Topical Tuesday: Heroes, Role Models and Mother's day!
Discussion forum for parents in Australia
With mother's day upcoming this Sunday, we've been talking at Reach Out about how great mums are!
Being a mum is a tough gig ( to put it lightly), and we want to say a huge Happy Mother's Day to all the mum's out there, especially to the mum's looking after kids with mental health concerns.
We have a few articles you might like to look at here:
Single Mums - some tips for the incredibly challenging job of being a single mum from our very own @taokat!!!
Lisa's story - hear from a mum on how she supported her daughter
At RO, we've also been talking about role models and heroes - (of which my mum is both!) - and what it means to be someone that your kids look up to.
So in this week's discussion, we thought we could think about any or all of these questions:
If you think back a few years, who did you look up to as a young person? Do you remember why?
What's something you learnt from your mum growing up?
As as a parent now, how do you role model to your teenage kids?
And an easier one - What are you doing, if anything, for mother's day this Sunday?
You are all heroes in our eyes!
I love this Topical Tuesday too @gina-Ro - and the YouTube video. Describes motherhood very well I thought lol.
What's something you learnt from your mum growing up?
One of the things I learnt from my mum growing up was to appreciate nature and how amazing it is. We used to go bushwalking and I had a nature table for all my little finds of bark, leaves, stones etc. So much of what we have done has involved some kind of awe of flora or fauna. I have many fond memories, with many more to be made.
My daughter and I are having a quiet day this year, but going for out lunch with mum the following weekend when my brother's not working.
what a beautiful lesson to learn - so important to value and appreciate nature's beauty and to prioritise spending time in it.
Interesting, having a sense of awe and appreciating nature, can have a huge positive impact on your mental health - have a read of this article here!
That sounds like a perfect idea for mother's day - maybe you could take some time to do something nice for yourself.
Wow @Orbit64 - what an incredible thing to have had the opportunity to watch & learn, and what beautiful memories for you to have. Your mum sounds like an inspirational woman
If you think back a few years, who did you look up to as a young person? Do you remember why?
Gosh, I feel like I probably looked up to celebrities (hey, it was the 90s and the beginning of celeb culture!) more than real people. Nowadays, and with some more life experience, my heroes are ordinary folk.
@Orbit64 that's awesome! What an incredible skill your mum had and a beautiful passion to pass on to you!
@Lola-RO that's so true that celebrities can easily become our role models when we're teenagers (for better or worse)
What's something you learnt from your mum growing up?
Something that I learnt from my mum, and am still learning from her, is the art of resilience and being calm in a crisis. My mum has an incredible ability to hold the complexities of family life, and many different circumstances, with grace and wisdom - she's taught me how to be strong and to keep on keeping on!
I hope everyone had a relaxing weekend, and if you celebrated mother's day, that it was filled with love. I know mother's day isn't an easy day for everyone, and I want to acknowledge all those for whom this might be the case.
Found this beautiful artwork on instagram by @bymariaandrew
That was a really interesting read, thank you for the link @gina-Ro 
Well worth a read everyone!
I spent a few hours at the gym doing some classes I really enjoy, so that was my self-care for Mother's Day.
