Family
Family issues for women in midlife are distinct from the earlier challenges. Parenting teens brings a host of concerns, ranging from wrangling your almost-adult into doing chores to more serious problems like eating disorders and self-harming. And we often care for older family members as well. You’ll find stories and advice here that relate to the real problems we experience now.
Helen Paris and Leslie Hill
“We have experienced being looked through, looked past or hidden away entirely”
As a young lesbian woman in the eighties, there were no older women couples Helen Paris could look as role models. Now married to her partner of 27 years, she questions whether lesbian couples are any more visible and recognised all these decades later.
Nesting co-parenting after divorce
When Beth Behrendt and her husband divorced they never imagined the temporary parenting arrangement they came to for their sons would be so beneficial to them all they’d still be doing it nearly a decade later.
“It has taken me my whole adult life to understand that the only place you can be truly safe is within yourself”
She’s the co-founder of a beauty brand created to lift your energy and mood but her start in life couldn’t have been more difficult. Tracey Woodward shares her astonishing story and the principles she’s learned to live by that have made her, against all the odds, the successful business woman and mother she is today.
I was childless and heartbroken. Nature healed me
Like nearly half of my generation I haven't had kids. Nature, wild swimming and the sea healed me
“Tragic circumstances forced me to redesign my future”
The devastating loss of her husband, aged just 49, led Liz Withyman to reassess her own life and health. Discovering Time Restricted Eating and embarking on a new career changed everything for her.
Welcome to the parent grief club
When Kerensa Jennings’ beloved mum died, she became a member of a club she never knew existed or wanted to join, and was left wondering why more people don’t talk about the special searing grief of losing a parent.
Photo: Getty Images
Does menopause cause divorce?
Menopause is a contributing factor in the rise of divorce amongst midlife couples. Read more from research by a top law firm and tell us: Does menopause cause divorce?
How to say no...and not feel the guilt
Do you have a hard time saying no? Sylvia Cohen, a body language expert and a vocal coach, has shared her tips with Noon so that you can feel more confident saying “no” as a full sentence.
I've Taken Up Stripping...at 59
Josephine Pembroke started her cabaret show at 59, rediscovering her sexuality, the wild days of 80s Soho and her time in a Pussy Power band in the 90s. And this year, she’s bringing it to the Edinburgh Fringe…
'My Mother Saw Parenthood as an Affliction'
When she was eight years old, Leah McLaren’s mother left family life for a glamorous job in the city. In this extract from her memoir, Leah reflects on her mother's ambivalent feelings towards parenthood now that she herself is a mother.
