Frantically cleaning snotty eyes with baby wipes in the nursery car park. A dose of Calpol to reduce a slight temperature before you send them for the day. That little white lie that transforms a 36-hour vomit-free period, into 48. It’s the childcare hustle and, chances are, if you are a working parent to preschool… Read More
I am sorry. I am a good human being – a good teacher, I think. I listen, I learn, I strive to be better. I know it is a great responsibility to shape young minds, young opinions. I thought I knew what it means to teach a pupil with autism. But experience has given me something… Read More
A Sunday supermarket trip…
This is an example of a fun task that you can do with slightly older children which is much easier to do than you might expect. I am by no means an expert myself, so this post should enable anyone to get started. There’s huge range and scope in the kind of thing you can… Read More
For some time now, I have been painfully aware of how rarely either one of my children gets my undivided attention. My daughter is a second child and her brother has recently been diagnosed as being on the autistic spectrum. She has not had the wholehearted newborn adoration her brother received. She has never been the… Read More
I was recently invited to take part in two separate days of no complaints and positivity with Cuddle Fairy. You can read about her day, and posts from the other lovely people who took part here. These days fell at particularly interesting times for me; they corresponded with the two things that take up all of my… Read More
I hear your voice from the other room: “Hello H. I am running about in the kitchen! I was running about and then you came!” It is the longest utterance you have addressed to your sister. In fact, I can’t ever remember you speaking directly to her in this way before. My heart swells. I… Read More
We have all likely heard of the recently publicised recommendation that children under three should have no screen time. Even the over threes, it is argued, should be very restricted when it comes to time watching television and using phones, tablets and other technology. Anyone who is the mother of a three year-old knows that this… Read More
I am someone’s wife. I am someone’s teacher. I am someone’s mum. I wasn’t always any of these things and yet they have come to define me. Each role brings huge responsibility and infinite pride – hard work and reward in equal measure. They are all relationships that require me to give a lot of… Read More
Until they were one year old exactly, I took a photo of both my children, mostly in the same place and position, every single week. There are 56 photos for each in total, as there were a few special occasions thrown in for good measure. There are many ways to record the milestones of that… Read More
My husband has a theory about the Toy Story films. He says that they are an allegory for parenthood. The toys are not really toys at all, he says, but parents, learning to let go of the childhood versions of their children. Today is my second child’s first birthday. Birthdays bring mixed emotions. Her one-year-old… Read More
It took time. My second child, a girl, was born in January 2015. I felt the same instant rush of love I felt with my son two years previously – the same desperate need to protect, whatever the cost. Though, I know, this doesn’t always come at first. But I would be fooling myself if… Read More