What our Village team are reading, doing and listening to at the moment
TV
I have just finished watching ‘Love, Sex and Goop” on Netflix. I can’t recommend it enough! It follows a diverse set of real life couples and their struggles in love and sex: mismatched libidos, body shame issues, kids causing the spark to leave the bedroom and so on. Each couple is matched with suitable therapist to work on their problems. It’s inspiring, fascinating, shocking and a real eye opener in some cases (definitely an 18 rating!). I was surprised how many things resonated with me and I really learned a lot! ~ Chris
IG account
This account reminds me that there are other people out there trying to parent in the same way as I am, and there are also those who are trying to heal themselves whilst parenting so they don’t pass so much sh*t on to their kids. ~ Emma
Podcast
This is nothing to do with parenting – unless you are looking for something to make you laugh during night feeds. This podcasts is just three comedians chatting. They have a topic from a listener each week and go off on surreal flights of fancy. It’s hilarious. ~ Molly
Book
Changing our minds by Dr Naomi Fisher
How children can take control of their own learning. The author is a clinical psychologist and EMDR consultant specialising in responses to trauma.
Having recently officially started our family home education journey, I’ve needed to boost my knowledge (and confidence) in all things child led education. This book talks about education from a psychology, biology and sociology perspective and has helped me again to challenge what success means in modern day society. I really want to define my own success and I would love for my son to be able to determine how successful he is from a young age, rather than how society is measuring his success. Yes, it is a luxury to be able to pursue your own likes and interests from a young age but life is too short! ~ Yasmin
Campaign
This month I have been following the campaign by Hearts Milk Bank (HMB) to increase their supplies in the face of unprecedented demand for human milk.
The HMB offers equity of access to assured supplies of screened donor human milk to hospitals and community-based clinicians for babies across London, the southeast, East Anglia and beyond
It is a life affirming experience to see the response to their plea for help at the start of the month. Demand for human milk was outstripping supply, particularly from hospital neo-natal intensive care units and the call for donors was put out across social media. The response from lactating people was incredible and testament to the selflessness of donors, everywhere.
Just as with any donor product, no one should feel pressure to donate but everyone should feel they have the information to make their own decision. Not everyone knows that human milk can be donated as a live fluid. There is also the misinformation that only very specific people are permitted to donate human milk. Of course there are criteria that must be met (being a non smoker is a prerequisite) but it is in the milk bank’s interest to make it as straightforward as possible for a lactating person to donate.
Here’s a link to what was achieved, in their own words ~ Lisa
Activity
I’ve been absolutely loving looking at mushrooms recently! I’ve done a few walks in Epping Forest and seen so many different types of fungi. See my photos below. Once you start spotting them you just can’t stop. I even found some outside the Corbett last week. They are everywhere, and stunning. Keep your eyes peeled next time you are in a forest and marvel at what you find. ~ Sarah P
Join us at The Village to chat with us about these in real life! And let us know if you have any recommendations of your own that your fellow Villagers might be interested in.
