Blog List

I have done well, I think, at choosing my friends. I don't have many of them, but for the most part they are sainted, kindly folk; generous with their time, attention and resources and if there's a heaven above us, they are assured of a place there. It's just a shame that I've started to suspect that many of them are big fat liars. Nowhere is the smell of flaming pants more...

I’d like to think that we’re good at bringing our kids to ‘cultural’ stuff. We often drag them along to museums and galleries, and we set a good example by going to local theatre and concerts on a fairly regular basis ourselves. But if anyone else asks me if I am planning to go to Electric Picnic with the kids… Seriously? No. Do I look like I am on day-release from the nearest mental...

So life is already rather busy since these little babies arrived and they are not even home yet! Following my last post, Róisín got her breathing support removed much quicker than previously anticipated and she is doing great without it, as are the other two. They have moved three times since then – firstly to a different room in intensive care so they could be together in a smaller room, then...

Time and time again we, as parents, are warned about the dangers of social media and the importance of teaching our kids how to stay safe when online. However, a recent video , which MummyPages reported on, shows that no matter how often we speak to them about the dangers it doesn’t mean they are actually listening. In the video YouTuber Coby Persin worked with the parents of girls aged 12, 13...

My next door neighbour recently became a mum for the first time. Aware her husband works incredibly long hours, I’ve been trying to pop in as often as I can. Last week, she opened the door to me with a haunted look in her eyes, but still beckoned me in with her usual smile. Bouncing her son on my knee, I chatted as usual and she kept up with the conversation before suddenly glancing at the...

Hold your thumb and forefinger so that they are almost touching: that’s how close I came to grabbing my coat, wellies, and the children’s trust fund (i.e. the jar of loose change and hair bobbles on the kitchen windowsill) and walking out the front door. What I would do after my exit I had not planned, but based on my state of my mind at the time, it might very well have involved wearing a...

I have discovered that sometimes the key to having a happy family life is to briefly leave the family. I’m not talking anything drastic here, just a short foray into the wider world without children hanging on your legs, partner’s wondering why we’re looking in this shop again, and nappy bags clanging off your shoulder. I’m guessing there are a lot of other parents out there like me; when...

As children grow up, we help them with the hurdles and obstacles that life places in their way. With babies and toddlers, these are literally just stumbling blocks like Lego pieces and dodgy stones, etc. But as they get older it’s the real-life stumbling blocks and hurdles that are much harder to help them get over. Having three boys, I always knew that the teenage years would be hard. As a...

I am on a mission to make my house a yell-free zone. I’m sick and tired of shouting and roaring at the kids like a fishwife and then battering myself over the head with the guilty stick for the rest of the day. I’m also worried that one of these days, the next door neighbours will report me to child protection services or worse, the Gardaí. How has it come to this? I can’t remember ever...

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks cowering beneath playground apparatus all around Dublin, waiting out heavy showers of rain, while wrapped in waterproofs and fleeces. Clutching paper coffee cups for warmth, I’ve tried not to think bad thoughts about my sister who, at the same time, has been baking on a Mediterranean beach, while I have to buy my vitamin D in a plastic bottle from Boots. We...