When culture and tradition fall away, we like to imagine we become freer, lighter, more “ourselves”. But what actually happens in the quiet is more complicated. This essay looks at what is lost, what is quietly smuggled into the future, and what we become when we no longer have a script to follow. There is a certain pride now in saying, “I am not really into tradition.” It sounds modern, independent, self‑made. We imagine ourselves as clean slates, choosing everything from sc

There is a moment in every adult life when you look at your family and think, “So this is not normal.” Maybe it happens at a holiday meal when someone brings up politics, religion or that one cousin who “went weird”. Suddenly everyone is talking louder, cutting the roast more aggressively and pretending not to notice the emotional grenade rolling under the table. Or maybe it is quieter: you are washing dishes, watching your parents move around each other like planets in a sli

Parkmore, Sandton Youth “Purple Max” Awarded 2018 Bronze Standard for Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award / The President’s Award for Youth Empowerment (South Africa) “The Award equips young people for life and work. Not all learning happens in the classroom. Young people need experiences outside the classroom to become committed, responsible and fulfilled citizens of the world.” – DofE Award Website There are many people I know that I am extremely proud to keep company w

This is not an article about autism but autism is my point of departure because I have always been intrigued by the genius of mind of autistic persons and how they have been portrayed in cinema and books. Their ability to identify patterns in numbers specifically, otherwise hidden from civilian eyes, is, for me, a fascinating glimpse into how the human brain functions and what it is capable of achieving. Where numbers are the basis, patterns are the key. Logical problem solvi

It’s been just over 4 weeks now since Toughey the hamster died. We eventually broke the news to the kids by faking a “who-left-the-cage-open-and-the-hamster-escaped” stunt. This didn’t go down very well – turns out it’s Mom’s fault… However, there were tears of sadness and I’m happy that we decided to go this route as opposed to telling the 7 year old that his pet had died. (I blogged about this in Our Four-Legged Friends) My son was more upset that I threw out his box of mot

The New Year has not always begun on January 1, and it doesn’t begin on that date everywhere today. It begins on that date only for cultures that use a 365-day solar calendar. January 1 became the beginning of the New Year in 46 B.C., when Julius Caesar developed a calendar that would more accurately reflect the seasons than previous calendars had. The Romans named the first month of the year after Janus, the god of beginnings and the guardian of doors and entrances. He was a

This is a biggie! I can’t wait! The main pic is from the Advent Calendar I made this year.

Good weather permitting! It’s beach time baby! Actually, even if it’s not good weather we’ll most probably still head to the beach and walk on the rocks or build sand castles or something. There is no Lose situation when you’re at the coast really… The main pic is from the Advent Calendar I made this year.

Today we’ll take 5 minutes out of our day to make a call to someone who cannot be with us to celebrate the holidays. I have a pretty good idea who each of the kids will be calling The main pic is from the Advent Calendar I made this year.

It should be a good time to get each of the kids to write a prayer now that they’ve cleaned, crafted, reflected and donated their way through the holidays. All I know at this point is that their prayers will start with “Dear God” and end with “Amen”. How they choose to fill in the blanks is up to them. The main pic is from the Advent Calendar I made this year.

tearfund.org has the most amazing Nativity Play script for either Narrated or Dialogue versions of kids plays. I’ll be using their version as the basis for our family puppet show today. Narrator enters the stage INTRODUCTION: (THIS INTRODUCTION COULD BE ‘PERFORMED’ BY A MEETING LEADER OR BY THE PERSON PERFORMING AS THE NARRATOR) We are about to enjoy a story that has been told and retold for two thousand years. The Nativity reveals something very special about God – that he w

Today is the day that we take a drive to see what the rest of our town looks like all lit up and dressed for Christmas! The main pic is from the Advent Calendar I made this year.

As a parent, I’ve recently been provided with information and travel tips to make travelling simpler (if that is at all possible) with young children. The first lot of info received was at an AA (Automobile Association) breakfast in November and the next was from Pampers in early December. (I am a member of the AA and have only used Pamper for both my kids) I didn’t plan to blog about this as I deemed the info to be “common sense” then there was the recent news report of a 6-

Our hamster died 2 weeks ago today. His name was Toughey. The kids haven’t realised that THEIR rodent pal has died yet. I’m not sure how I feel about that actually… On the day that Toughey left us, my husband had the grand plan to not tell the kids because he was just going to replace Toughey 1.0 with Toughey 2.0 as such. We didn’t end up following through on that plan so we continue to gaze upon an empty but well equipped cage day after day. I didn’t particularly like him mu

Okay, this is the superficial kind of gifting list. You’ve worked hard this year to make sure that those closest to you have enough money to buy you the kind of gift you would like to receive. Have you started leaving those advertising brochures and magazines open in strategic ways to get the best return on your labour? I really don’t have anything on my list as of yet. Admittedly, I’m a late starter when it comes to gifting. I blame being raised in a deadline orientated crea

It’s time to write letters to Santa today. As a parent I will always endeavour to use the opportunity as some sort of moral lesson for the kids but inevitably they will jump straight to the wishlist bit… I then ‘post’ the letters for them but I actually keep them in a big Memory Box for when they are older. Here is a lovely printable version that you can download: Free Letters From Santa Claus Here are some electronic resources to get your letters to Santa (you’ll get an emai

I’m not quite sure exactly what we’ll be making today but it’s likely to be one or two of the following: Christmas crackers made from old toilet roll tubes, gift wrap and florist ribbon Cardboard loop decorations to hang on the walls Lanterns made from cardboard and cellophane Salt dough decorations to hang on the tree (painted) Pack gift boxes for the old age home The main pic is from the Advent Calendar I made this year.

I recently wrote about my thoughts on caring for the elderly in What Should We Do With Old People? Every life situation is different. Every family is unique. Every individual has an opinion. Tradition and culture aside, there is also the personal preference (by the aged person and their children & family) and the realities of what is involved in supporting the elderly in terms of time, money and resources. I got a different perspective to my question from one of my long time

Okay, so this is an actual recipe.. It’s like breakfast and mid-morning snack all in one! I’m going to share it with you if I can remember what I used this morning because I literally started with a vague plan then raided the cupboard and fridge for leftovers. The kids have clearly got in tune with the end-of-year-holiday-approaching vibe so after faffing for about 10 minutes trying to decide what they wanted for breakfast (and we don’t give them many options on school days)

Yesterday I did a blog post lamenting my week as a single parent in Home Alone. At the end of the post I asked “how on earth do single parents cope?” Once again I reached out to some of my friends who have experienced this in their own lives. Most times my own idea of “going solo” is never grounded in the reality of what it would be like to actually go through the process to get to being single again. The first story I want to share with you is by my dear friend Barrie Bramle