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Mom at Large
CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE
Nov. 11 | This week we received a heart breaking letter from a devastated schoolboy writing to the High Court Registrar about what the judge’s decision to give his custody to his ‘mean’ uncle has done to his life. To say the 11-year- old boy has been...
BULLYING, A MOTHER’S NIGHTMARE
Nov. 4 | Last week we wrote about the need to know your child’s friends and the benefits thereof. A concerned reader wrote in and below is her response to that article and her experience with bullying, which seems to be rife in school, all the...
CONSIDER YOUR CHILD’S FRIENDS
Oct. 28 | I have had first-hand experience about a child being bullied and teased at school to the point where his health was put in danger by a bully who stuffed pieces of broken mattress in his nose. I did what I had to do to address the situation in...
TALK WITH US
Oct. 21 | This column began with the belief that mums and dads would be interested in reading about issues that affect them in their day to day lives as parents. Some colleagues felt that people would find parenting to be a bit of a boring subject, especially...
BRAGGING VERSUS MAKING A POINT
Oct. 14 | Writing a column on parenting can be a little tricky. You tell stories about children and being a mother yourself, you can’t run away from telling stories about your own children sometimes. And that is where the problem arises as writing about...
LITTLE MONSTERS ON THE LOOSE
Sep. 30 | Several years ago, as a young court reporter I followed a case of a 15- year- old boy who was convicted of rape and sent to prison. ON RAMPAGE: Young boys are out to terrorise our streets My heart broke for the boy because he was hardly a man when he ...
WHAT METTERS TO CHILDREN
Sep. 23 | Warmth or Wealth of a parent? My partner set me thinking last week with an article he sent me about a recent UNICEF research, which resulted in an analysis showing child well-being in the UK at the near bottom of a league of developed nations. FOOD...
PARENTING LESSONS I HAVE LEARNT SO FAR
Sep. 19 | With only two boys still in pre-school,I can’t quite pass for a veteran at the parenting gig, but after almost six years of full time motherhood, (no grannies in the village to dump the kids with)I have certainly learnt a few things in this field. CRYING...
THE WHY OF IT
Sep. 9 | why IN my house we seem to be on the edge of the great “Why?” abyss. And this my dear reader I recently learnt can be a bit daunting on a school day morning. Below is a typical conversation between my three- year -old son and myself when I was about...
PRESSURE PROOFING THE CHILDREN
Sep. 2 | Recently my God son came to visit us. He is a teenager with a great love love for shoes and fashion in general. On what was supposed to be a five-day trip but was cut short to three days, the boy brought at least five pairs of shoes. The day after...
FREE RANGE PARENTING, MY STYLE
Aug. 19 | Kids playing outside frees their parents to live and boosts the children's health and confidence all at once Before I had children of my own,my niece, feeling a bit outdone by her sister whose kids often looked cleaner,neater and a lot more organised,...
TWO’S COMPANY
Aug. 12 | Two’s company and three is a crowd. That seems to be my youngest son, Tanaka’s attitude, judging by the cat that got the cream look on his face after we had put his older brother on the aeroplane to visit his dad in Maun last Sunday. When...
CHOOSING YOUR CHILDREN’S CAREER,RIGHT OR WRONG?
Aug. 5 | This past weekend I felt like a real mom at large when I left my kids in the capable care of their aunts and drove all the way to Harare, Zimbabwe,for a funeral. Initially I felt guilty about leaving them,but it turns out I thoroughly enjoyed being...
A MOTHER’S BOUNDARIES
Jul. 29 | SUPER HERO: From a human transport to a being bed, mother is expected to do it all If someone had told me that motherhood would be akin to slavery, I would have probably dismissed them as crazy. But then again, like I have come to realise and accept;...
School Bullies, A real MENACE
Jul. 15 | Bullying Bullies are always a hot subject in schools,but who would have thought a preschooler could be expelled from school for terrorising others? Far fetched as it may sound, that is exactly what happened not so long ago in one preschool in Francistown....
SIBLING RIVALRY
Jul. 8 | Friendship can not be forced. In fact be wary of people who try too hard to make friends because, a bond I am convinced should just come natural, unforced and without much superficial effort. Having said that, I believe that siblings should be friends...
GROWING UP TOO FAST
Jul. 1 | TOO SEXY FOR THEIR AGE: Young girls putting on make-up manufactured specifically for pre teens There is no doubt that the culture of childhood is being compressed. Those things that some of us came to know when we were 16, the children of today know...
A TRIBUTE TO REAL DADS
Jun. 24 | FAMOUS DAD DOING HIS BIT FOR FATHERHOOD: Usher takes time off from a busy celebrity schedule to step out with son RECENTLY I learnt that father’s day was first celebrated in honour of absent fathers. Since my own father died when I was little,...
TALKING ABOUT CONDOMS WITH PRESCHOOLERS
Jun. 17 | NOT AS EASY AS ABC: Talking to a 5yr old about condoms can cause an unprepared adult to break into a sweat Last week, my 3 -year-old son, and I were having one of those “Let me tell you something in your ear mommy” chats when he suddenly...
