“Home-school”: enough to chill the heart of many working parents and, until recently, two words that had rarely entered my mind as potentially one day being relevant to my world.
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“Boys don’t like unicorns mum, they’re for girls.”
“WHAT??!!” I scream internally.
“I see…” I actually say “…and of ... Read More
When I returned to work after maternity leave, we decided to get a cleaner for our house. Today I will tell you how employing cleaners not only made me a better cleaner but changed my entire per... Read More
In the olden days I used to exercise a lot and to a reasonably high standard, swimming as a kid then rowing at uni. I took it for granted, but I now think it was why I never got stressed about ... Read More
So, we’ve got through January. I am one of those people who actually likes the reflection and resolutions that the first month of the year brings. After December’s hectic combinatio... Read More
It wasn't quite a New Year's resolution as I don't tend to go in for those (why not try to tweak things as you go along?). But I had thought to myself that I should try and be usefu... Read More
Trigger warning: premature birth
Life with a pretermer baby was hard enough. When our baby daughter Isabella arrived at an exceptionally early 24 weeks, as I described in my previous blo... Read More
Christmas is a magical time of year for children, when the Big Man in Red wriggles down the chimney to deliver presents to good little boys and girls. I have fond memories of shooting downstairs on C... Read More
My life seems to be made up of “threes” recently.
Most of you probably know my personal story to date from a previous blog, I’ve got cancer and so far have had 5.5 weeks... Read More
And the Christmas clock is ticking. This year, I find myself feeling incredibly disorganised. The in- and out-of-school commitments seem to multiply as the kids get older – Christmas production... Read More
Is anybody else buckling under the pressure of Christmas expectations? A flurry of demands that start to simmer around October, when the days get shorter and colder and the shops are poised on the st... Read More
Hey ho, hey ho, it’s into Advent we go! The Christmas countdown is certainly apace. We’ve started scanning Amazon for present ideas and refining our story ahead of the annual inquisition ... Read More
A new phase of family life will begin in a couple of weeks when my wife goes back to work part-time after maternity leave. With over 13 months off, she’s made the most of it (a line from Elmer ... Read More
I check my phone and see an email from school. The sort of email every working parent dreads. “Sorry for the short notice..” it begins, and things don’t get better from there. It is... Read More
When your wife is pregnant, as a prospective father there are million and one things rushing through your anxiety ridden brain. A preterm baby is not one of them. Dealing with this level of trauma wh... Read More
I recently returned to the city after a wonderful one year of maternity leave. This was my second maternity leave but for some reason, this time around the nervous feeling before the retu... Read More
August hadn’t gone well. In fact life in general seemed to have taken a distinct turn for the worse. The work/life scales were heavily overloaded on both sides and frankly it was taking its tol... Read More
Like many of us with school age children, we have started the autumn term and come back to earth with a bit of a bump. Although we didn't go away this summer we went out on various day trips, saw... Read More
Last August, I decided to go part-time, dropping down to a four-day week. A number of the females in our team have being doing that for some time now, and our team leader is very supportive, so... Read More
Since becoming a parent, I was very thankful when my younger son stopped breastfeeding at 11 months and moved into his own room, I was thankful when my older son got accepted into his first school ch... Read More
I’m sure that many of you reading this have some kind of routine established with your children – set times of day when you get them up, have food, get them ready for school (or similar),... Read More
Trigger warning: serious illness
Most people hate hearing the “C” word, and get very angry and upset when it’s said. But I'm going to say it, here on this blog. I h... Read More
It’s a balmy summer evening and I’m lying on my acupuncturist’s couch in leafy suburban London. I’ve got needles stuck in me and tears running down my face. We’ve just h... Read More
I have been chuckling at the assumption that life gets ‘easier’ when children start school and that juggling home and work becomes simpler. My juggling skills seem to have reached another... Read More
"Mummy, there's nothing in the house!"
As some parents may be able to relate to, sometimes it feels as though children's appetites grow exponentially at certain times of the ye... Read More
Ladies and gentlemen of the class of ‘19 - that’s the preschool class - if I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it.
We’re in the south of France, w... Read More
I am so over kids’ parties.
Even when I was a kid they caused me trauma. Not being invited confirmed my gnawing fear that I didn’t fit in, but being invited was e... Read More
They say that if you can’t be a good example, then you’ll just have to be a horrible warning. Sadly, it was into this second category that our recent au-pair experience fell. Whilst we ca... Read More
I recently went to a WorkLife Central lunchtime seminar on Stress and Burnout and realised that I was very stressed and running dangerously close to burning out. One thing that really resonated with ... Read More