There’s no denying that the baby and toddler years are hard. The physical exhaustion, the constantly being covered in someone else’s body fluids sometimes outweight the marvel of having created a child. The neediness, supreme dependence, the constant need for the child to be held, the lack of lie ins,…
This time three years ago we thought that we were as ready as we could possibly be for our precious firstborn starting school. We’d done all the stuff you’re supposed to do, the stuff that’s covered in the letter that you get from the school and in the back to…
As back-to-school looms I find myself giving unsolicited advice about school supplies to anyone who will listen. As is often the case, this advice tends to take the negative turn, with words like “crap” and “not worth a shite” cropping up. I call it cautionary advice, or helping others learn…
As I type there is a small boy dressed in stripy pyjamas bouncing around his bed upstairs. Every now and then he has an urgent request for parental intervention, or he drops something very loudly so that his daddy or I make the journey up the stairs to investigate. As…
It’s back to school time, it has been since the week before the school holidays. The time of year where the food section of every magazine and newspaper is filled with lunchbox ideas. “Healthy back to school snacks” “variety in the lunchbox”, “kids will love these healthy somethings”. Lads, it’s…
1. Place booklists in a safe place in June. 2. Forget where the safe place was in July. Tear house apart to find one stuck to the fridge and the other in your handbag. 3. Realise four minutes later that you had taken photos of them in case you lost…
I know it feels like the school holidays only started but it’s time to get the booklists out and get organised for the return already. My second boy is starting school this year so we are getting him all set. One of the tasks I despise most about the back…
A year of going in for two afternoons, meeting your friends and holding my hand so tightly. You’d rush in, put your things where they went and play, flashing those big brown eyes in my direction before giving yourself over to the toys. You didn’t tell me the names of…
We’re later going back to school than many, and while our teachers have been slaving away for over a week the students only streamed in this morning to the crowded school yard to start the new term. We dashed in at the last minute, found the class, got into our…
Ciarán and I “collaborated” on a piece in yesterday’s Irish Independent. OK, I wrote it, he answered some questions I asked him and stole the show in the photos. (don’t tell the other two I said that). Here are the links if you’d like to read this brand new piece:…
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