In the early days of my parenting life – possibly while I was still pregnant – I read a lot about how to help my children to become good sleepers. Despite that research, they were still nine or ten months old before they actually became good sleepers, but still: there were certain suggestions that stuck… Continue reading Kids and their favourite toys
If you’ve read any of my blog posts during the past few years it should come as no surprise that managing tantrums has been a common theme of my parenting life. Hattie was a champion tantrum-thrower from the age of 18 months to three years old, and when she went into retirement Joe eagerly took… Continue reading Sticker charts
I’ve discovered a side-effect of Hattie and Joe’s close sibling bond: if I tell off one of them, the other one has started to speak up in defence of their twin. So far, this has primarily been seen with Hattie speaking up for Joe, but I suspect it will also happen in reverse if Hattie… Continue reading United we stand
In the name of all that is wonderful, why do children insist on making life difficult and doing things the hard way? Example one: Joe and TV Most evenings, after dinner, bath (if it’s a kids’ bath night – every second night in our house), and pyjamas, we let the kids watch a wee bit… Continue reading The hard way
Yesterday Hattie made a request for some “soft toy flowers”. I rarely have time for much any craft activities these days, but I needed to buy some bright pink fake fur in order to create Princess Poppy-style wigs for the kids’ friend Norah’s Trolls-themed fifth birthday party yesterday, so I also bought some felt and a… Continue reading Felt flowers
I love love BLOODY LOVE this article by Emily Writes. Read it right now, and then come back here, OK? I’m in an amazing Facebook writing mothers’ group with Emily, and she’s brilliant. She is so wise and so funny, and she’s doing all of her fantastic writing and editing with very little sleep. Long-time… Continue reading Sleep, parenting, etc
In news that will possibly raise a smirk from those of you who spend every single day coping with young children at home, unaided (and probably secretly think of me as a privileged princess, as I swan off to uni each day and talk to adults): today I survived an entire day with Hattie and… Continue reading Full time with the kids
Last year I wrote about how much I dislike parents who delight in telling you that, whatever struggles you’re currently facing with your kids, there’s even worse to come. I’m sure there’s probably a technical psychological term to describe these people, but I’m tired and can’t be bothered researching, so I’m just going to call… Continue reading The ‘best years’ myth
My Facebook newsfeed is slowly filling with articles, blog posts, and comments in groups about Mother’s Day, which is this Sunday here in New Zealand. Most of them are somewhat critical of the commercialised nature of the day. Many of them are written by mothers who know that a lack of attention paid to the… Continue reading Mother’s Day is coming…
This post is the sequel to last week’s post ‘How to find a great au pair’, which took you up to the point where you’ve got some eager young person lined up to join your family in a few months’ time. Here’s what we’ve learned about how to prepare for, and manage, life with an au… Continue reading How to be a happy host family
