We’re Still Here — Family Matters Newsletter August 2021
Hello, Hello, Hello
How are you all doing this fine month?
Can you believe that we’re over halfway through the year already? I don’t know about you, but it feels like we just had Christmas and New Year. Time seems to go faster and faster.
When I was a child, I’d wonder what my grandmother was talking about when she told me time would speed up, and that age-old saying of youth is wasted on the young. I get it now. I get it all.
We’ve had some changes here at Family Matters.
If you’ve been following us a while, you’ll know that Laura Fox was struggling a little with managing everything. Between family, children, work, studying, and just life, a lot was going on.
You can read about it here in her last newsletter.
That said, she decided to pass the Family Matters publication on. Don’t worry, Laura and David haven’t gone anywhere. They’re still here as editors and will be forever, but passing the publication on allows her to focus on herself and what she needs.
So, What’s Happening?
When Laura asked if anyone wanted to take the publication over, I held my hand up. I have been a writer on here for a while now, as well as an editor. While I may not put a lot of articles out regarding family, I do love reading all the stories. I wanted to take this publication over when she asked because I genuinely believe in the message Laura was trying to get across with her publication. It isn’t just Family Matters, as in they have problems and things to deal with, but family does matter.
It does to me too.
I am excited to continue with what Laura and David started, and I hope you are too.
Who Am I?
You might be wondering who I am, what I am doing here.
Well, my name is Mason.
If you want the technical things, I’m an author and a writer on here. I have a degree in Neuropsychology and diplomas in psychotherapy, psychology and counselling. I suffer from mental illness and will be running the London Marathon in aid of Mental Illness. I’m also running a race in September to raise money for a charity that cares for terminally ill children.
I’m a bit of a nerd, a lot of a geek, but most importantly, I’m a parent and a grandparent.
I have four children and four grandchildren. I also have one dog, three cats, and a pet spider named Horace, who lives in the shed. According to my eldest granddaughter, he’s so cute. According to her mother, we should squash him and then set the shed on fire for good measure.
Poor Horace.
Some days, it feels like we’ve been through everything as a family. Of course, we’ve had ups and downs, and we’ve had tears and laughter, but, though it all, we have each other.
Changes to Family Matters
There won’t really be any changes to the publication. Not big ones anyway. Why fix something that isn’t broken?
However, there will be things that need to change, like, the email address where you submit your stories.
• If you have never written for Family Matters before, I would love for you to submit to us. You can do so through our new email address, familymatterspublication@gmail.com
I aim to get back to you within 7 days of submission.
• If you are already a writer on Family Matters, just submit your story as you normally would. I aim to get to those stories within 72 hours of submission.
Saying that, please allow for weekends. I have a family — a large family, so I might not always get to my computer on the weekend. If you’re chasing me for submissions, please factor weekends into your waiting time.
• Family Matters’ prompts. I loved those when Laura ran them and often entered them myself. I have brought those back. Look out for them at the start of every month. To enter, please use the tag prompt, or I’ll assume your article isn’t an entry.
Family Matters’ July Prompt
For July, after taking over the publication and Laura talking a lot about looking after her mental health, I thought it a great chance to have articles regarding mental health and mental illness. As parents, it can often be hard to remind ourselves of our mental health matters.
As a parent diagnosed with OCD, I know too well what it is like to try and balance parenting when your mind is going out of control, and not even because of mental illness. Sometimes just life takes its toll on our mental health. I wanted to address that.
So, it is with great pleasure, I announce the winner of the July writing prompt, is none other than … Anne-Sophie Tomlin with her article, Can Baby Groups and NCT be Bad Ideas for New mothers?
I think the message in this article is very important. My own mother suffered so much problems after the birth of her first child, and with the lack of support there was for her, she lost him to social services.
Becoming a new parent is magical, but it is also so very scary, especially when it isn’t all that picture-perfect life we think others are living. Honestly, it’s so easy to feel awful when everyone else appears to be doing so well, but are they really?
Thank you Anne-Sophie Tomlin for sharing such a personal story.
The other entries we received were just as fantastic. Honestly., it was so hard to choose a favourite. Please check out the other articles. I’m sure you’ll agree, they’re amazing, too.
Parenting When You Have Depression by Ruby Lee
Why I Am No Longer Judging My Mothering by Kate Lynch
5 Strategies to Help Parents Manage Stress by Christina
Me and My Mini-Me by Jillian Enright
My 2 mental remedies amid Indonesia’s record-breaking spike in Covid cases by Besty Puspa
Thank you all so much for your submissions.
Author of the Month
We have no author of the month for July, not because there were no good authors, but because, I have been finding my feet. We will pick up the author of the month for August. All you have to do is write your best Family Matters’ article.
August Prompt
The prompt for August has now been added. I look forward to your articles. Thank you so much for being here, and much love and care to you and your family.
Happy August
Mason and the Family Matters Team
