The Offspring Story

The birth of Offspring

It was an ordinary Saturday morning about a year ago, and my 16-month old cherub was having a mid morning nap. I too was using this time to catch up on some oh so cherished sleep (my little one never did master the art of ‘sleeping through the night’!). Realising I probably wouldn’t be able to induce real sleep I decided to meditate to recharge the batteries; and then the crazy idea popped into my head.

I was pondering the relative difficulty many new mothers must experience in developing helpful parenting networks, living in my home town of Perth, Western Australia. I am a local so had reasonably well-established social and family support systems in place, and I found it tough enough adjusting from a busy work/social life to a more isolating, at-home existence with a baby. I found out about most ‘parenting’ activities and facilities by word of mouth and I felt ill-informed. I felt for these people who had moved to the state, often for fantastic work opportunities for their husbands, generated by an unprecedented mining boom, and knew no one or nothing of the area, or of parenting resources available to them.

As I wondered just how these out-of-town people managed, it occurred to me that they weren’t the only ones who were isolated.

I had friends who had suffered forms of depression and loneliness, often induced in some shape or form by becoming parents, whether it was feeling isolated or ‘useless’ by not doing ‘paid work’, feeling cut-off because they didn’t know people in their localities, feeling ill-equipped to be parents, or in some cases were suffering the devastating effects of the more serious Post Natal Depression.

It seemed that we lacked not only a resource guide for activities and services in the Perth area, but more fundamentally we lacked a “village” type of community where women (and men) could help each other out, share their stories, provide practical advice and share parenting experiences. We lacked inspirational stories about parents.

And there was the moment. Right there. I came out of the bedroom and in my groggy state suggested to my husband, “I should start a magazine”. He listened without judgement (which gave me the permission I needed to venture further). I shared my idea with my parents and they were both excited, which surprised me. I was a little surprised anyone believed that I was capable of doing it. As such Offspring was born.

There were many times leading up to the release of the first issue where my gut twisted and turned with anxiety and fear – what if it didn’t work? What if it put us into debt? What if people hated it? Worse, what if no one read it, or worse still, what if no one picked it up and 30,000 copies of the magazine floated around Perth like confetti?

At those times I worked harder – I made another call, sent another email, searched for another advertising sponsor. I knew if I hesitated I was at risk of throwing the whole idea in and never doing it.

The support crew

Thankfully, I have a wonderful, extremely supportive (and tolerant!) husband who helped keep our family life on an even keel when work has taken me away from the domestic front. My family and friends also offered support, helping out with my daughter and being ever so understanding of my ‘lack of time to spend with them’ predicament while getting the magazine established.

The contributing writers, photographers, designers, advertisers and readers have helped ‘create’ Offspring. The talented contributors have all brought with them superb ideas to keep Offspring upbeat, interesting and informative. We’ve had various gifted photographers and designers involved with the magazine since its inception and now I’m excited to say we have a fantastic crew from the Swish Design team injecting into Offspring creative, fresh, design concepts. We also have some pretty special photographers who will be showcasing their talents in upcoming issues.

Our advertisers are gold. Without them there certainly wouldn’t be a magazine. They’ve entrusted Offspring with their hard-earned cash to help grow their business and I’m pleased to say most of them are becoming part of the Offspring wallpaper in their repeated exposure each issue.

And lastly, and perhaps most importantly are you, the readers. It is your wonderful, positive feedback that has kept the inspiration and energy behind Offspring. It is your support of the advertisers that keeps them coming back; and the growing subscriber base helps confirm Offspring is on the right track and providing a valuable resource to modern day parents.

Thankyou and stay in touch!