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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
My lovely nanny Silvia moved on to a new job in a new career as a writer last week, as mentioned here. The kids sobbed, I sobbed, Silvia cried too on her last day. But happily for us, we found a fantastic new nanny last week - she started on Monday, and I was beyond delighted at ...
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 ...
Three days, three hashtags: Malala, Slanegirl and RoseofTralee It has been a strange week so far for women in Ireland – a wake-up call on how women are viewed, how women are judged. It also raises a question - what are we looking for in terms of role models for our little girls? The vitriolic online comments made ...
You know it's back-to-school time when RTE starts to reel us in for The Rose of Tralee. It reminds me of shiny new pencil cases and covering school books and writing my name on everything. Everything. I loved the Rose of Tralee as a child. As an adult, I laughed at it but secretly loved it a little ...
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 ...
Today is our childminder's last day, and the kids are upset. They are reacting in different ways.I asked Emmie, who is four, how she feels about it. "Sad" was her answer. I gave her another big hug and said that I'm sad too. I think she will be OK. She won't run into the arms ...
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 ...