Peggy O’Mara on Family
We are happy to share with you our final installment from our exclusive interview with the legendary Peggy O’Mara, editor of Mothering Magazine. She will be coming to Vancouver This Weekend! April 18th & 19th for the Healthy Families Conference. Congratulations to Abby in Vancouver who won our contest for a free conference pass & hotel stay.
In response to our last post on “Doing It All“, contest winner Abby Mikkelson, doula and mother of three, shared:
“I can’t do it all, but there are times I can do more than others. When I can do more, I offer more. And it is OK to take when I cannot give. Sometimes in taking it is giving a gift to someone who really needs to give in that moment. But Peggy O’Mara is right, we cannot do this in isolation.”
Given that we are preparing for the Healthy Families Conference, we thought we’d ask Peggy to share her words of wisdom on the subject of healthy families. We were amused to learn that when her children were young she actually looked into what makes a family healthy – hoping to discover that her family was doing ok! Here is some of what she learned:
Mama Renew: How would you define a “Healthy Family”?
Peggy O’Mara: Healthy families communicate. They show appreciation for one another. They rebound from anger. It’s not that we don’t have anger, but that we are able to rebound from it. In a healthy family, nobody dominates. Every member of the family is considered in decision-making, but parents still claim their authority.
It is important for families to create their own ethos or standard as a family. It is important to have a bigger purpose, a sense of the world around them and the values that they share.
You know what’s so cool? Your kids continue to learn from you even as adults. I feel like as I’ve continued to change and evolve, so have my children as adults.
We hope you have enjoyed our series of posts featuring Peggy O’Mara. Be sure to also enjoy our posts from earlier this week with Peggy’s thoughts on “Doing it All”, Simplicity, Optimism, and Finding Your Tribe in today’s world. Also enjoy our article in Babyvibe with Peggy’s thoughts on intuition and trust.
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[...] into what makes a family healthy – hoping to discover that her family was doing ok! Read In Mama Renew’s final instalment, some of what she [...]