I was invited not long ago to record a two-minute segment to be aired each fortnight on The Journey, a one-hour Catholic podcast which is created by the Wollongong Diocese.

My segment is called The Peaceful Parent, and I can’t tell people the title without laughing, especially if they know me, because I’m not altogether that peaceful. But that’s the point. I’m trying to be, and I realise as I’m writing and recording these segments that I’ve been on a 10-year informal research mission to gain as much information and practical tools as I can to help me to a more peaceful parent. And now I get to share some of what I’ve learnt on the radio waves!

I figure that if something has helped me, and brought a lot more peace to my life, then it’s bound to help someone else as well.

I don’t have any professional qualifications to speak or write about children and parenting, or faith for that matter. I’m not a doctor, teacher, psychologist, or theologian. My qualification is that I’m an endlessly curious mum, married for 10 and a half years with five children under 11. People tell me that they like what I have to write, and the people who don’t keep quiet about it, so it’s all good!

I feel so honoured to be part of The Journey because it is really, really good. It’s professionally produced and DJ’d, the music is cool, and the lineup of people who offer their knowledge and wisdom on it each week is amazing. It features the Missionaries of God’s Love, Francine and Byron Pirola of SmartLoving, Robert Falzon of the Men Alive movement, and Benedictine nun Sr Hilda Scott, to name just a few. It’s an all-star cast and then there’s me, who is just delighted to have been invited to the party!

The Journey airs on Pulse 94.1FM each Sunday along the Illawarra and South Coast from 11am-12pm and is repeated on Wednesday evening from 10-11pm. Podcasts of the show are available here.