The Confident Mother

Sherry Bevan

Description

Want to know
the secrets of The Confident Mother?

More than 20 inspirational mothers and parenting experts share their innermost secrets on what it takes to be a confident mother:

Dame Sarah Storey successfully educated the GB cycling team management to allow her to combine full-time competition with motherhood.

Toni Brodelle
of the Pay It Forward Foundation encourages us to nurture our own
emotional well-being and asks whose love you craved as a child.

Elaine Halligan and Melissa Hood of The Parent Practice show us how to raise our children’s self-esteem.

This book shows you that good enough really is good enough.
You don’t need to be the perfect mother; simply focus on what’s most important to you to be The Confident Mother.

10% of the profits
from this book will be donated to a local breastfeeding group.

Sujets

• Children
• The Women
• Woman
• Parenting
• Women

Informations

• Publié par: Practical Inspiration Publishing
• Date de parution: 10 septembre 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781910056882
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Confident Mother
The Confident Mother
a collection of learnings with excerpts of interviews from the 2015 The Confident Mother online conference
by Sherry Bevan
First published in Great Britain by Practical Inspiration Publishing, 2015
Sherry Bevan, 2015
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
ISBN (print): 978-1-910056-25-7
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-910056-26-4
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the author.
Table of Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Section One: Introducing The Confident Mother
My Journey
How can you be the Confident Mother?
What we learn from the she-wolf
Can you be a feminist and a mother?
Why The Confident Mother?
Section Two: Interviews
Epitome of The Confident Mother
How to nurture your child s brain development in the early years
Gentle parenting allows the child to develop in her own time
How to build emotional wellbeing through self-love
Learn self-love through mindfulness
Clear away your past - no matter how you were parented
How parents can raise the self-esteem of their children
Make the most of the time you have with your children
Ditch the guilt
How one mum s dramatic birth evolved into a career change
Understand your core values to help with a career change
Setting up your own business from home
How to manage that elusive work-life-family balance
Think of your teenagers as entrepreneurs
The mum who adopted
The single mum s story
Confidence in what you feed your family: fats, sugar and supplements
Project confidence through your voice and presence
Get fit to get confident
Get dressed with confidence
Section Three: Additional Resources
Five secrets to being a confident mother
How to be a Confident Mother
How to work with Sherry Bevan, The Confidence Guide
Speakers
Useful Online Resources
Bibliography
Foreword
The world of Parenting is one that we will never understand or feel adequately prepared for until that announcement by the person who delivers the baby that you have a boy or a girl. The voyage of discovery, into both you as a person as well as how to raise this tiny helpless being, is one of many highs and hopefully not too many lows. Everyone experiences parenthood differently, no two babies, no two mothers and no two families are ever the same, so how can we read up on what we should be doing, how we should be doing it, and what we should expect next? Parenting with confidence and trusting your inner instincts is something that isn t advertised enough in our society of quick-fix, fast answers, where the expectation is that we should all be able to do everything without asking for help.
Throughout this book, Sherry recounts the stories of the many fascinating interviews she has done with mothers from all walks of life who have all learned something from their own path through motherhood. Each one talks about their experiences in such a way that on every page there is an opportunity for the reader to feel connected with the person telling their story and to be able to apply their lessons within their own life. From scientific facts about human development, to heartfelt stories of love and tenderness in raising their own children, to inspiring stories of adjusting to life as a mother and finding a new career path that suits the whole family, or coping after divorce, this book is the first stepping stone to understanding how to become the mother you want to be; one that is good enough for your family.
While some books will promise quick-fix answers to the challenges of parenthood, and motherhood in particular, this book looks at building strong and lasting foundations in your own behaviour and actions, so that you can feel confident and well equipped to tackle the diversity of life as a mother. With key points at the end of every chapter and direct questions to ask yourself about your own personal situation, this book is sure to inspire you, support you and nurture you in being the confident mother you always hoped you would be. Sherry s approachable and down-to-earth nature shines through and enables the reader to feel empowered and ready for anything right from the very first chapter.
