or Online feeds, I buy them. Keep them until they're needed. But I also write a list so I don't forget what I already have and who it's for. Over the years, my shopping has decreased dramatically. With present buying for my own lg (now both girls) following a rough guide of: Something they WANT Something they NEED Something to WEAR Something to READ.  It's relatively straightforward, and stops me from just buying everything I see that I think they'd like.  Over the past few years, I've become more determined than ever that I will not buy ...

I love my daughters, but being thrust into home-teaching my eldest whilst 37 weeks pregnant, despite having seen the writing on the wall several weeks earlier, was still a bit of a shock to my system.  Like a marathon I hadn't properly trained for, it arrived with a bang on 18th March when Kirsty Williams announced that schools in Wales would close their doors early for Easter on Friday 20th March ... but with no set return date.  I'm a trained, qualified secondary school teacher, with a raft of experience in early years too ... but a 7yo and a newborn is a combination no teaching course prepares you for.   This hasn't been / isn't homeschooling.  Not by any stretch of the imagination.  At best it's home teaching.  My daughter's teacher is still deciding the curriculum content, the tasks to be completed.  We're just bumbling our way through keeping her on some sort of forwards / upwards trajectory, hoping we've stopped her from going backwards ove...

                                   My Facebook memories reminded me this morning that I published my first blogs on this site a year ago.  I reread that blog post this morning, (serendipitous timing), and reminded myself of a lot of things that I'd half forgotten over the past few months as life became different for all of us.   In the past year, I've moved house twice.  Yes, I know!  But, that was less stressful than being pregnant, giving birth and then having a tiny baby in the middle of a global pandemic.  Nothing was as expected.  It still isn't.  But, hopefully, we can start interacting with our families soon.   In May this year I celebrated having worked for my employer for 10 years.  My job has changed dramatically over those years, but, I can honestly say that I enjoy my job.  I like and thrive on the variety of ch...