I had a stark reminder this morning of how small, innocent and potentially at risk my four-year-old is. We pulled up in the car to his pre-school, outside on the path as the carpark was full. Jacob normally jumps out and stands by the car while waiting for me to shut the door and lock […]

11 years ago

Every now and then, we come across something so gorgeous on Etsy that we just have to have it now, come hell or low bank balance. For a start-up business owner like Nuala O’Farrell, that is precisely the kind of customer that you want and obviously the right kind of product really helps. Mum of […]

11 years ago

I had one of those days yesterday where I was just a bit too tired and a bit too cranky. It was the kind of day where the attention that the dog, my partner and my two kids needed just wore me down a little bit more than usual, and I found myself hiding in […]

11 years ago

We. Are. SO. Jealous. Imagine you are at the six-month countdown stage to your wedding and you are starting to freak out amount the mounting costs. You had budgeted for the main things; the dresses and suits, the venue, the bands, the photographers and that was all just about manageable. But then you started to […]

11 years ago

I got talking to one of the other mums from my son’s pre-school recently when we found ourselves at the same local swimming pool (which didn’t end well for other reasons, more about that here!) I mentioned that Jacob was keen to have all his pals over to our house for a little party soon. […]

11 years ago

Have you heard that urban legend that an American tourist thought that the word ‘Penneys’ was ‘Thank You’ in Irish? As in; – Wow your dress is amazing! – Penneys – I love your top – Penneys Etc etc.. Until Penneys became the Mecca that we love today, that response used to be used apologetically, […]

11 years ago

If you are on ‘The Internet’, then you have probably seen more than one post or article complaining about women putting their makeup on in public. We’re talking trains, planes, while stopped at traffic lights in their cars. Ok, I know that doing anything other than concentrating on the task at hand when driving is […]

11 years ago

**Warning: This article contains graphic poo content*** We’ve had a fair few rainy days lately and that can mean only one thing: every parent in the country freaking out about how to entertain their kids until the sun comes back. We were lucky enough with the Easter break until the very last few days, in […]

11 years ago

As anyone who knows me will testify, I’m pretty irritable at the best of times. I used to be a grumpy young woman and now I’m growing up to be a real grumpy ould so-and-so. In fact, I’m morphing into the female version of my da, which is worrisome on various levels but mostly because […]

11 years ago

The subject of childcare is one that receives great attention, and for very good reason too. If you want a ‘part-time job’ outside of your full-time job of parenting (see what I did there), then you have to sit down with your partner and figure out who is going to look after the smallies in […]

11 years ago

I can’t wait until you watch this video – you’ll laugh, you’ll cry.. and then you’ll wonder whether you can borrow this mammy for future family events of your own. Traditionally in Ireland, women didn’t really speak during the speeches at their own weddings. The job of telling funny stories about the couple fell to […]

11 years ago

When my son was born, he developed chronic jaundice and was sent to the ICU for treatment. While we fretted about our little man who was hanging out under the sun lamps for 24 hours, in the room next door, another baby wailed endlessly. On enquiry, we were told that he was born to a […]

11 years ago

This whole area is a bit of a minefield really, isn’t it? The thing is, if someone’s kid that you know hits your own child, you are caught between wanting to protect your child and not falling out with the parents. If the parents are sound and they deal with it accordingly, i.e telling their […]

11 years ago

I know that as a parent it is my inherent duty to bemoan the fact that my kids are growing up. I am obliged to look at old baby photos or hold up little tiny babygros that they no longer fit into and wail, “Why? WHY must they keep growing?!” And I DO do a […]

11 years ago

This. Is. Gross. And I say that as a confirmed sugar junkie. You will recognise me from such sugary behavioural problems as shoving handfuls of chocolate Maltesers into my mouth, one after the other, over an eight-minute period until the entire super-sized bag has disappeared. And particularly, I’d be loathe to share them, even with […]

11 years ago

This is what happens when my partner Alan is taking the kids out for a day trip by himself; Me:    Do you have the changing bag? Him:  Yes. Me:    Do you have nappies in it, wipes, a few snacks, the bottle and blanket? Him:  Some, but not all of that. Me:    Did […]

11 years ago

How you choose to have your babies is entirely up to you. As the pregnant mum-to-be, it is also entirely your prerogative to have one birth plan (laminated, if you’re determined like I was) and then completely change your mind when it comes down to it. It’s your body, your baby and your mind. Remember […]

