There are four primary schools in my area, all close to our home – one which is actually within walking distance – and all of them have great reputations. But I won’t be sending my kids to any of them because each of them are Catholic-owned. By now you have probably seen several petitions doing the […]

11 years ago

After bath time on Sunday night, I got Jacob dried and dressed into his PJs and said ‘Ok into bed for story time’. Without saying a word, the pair of us trundled off and settled down.. in my room. We have been up and down with our efforts to get Jacob to sleep into his own […]

11 years ago

By some strange miracle, I recently managed to get out to a friend’s birthday drinks in a super-hip gastro pub in the city centre, minus my family, of a Tuesday. That almost never happens to me these days, but I was in town for work anyway and the person who I was with reminded me […]

11 years ago

A 13-YEAR-OLD boy from Staten Island, NY, has been hailed a hero after he prevented his classmate from choking. What is amazing is that fun kid’s tv show ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ appears to be responsible for teaching him the life-saving technique. Brandon Williams, who is autistic, was eating lunch at Barnes Intermediate School when he noticed […]

11 years ago

Dirk Voltz and his partner Mario opened up their home in Berlin to refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, and Dirk has written an account of their ‘disappointing’ experience. But don’t worry, he was being completely sarcastic! Mr. Voltz’s tongue-in-cheek Facebook post has gone viral after he condemned stories about migrants being responsible for theft […]

11 years ago

In my pre-kiddo days, I used to go out. A lot. Like, I was out more than I was in. The idea of sitting in on a Saturday night, with no place to go, filled me to the pits of my soul with dread. I distinctly remember one weekend that none of my mates could […]

11 years ago

Joanne O’Riordan, the Irish woman who was born without limbs, has been recognised for her contribution to people with disabilities at a ceremony in Japan. Joanne, from Millstreet in Cork, was crowned one of Junior Chamber International’s Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World at the ceremony. Ms O’Riordan was honoured in the contribution to children, […]

11 years ago

One in every sixteen women will deliver a pre-term baby in Ireland each year, which means the baby is born before 37 week’s gestation. And while we know that not all babies born pre-term have a positive outcome and the devastating consequences that has for the families involved, many children who come early go on […]

11 years ago

I am rather fond of baking cupcakes and muffins at my house, but I will never look at the baking tin again without thinking of these cute little fellas. A YouTube account called Fabulous Mr. Pug has uploaded a video of six African pygmy hedgehogs having a snooze – and they each fit perfectly inside the spaces of […]

11 years ago

In the past week alone, we have seen one repeat offender sentenced to thirteen years in prison for the attempted abduction of a young girl and the return to Ireland of convicted child sex offender Danny Ward. Unfortunately, the bad news doesn’t stop there. Now parents in south Dublin have more to worry about as The […]

11 years ago

‘The Ultimate Father Ted Quiz’ app has just been launched so join us as we say bye-bye to all our free time.. My Lovely App will test your knowledge on one of Ireland’s best-loved TV shows, the fantastic Father Ted. The app is really fun, user-friendly and has over 200 questions from all 25 episodes of […]

11 years ago

The judicial system in Ireland can sometimes leave us scratching our heads when we hear of serious cases of corruption and crime going unpunished, and joke that they only thing you can be jailed for is ‘not paying your TV license’. But for one Arklow dad, being jailed for exactly that, was no laughing matter. […]

11 years ago

As of early last year, my family and I live in the exact same area that I grew up in. Like, my parent’s house is now a brisk four-minute walk away.  Despite the niggling thought that the decision to move from Dublin’s city centre (which I LOVED) out to what is essentially ‘The Shticks’ of […]

11 years ago

A one-year-old patient at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London is the first in the world to receive ‘designer’ genetic cell modification treatment, which appears to have successfully eliminated her cancer. Layla Richards was diagnosed with the most common form of childhood cancer, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, when she was just fourteen weeks old. She was originally […]

11 years ago

A drunk driver has been jailed for seven and half years, after causing a fatal head-on collision in which a child was killed. Forty-year-old Finbarr O’Rourke of Laurel Drive in Portlaoise drank between eight and ten pints of cider on the day of the crash, and got into his car after having an argument with […]

11 years ago

I love Caitlin Moran. Apart from maybe two other comediennes, Caitlin’s hilarious articles and observations have entirely strengthened my feminist streak and outlook over the last few years. She is a bad ass and.. have I mentioned that I love her?! Her recent article, Posthumous Advice For My Daughter, is absolutely bang-on for so many reasons. […]

11 years ago

It is said that when you have your second baby, you tend to be more relaxed because the big job of getting to grips with parenthood has essentially been dealt with the first time around.  You aren’t as anxious that you’re going to make a haims of the situation, you don’t have all that adjustment-to-parenthood […]

