Your hefty dose of single-parenting reality. Because life isn’t a series of soft-focus photos of babies looking delighted. (In fact, I’m not sure I remember R ever looking delighted. There was always an air of “You’re an idiot, mummy, and I’m humouring you by laughing…”)
It’s always worth reminding yourself that kids won’t remember half of the truly terrible things you did to them while they were growing up. They’ll just go through life bearing invisible scars and wondering why they’re afraid of the theme tune to the Munsters. And then they’ll look on social media and realise.
Because darnit, social media has made parenting a whole lot harder…
Today I read what looked to be an encouraging cheat sheet for anyone wanting to do the whole rigmarole this year, and I figured I'd take a look. I've done a few elf things in the past to amuse (mostly myself but...
There’s this thing that a lot of people do where they talk only about the good times. It’s not everyone – I definitely know people who focus on the negatives and make you worry that their world is falling apart when it...
Massive strops and tearful meltdowns are a feature of parenting. And the kids have them sometimes, too. I've previously posted about what made my nerdy boy have a meltdown aged 4 and aged 5. Some of those still stand. But man, are the things...
At one stage of my life, I was in an abusive relationship. This is something that some people know, and some people knew at the time. There were a lot of people who tried, in all sorts of ways, to persuade me...
R and I have a bit of a ritual, developed over the last couple of years. It’s all a typical bedtime routine, with some jumping on the bed; some failing to get into pyjamas; some sudden request for food or drink; some...
I'm pretty sure all of this will not apply to 99% of the people reading. And I'm sure that most of you are going to be in agreement. But even if it's for that 1%, or just to reaffirm what is and isn't ok (since...
The Thirty-Nine Things Guaranteed to Cause a Four-Year-Old Meltdown a few days ago (and by the way, it’s sad how often I do this. Mostly to think “Hey, I was funny!”...
As is probably obvious to those of you who've read a few of my parenting posts, the best way of summing up my "style" is probably "Making it up as I go along." And I'm going to make the basic assumption that...
I'm not sure this is really a blog post. It all started as a game to while away a long car journey. I think there was something that I thought would be better if it could be "To the death" and then I...
I'm told that children have to learn a certain amount by experience, and that you can't tell them everything. Somehow this is part of the learning experience, and is healthy and good. I find myself doubting this when I see my small boy...