11 years ago

Current status: two hyper children under the age of five. Chocolate levels in house: high, plus six un-opened eggs in the boot of my car. Argh, how did this happen? Despite my best efforts to avoid over-doing it on the chocolate front for the kids (i.e. I made ‘Easter Activity Bags’ with stickers, crayons, bubbles and […]

11 years ago

Good babysitters can be hard to come by, as evidenced by our fab childminder and sometimes babysitter who tells me that she was booked for New Years’ Eve in January. Yes, that is this New Years’ Eve coming, January just gone. She is a woman in demand. And while we pay our babysitter the going […]

11 years ago

There is no stopping Caitlin Moran. We are halfway through her fabulous new book, ‘Moranifesto’, and it is amazing. She deals with politics, the gender divide, poverty, the world – in her own, inimitable ‘No Horse Shit, please’ way that the world so desperately needs. And now, to teenage girls. You remember being a teenage […]

11 years ago

If you are or have been planning to travel to or from the UK today, you may be at the mercy of Storm Katie. More than one hundred flights in and out of both Heathrow and Gatwick airports have been cancelled due to the terrible weather conditions. Storm Katie has brought gale-force winds and heavy […]

11 years ago

By now, you’ve probably watched the YouTube clip of Jennifer Garner doing the most hilarious recital of parenting book fave, Go The F*ck To Sleep. You may also be conscious of hearing her name mentioned a lot lately when it comes to a celebrity mum sharing fun and relatable parenting stories, and for just being generally […]

11 years ago

I’m a bit obsessed with the housework. As in, I’m obsessed with trying to figure out ways to get out of it. We have searched high and low for the solution, from the most efficient laundry room ever invented to Ironing Hacks and the easiest way to clean your oven, ever. But from time to time, we need […]

11 years ago

We LOVE this! Brilliant Irish choir The Line-Up have been in the States for a series of performances around the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in New York. But it would appear that the choir members are never truly ‘off duty’ as this video that they posted online shows. The talented bunch visited a local bar after a […]

11 years ago

Terrible images have emerged from Lahore, Pakistan, of the devastation caused by a terrorist attack at a family-friendly park yesterday. A breakaway faction of the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the explosion which took place near the children’s swings at a popular park called Gaussian-e-Iqbal in the city. (Source: Reuters) The park was crowded with […]

11 years ago

It’s all well and good to have been through the process of being pregnant and having kids, but how can we possibly describe something so personal to another woman? That’s precisely what we tried to do when we published The One Piece Of Invaluable Advice That First-time Mums Need To Know – to impart practical and friendly […]

11 years ago

My son is almost five and I’m pretty sure he would have no idea of what to do in an emergency. (Note to self: change that situation immediately.) This incredible five-year-old girl in the States dialled 911 when her dad had trouble breathing in order to get an ambulance sent to their apartment. Listen to […]

11 years ago

This. Is. Emotional. If you have one or more kids at home, plus maybe a dog or cat scratching at the door, a washing machine on constant and Peppa Pig doing her thing on the TV, you are missing something vital – PEACE AND QUIET. Yesterday, my four-year-old son refused to go to Easter camp […]

11 years ago

Planning the perfect wedding day can often send brides-to-be into unprecedented Meltdown Status, so what to do if one of your chosen bridesmaids announces that she’s pregnant? Well, first of all, don’t panic. You love your mate to bits and that’s why you asked her to be bridesmaid in the first place, right? Aside from […]

11 years ago

It’s so hard to keep a track of every little minor – or major – ailment that our kids can pick up. I find myself examining my two for anything unusual at every bath or when I’m getting them dressed. Rashes, of course, freak us all out on first sighting and send us running for […]

11 years ago

My son Jacob is four and a half and is a super-dedicated nose picker. It started about a year ago when my dad spotted him with a finger up there, rummaging around and gave him a ‘Ah, ah, ah!’, which sort of worked for a while. And then he got Impetigo, so we knew he […]

11 years ago

In a world which continues to be beset with inherited inequality, it is great to see how much our younger generations coming up the ranks disagree with the status quo. These kids in Australia, both boys and girls, were given the precise same general chores to do – wash the car, dusting, shining up the […]

11 years ago

Parents with new babies get plenty of attention and help if they are surrounded by a decent network of family and friends – and so they should because they need it! However, when the new baby isn’t a new baby any more, people tend to stop calling with dinners or even sending messages to ask […]

