Navigating constantly changing waters of parenthood

Lifestyle – Margie Connolly is drawing on a lifetime’s experience as a mother, teacher and a creative coach to offer parents help through the joys and pitfalls of rearing a family. She tells BERNIE Ní FHLATHARTA about the importance of self-care and how listening, trusting and maintaining connections with children will help young people grow and prosper.

A wise woman once said that parenting was an experiment and by the time you find out if you did it the right or wrong way, it’s way too late.

It’s not something that’s taught at school, it’s not something that comes naturally to everybody and sometimes it’s thrust on some of us before we’re ready. But one thing for sure, once a parent, always a parent.

Many believe that life was simpler years ago and no doubt years from now, this time will look simpler too. But, ultimately, parenting isn’t all about the times we live in, how we were parented or whether we were cut out for it. It simply is.

Sure, parenting can be easier for some when it’s shared in a multi-generational home, where wisdom and advice are readily available. But for most families, it’s a daily struggle that can be a lonely burden at times.

Some schools organise specific parenting courses but as parenting is constant from birth onwards, guidance is not just required for the school years.

Margie Connolly in Barna is now sharing her lifetime experience as a mother and teacher through her new profession as a life and creative coach. She took early retirement after 37 years from Salerno School, where she was Deputy Principal and which she loved. She knew it was time for change but she also knew she wouldn’t be idle and that she wanted to expand and explore her own knowledge.

During her teaching career, Margie had taken a few foundation counselling courses but she didn’t want to train as a counsellor. She was, however, open to finding a new path and decided to take a Life Coach course in Dublin. She admits to being inspired by a teenage student who told her on her retirement: ‘You heard my silent cries that no one else heard.’

“Tell me what you plan to do with your one wild and precious life,” says Margie, quoting one of her favourite poets, Mary Oliver. It’s a quote she uses often in her work as a life coach.

As well as being a life coach, she now offers parenting courses and creative courses — all from the comfort of her cosy sitting room overlooking the Atlantic in what she calls “a safe space”.

Walking into her home where the walls are covered with art and lit by various lamps, there is a feeling of calm and serenity. The sitting room, which is a busy hub these days, is furnished with comfy sofas and little tables which are almost always loaded with pots of tea and biscuits.

A mother of two grown-up children and now a doting grandmother of three, Maggie Kate, Michael and Seána, Margie feels well-qualified to share her parenting knowledge. Though she and her late husband, Seán, had been separated, they’d remained the best of friends and co-parented their children as best they could.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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