Will you be a happy empty nester or will you struggle with empty nest depression? Leanne Le Cras shares tips for preparing for and enjoying your empty nest. Leanne successfully launched her two fledglings several years ago and has written extensively about being an empty nester. [This is a guest post by Leanne Le Cras […]
Moving away; thoughts on leaving town
Moving away from friends Moving home can be an exciting time but it isn’t always, and there are times when moving away can be a very sad affair. We look at a number of types of moves and the impact of moving away from friends. I recall sort of my move from Bayswater in Melbourne […]
She could have been a hand model: Coping with a parent with dementia
[This is a guest post by Rachael Thomson. Rachael is a working editor. You can read about her work at www.rachaelthomson.com. Rachael has generously shared her family story of the reality of caring for a parent with dementia.] Her hands lay stiff in our palms. Cool and sticky. These were no longer the beautiful smooth […]
Decoding Aged Care services in Australia; choosing the right service.
At some stage of our lives most of us will need to consider aged care options, for ourselves or for family members. To say this is a daunting process is an understatement; both navigating the government support and working out which is the best service, can be time consuming, confusing and expensive. [This post was […]
Getting it right; changing gender roles in Australian society
Gender roles in Australia are changing and being challenged within families. Australian men have an opportunity to embrace this change and move forward, with renewed strength, in partnerships that have more to do with equality and the commensurate application of skills, different as they may be, and less about a stereotype of “being a man”. […]
Christmas past and present
Christmas! When I was a child that word held so much excitement and promise. It was rich with tradition and expectation. It started weeks before the actual day, with the arrival of what seemed to have been hundreds of Christmas cards which were opened, passed around for reading and then displayed on the venetian blinds […]
Across the generations
Mother was raised on an orchard in the Huon Valley, Tasmania and like many who grew up in the 1930’s depression, she was a determined, single-minded, independent woman who never had a full time job. Her education was limited; not finishing high school. Married just before World War II, Mum spent time in Canberra and […]
Re-unioning: from offline to online
One morning earlier this year I woke up and realised it was the 50th anniversary for my Telopea Park High School class of ’65 (Canberra, Australia). So, I posted on a relevant community Facebook page to see if I had been forgotten, left out … or rejected! Surely someone was organising a get-together? A single […]