What’s mindfulness? Asked my energetic five year old, whilst swinging from the door, chewing a pen and holding her sister in a headlock. “It’s about living in the moment and doing one thing at a time.” I replied, quietly drinking in the irony of the situation. Doing too much is symptomatic of the times we…
This is a collaborative post. Isn’t it amazing what an impact a seemingly insignificant moment can have on your life? For me, it was a decision taken by a primary school teacher. When all my friends moved up into the next class after the summer, I was to go into a different class with children…
One of my favourite things about where we live is that we back onto a nature reserve. It’s only small, but it’s full of trees, birds and wildlife. It’s a quiet estate and we rarely get disturbed by neighbours or passers by. But occasionally, the owls make a bit of a racket. They are definitely the…
The trauma of Summer holidays is often the elephant in the room among parents. We all love seeing more of our little treasures because we don’t get the best of them in term time. And yet, it’s tough entertaining children who threaten to lurch into boredom at any moment. We need to be on top of our…
I glanced out of the window and saw them sauntering by. The familiar faces chatting and laughing. The same people as usual trailing behind the group. I couldn’t hear their words, their voices lost in the impenetrable wall of sound that is a baby’s cry. Only one of their party was missing. Left out not through malice,…
One of my biggest parenting flaws is my reluctance to be in the same house as my children. I know, it’s a pretty big flaw. But when we’re indoors, everything is just so difficult. They get bored, watch too much television, start bothering me and we drive each other mad. But all that changes as soon as…