DaisyWilson's Blog

I love the tradition of the Christmas tree, and all through December I was carefully constructing and curating this particular image: my smiling family gathered around a majestic fir, placing our treasured collection of decorations on symmetrical branches; carols playing in background; a box of chocolates, wrappers glistening, mulled wine and pine needles scenting the air. This long nurtured...

Every time I think the so-called Mummy War has gone away, it reappears somewhere in some stale form. This time it was a piece that appeared in online magazine Slate, in which the author admitted to regarding stay-at-home parents with secret disdain. Enough already. Can we move on, please? I know I’m beyond weary at the various lines of fire; the stay-at-home mums smugly running the school bake...

I’m not normally one for paying attention during the ad breaks; that’s when I usually pop out to make a cup of tea or stretch the old legs. But given the approach of the Yuletide season, and my role as parental assistant to Mr Claus, I have, of late, been paying rapt attention to the ads. The children’s toy ads to be precise. I call it market research. Kids like toilet humour - see the...

A baby’s first year contains many firsts: first smile, first step, first tooth, first word. And the list of firsts doesn’t culminate on the first birthday, but goes on and on into first cars and beyond. This list of firsts isn’t made purely of moments to photograph and treasure forever; it also contains the ones you’d prefer to forget such as the first explosive nappy, the first bump on...

There is an estate in the town closest to me with wide looped streets and large pleasant houses. It’s a Mecca for the trick or treat crowd who descend upon it come Halloween like swarms of living dead locusts. On the 31st of October each year, a significant percentage of the estate’s residents flee for the night. Others darken every light and I assume, hide under the covers or tip toe about...

Schools have been back for over a month and it’s taken me that long to recover from the shell shock of back-to-school preparations. Each June I am filled with fresh resolve and good intentions; I promise myself that I will get those books early, sort out the school bag, the uniform, and all the supplies in plenty of time. Then I forget. Inevitably, on the day before school starts, I found myself...