Reflections on Children, Music and Being Fully Alive
Dedicated to Damaris Pfeiffer-Böhme and all those that mother mothers. It's Mother's Day in Germany, and for the first time in 17 years I get to spend it with my mum. Not because I'm a wonderful daughter who has just jetted over to Germany to surprise her with a visit and whisk her off on… Continue reading Mum
"All my babies come early" was a mantra I kept repeating to everyone that asked me when baby was due. "Officially middle of April, but I don't think I'll go much beyond 38 weeks." Conceived wisdom has it that this is something you don't do. Put your dates back, never forwards. Except that we had… Continue reading In Praise of the Post-Date Baby – Freddie’s Birth at 41 Weeks
Rest... if there's one thing that's hard to come by in our busy culture it's this. It smacks of laziness, lack of productivity, skiving. If you're like me, you've got an internal slave driver that kicks in the moment you sit down to enumerate all the undone tasks, all the ways in which you could,… Continue reading Rest
European governments are taking increasingly stringent measures to address the threat of the Coronavirus. Only the UK appears to be dragging its feet, delaying the inevitable with potentially huge implications. I'm writing to the head of my children's school, asking her to add her voice to pressure our government into taking more decisive action, quickly.… Continue reading COVID-19 Open Letter to Headteacher
Breathing in the midst of chaos I’m standing in the kitchen holding my crying 2 ½ year old. Sobs are bubbling up from deep down, racking her little body and I can feel her heart galloping along at breakneck speed. But she’s letting me hold her, which is good. Better than the last twenty minutes,… Continue reading Tantrum
"Music for Life" is our motto at the Len Tyler Music School. Read on to find out what first got me passionate about teaching here and what drives our ongoing quest to be the best we can for the benefit of the children that come to us. I first came across the Len Tyler Music… Continue reading “Music for Life” means Music for Everyone
Sing with your children and you will give them a gift that keeps on giving for a life-time! But some of us feel daunted by the very idea. Maybe we weren't sung to, or feel self-conscious about competing with the plethora of professionally recorded children's albums. Maybe we don't realise we're already doing it, and that… Continue reading What’s in a Song? Six Things You Need to Know About Singing With Young Children
I wrote this article for the Mother Magazine in 2015, while volunteering for Home Start the year before my youngest was born. It never made it to the printing press for one reason or another so I'm publishing it here. The time I spent with my Home Start family was so worth it! A few… Continue reading Building Community – Home Start-Style
Academic success appears to be the be-all and end-all in life, especially if you listen to our politicians. But could the way there be very different from the route they advocate? We live in a high-stakes society where existential angst and fear of failing are rife. Nowhere is this more in evidence than in the… Continue reading An Ode to Fascination
Weaving Rainbows 