Dame Sarah Storey
Acknowledgements
This book would not have been possible without the wonderful community of mothers who have supported my journey to launch and run The Confident Mother conference, who joined me for the live interviews, who participated and continue to participate in the forum, and who opened their hearts and minds to hear the secrets being shared.
A special word of thanks to all the inspirational speakers who shared so many wonderful stories of their own journeys. Each and every one brought something unique and special to the microphone.
I d particularly like to thank my family, my husband and my beautiful children who have been so patient in the last few weeks: Mummy, have you finished your book yet?
My own personal journey to The Confident Mother has been supported along the way by some very special women:
Jean Rea, my NCT Breastfeeding Counsellor Tutor. It is through my studies with Jean that I learned so much more about myself.
My business coach, Fi Feehan. She is an amazing coach with a truly extraordinary ability to draw out what is lurking at the back of your mind, that you haven t quite found the confidence or the strength to articulate. I really am very grateful to Fi.
Alison Jones, my editor and book coach. I never could have done this without Alison s help and support. When it felt like an impossible task, she reminded me of the last two miles in the marathon, when your energy levels are flagging, you are in pain, you wonder if you can do it. Those last two miles are the hardest part - you have come so far, now you just need to finish. Just put one foot in front of another. She encouraged me to wear balls of steel. Thank you Alison.
A special thank you to all the mums - I never would have written this book if it wasn t for you.
Introduction
This book is for all mothers everywhere. It sets out my philosophy on life, and especially on being a mother. I am not the perfect mother and I do not aspire to be such. In the past, I described myself as a perfectionist, but now I know that it is impossible to be perfect; after all, whose perfect would you be? Your perfect will be different to your children s perfect which will be different to your mother s perfect. Perfection as a mother is impossible to attain. Today I am happy to be the good enough mother. If I am happy and my children are happy, that for me really is good enough. The realisation that happiness is more important than perfection has helped me become a Confident Mother.
The purpose of this book is to help you in your quest to be The Confident Mother. I came to motherhood late in life after a very successful, high-flying corporate career. I continued my successful career after my children and today I am running my own business, working very much to what I describe as my core purpose. So while I hope stay-at-home-mums will benefit greatly from reading this book, I want you to know from the start that my personal experience of being The Confident Mother is as a working mum. And in recent years, for me that s been a mum running her own business.
The book is based on an incredibly successful online conference that I first hosted in January 2015. I want this book to take you on a journey. In Section 1 : Introducing The Confident Mother you will discover my own personal journey and how I came to be The Confidence Guide, working as a coach and mentor to help other women in their careers and businesses. You will understand how and why I decided to create the online conference, and the value it created for so many women.
In Section 2 : Interviews I will share highlights from the conference, using excerpts from more than 20 interviews with inspirational mothers and mothering experts, conducted over the three weeks. Each interviewee brought something special and unique to the conference.
At the end of each interview, I have summarised the key learnings, and where appropriate I have noted additional resources which you might find useful.
I have tried to structure the interviews in chronological order, starting with the very early days of being a mother, through to older children and teenagers. Next come the more specific motherhood experiences, e.g. the adoptive mother, the single mother; I explore your options if you are a mum ready to go back to work or set up a business; and finally we discover tips and strategies to help us have more confidence in the way we feel and project ourselves, through our health, our dress and our presence.
Finally, in Section 3 : Additional Resources, you have an opportunity to continue your own personal journey. Maybe you are already The Confident Mother. (In which case I would love to hear from you for the next event, contact me at [e-mail] ).
Over the years I have invested 000s into my own personal development. And no matter how many courses I attend, TED lectures that I watch, books that I read or podcasts that I hear, there is always some new nugget of wisdom or knowledge to explore. Therefore it is my belief that regardless of how far along the path you have travelled to The Confident Mother, you will find the exercises and activities useful, whether or not they are ones that you have tried before. Throughout the book, I have highlighted additional resources on my website. For example, if you know that you are an auditory