Working from home: no to mascara and high heels, yes to school runs and meals with kids, and best of all reduced guilt.... Lots of people work in jobs that are not suitable for working from home, and plenty of other people are not allowed to by employers. But if you have children, and have ever considered seeking to work from home ...
Breach of trust, on every level. Like thousands of people who watched Prime Time last night, I’ve spent the morning trying to focus on work but my mind keeps going back to the images of children being slammed down on mattresses, tiny toddlers being punished despite being far too young, a little girl being cursed at ...
As a mother to three children under six, most of my adult conversations every day are with other parents, most of whom have kids in childcare. Over the last few days, a recurring topic is the news story about RTE's Prime Time sending undercover researchers into two Dublin creches, and gathering video footage of children allegedly being mistreated. See ...
This is not a light, self-deprecating, jokey post - I really lost it with my five year old today, and I'm feeling bad about it. I shouted at her, marched her up the stairs, and told her that she wasn't going to the party that she was invited to this afternoon. Of course within minutes, or ...
On Saturday morning, as happens in houses all over the country on weekend mornings, my three kids bundled into our bed, at various times ranging from 5am to the somewhat more civilised 8 o'clock. The baby was snuggled into me, and Clara, my five year old was cuddled up with her dad. Emmie, my middle child, ...
I should have been in bed, it was heading towards midnight on Sunday, and I was due up at 4am to head to the airport for a work trip. As usual I was feeling 90% apprehensive - worrying about leaving the kids, anxious that the baby would wake during the night and not understand why I'm not there, certain that ...
It's hard to fit everything into the working day: morning rush, getting kids ready for school, getting self in somewhat presentable state for work, long commute catching up on e-mails and texts, work for eight hours, sort out optician appointments for kids, do online groceries or submit health insurance claims if there's time to take a lunch ...
So it's the end of the Easter holidays and parents all over Ireland are breathing a sigh of relief - some because they are at home with their children all year round and it's a little more difficult to keep everyone entertained during school holidays, and some because they're at work and find it a challenge to arrange childcare ...
It's Good Friday, and I haven't thought about work once today - I love that. We took the kids to Powerscourt House and Gardens - well OK, the House followed by an "adventure" exploring the trees and grass verges on the way back to the car, via the garden centre. To be fair, we were willing ...
Last night I wrote my first blog post, about the challenges facing working mums, and the universe subsequently laughed at me, in a "you ain't seen nothing yet" kind of way, then unleashed a properly challenging day on this working mum: My baby was up from 3am onwards, feeding like a newborn, oblivious to my looming day at ...