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.

How to manage Christmas with a loved one with dementia

The busyness and general chaos of Christmas is wonderful, but can also be overwhelming for all of us. That’s even more true for people living with dementia. Here’s how to help them make it as enjoyable and safe as possible. 

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.

How I became a divorce coach

Her own difficult, painful divorce and a passing comment from her solicitor, led Sally Jackson to a fulfilling new role supporting other women going through the same experience. 

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

Uncovered - the menopause divorce

A survey has revealed menopause to be a contributing factor in the rise in divorce rates amongst mid-life couples, as Chrissy Iley discovers when she talks to divorce specialist lawyer, Sarah Crilly.

I left my husband for a woman

Liz Moseley had a creeping sense that something was wrong in her carefully constructed middle class life. And then she met Suzie on a Woman's March...

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…