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The Signs of Controlling Behaviour – Red Flags and How to Spot Them
If we were able to teach young people to recognise the signs of controlling behaviour, the ‘red flags’, would we be able to protect them from abusive relationships? If we were to teach children in schools how to spot a controlling person, would be help save them from misery and self-doubt? If we talk openly with friends about the ‘red flags’ would they recognise their own relationships and find the strength to walk away? I hope so. For this reason, I am writing two blog posts today. One for adults, here on this blog, and one for tweens and teens on Jump! Mag When writing for kids, I am very concious of…
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Social Media Fatigue
Do you have an account with any of the following services: Twitter, Facebook, Mumsnet, Britmums, Linkedin, Klout, Google+, Pinterest, Foursquare, YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr, Blogger, WordPress, Flickr, Vine, AskFM, Kik… If you have answered “Yes” more than four times then you are in danger of Social Media Fatigue. I have accounts with 10 of these services, although I really only use Twitter, Facebook, Mumsnet, Pinterest and WordPress. I use Blogger to comment on Blogger blogs, and very rarely use YouTube except to watch videos. I realise that Mumsnet is not a typical “Social Media” website, but I included it as it is one of the ones that send most people to my blog, via the Bloggers’ Network.…
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My Silent Miscarriages – A Guest Post
Sarah, my guest blogger today, talks about the care she received during her missed miscarriages. A missed miscarriage is one where the baby stops growing but the body does not recognise this. Most missed miscarriages are discovered when the woman goes for a scan. Some women have experienced pain or bleeding and may already suspect something is not right. For some women, like my previous guest blogger (also confusingly called Sarah), it comes as a complete surprise. Please help us spread the word. It is not right that women should have to pay for private reassurance scans if there is a risk of a miscarriage. This is all very well…
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Mumsnet Campaign for Better Miscarriage Care
‘How is the new Mummy this morning then?’. The words could not have hurt more. I turned my head away from the breakfast bearing hospital auxiliary. She had obviously not been informed that I was on the labour ward for a D&C, not to give birth. Was it not enough that I had to see heavily pregnant women waddle down the corridor ahead of me, hear their puffing and groaning, and later hear the cries of their newborn babies in neighbouring rooms? On leaving the ward later that morning, I looked at my feet rather than into the excited eyes of flower laden fathers, on their way to visit their…
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Mumsnet Campaign – Kick Off Thread – Lets Get Blogging
The campaign kicks off on Monday, 10th October and will carry on throughout the week. The aim of the campaign is to highlight the reality of miscarriage, often a taboo topic, brushed under the carpet of life. It is estimated that every third woman will at some time in her life suffer the loss of a pregnancy. It is sadly not unusual, and it is time that we talked honestly and openly about what miscarriage means and how we can help women who suffer from one. Particularly the extremely different standards of care offered by health care trusts across the country should be scrutinised and a Code of Care introduced.…
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Do You Have a Parenting Philosophy – Your Children are not Your Children
Attachment Parenting, Benign Neglect, Authoritarian, Helicopter Parent, Tiger Mum – which one describes your parenting method best? Can you put a name to your Parenting Philosophy, explain it in two or three words? In those first hazy months of parenthood, many of us read books on parenting. We search for answers, for reassurance, for advice. Or we use websites such as Mumsnet, Netmums or Babycentre. Perhaps you already had an idea of the kind of parent you wanted to be, and found that the reality of parenting was slightly different to the theory. I can recall being indignant at my husband’s Grandmother, because she told me that when…
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Using Social Media to Increase Readership on Your Blog
Following on from yesterday’s post about starting blogging, this post is about increasing your readership, particularly with the usage of Social Media. When I started blogging, there were not really many outlets to get my blog out there. I picked up some readers here and there, more through sheer coincidence than any actual plan. Occasionally someone would comment on my blog, and I would be pleased that someone was actually reading it. Since I started using Twitter to promote my blog, I have gained a lot of readers. And more people comment, both on the blog or on Twitter. And let’s be honest, that is what…
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Remembering Anabelle
Last year I got to “know” a blogger called Caz, a Mumsnetter whom I joined in protesting against the Eastenders cotdeath storyline. You may have forgotten the furore that followed the broadcasting of the episode where a mother discovers her son, lifeless in his cot and on the spur of the moment decides to swap her baby for a neighbour and friend’s living child. The storyline has ended, the characters have moved on but for some parents there was no happy ending. Their baby was not revealed to be alive, and living in the house of a mentally ill woman. Their baby was never coming back. For parents it is…
