"It's not fair, everyone in the class got lovely new books and I got one with scribbles all over it." "It's not fair, we all got moved around and we were allowed to be with our friends, but I was too shy to ask." "It's not fair I have to colour this balloon in brown but the brown ...
I made three new year's resolutions this year; one for work, one for running, and one for home - this is the home one: "fix afternoons with the kids so they're less chaotic." But unlike my work and running goals, the home goal isn't specific, nor is it measurable, and it didn't come with any kind of ...
I get to be a stay-at-home mum once a week, so I know exactly what it's like. No, not really. In fact not at all. My one day per week of SAHM-dom is Friday, so it's not quite a representative example of true stay-at-home parenting. On Friday, the traffic is lighter, the moods are lighter, ...
Working mother guilt is a myth, according to widely publicised survey findings from UK parenting website Mumsnet. 48% of the 900 mothers polled said that they were happier having a job than being at home, sparking a range of newspaper articles on the topic, including this one by Bryony Gordon who said: "The idea that working women feel ...
After reading "Here's why we need to start asking men - how do you do it all?" I started to really think about why we don't ask men this question, and about all the other questions we are asked as women. Can you picture a man being asked any of these: "Are you going back to ...
It's two months now since our nanny upped and left after just four days, with no notice and almost no notification of any kind. We were not impressed (the tears are almost visible here). She will be on the family blacklist FOREVER. I spent the following weeks worrying about work and childcare; trying to come up with ...
This is how homework goes in our house: Me: Clara please can you come and start your homework Clara: (silence) Me: Please, come on, we need to get started Clara: In a minute mum Multiply this and various other responses by well, a lot, and fast forward to half an hour later, when we finally get to opening some worksheets. Me: ...
So, you need to find a complete stranger to come into your house and be solely responsible for your children while you're not there. Scary stuff. Looking for a childminder (or nanny to use the more correct term) can be a very daunting challenge. When I was starting to think about this, a good and wise ...
School's out for summer, and for parents all over the country it's a significant milestone in any year. For our family, until now, this time of year meant just two things: lighter traffic in the morning and holidays jumping to twice the price. But for the first time, we experienced end-of-term properly as my junior infant finished her ...