Building Strong Families is intended for everyday families, like yours and mine, with parents who genuinely love their children, but are finding parenting in today’s world somewhat challenging!
Let me introduce myself
Before we go any further, I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce myself and tell you a little about my professional as well as my family background. I have been involved in the study and practice of psychology since I left school in 1979, completing my bachelors degree in psychology and then my masters degree in clinical psychology, both at the University of NSW. The end of study is never the end of learning. Since that time I have worked in community health settings, children’s centres and in my own practice for almost two decades.
In my spare time I found my life partner and we married in June 1989. Together we have four beautiful daughters who bring heaps of joy and tonnes of challenges to our lives.
Life’s first classroom
Some of the thoughts in this website consolidated for me one morning while brushing my teeth, having just put on a Peter Rabbit DVD for my three year old and negotiating with the older children to be patient with their younger sibling’s interests. It had been a weekend where I’d struggled with a lousy cold and had spent my days walking around with a box of tissues permanently fixed in my left hand.
I thought – this is the fabric of our life. It is the learning ground for all the most important lessons that life wants us to learn.
So as my three year old sang Little Peter Rabbit with a tune known only to three year olds, and my older children began their negotiation for the next movie, I thought about how the everydayness of family life is the learning ground for the most valuable life lessons that ultimately shape the future personalities and lives of our children.
We learn to share, to express our needs, to listen to others, and perhaps most important of all we discover how to stay close even through the tough moments of life.
You’re not alone
So I want you to know that you’re not alone in any struggles that you may be experiencing. Behind millions of closed doors are families like your own with parents who deeply love their children, but are at times struggling with the stresses of today’s world.
However, this website and our online community doesn’t take a ‘gloom and doom’ approach. You’ll find anything but that! Our community’s philosophy is that life is a gift, despite its struggles and difficulties, and our attitude to life is a gift that we can pass on to our children, the future generation.
Last thoughts
I’m not writing this because I have all the answers. These things are a daily struggle for me as they are to most people – learning to do the best we can for each of our children. But I have read widely, thought deeply and have a professional background in this area, and would like to share with you some of the key ideas that I have picked up on the way. Use what you think fits well with your own situation, staying open to new ways of seeing things. And gently put aside the ideas that are not useful at the moment.
I hope you enjoy travelling through this website as much as I enjoyed writing it.
