To my September girl

You stepped silently down the stairs, gliding almost, and quietly joined us in the kitchen. The skirt that grazed your ankles a year ago when you first wore a uniform is now swishing around your knees. You slipped wordlessly into your seat, entirely focused on breakfast to the exclusion of all interruptions it seemed. Including ...

So shoot me

Two weeks ago, the toddler discovered television. And I am so happy. I know it's not good for him, I know at twenty months he is too young for TV, but my happiness outweighs any anxiety or guilt I might have about this. For the first time in six years, I can make dinner in the ...

School costs & the double-income contradiction

This week, the Irish Parenting Bloggers are writing about back-to-school costs, a topic that's causing frustration for some and fear for many more around the country this week.  In our house, we are at the early stages of the school life-cycle; we have just one of our three in school, and she's going into senior infants. ...

social media village

If you're reading this, there's a good chance you picked it up from Twitter or Facebook - it's not news that we're getting most of our, well, news, entertainment, information and of course blog posts, from social media. And this includes parenting information - who do parents talk to when they have questions? Maybe mothers or ...

Good day, good parent?

I worry a lot that I'm not very good at being a parent.  I work outside the home because financially I have to, as many mothers do. I also enjoy my job, and wonder sometimes if it's easy to hide behind the financial obligation - how would I really feel if suddenly it was possible to ...

The mommy-track

  Working mothers are being put on the “mommy track” according to an article in the Independent last week.   We have so many terms to learn all the time it’s hard to keep up – for anyone who is not familiar with it, “mommy track” refers to the sidelining of mothers in the workplace.   Assumptions being made by ...