11 years ago

From the day my daughter Eva was born, she had this look about her, one that said, ‘Whoever was in charge around here is totally fired. There’s a new kid in town’. And now, at almost one and a half, she is – literally – running rings around us. She has an abundance of hyperactive […]

11 years ago

At four, my son Jacob is getting more inquisitive all the time, and there is seemingly no subject that is off-limits. Lately, he has been asking questions like: ‘Why do we have to have bones?’, ‘Why don’t you have a willy?’ and ‘Why haven’t you brought me to the moon yet?’ – questions that we […]

11 years ago

I like baking a lot, but with two kids in tow, I definitely don’t have as much time to do it these days. That said, even before the kids came along, I was always a fan of the ‘One Bowl Plan’. Are you familiar with that one? That, em, ‘technique’ involves flinging all of your […]

11 years ago

When we baptised our daughter, I wanted to say a poem at the ceremony about mothers and daughters but couldn’t find any I really liked. A friend suggested I take pen to paper and write her a letter from the heart. It was the best advice ever. A personal letter to your kids when they […]

11 years ago

My four-year-old son Jacob has a best friend in pre-school called Ethan, whose mum is Irish and dad is Spanish. And because Ethan can speak in Spanish as well as English, Jacob thinks he can too.. the poor lamb.. During the summer, I brought him to see the new Minions movie. It was a mammy-son […]

11 years ago

When I was a kid (approx. the year 1842), my parents always played games with my brothers and I on Hallowe’en night – games that certain hip, modern-technology-savvy folk now refer to as ‘retro’. Pardon me while I sign up for a zimmer frame..  I say, let’s keep the tradition alive. It would be SO easy […]

11 years ago

Hallowe’en can be a really terrifying time for animals; the house is busier than normal with trick or treaters, the sound of bangers is relentless and, if like our house, your toddlers are dressed up like monsters and superheros, there can be a lot of ‘Rarrrrr!!-ing’ going on. We have a small West Highland Terrier, Pearl, […]

11 years ago

Mum Jenny Drake was flying home to the States from a break in Paris with her husband last Saturday, when she went into premature labour at 25 weeks. The plane was in the air for only an hour when Mrs Drake, from Kentucky, experienced what she thought – and hoped – might just be Braxton Hicks. “I […]

11 years ago

Nessa Robinson is based in Dublin with her partner Eoghan and daughter Fia, and owns a newborn photography business. She hopes to be known as the ‘go-to newborn photographer in Dublin’ and judging by her photographs below, we don’t think she’ll have any trouble on that front! When did you open your business and how […]

11 years ago

We had great fun over the bank holiday weekend; carving pumpkins, stocking up on Hallowe’en treats and most importantly, figuring out how to frighten the sh*te out of our neighbours. We LIKE our neighbours and everything, but as it’s only our second year living in the neighbourhood, and we didn’t really go overboard with decorations […]

11 years ago

My life changed so dramatically after I had my first child, Jacob, that I genuinely wasn’t sure I would ever go again. In hindsight, I think I was a bit in shock, because I had ridiculously unrealistic expectations of what having a baby meant. I had read all the books and went to all the […]

11 years ago

If you are dealing with one of your kids having night terrors, I feel your pain. I really do. My now four-year-old had night terrors for almost two years and for most of that time, we really didn’t know what we were dealing with. When you’re a first-time parent, you have no concept of what is […]

11 years ago

Every woman’s pregnancy is different. Some of us love it and sail through it, some of us struggle with nausea, chronic fatigue, bad skin, bad moods, pains in our backs and pains in our fronts… But we can all agree on one thing: the last few weeks can be the pits. We feel huge, like giant elephant […]

11 years ago

If you are relatively new to the world of parenting, you are probably just becoming familiar with hearing this sentence, ‘Why don’t we organise a play date some time?!’ Playdates, in case you are unfamiliar, involve bringing yourself, your kids and some sort of offering to another parent’s house and hanging out together for an […]

11 years ago

The general consensus is that you have a baby shower thrown for you when you are expecting your first baby, and then any subsequent pregnancies are pretty much ignored. But I think that’s kind of rubbish. A little surprise lunch or get-together for your friend who is getting to the more difficult stages of late […]

11 years ago

There are certain things that make the challenge of Motherhood all the more difficult, like closing the door to the baby room when you get her to sleep, only to hear the following five minutes later: 1. the dog, who was obviously hiding under the baby’s cot for a snooze, pawing and crying at the door, […]

