The competitive nature of most mums and dads is astounding. The fear they instil in our promising but sensitive Johnny is utterly depressing. We need a parental cultural revolution.
Working mums and stay-at-home mums get a tough time. You're damned if you do and damned if you son't. You just have to do what's right for you and not listen to what the mummy brigade say.
In Birmingham, Manchester or Liverpool there are white gangs that share the same backgrounds - they come from broken homes, completely dysfunctional, mums for the most part unable to cope, the fathers of these kids completely not in the scene.
I have already been a big believer in a model of nurse/family partnerships: the idea of having - for those mums that might benefit from a bit of extra support - having those visits scaled up a bit. I believed in it before; I absolutely believe in it now. So that is probably one of the things that affirmed something I already supported.
Kids used to come round to my house, and I'd force them to do a play in the bay windows of my house and get all the mums and dads to sit and watch. I'd write the programme, write the play and be the star.
I think, now that I am a mother, I look at other mums like Jo Pavey and just mums that go back to work and work incredibly hard, and I have so much admiration and appreciation for how hard it is.
Most people I know think that I'm crazy - but anybody who actually knew Billy Thorpe didn't think that. When I was a young kid growing up in Adelaide, he was a big pop star - a well-dressed, nice young guy seen on television every week. Mums liked him.
If we want a Parliament that understands people's lives when it takes decisions, it needs to be representative of society, which includes having MPs who are parents of small children - both mums and dads.
I want mums and dads to get up together and train with the kids, exercise, have fun together and connect through fitness.
When it comes to babies and children and being a mother, there is so much to talk about. There are products that I keep discovering - endless products! People love to read about these things. And I interview cool mothers, mums with babies, and mums with teenagers... all mums who I admire.
