Blog List

The last time my sister and her adorable almost four-year-old twin boys came to visit us from Dublin for the weekend, we ended up in the doctor’s surgery on the Saturday morning. My most accident prone nephew had split his eyebrow after hurtling head first into the corner of our glass-topped coffee table. Last weekend, they came to visit again and once again, we ended up in the doctor’s...

I grew up in the 1980s, when we walked home from school unaccompanied, played outdoors until dark, and bought sweets shaped like cigarettes with the coins elderly neighbours pushed into our eager hands. We played in building sites and fields pocked with cow pats, cycling adults’ bikes with no brakes and riding go-karts our fathers cobbled together from parts lying around. We climbed trees, went...

I've come to the conclusion that there is no worse feeling than the feeling of having let your kid down; o f coming up short when your parenting skills were called into question; of realising that your efforts just weren't good enough, that you just didn't cut it, that you are a failure as a parent, albeit temporarily. I hadn't felt like that in a while thankfully - we seemed to...

What does your baby like to play with? My son prefers to play with the box the toy came in, rather than the toy. Actually, he usually eats it. I can’t seem to stop this child from eating foreign objects – last week it was a clump of my hair (ew), before that it was a feather from a cushion. I swear he is going to cough up a furball soon… Anyway, I digress. A problem I face as a parent is...

My eldest son is now 24 years of age, so I’ve been attending ‘Parent’s Day’ for the past 19 years. Each one has been an eye opener and on each occasion I learned something new about my boys. As a mother we always think we know best. No one else could possibly know our children better than us. Or could they? As I discovered all those years ago, they certainly could. Their teacher gets to...

Dear Rebecca, Laugh at me all you want for this, but I feel this might be the only way to get your attention. Since last Friday, you have either completely ignored my texts or responded with a cursory 'K' You have zoned me out when I have attempted to broach the subject in person and you appear to have little to no interest in resolving matters with me, but maybe this approach will help...

Every family has their little traditions, don't they? Whether they're daily, weekly or yearly rituals, these things tend to be unique to each family. The funny thing about family traditions is that while they may not seem weird to you, your partner or your children, you can be damn sure they seem utterly bizarre to anyone on the outside looking in. Whether they are traditions which have...

With just four simple words my seven-year-old daughter made me finally understand what being a mother is really all about. I’m not the type of mum who sits down on the ground and plays Lego or horses, I like to go to the park, walk up the mountains or even go for a bike ride. Things that I thought were fun and helped me bond with my little one. But everything was put into perspective recently...

This is probably not something I should say out loud too often, but if my doing so helps to assuage the fears or concerns of any fellow mums, then it will have been worth it. Sometimes I don't want to be a mum. There, I said it. As the mother of four healthy, happy children, I should be counting my blessings on a daily basis and believe me, I do, but sometimes I long for the my heady...

Babymooning, what a funny term, but so very needed. My pregnancy with Liv was full of bumps (pun intended) and lots of love! It really made me feel like a strong amazing woman. I loved all my curves and felt more comfortable and confident than I had been in my whole life. Carrying a life inside of you is so empowering and it helps when your partner loves your new growing belly (arms, legs, butt...