This isn’t really a story about a seagull and a fish. More, it’s a story of how a seagull and a fish made me cry a little bit this evening. Out of nowhere, while reading one of our absolute favourite books, probably my favourite one actually – The Snail and The Whale. The story (by…
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As an eldest child myself with three younger sisters, I often noticed the frustrating unfairness that sometimes came with being the eldest. Often getting blamed for stuff just because I was older ‘and should know better’, and often finding that rules that had once applied to me, suddenly no longer applied to the youngest child.…
Read MoreAs a Mother every so often I get all deep and philosophical and wonder.. What IS Parenting? What does it MEAN to be a mother? What is that sticky thing on my jumper?! I’ll never know how things stay so constantly sticky (although I’ve learned to accept it), but I think I have figured out…
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{Also published on The M Word } I’ll be clear from the start: Most of the time, I’ve NO IDEA how to handle this situation. But now that we’ve established our three-year-olds are essentially walking bundles of emotional confusion, what can we do to help them – and ourselves – get through it? Well, here’s…
Read MoreEach morning, Monday to Friday, for the last 10 minutes of my commute to work just before I walk into the office building, I try and FaceTime the boys for a chat, especially on mornings where they are asleep when I’m leaving the house and I haven’t seen them yet. Alex usually blows me kisses…
Read More{Also published on The M Word } Right. Ask anyone who knows me, I’m not one for giving out about anything really. I’m actually renowned for not giving out, ever. They’ll probably put it on my gravestone – Here Lies Jen (The Legend); She Never Gave Out Once. Another trait I am partial to now and…
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Also features on The M Word There’s loads of things nobody warns you about when you’re waddling around with your Bump all glowy and dreamy and planning your perfect white Pinterest worthy nursery. Put down that white fluffy rug with the matching white fluffy cushion for your nursing chair, Mama. Seriously, put them back. Don’t…
Read More{Also features on The M Word} There was a video doing the rounds online last year where these kids were handed a cassette tape and had no idea what it was. It got me thinking, and wondering what other things my boys will grow up not knowing. Not just things either, but experiences. Take Spotify as…
Read MoreHave you ever heard that family statistic, ‘2.4 children’ when referring to the average family size? I always thought the .4 part sounded a bit ridiculous. I mean, what’s .4 of a child? But now I know. Of course it’s not a child. It’s the other thing that moves in when you have children, whether…
Read MoreLet me start by saying, I feel slightly betrayed by my parenting predecessors. I got warned about things like sleepless nights, explosive nappies, teething, and the start of the tantrums, right up to the Terrible Twos. So you could forgive me for assuming that once we cleared those murky waters that it would be more…
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The Scenic Route 