Our Blog

James's blog: I really like Dolly's blog

I really enjoyed reading Dolly's blog last week.  It made me realise just how little I know about my wife's work and home routine and how she feels about it.  And it also made me wo... Read More

Dolly's blog: The Night Shift

It's often said that working mothers might leave the office earlier but then log on from home after the kids are in bed.  Sitting in a diversity training session recently, the trainer made j... Read More

Sarah's blog: Why every firm needs parents

I have changed a lot over the past nine years. In that time, I have gone through three pregnancies, taken three maternity leaves and have been bringing up three children. All of this whilst building... Read More

Citydad's blog: Shared Parental Leave - A gift for all the f...

While focusing on getting everything sorted for Christmas over the last month or so, as well as getting on with my usual day job, I have also been helping to spread the word about the new Shared P... Read More

Louisa's blog: Can there be another way?

I am not a lawyer, though I aspired to be one in my early teens until a careers-advice session with my sister, two years older than me and hell-bent on becoming a barrister (which she duly did) ... Read More

Dolly's blog: Homework

Is homework really worth it and what, actually, does it demonstrate? My kids are 8, 7 and 4. The youngest doesn't really get homework (even I can cope with his weekly storybook) but for the ... Read More

Tom's blog: Degrees of exhaustion

I read an article in the Evening Standard last week about Karen Blackett, who's an inspiration for all sorts of reasons (CEO of MediaCom, OBE, first business woman to top the UK Powerlist, makes ... Read More

Ellen's blog: Life Changing

In October I took the decision to make a big decision; I left my job and decided to give myself a three month break during which I planned to make a serious dent in my enormous to-do list (on which t... Read More

James' blog: Less is more

I recently returned to work after a summer of bliss spent looking after my young daughter.   The time that I took off work coincided with the end of my wife's maternity leave, and so ... Read More

Esther's blog: Citymothers and Cityfathers Mentors Ahoy..

Louisa and I decided I should jump the queue and blog out of turn to draw your attention to the fact the current application window for the Citymothers Mentoring Scheme is now open but is closing in ... Read More

Anthony's blog: Using some flex

"Our household is 12 months into an experiment which took us 2 years (or more) to undertake. Let's call it "The career break" (because that's what it is). I wanted to let you k... Read More

Sarah's blog: Pace of Life

  "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it" Ferris Bueller in the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off.   As a... Read More

Citydad's blog: 10 reasons why...

Ten reasons why dads think they can't take time off to look after their kids (and ten reasons why they should) 1) My employer won't allow it. Since April 2011, dads have been leg... Read More

Esther's blog: Positive parenting, the next generation, an...

Today I'm going to blog on three apparently unrelated things which are actually interconnected. First:  I was so impressed by the Citymothers seminar I attended on Thursday 9th October ... Read More

Tom's blog: The F word...

I started to get itchy feet the other day and began looking at other jobs. Unsurprisingly, there were no ads saying "Senior City lawyer required by first rate firm. Ideal candidate will arrive l... Read More

Ellen's blog: Starting School

My oldest son has started school! I thought I would share with you some crucial lessons learned from this stressful experience: 1. Sewing name labels into uniform can cause near-divorce situa... Read More

James's blog: The Great British Bake Off

Everyone in our family is talking about it.  The cupboards in our kitchen are stocked with ingredients which, six months ago, I never knew existed.  I’ve been practicing my technical,... Read More

Dolly's Blog: In search of the simple life

Back to school.  New term resolutions abound and holiday memories sustain us. We wrapped up the Summer in Brittany, living the three small children and not enough money cliché of a c... Read More

Louisa's blog: Busy busy..

The summer holidays certainly feel like a long time ago, with a busy autumn now in full swing. Our nanny helpfully mentioned Christmas the other day to my 2.5 year old, who as a result is working har... Read More

Jennifer's blog: Statutory flexibility

After lengthy and serious reflection, I finally had a discussion about flexible working options with my Manager.  After thinking about what kind of flexible working would suit and deciding what ... Read More

Citydad's blog: Part-timer?

After four months on paternity leave, the thought of having to go back to work full time, and miss out on being with the kids, was depressing. Did it really have to be like thi... Read More

Esther's blog: Playing the long game in the city

I recently had the delightful experience of meeting up some old friends, all women who’d worked their whole adult lives in various professions, and all with children. We turned to discussing ho... Read More

Tom's blog: Milestones...

This month is an important milestone in our house. When our first child turned two, we had our second. When our second child turned two, we had our third. When our third child turns two next week, we... Read More

Ellen's Blog: Going out

I must share with you my interesting experience with a mid-week night out Does this sound familiar? I left the office at 6pm, intending to stay until about 9pm (3 hours is more than enough, sure... Read More

James's Blog: The Toughest Job

"I’m three months into a four-month sabbatical during which I have been looking after my one year-old daughter.  During my daughter’s first year I worked crazy hours; only occa... Read More

Dolly's blog: The long hot summer

“School's out and with an enormous exhalation of relief we bid adios to our au pair.  Having belatedly realised that she'd been liberally helping herself to my beloved Kerastase su... Read More

Naomi's blog: Superwoman?

"Last year a colleague of mine (also a working mum) explained why she was leaving her job. “Naomi, not everyone can have it all, like you do”).... Wow! So someone actually thinks I h... Read More

Citydad's blog: Man about the house

Three weeks into my paternity leave and I'm cracking up… No, I mean I'm literally cracking up! My hands have sore, bloody cuts on them as deep as the Grand Canyon as I'm washing th... Read More

Esther's blog: Mentoring

"Yesterday Louisa and I launched the new Citymothers Mentoring Scheme, a cross-company mentoring scheme open to all Citymothers members. Of the 120 or so applicants, we were able to match ... Read More

Tom's Blog: Connecting with our children's lives

When a City law firm came up with a list of its defining values, 'connecting' was one of the top results. That got me wondering whether I put us much effort into finding out about the lives m... Read More