11 years ago

Apart from close family, I didn’t tell anyone that I was pregnant until I was nearly five months into it. It was the first pregnancy, so I think I carried the extra weight and hide it well, under loose fitting clothes. If you have just found out that you’re pregnant and are trying to […]

11 years ago

I am a big fan of fur babies as well as human babies. In fact, Pearl the West Highland Terrier is, as I tell everyone, my first child and the other two human ones came later. I know, a bit much but she’s sooo cute. For any of you who had pets before kids like […]

11 years ago

The Sunday Business Post reports that sixty families in the Cruise Park area of Tyrellstown, West Dublin, have recently received notice to quit their rented homes. Property firm Twinlife issued the notices after a Goldman Sachs vulture fund bought an €89m loan from Ulster Bank on the Cruise Park development granted to the owners of […]

11 years ago

In the last almost five years of being a parent, I have worked at home (parenting), from home (writing) and now three days a week at the office. It’s been eventful, to say the least. I tell you all this because I want you to know that I don’t favour any scenario over the other, […]

11 years ago

The tenth European Breast Cancer Conference has just taken place in Amsterdam, and with it, some extremely exciting news. Professor Nigel Bundred, who is Professor of Surgical Oncology at the University of Manchester presented results from a trial in which twenty-seven women with newly-diagnosed, operable, HER2 positive breast tumours took part. Approximately a quarter of […]

11 years ago

I don’t hate cleaning, but I certainly hate all of the time that I give over to cleaning. Over the years, I have had to have words with myself to relax, just do one job at a time, and make sure that I only commit a small portion of my day to cleaning around the […]

11 years ago

My mam is a pretty chilled out human being, it takes a lot to get her feathers ruffled. So when she IS annoyed about something, it’s so rare that you definitely take it seriously. Over the years, she has ‘put an angry call in’ on behalf of her children for various reasons. For me, it […]

11 years ago

Scottish parents Mervyn Scott and Sarah Aitken were last night being comforted by relatives following the deaths of their two-year-old twin sons Rhys and Shaun. The boys have lost their lives after apparently falling into a garden pond yesterday morning. According to the Fife Reporter, the Scottish Ambulance Service and Police were called to the family […]

11 years ago

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream these days. In fact, the ice-cream van in our area seems to be on overtime, he’s around so much. Our older generations of parents just love to recall stories from their childhoods, when they were given a penny on a Sunday with which to buy […]

11 years ago

In celebration of International Women’s Day, advertising agency TBWA produced this powerful video which highlights some of the issues facing women who work within their own industry. Cleverly, they asked female employees who worked in advertising to give them some quotes about the challenges they face, in working what is traditionally seen as a ‘Man’s […]

11 years ago

This is not a test, I repeat, this is not an actual test. This is just one of those things that is so silly and fun that it sends the internet into a tailspin. UK Electronic and Dance Artist Example posted an incredible grid of photos to his Instagram page, of adorable Chihuahua dogs side-by-side […]

11 years ago

We had a big response to our article this week on whether kids have a place at weddings or not. From casual comments such as ‘It’s really up to the bride and groom’ to outright offence taken if an invite came through the door without the kid’s names on it, we’ve heard a lot of […]

11 years ago

Isn’t it so nice to have a reason to stop, take stock and list a few of the things that you are grateful for today? A lovely trend on Twitter is doing just that this week – encouraging it’s users to list anything that is making them happy right now by using the hashtag #IWillSmileTodayBecause. […]

11 years ago

My son (4) has tripped off to his best pal’s birthday party today at a play centre. The parents have taken a small group in their car, picked Jacob up this morning and will be dropping him back some time this afternoon. I know the family well so not only do I trust them to […]

11 years ago

Planning on any camping trips this year? The kids would most likely love it if you brought pizza-inspired sleeping bags along! But be warned, it’ll cost you. A shop called Bfiberandcraft on Etsy are offering these unusual, made-to-order items for the princely sum of €183.31. And get this – that’s just for a plain slice! Yep, the guts […]

11 years ago

This video totally cracks us up. ‘Sammy The Seal’ has become something of a local celebrity in Wicklow town, as he has figured out that if he swims up the south quay, there will be locals and visitors to greet him with some tasty treats. Would you believe he visits this precise area three times […]

11 years ago

My sister-in-law is designated bridesmaid at her best pal’s wedding later in the year. The bride-to-be sent her a fabulous card to ask her to fill those shoes which read; ‘Will you hold my dress for me while I pee?’ Love it, right? But what about those brides who might not want anyone coming into […]

11 years ago