Blog List

My daughter is turning 13 next week and her father appeared to be in meltdown about it. And despite my best intentions, he eventually managed to send me completely over the edge as well. While my daughter planned her first teenage party, my husband drafted a contingency plan on how to deal with the next six years. Whether he watched too much Jeremy Kyle on his days off or inexplicably schooled...

Remember the time that study was released and assured you that you were doing a great job as a parent? Yeah, me neither. As if we didn’t have enough to worry about, we’re now faced with yet another report that tells us our attempts at child-rearing are as impressive as a teenage girl naming a One Direction track with little to no assistance. Now tell me, how do you support your child? Praise...

I’m often left mortified when I see a look of delight cross my children’s faces after I reveal I’m vacating the house for a couple of days. While I wish I could shrug it off, I’m irritated that they don’t realise my constant nagging, non-stop worrying and endless demands could be a little easier to deal with if they just ‘manned up’ a bit. Or maybe, just maybe, if they listened to me...

In honour of World Book Day, 5 th March 2015, I thought it only too fitting to share my dilemma with you. We are all aware of the benefits of reading and many would consider it to be one of the most important t hings we can introduce our kids to. For me, it’s definitely up there with teaching our youngsters to say no and introducing them to other ways of life. I’m totally that mother who...

One of the things I told myself before I became a mum was that I wouldn’t, under any circumstances, allow my own insecurities to become my daughter’s insecurities. I recently learned that I failed spectacularly on that point. Finding my 12-year-old twisting in front of the mirror and lamenting the size of her bum in a new school skirt reminded me just how much I failed. I’ll be frank here...

Dakota Johnson and her mother Melanie Griffith hit the headlines last week after they had starring roles in the classic Mother/ Daughter Public Spat Show. Watching two bonafide celebrities engage in a silent, and then not-so-silent, tug of war during what should have been a special moment, reminded me of a particular instance with my own mother. It was one I had attempted to bury, but which came...

So, I seem to have lost the ability to call my daughter by her first name. It's not a new problem though, in fact, it probably started about seven years ago. There is no reason for it; I absolutely love and adore her name - I personally spent nearly two weeks deciding on it, honestly! But her beautiful name just never seems to come out of my mouth – well, unless she is in trouble that is. My...

Footage of a young boy telling his dad a big old lie has gone viral recently because the crafty dad played the kid at his own game and taught his son a serious lesson in the process. The footage made me uncomfortable for a number of reasons, not lest the fact that the father in question mentioned shooting the people who were supposedly getting all up in his son’s business. Really? Whatever...

With four children under one roof, it’s hardly surprising the phrase ‘sibling rivalry’ comes up every now and again. Much of it passes me by, if I’m honest. Home wouldn’t be home without the sound of children bickering over a computer game or taunting each after over who’s more accomplished in the latest neighbourhood craze. In a small way, I welcome the (mostly) good natured...

So let’s have a discussion about the midterm. Yes, the dreaded M-word: the bane of all our lives whether you are working or not. Stay-at-home mums have to deal with kids disrupting a carefully organised schedule that has taken a long time to get right, while working mums have the horror of trying to figure out the logistics of who is going to mind the kids while they are at work. And the fact...