Oh dear... I like literally like and have all these things in my home. ALL of them. Luckily I'm not planning to sell or rent out my home any time soon. By the time I do, fingers crossed they'll all be in fashion. 

I get that some of these reflect my (apparently bad) personal taste, but I really don't get the grey floor hate. I think it's super pretty and versatile. 

Zoe, thank you so much for this amazing article! I wished I'd read it a few years ago - it might've saved me those nervous breakdowns (not to mention regretful arguments) as my child's school attendance went from patchy to zero. You are so brave - it's not easy to take the less-beaten path, but hopefully this paves the way to full acceptance of people who want/need to do things differently. 

I so feel this, especially coming into summer and struggling to find a cute summer top or dress that doesn't make me look like a (flabby) hulk. Then I start to remember, the last time I had slim arms, I also had no boobs and couldn't carry two screaming toddlers, a pram and several bags of shopping at once. 

"On top of that, we've somehow convinced ourselves that in order to do it right, we also have to approach every interaction like a child psychologist: poised, attentive and never once flipping the bird to a sullen child's back as they walk away. Hypothetically, of course."

I used to only wear jeans on Casual Fridays at work. Friday also happened to be morning tea day. I tell you what, this ended up being a great dieting strategy because I couldn't really eat much with the denim band of death digging into my stomach.

I'm so sorry you didn't get the amount of support and recognition you deserve, so as a fellow parent also in these trenches, I pass x1,000 to you. I've noticed a recent "trend" of articles saying extreme things like when a child and parent are estranged, it's ALWAYS the parent's fault - which is not true. Yes, sometimes it is, but not always. I think humans also have a tendency to think we have control over everything in our lives, so if a child is not perfect, it is completely the parent's fault. It's easy for people who aren't parents, or whose children happen to be "easy", to throw shade at articles like this. I've walked in similar shoes to yours long enough now to see that it's not that simple, and you could do your best and still not have the result you wish for. Thank you for sharing and I hope she comes back to you xxx