My name is Katherine and I am a mother of three and was a primary school teacher for fifteen years. I intend for Big Dear to be a place to find resources to support children as they grow and move through the different stages of their childhood and with the challenges they may face.

I find the whole experience of having children and working with children wonderful and rewarding, but also confusing, anxiety-ridden and heartrending – the burden of another person’s emotions (not to mention my own)!

Over the years, I have tried different things to ease separation anxiety (sometimes spontaneously; often with help from countless social media posts and parenting blogs). The ‘Lunchtime Love’ books have sprung from these attempts.

They started as a heart, drawn on a scrap of paper and put into a lunchbox at the start of term and have ended up being a daily ritual. They’ve helped by acting as a little bit of contact from mum to child, and also as conversation starters for my naturally introverted child.

They became more elaborate as the years have gone on, so I became more organised – word processing them and theming the content, and after all that, I thought it was a shame not to share them.

These are the first of my resources to be available. I have lots of others in progress…