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’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 …
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 …
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, …
How much time do you get to spend exclusively with your partner? If you have children, the answer might be something to the effect of ‘not a lot’! Help is at hand in the form of ‘micro-dating’. More on that later. A recent survey by Legal & General has found that 36% of parents between 18 …
Earlier this week, I wrote a post about the careers advice I got at secondary school. Looking through the responses I gave in the questionnaire, it struck me how much I’ve changed as a person. This isn’t a great surprise, of course. I was not quite 16 when I completed it and nobody’s the finished …
It’s oldest’s birthday today. Somehow or other, he’s eight years old already. This, of course, means that I’ve been a parent for the same amount of time. As I mentioned in yesterday’s rather silly post, I’ve changed a lot since then. Here, then, are eight important life lessons I’ve learned in eight years of parenting. …
My oldest child will be eight tomorrow. It doesn’t feel that long ago since he arrived, but a lot has happened since then. We’ve welcomed two more children and I’ve had a career path worthy of a roller coaster. As a result, I’ve changed a lot as a person. Don’t worry, I’m not going to go …
Parenting’s never easy, is it? This week, for example, I consciously let one of my kids make a mistake, knowing it would probably upset him. It did, of course, and I feel awful. We took the boys out to spend their first few weeks of pocket money at the weekend. It was theirs to do …
All three of my children seem to get cheekier with every passing day. Particularly my two sons. They have an ever-growing repertoire of ways to humiliate me in front of other people. I used to think I’m reasonably cool as far as my children are concerned, but clearly not. Their antics have proved that I’m …