In respect of the events at Manchester Arena on Monday night, it did not feel right to be making light of parenthood this week. I was once a young girl attending a pop concert, and one day my daughter may well be one too. The horrific attack on children and families enjoying the music they …
If your first child is under one and you are thinking twice about going on holiday, don't delay. Book it now! When you become a parent every first seems daunting. Just a trip out of the house requires packing up a whole sackful of paraphernalia you never used to have to think about. So it's …
Continue reading Don’t Let Flying With A Baby Weigh You Down
Once a week I take my daughter to the best mother and baby group in the world. It's nothing fancy - just donated toys and books set out in a church hall, although they are fortunate to have masses of games that have been kept really well. It is run by a lovely group of …
Since I became a mother I have come to dread doing nothing. I'm talking about those long, lazy, layabout days when you lounge around in your pyjamas, relishing the fact you have nowhere to go and nothing particular to do. Some ill-informed fools even believe that everyday is like that for the Stay At Home …
In the hazy days of those first few weeks of motherhood, I began to hear certain phrases again and again. Dazed and confused I let them wash over me, leaving a nice warm, fuzzy feeling about my baby, my performance as a parent and even mankind in general. People were just so nice. They had …
Parenting is hard work. We all know that, or quickly find it out. And when you find it really tough going you may start to wonder if you might be doing it wrong. What if you simply don't have the talent or the skills that make raising a child a rewarding and successful experience? But …
Continue reading ‘That Kid Is Intense’ – Compliment or Criticism?
These days a lot of people rely on grandparents for help with childcare. Nursery fees are high, salaries are frozen and inflation is creeping up. If both parents have to work, sometimes the only way to make it cost effective is if someone can look after the kids for free. With my parents living 152 miles …
I'm not the mother I thought I would be. I thought I would be such a fun mummy. The one who was always playing. Someone who would completely lose themselves in whatever the game was and not care about the mess it made, or how long it was going to take to tidy up. I …
As I sat hunched in the dark yesterday evening, listening to my daughter's warthog snort become slower and slower as she drifted off to the land of nod, I found myself, for the first time since childhood, truly wishing I had magical powers. In that moment I longed to teleport out of that room without …
This month our PreSchool Parents Book Club has a Self Help guide on the reading list. I was a sceptic and have most certainly not been converted. But after I got over being irritated by the shallow, simple, self-obsessed thinking it projected, I couldn't help thinking my tantrum-throwing toddler might still be able to gain …
Continue reading It’s All About Me! A Toddler Self Help Parody
