I was dismayed to read about a celebrity dad recently suggesting that boys should hide their feelings. I believe we definitely should teach boys it’s okay to cry. Ant Middleton who presents Channel 4’s SAS: Who Dares Wins made the claim to Giovanna Fletcher on the Podcast Happy Mum, Happy Baby. He said that, if …
I was pleased to read about a four-year-old girl calling out LEGO City magazine for a lack of female representation. The daughter of the actor Samuel West noticed that, of the 29 characters who speak in the issue, only one was female and even then it was to agree with a man. The upshot is …
Oldest doesn’t like having his photo taken and has a knack of disappearing the moment a camera appears. I respect this, of course. Particularly as a large chunk of his life has been documented on this blog while he was too young to understand or, indeed, give permission. Now he’s getting older and more self-conscious, …
Disclosure: this is a paid collaboration. Are you saving enough for your kids’ future? I’ll put my hand up straight away and admit that I’m definitely not. I’m far from alone in that though, as recent research by Shepherds Friendly shows. Times are getting harder but there are so many things we have to save …
I’ve been down in the dumps lately. To be honest, I think most of us have. The weather has been bleak and the interminable Brexit gloom hasn’t helped either. As a result, I’ve been harder on myself than I normally am. Particularly with regards to my parenting skills. But, over the weekend, I realised something …
Payment Protection Insurance – or PPI as its more commonly known – is a phrase that has become part of the furniture in recent years. So much so that I no longer think about its meaning when I hear it mentioned. Well, that was the case until recently. You see, the PPI deadline is fast …
A couple of weeks ago, we were on the bus to my parents’ house. When we got off, another passenger tapped me on the shoulder. At first, I thought I must have left something behind so I was pleasantly surprised by what he said. He told me that it was lovely to see two parents …
Last year I wrote a post about learning to let my kids make mistakes so they can learn from them. It’s a learning curve that I’m very much still on and it’s far from easy. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to debate a related topic on national radio. If you follow BBC Radio 5 Live’s …
Yesterday, I found myself in a radio studio for an appearance on BBC Five Live. It’s not the first time I’ve been on that particular channel, but it was easily the most fun to date. I joined Lyndsey from Muma on the Edge in Nihal Arthanayake’s brilliantly-named School Runnings section. The topic surrounded whether parents have …
As I mentioned recently, I’ve learned to love the school run thanks to the conversations I have with my kids. I was interested, then, to read a recent article by the brilliant Stuart Heritage. Who, incidentally, I was once on a panel with at a Mumsnet event. Thoroughly nice chap he is too. Anyway, in said article, …