February 10
“I know now that everything changes and it’s usually too quickly.”*
Now that my firstborn is eight years old I can truly appreciate this statement that I wrote when he was only four. We have moved through so many phases, and currently we are smack-bang in the middle of the ‘I’m too big for cuddles’ stage. (Sometimes anyway!) Of course it’s sad, but I try to hold onto the bigger picture – the need for him to begin to assert his independence, to move out into the world. I console myself with the willing warmth and delicious softness of my ‘baby’ boy – now five!
* © from Being Mummy by Anne‑marie Taplin published April 2007
Last updated 01 February 2010.
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Photograph © Kate Elmes from 'Being Mummy' by Anne‑marie Taplin
Feature story
Under the island house
The name ‘island house’ usually gives people a false impression. “Come visit us sometime at the island house,” we will say, and the image that comes to mind is that of a large house on stilts overlooking the calm bay waters...
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What's new this month
Being a parent
is a bit like riding an express train,
don't you think?
Hurtling from one day to the next, sometimes it feels like time just rushes by.
Parenting can be exhilarating, joyful, bittersweet, maddening or exhausting – sometimes a combination of all these emotions in one day! And then our babies leave home, flee the nest… it can be devastating, a blessed relief or both!
Parenting can also erode our sense of ourselves as creative people. Although a labour of love, raising children can be monotonous and isolating,
...that’s why we all need to express ourselves.
Parenting Express gives a voice to parents and others who care for children. If you write creative nonfiction, poetry or fiction about your experiences of giving birth and the challenges and rewards of raising the next generation, we want to hear from you.
Anne-marie Taplin - About this website
About me
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Read excerpt from The Divided Heart, Art and Motherhood on the topic of creativity and motherhood