One of my earliest childhood memories concerns the use of a small fib to combat my reluctance to try a certain food. It was meat – I’m not entirely sure which kind – but I remember that it was at my grandparents’ house in Kent. Probably desperate to avoid a standoff, my parents told me …
Well, how has this happened, eh? My oldest child is 10 years old already. It has been an entire decade since that surreal sleepless night in which he entered our lives. His arrival followed an on-and-off, three-day labour which felt like forever at the time – particularly for my brilliant wife. But the subsequent 10 …
One of the few silver linings about being in lockdown is the extra time I get with my family. I’ve loved being around more and it’s time I’ll always be grateful for. It’s been particularly fascinating watching the shift in dynamic between the kids. Most notable is the changing relationship between youngest and her brothers. …
The recent nice weather came to an abrupt end over the weekend. As it was chucking it down, we decided to watch a family film on Sunday afternoon. Now, I know this is isn’t the most straightforward of things and there’s almost certainly a direct correlation between the number of children involved and how easy …
It’s amazing how much parenting can change you as a person. I’ve learned all kinds of new skills, plus incredible amounts about a vast array of topics. Perhaps the biggest change, however, is one that is there 24 hours a day yet is rarely consciously considered. It seems to have given me a new way …
There’s a particular piece of advice my late Grandad once gave me as a child that has always stayed with me. Namely ‘Don’t count your chickens’. His intended purpose was to help manage my expectations of Tottenham Hotspur and it worked. Since he imparted these wise words, I’ve endured three decades of them snatching defeat …
One thing that never ceases to amaze me about parenting is my ability to forget things. Specifically how to negotiate tricky phases. And, yes, we’re in one of those at the moment. I call this particular tale of parenting woe The Princess and the Peas. You see, youngest seems to have something against vegetables. And, despite …
Last week, parents were nervously waiting to find out their kids’ school places. We were among them and, for me at least, it was strangely nice to worry about something other than coronavirus and its wider implications for a day. Having gone through the process twice before, we were braced for a long wait. It …
Well, where to start, eh? These are unprecedented times, the like of which we only usually expect to encounter in films. There’s so much to worry and feel down about and, by using the phrase ‘silver linings’ in this post, I’m not trying to downplay the severity of the situation we find ourselves in. It’s …
Being a natural-born pedant, I’ve always had a bit of an issue with Alanis Morisette’s song, Ironic. Why? Well, most of the examples of so-called irony cited in it aren’t ironic at all. They can mostly be attributed to misfortune or bad forward planning. Rain on your wedding day, for example, is a statistical likelihood …