The Village Coach Blog

(Whatever your answer, you’ll be pleased to know  - you are NOT the problem).  I had high hopes for this month. The end of the post Christmas comedown, the longest month of all time coming to a close. The promise of lighter days, spring shoots, birds chirruping, half term hangs with friends and then after that..Spring, could it be…??! But if I'm totally honest I feel let down. Deceived. Hoodwinked. Possibly Delulu. The victim of some sort of trickery that February has done me

If there was a part of motherhood that was really good at poker, it would be the mental load. (Stay with me on this one). It's observing everyone in the room, anticipating their next move, remembering their habits, tactics and traits, strategising for the best possible outcome…all whilst maintaining the unshakable expression of one who does not give anything away.  It’s the constant holding  - of all the cards - whilst mentally you’re planning, strategising, pre-empting and p

Practical steps to feel supported in January and beyond.  ` As you read this I can assume it is a grey, grim and gruelling outside as it is with you. January is hard isn’t it?! This is why this week I’m trying to tackle this by combatting the drizzle and dreariness with some simple, practical, achievable steps where I have done all the thinking so you can sit back and absorb. Grab a cup of something hot, a hot water bottle, a snack, and let’s dig in… 1. SELF BELIEF for start

We’re galloping into the year of the horse, and I’m still hearing the same old chorus... “ New year, new you!”  “ Kickstart your year”  “ Hustle harder!" " 2026 is YOUR year!" (repeat until fade) Now, I don’t know about you, but as a Mum emerging form the christmas chaos, I need a hot minute (or few weeks at least) to reemerge, calibrate and reset after silly season. While the world shouts for reinvention, what I believe many of us actually need is reinforcement. Not a shinie

There’s a strange tension that arrives every December, often creeping in quietly as the chocolate calendars spill open and the elf does his merry dance around the house. I think firstly, as Mums, we feel ‘the push’.  The full calendar. The end-of-year deadlines. The school events, festive outings, catch-up festive coffees, performances, parties and plans. The internal pressure to “get everything done” at work before switching off, the need to ‘clear the decks’ and smash all t

As we step into December, something shifts. The list doubles. The expectations sky rocket. And suddenly, the stories we tell ourselves - the quiet inner monologues that hum beneath the surface - get louder than a primary school carol service (with recorder accompaniment).  This time of year has a way of amplifying those old, inherited narratives about who we should be, how much we should carry, and what our family needs from us. And as mums, we absorb them more deeply than mo

Once upon a time, there was a mummy. She had three children who woke up at three different wake up times,all liked three different breakfasts and all would be in very different moods of a Monday morning. The littlest one would be up at dawn body slamming off a sofa and demanding  ‘the red bowl!  by 6:15 am. The middle one would float down at some point with his head in dreamland, asking questions like ‘how do you extract metal from the Earth?’ whilst scattering a trail of ce

You probably know by now that I'm a firm believer in the phrase “It takes a village to raise a child.”  But what happens when the village is really bloody hard to find..?! In generations past, motherhood came with built-in support. Family often lived nearby, neighbours dropped in, lasagnes were left on the doorstep and parenting was shared across the community. It wasn’t just someone popping over to ‘cuddle the baby’ or hand over a present, but all of child rearing - the dis

When I first became a mum, I thought it was my job to hold everything together for everyone. If I’m honest, I wore the “Super Mum” badge with pride and got a kick every time said ‘you’re smashing this!’ or ‘I just don’t know how you do it all?’ On the outside, I was coping, smiling, spinning all the plates.  But there was a swell of  unease starting to ripple underneath that got choppier and choppier as the years went on.  Now if you’re a millennial Mum, a little girl growin