Parenting

There are times when I conclude that I must be invisible. I mean, I’m physically here, obviously – far too much of me, in places – but the effect of my presence is so insignificant I may as well not be. This morning I spent ten minutes trying to make the dog stay in her […]

Sometimes, when you’re bleary-eyed through lack of sleep, and your hand-wash-only cashmere cardigan is so encrusted with something gelatinous only a boil wash will fix it, it’s hard to focus on the positives. Let’s face it: kids wreck your figure, your bank balance and your freedom. But it’s not all bad. Here are my top five reasons […]

We moved house when Josh was eight months old. I didn’t know it then, but even as the boxes left our house at one end of the town, and stacked up in our new house at the other, I was already pregnant with his sisters. The pull of your first family home is like no […]

‘What would you like for Mother’s Day?’ the children ask me. ‘Just you,’ I say, ‘and a homemade card.’ ‘That’s not enough!’ they say, outraged on my behalf, ‘you need a proper present!’ When I was little I used to ask my mother the same question, and receive the same answer in return. I was […]

On Saturday we took the girls for a slightly belated birthday treat. We have left behind the days of big village hall parties, moving instead into the territory of cinema trips, bowling excursions and lunches with a few select friends. It’s not much easier on the pocket, but it’s a hundred times less stressful, and […]