About Us

{written by Susan}

thefamilyroom all began as a dream in my living room in 2005. Michaela and I sat one sunny, Sydney afternoon sipping tea and eating ginger snaps and talking. Not unlike any other day, really. We talked about out childhood and how we loved the way we grew up, we talked of lemonade stands, riding our bikes without helmets, playing hide n seek with the entire neighbourhood {in the dark}. We shared how our childhoods were carefree ~ or at least in our minds they were. We had no memory of the stresses our parents were most likely under. We knew nothing of their financial status and knew that one good pair of shoes were enough to tackle any mountain. We realised that we truly wanted for nothing. Overseas holidays were not on the cards, rather trips to the beach, endless days of sun and surf {okay, Michaela got the surf of Sydney and me being from the Prairies in Canada the only surf I ever saw was when a boat zoomed past our lake front}. Whatever the case maybe our childhoods felt safe, we were happy, healthy and our parents did what they could to make our days, weeks, months and years great.

We transitioned our conversation from our childhoods to our children’s. We spoke about how times had changed and how our childhood ’simple life’ was lost and our children were experiencing something else. Between Ginger Snap dunks in our tea, we decided that we needed to bring back a bit of what we knew to be right, real, manageable and good. We wanted our kids to know and experience some ‘common sense parenting’ and some good ole fun that was safe, didn’t break the bank and bring stress into the family, rather we wanted to help people eliminate stress and to bring back some core values into their homes. We just wanted to share what we were doing in our homes and hoped that others would hear our message and would jump on board. We wanted families to thrive and not strive, keeping up with the ‘Jones’ {whoever they are} didn’t matter. What mattered was that conversation was happening in the home between family members, that fun was being had and that love and laughter could be heard in the walls of homes around the globe.

Families have been breaking down at an unspeakable rate. It’s sad. Kids are sad, parents are sad and something, solutions need to be given. Welcome the birth of thefamilyroom. Michaela and I decided to blog so in September 2005 we put on our thinking caps, our creative brains began to tick and we developed {by ourselves} what we thought was an extraordinary website. We posted our first article and were convinced that we would be an overnight success story….. we weren’t. NO One read anything. We kept writing, kept telling our story of family, what new, what we loved and what we believed and alas…..NO ONE READ ANYTHING…. Not even our family members. We weren’t dismayed, we kept going, we kept talking, we kept dreaming and believing and kept writing.

Flash forward to 2010 thefamilyroom website is made up of writers from across the globe. We are a community of people who desire strong families, we want to create places and spaces for family to occur. We believe strongly in the strength of community and the fact that it truly does take a village to raise a child. We are passionate about the dining table and seeing families come together, calm down, shutting out all the ‘external’ sound bites that life is continually throwing our way, we know that families need to carve out time together to COMMUNICATE. Together we ‘do life’, we share our journey opening hoping that something we are doing might help another. In addition to our site 2009 saw the introduction of online radio and our show ‘RealLife with Susan & Friends‘ is growing rapidly. It’s RealPeople, RealLives, RealStories. RealLife lived out on the airwaves, a straight-talk honest approach to life, it’s challenges, successes and everything in between.

The future of our planet rests on the shoulders of our youth and children of today. We need to shape, mould and help develop amazing leaders to take us forward and we believe that journey begins AT HOME. Family ~ Where Your Story Begins.

Our hope is that you will join us, as we endeavor to speak openly and honestly about life, the good bad and the down right ugly seasoning it with good old common sense and applying truths to our individual, family and community lives. We believe in family, the strength of it, the power behind in and the beauty of it.

For a closer look at who we are please take a moment and swim through everything we’ve placed on here. Take whatever you want whether it be a recipe and idea or a tool that you can use in your own family. We would love to hear from you and would love your stories because there truly is nothing like the human story that touches hearts, minds and souls.

Thanks for stopping by and checking us out. Have the best day and remember to smile because they are free so give them away ~ someone you will encounter today will need one.

Say hi to your family for us.

Susan, Michaela & Friends