I am a mother of colour. Of Asian descent. I have a seven-year-old daughter. She is often a mermaid, sometimes a princess, and yet again, a mother to her teddy bear.
I love watching her grow up, it fills my heart with pride. I am no different than other mamas, watching her dress-up, run around like a whirlwind, read her favourite books and sometimes scream at the top of her lungs.
Yet, when she was little, just about to join her pre-school class, she came home one day in rather low spirits. Presumably, from a discussion with her friends at class, she acquired the impression that she was different from the others and that being brown is not beautiful. I was heartbroken.
You couldn’t have written a more dramatic plot twist really. Just 33 days before the US Presidential election the leader of the free world contracts the very virus he once predicted would simply disappear and described as no worse than the flu - a virus that has killed over 210,000 Americans.
Ready for time out from the news or seeking refuge from social distancing? Well now you’ve completed all those projects about the house and mastered that musical instrument courtesy of Covid-19, it might be time for a solid TV binge.
Raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles… Anyhoo you get the point, courtesy of the Sound of Music it’s apparent we all have favourite things, but does that and should that extend to your children?
In late July, ABC journalist Leigh Sales highlighted an appalling habit in Australian culture. Taking to Twitter, she offered an insight into the abuse hurled at her after a recent interview with PM Scott Morrison, and it makes for some nasty reading.
I woke on the 18 August 2000, and like so many things, habit takes over. I am still that girl, yet work drinks are long gone and the daily routine of starting with a 10km run (no matter how cold) was the first item on the agenda for the day. I am a creature of habit and routine is paramount. It’s all so clear. It’s cold. I remember that. Should I go or shouldn’t I go for a run were the thoughts that went through my head as I dragged myself from under the sanctuary and warmth of my doona and looked out the window. That one decision….What if I hadn’t gone? I’ll never know. I went. That decision changed my life forever.
It’s fair to say 2020 has been a little stressful. Depressing headlines coupled with employment shifts, economic uncertainty and the addition of factors like home schooling has certainly upped the ante in terms of anxiety and workload expectation.
It’s a ‘pink’ recession – And women are wearing the fallout. ... studies have revealed women are more vulnerable to the negative financial and employment impacts of the Covid-19 crisis, courtesy of their increased likelihood of being in the casual or disposable workforces.
Amidst all the uncertainty surrounding Covid-19, an anniversary quietly slipped past. This year perhaps it mattered more than ever. May 3 was World Press Freedom Day – an event designed to recognise the importance of the fourth estate and celebrate the role it plays in holding governments and organisations accountable.
In mid-March an interesting Google trend began to occur. As searches on Coronavirus, sanitiser and facemasks skyrocketed, the terms ‘meditation’ and ‘yoga’ also began to tick steadily upwards.
Women consuming almost as much alcohol as men.
Women appear to be attaining equality, but arguably it’s not in the area we’d like, with recent research from the University of NSW noting women now consume as much alcohol as men and in some cases at higher rates and in more harmful ways.
“I was sitting in a sky-rise office, doing legal work that wasn’t fulfilling to me, and I couldn’t help but ask — what’s it all for?…If there’s some part of you that’s questioning your career, it’s important to listen… Our hearts sometimes know ourselves better than our minds do.” Michelle Obama
How We Can Celebrate Mother Earth Day During a Pandemic
What is the Corona/ Covid-19 Virus Really Teaching us?
I’m a strong believer that there is a SPIRITUAL purpose behind everything that happens in this world whether that is what we perceive as being good or being bad.
‘Caveat emptor’ or buyer beware is a statement I have been thinking a lot about lately, ever since Megs and Harry decided to skip town, leave the fam and head off to the sunny - or should I say snowy shores of Canada.
But today, so many years later I sat down and watched a speech which had been sent to me. It was of Angelina receiving the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 2013 Governors Awards during the Oscars that year
It’s our 12-week pregnancy scan. The sonographer has gone from perky to slightly quiet, but he doesn’t need to say much really because I know what I’m seeing on that screen just isn’t right.
If we look at Facebook and Instagram we see the greatest version of someone else’s life. And sometimes that isn’t empowering, it isn’t confidence building and it doesn’t make us feel too good about our own self and our own often 'seemingly boring lives'
Disney’s got a lot to answer for really. Lose a glass slipper, kiss a frog, chow down on a poison apple and hey presto, sooner or later you’ll live happily ever after as a princess.
This week is National Carers Week, a time to recognise and celebrate the outstanding contribution unpaid carers make to our nation
Our kids only know us as we are today - they don't see the people that we once were
Possessions are nice but when the time comes, they don't warrant a second thought.
Clearly I’m a bad wife. And so are most of the women I know. That is, if you take notice of the article titled ‘The Good Wife’s Guide’ which featured in the 1955’s May edition of Housekeeping Monthly.
Whip out the excel spreadsheet and start tallying up those unpaid chores, because a recent study on behalf of the Victorian Government illustrates how unpaid work saves the economy billions; and by large, women are the ones shouldering the load.
Go on…think back to the recipe shelves of your childhood kitchen and mentally search for that book that took pride of place in the collection. Rivalling an encyclopedia in size and introducing all new flavours to the 1970s household, it was the Margaret Fulton Cookbook.
The other week I read an article on this site talking about an uber successful woman who manages so many things but was brought to tears because she forgot her son’s soccer game one Saturday. I laughed when I read it and then moved on to something else. But here’s the thing. For some reason I keep coming back to that article. About how she said she felt she had let her son down, how she had focused on the negatives for the week.
Read more on Megan's beautiful friendship with Oprah and what makes Megan a dear molly #inspiringwomen.
Gwyneth Paltrow has come under fire after she charged fans more than $8000 to attend a Goop retreat.
She’s been dubbed ‘Oprah’s best Aussie mate’, but after sitting down with Megan Castran over her drink of choice (espresso martini), I soon learnt that there is much more to this incredibly self-made woman.
