Do you ever do something because it’s the right thing to do, and afterwards wish you’d taken an easier, less selfless route, as your well-intentioned plans backfire all around you? I don’t mean big life choices like whether or not to take a year out to work for Doctors without
My husband and I don’t do weekend lie-ins on alternate days, though I know lots of people who do. For us it just hasn’t worked well for lots of reasons, not in the least because I’m a very light sleeper, so it’s not a given that my lie-in would include much
Working from home: no to mascara and high heels, yes to school runs and meals with kids, and best of all reduced guilt…. Lots of people work in jobs that are not suitable for working from home, and plenty of other people are not allowed to by employers. But if you have children, and have ever
Breach of trust, on every level. Like thousands of people who watched Prime Time last night, I’ve spent the morning trying to focus on work but my mind keeps going back to the images of children being slammed down on mattresses, tiny toddlers being punished despite being far too young,
As a mother to three children under six, most of my adult conversations every day are with other parents, most of whom have kids in childcare. Over the last few days, a recurring topic is the news story about RTE’s Prime Time sending undercover researchers into two Dublin creches, and gathering video footage
It’s lunchtime and I’m under my desk having a snooze. Well not really, but that’s where I’d love to be right now, as I scribble these notes and drink my third cappuccino. My baby was up all night, and I’m beyond exhausted. OK he’s not technically a baby anymore, and it
This is not a light, self-deprecating, jokey post – I really lost it with my five year old today, and I’m feeling bad about it. I shouted at her, marched her up the stairs, and told her that she wasn’t going to the party that she was invited to this
On Saturday morning, as happens in houses all over the country on weekend mornings, my three kids bundled into our bed, at various times ranging from 5am to the somewhat more civilised 8 o’clock. The baby was snuggled into me, and Clara, my five year old was cuddled up with her
It started on Monday morning when rushing around getting ready for work, I tripped over a basket of clean washing (it was clean, somehow that matters) and sprained my finger. Just my little finger on my left hand, but oh my, the pain, and oh goodness, the ramifications. I couldn’t
I should have been in bed, it was heading towards midnight on Sunday, and I was due up at 4am to head to the airport for a work trip. As usual I was feeling 90% apprehensive – worrying about leaving the kids, anxious that the baby would wake during the night and not understand
No matter how much you enjoy your job, and certainly if you don’t, returning to work after maternity leave is often daunting. Even if you feel “ready to go back” it’s hard leaving the little person with creche or childminder. It’s difficult the first time, and it’s no less difficult
It’s hard to fit everything into the working day: morning rush, getting kids ready for school, getting self in somewhat presentable state for work, long commute catching up on e-mails and texts, work for eight hours, sort out optician appointments for kids, do online groceries or submit health insurance claims if
So it’s the end of the Easter holidays and parents all over Ireland are breathing a sigh of relief – some because they are at home with their children all year round and it’s a little more difficult to keep everyone entertained during school holidays, and some because they’re at work and find it
“And it’s just that I don’t want her to feel self-conscious about how she looks with or without her glasses, and I know that this isn’t creche and that as a school teacher you have a whole class to look after and you can’t see everything and it’s not your
It’s Good Friday, and I haven’t thought about work once today – I love that. We took the kids to Powerscourt House and Gardens – well OK, the House followed by an “adventure” exploring the trees and grass verges on the way back to the car, via the garden centre.
We woke one morning last week to the news that new Personal Insolvency Guidelines would mean people would be asked to cut out Sky Sports packages, stick to one foreign holiday per year, take the kids out of private school and get rid of that expensive second car. It was
Today I was chatting to a friend who is a mum of two small children and works a three day week. She job-shares, but the person with whom she shares is leaving her role. My friend’s company are not hiring anyone to replace this position, and she has been told
Last night I wrote my first blog post, about the challenges facing working mums, and the universe subsequently laughed at me, in a “you ain’t seen nothing yet” kind of way, then unleashed a properly challenging day on this working mum: My baby was up from 3am onwards, feeding like a newborn,
It’s after midnight, and like any mum whose baby wakes somewhere between 1am and 5am, I’m tucked up in bed, fast asleep, getting some precious zzz’s in before it all kicks off. Except of course I’m not – I’m sitting up watching tv, finishing a glass of wine, and tapping out