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Mothers

Mother’s Day 2010

May 9th, 2010
by Rodney Olsen.
10 comments

Today I’ll be celebrating Mother’s Day with Emily and James as they honour their wonderful mother, my wife, Pauline. Her skills as a mother amaze me and our kids are a real testimony to her abilities as a mum. Pauline demonstrates that she is an amazing woman in so many ways but as a mum she simply radiates love for her children.

I’ll also be wishing my mother-in-law a happy Mother’s Day when we drop in on her this afternoon. She’s obviously a good mum. I only have to look at Pauline to know that.

But I’ll also be pausing to remember my own mum who passed away over 23 years ago when I was in my early twenties. I’ll be feeling some sadness that she’s not here with us but when I remember what a wonderful person she was it’ll help to put a smile back on my face. (That’s me with my parents in the photo. You can click on the picture for a closer look.)

So many times I experience things that I wish I could share with mum. There are moments in life that I just know mum would have enjoyed. There are things I see that I’d just love to show mum because I know she would have appreciated them.

I know that parents can’t stick around forever but there are so many moments that I wish I could have shared with her.

Mum never saw me realise my dream of becoming a radio announcer. She wasn’t around for any of the 5 times I cycled across Australia or my trips to India with Bike for Bibles. There are so many significant moments in my life that mum missed …. and I really missed her being there.

One of the hardest thing for me is knowing that mum passed away several years before I met Pauline so they never got to meet. I know that they would have got on so well. I would have loved to have seen mum’s smiling face as Pauline walked down the aisle on that hot day in December 1992.

Probably the toughest is that I never got to introduce Emily and James to Grandma Olsen.

Life has its ups and downs but I just wish that I could let mum know that life for her youngest child is good. Very good.

Mother’s Day is often a day of mixed emotion for so many reasons. If you’re a mother I truly hope that you have a wonderful Mother’s Day. I know that for many there are sad thoughts and regrets but let me say thank you for doing one of the toughest jobs in the world the best way you know how. Your amazing contribution to our world has not gone unnoticed.

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Is childcare a form of abuse?

Aug 31st, 2008
by Rodney Olsen.
11 comments

Author Mem Fox has opened up a controversial debate by claiming that childcare for very young children is child abuse.

According to this article at News.com.au, Mem believes that society will look back on the trend of allowing babies only a few weeks old to be put into childcare and wonder, “How could we have allowed that child abuse to happen?”.

“I just tremble,” she said. “I don’t know why some people have children at all if they know that they can only take a few weeks off work.

“I know you want a child, and you have every right to want a child, but does the child want you if you are going to put it in childcare at six weeks?

“I don’t think the child wants you, to tell the honest truth. I know that’s incredibly controversial.”

It’s a topic that we often choose not to talk about because no one likes to be criticised for the way they bring up their children.

I must admit that I get concerned with the age at which some children are handed over to others for care. I also wonder if career is so important to some people, why they choose to bring children into the equation.

There are always circumstances that will mean that a child will need care from those other than parents at a young age but the care of the very young in childcare centre is becoming a big industry. Parents are planning to have children and then be back at work within weeks.

Whichever side you’re on in the debate, I think it’s a good thing to be discussing. We need to decide if this is the way we want our society to go. Is Mem right? If we haven’t got the time to put into bringing up our kids should we really be having them?

She said a Queensland childcare worker had told her earlier this year: “We’re going to look back on this time from the late ’90s onwards – with putting children in childcare so early in their first year of life for such long hours – and wonder how we have allowed that child abuse to happen”.

“It’s just awful. It’s awful for the mothers as well. It’s completely heartbreaking,” Fox said. “You actually have to say to yourself, ‘If I have to work this hard and if I’m never going to see my kid and if they are going to have a tremendous stress in childcare, should I be doing it?’

“Babies have much higher levels of stress in childcare.”

I’d be interested in your point of view.

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