Child care advice

 There’s one thing all parents of more than one child know and that is that having only one was a...

With Christmas around the corner, you may just be feeling the stress rising. But I have a secret about Christmas,...

  New Year always heralds that dreaded thing; the New Year’s Day hangover. But worse, still, than a glass of Alka...

Valentine’s Day… that special, happy day of imposed romance, compulsory tokens of love and affection and donations to the card...

Once upon a time (actually in 1941, if you really want to know) a cartoon series was created about a...

  Once upon a time, ‘stress’ was something suffered by high-flying, workaholic traders on the New York Stock Exchange, chefs, and...

When a baby is conceived, three things happen: a new life is created, the world instantly becomes filled with buggies...

There’s one thing all jugglers know; if you juggle enough balls for long enough, you will eventually drop one. Or...

 Being with your family in your spare time can be just as important and valuable as time by yourself to...

  I often think about how my children will remember me when they have grown up and left home. Or how...

There’s often a discussion within families as to whether times are easier or harder now, than Way Back When. It’s...

 From the 5th April, new rights to allow parents to share leave following the birth or adoption of their child...

People often talk about wanting to have children, in order to bring them closer together. The truth is that nothing...

The curse of the first-born is that they’re the first-born. The curse of all subsequent children is that they‘re not...

There is a huge amount of information available to new or expectant parents, about the changes we might expect in...

  The last few years have seen a dramatic increase in the number of nurseries and care homes installing CCTV and...

 I’m often asked when is the perfect time to have a baby. The answer, of course is, never. Having a baby...

 If aliens were to land on Earth and browse the shelves of the parenting section of their local book shop...

Once upon a time, seeing a dad at the school gates meant one of three things:1. He is sleep-walking2. His...

 Here we are, with the evenings already noticeably shortening, the air temperature a thin jumper’s worth lower every day, and...

Two of the biggest questions about childcare that I struggled with, just as every parent does, are these: 1. What...

  It divides parents, both within families and at the school gate, like almost nothing else. Too pushy, not pushy enough,...

 I recently went to stay for the weekend at my parents’ house. This is always a nostalgic affair for me...

At some point we all need an extra pair of hands… And we shouldn’t be ashamed to ask for this...

 New guidelines are to be issued to teachers in the hope of reducing gender stereotyping in schools. The use of...

 Raising children has barely changed, in essence, since humans first crawled the Earth. Children are born; their parents try to...

 I’m going to write something now, which might shock you. Though, most likely, it shocks me even more. I had...

 The first thing I did, when each of my three children were born and they were handed to me wrapped...

  There was a story in the UK recently – not one that shook the front pages to their core,...

There is one thing almost every woman promises herself when she finds out she is going to have a baby....

I am writing this column in very strange, turbulent, confused and unsettling times. Not because England has already been kicked out...