Blog List

It’s difficult to find a TV programme that the whole family likes to watch when tastes range from Love/Hate to Peppa Pig, so it’s great when one comes along that we can all snuggle up on the couch in front of. The one show that gets everyone excited in my house at the moment is MasterChef. You’d be forgiven for thinking that hardcore competitive cookery might not be at the top of a...

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...

Do you ever consider the collective expertise and experience that organises the school run each morning? Mums (and Dads) who, until a few years ago, were presenting in boardrooms, or pipetting in laboratories or arguing cases in courts, and have stepped away from corporate life to care for their young kids full-time? I recall dropping my eldest to school for the first time and chatting to the...

A recent conference on food addiction held in Dublin heard a variety of experts say there was insufficient evidence to suggest that common foods or particular ingredients had addictive qualities. One eminent professor from across the pond made the point that unlike drugs, food does not cause neuralogical changes in the brain and there was no evidence of withdrawal symptoms. As a self confessed...

My son was eight-years-old and doing really well in school - or so I thought. His teacher asked me to pop in for a chat one day. She was concerned about my son’s environment at home and asked if something might be wrong within the family. I assured her that all was well and wondered where this was leading. The teacher explained that my son was one of the top students in the class on a daily...

Over 18 years ago, my mum passed away at the age of 50. She was diagnosed with a terminal cancer a few months prior. While she fought hard to defy the odds it was a battle she unfortunately was going to lose. I was 19 when she passed away and prior to her diagnosis, I was a typical "I'm not listening" teenager. Our relationship was not that great and upon her diagnosis I tried to make up for...

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...

Slip on your hand-knit cashmere socks, curl up among the antique quilts you like to scatter in front of the stove, and allow waves of gentle superiority wash over you. You deserve this: You spent the summer honing your body to lean perfection with outdoor hip-hop Yogalates and home-grown chard, while your children studied Java through Mandarin and learned how to do a mean sheepshank on that...

They say a son is a son until he finds a wife but a daughter is a daughter for life. I'd like to find whoever is responsible for that old adage and give them a stern talking to. It's simply NOT TRUE and I can prove it twice over. Ok so maybe I'm being a little over dramatic but recently I was left reeling when bitter experience visited my door for the second time in 6 years I found...

Today I heard something that frightened me and the fact I wasn’t really surprised made it even worse! I heard a young mother saying she was proud of the fact that her 9-month-old was able to eat a full children’s meal in a well-known fast food restaurant. It really is frightening to think that someone, no matter what their age or background thinks that this is acceptable, let alone something...