Don’t lie to me

Any parent worth their weight in low sodium salt would probably agree that children should be brought knowing it’s wrong to lie. Especially to their parents. But teaching this particular right from wrong can be tricky, especially when trying to push the message home to your child often entails telling a whole range of elaborate and complicated lies to begin with.

Is it possible to parent without Prozac?

I’ve often wondered, what makes a good mother? And if I were to be marked out of 10, what would I get? I mean these days are you considered a maternal goddess simply because you manage to keep your offspring alive, fed and watered till they’re 18, or is there more to it than just ensuring the survival of the young?

When smelly children need surgery

The first clue that something was where it shouldn’t be was that my son smelt horrible, with a nasty whiff about his person that would come and go. The type of odour that simply refused to budge, even with much vigorous washing and twice daily teeth brushing. It’s hard to say exactly what the smell was even, somewhere between sour milk and a rotting vegetable perhaps. Fairly unpleasant in other words…

The madness of OAP mums

Take Elizabeth Adeny for example, who at 66 is set to become the oldest mum in the UK. This lady, who is by all accounts a ‘wealthy divorcee businesswoman’, has obviously decided that she wants to have her slab of baby shaped cake and eat it.

Mary Poppins has nothin on me

I have to admit that try as I might to keep my handbag and it’s contents streamline and minimalist, it always seems to remain something of a bottomless pit. A black hole of the accessories world if you will, one with the spacial dimensions of a tardis….

The 7 year old Sloth

According to my daughter’s encyclopedia, the sloth, which moves at the rate of just 15–30 cm every minute, has earned the title of being the slowest of all mammals. I’m afraid I’d have to disagree with that….
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Battle of the baby sexes

Recently I was asked one of those questions that few people dare ask and even fewer wish to answer. A mother (of boys) asked me if it is true that parents of girls look down their noses at noisy little boys and believe them all to be badly behaved and completely undisciplined…. (click header to read the rest)

Getting away with murder

Everyday around the world, millions of children are slowly dying at the hands of those meant to protect them – their parents. It’s a slow and silent abuse, carried out over many years, on view for all to see and even condoned by the society that we live in. But these children aren’t being beaten or bruised. They aren’t being kicked or shaken or burnt, they aren’t even having a hand laid on them.

Slippery fish and astronauts

Working from home is great. I can arrive at my desk within minutes, breakfast still in hand. I can look like the ‘before’ shot, on a ‘fright of the week’ makeover. I can wear fluffy slippers, have a chronic hair day and still not worry about public humiliation. If I resist the overwhelming urge to climb back into bed, along with the contents of my fridge, then I can even pass for a pretty dedicated writer. I work, as and when it suits me and I only have to answer to my conscience.