This is Midlife
Day in the Life of an almost 40 year old.
Sourdough Diaries
I saw a trend on Instagram a while back that really made me laugh. It said: Millennials, it’s time to pick your midlife crisis, followed by a list of about 20 things - all of which I have definitely entertained at some point over the past year.
Sourdough and Substack were high on the list for me personally.
This week, I’ve been baking sourdough again, although I cheated slightly because my mum made the dough and I only had to bake it, which was harder than it sounds.
It came out so well.
Recently, I’ve mostly been sticking to sourdough focaccia because my loaves can be a bit hit or miss, whereas focaccia is very forgiving.
This is midlife.
Holidays Incoming
We have just one more week of school left.
This past week has been full of leavers’ events for my daughter, who starts high school in August. There have been lots of happy tears as we’ve looked back on how far she has come during her seven years of primary school.
She was diagnosed with dyslexia three years ago and dyscalculia last year. The academic side of school hasn’t always been easy for her, but the right support, and a brilliant teacher, has brought her on leaps and bounds.
Her true passion is singing, and she had a solo in this year’s leavers’ show, which she absolutely smashed.
It was a welcome reminder, as we begin the diagnosis process with my middle son, who is experiencing similar challenges, of how important it is for children to have an identity rooted in something beyond academic achievement, especially when they aren’t often rewarded by a ‘one size fits all’ education system.
His growing passion is cooking, so this week we decided (and shook on it) that we are going to make something together at least once every week to help him develop his skills.
I can’t wait to get started.
As someone who loves food and cooking but has lost some enthusiasm for it while feeding children who are largely uninterested in anything beyond the usual childhood classics, I’m hoping this might reignite my own love of cooking too.
Day in the Life
I love reading the nitty-gritty details of other people’s lives.
Give me a full breakdown of someone’s favourite breakfast or what a random Tuesday looks like for them, and I’m there.
It’s also my favourite kind of post to write, which is why I was delighted when Leah from Mama’s Boy invited me to contribute to her Day in the Life series.
And today, the piece I first wrote back in March is finally live 👇🏼.
Like me, Leah loves seeing how parents around the world are doing things.
Through Mama’s Boy, she shares funny, thoughtful and refreshingly honest Day in the Life stories from parents living in all kinds of different circumstances -including this brilliantly realistic piece by Annaliese Godderz.
In my DITL offering, you can join me as I decide it is the perfect time to introduce our three year old to the cinema - the one child out of our three who has absolutely no interest in films.
It also includes a trip to a toy shop with three children at three very different ages and stages:
“4:45pm: We dive into a toy shop as a compromise. Out of the rain, but the toddler can still run free. Big mistake. They all want to go and look at different things in different areas of the store. Three kids, two adults, lots of arguing, hushed “that’s enough”s, and a pretty quick exit, which leads to the toddler having an almighty meltdown.
We find a ride-on car for him to distract him and when we think he’s climbing in, he avoids us and runs full speed all the way back to the toy shop. Even my 8 year old couldn’t catch him.”
So, essentially: a completely calm and relaxing family day out 🙃.
It was actually really lovely seeing one of our ordinary days written down months later. At the time, it was just rain, snacks, negotiations, a toddler on the run and two tired parents trying to hold it all together.
Now, reading it back, it feels like a little snapshot of this exact season of our family life, three children at three very different ages, all needing something different from us at once.
I would love you to head over to Mama’s Boy and read the full article, and have a browse through some of the other families’ days while you’re there.
Thank you for sharing the series, and for being a part of it!! 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