11 years ago

Having worked for myself for the last few years, I’ve been pretty much been able to choose my own hours, re-schedule meetings and work days if the kids are sick, give myself consistent positive feedback in my employee reviews AND sleep with the boss…. … ok, maybe I’m not explaining myself very well: my partner Alan […]

11 years ago

When Hallowe’en approaches, we scramble around picking up costumes for our toddlers, bigger kids and even ourselves if we’re not too morto to dress up. Everywhere you turn, supermarkets, hardware stores, online – there are costumes for sale. But what about the little babies who can’t trick or treat yet, the ones we are still carrying around? […]

11 years ago

5 Sleeps To Go… Locate all summer clothes. They’re probably still in the attic. Wash and dry all items. In the dryer. (See above.) Return to attic to retrieve large suitcase. Realise gave large suitcase to brother on loan two years ago. Tell self that family should really go on more holidays. Ask brother for […]

11 years ago

I’m going out on a limb here for all the dads and the partners, the ones who did not physically give birth to the child and/or take full-time responsibility for the health and wellbeing, feeding, washing, clothing, wiping up and lugging around of said child. You are doomed. DOOMED. Whether you are an astronaut, brain […]

12 years ago

We’ve had a funky few weeks around our house. I say ‘funky’ in this case not implying ‘smelly’ or ‘gone off’ (although some of those nappies….pfffft!) but just sort of bad. For the first half of 2015, we had been experiencing something of a universal love-in, and rode high on a crest of good fortune; […]

12 years ago

If you’re a parent and you’ve never seen the movie ‘The Slipper And The Rose’, I suggest you find a way to schedule it into your telly watching this weekend. Based on the story of Cinderella, it is a fabulous UK musical version starring our very own Gemma Craven and the ridiculously handsome Richard Chamberlain. […]

12 years ago

HerFamily.ie contributor, Sharyn Hayden has written a book. You know, along with being a stand-up comedian, presenter, actress, mother to two kids and a dog and creating and running the brilliant website RaisingIreland.com, she’s written a book. We’re feeling impressed and exhausted in equal measure. Sharyn lives in Dublin with her husband, Alan (AKA ‘Ass Monkey’) and children. Her […]

12 years ago

As we come to another summer season (and this one has been rather pleasant to date), cast you mind back if you will to the ‘summer’ of 2015. Aka The Year Of No Summer. In our house, however, it will forever be The Year Of The Pox. From the time that Jacob went into creche […]

12 years ago

HerFamily.ie contributor, Sharyn Hayden has written a book. You know, along with being a stand-up comedian, presenter, actress, mother to two kids and a dog and creating and running the brilliant website RaisingIreland.com, she’s written a book. We’re feeling impressed and exhausted in equal measure. Sharyn lives in Dublin with her husband, Alan (AKA ‘Ass Monkey’) and children. Her […]

12 years ago

HerFamily.ie contributor, Sharyn Hayden has written a book. You know, along with being a stand-up comedian, presenter, actress, mother to two kids and a dog and creating and running the brilliant website RaisingIreland.com, she’s written a book. We’re feeling impressed and exhausted in equal measure. Sharyn lives in Dublin with her husband, Alan (AKA ‘Ass Monkey’) and children. Her […]

12 years ago

HerFamily.ie contributor, Sharyn Hayden has written a book. You know, along with being a stand-up comedian, presenter, actress, mother to two kids and a dog and creating and running the brilliant website RaisingIreland.com, she’s written a book. We’re feeling impressed and exhausted in equal measure. Sharyn lives in Dublin with her husband, Alan (AKA ‘Ass Monkey’) and children. Her […]

12 years ago

HerFamily.ie contributor, Sharyn Hayden has written a book. You know, along with being a stand-up comedian, presenter, actress, mother to two kids and a dog and creating and running the brilliant website RaisingIreland.com, she’s written a book. We’re feeling impressed and exhausted in equal measure. Sharyn lives in Dublin with her husband, Alan (AKA ‘Ass Monkey’) and children. […]

12 years ago

Friday last week was one of those days where there was just too much on. The kids went to Jackie The Amazing Child Minder so I could plow into work for a few hours, as they do every Friday. It’s my one and only day of the week when both kids are out of the […]

12 years ago

The search for the perfect GP left this mother cold…

12 years ago

Comedienne Sharyn Hayden on her first family-friendly hotel experience

12 years ago

Your Daily Dose from our Guest Blogger Sharyn Hayden

12 years ago

We are big fans of football superstar Stephanie Roche here at HerFamily.ie – her determination and talent as well as her gorgeous nature makes her a brilliant role model in this cool new YouTube campaign aimed at teenage girls. The ‘Lilets Let’s Talk‘ campaign launched to help pre-teens and teens through the most important transitional and confusing time in their […]

12 years ago