“it is the simple things that I find the hardest – like my child being invited to a birthday party mid-week and I can’t bring them, so have to ask another parent to bring him so he doesn’t miss out” The first interview for 2014 is with June Tinsley who
Bedtime doesn’t happen as early as it should in our house. Well, the kids usually come down looking for a glass of water or to say they can’t sleep, but actually they’re not so bad when the initial “OK time for bed” announcement is made – they’re usually fairly acquiescent heading
It was going to be the best Christmas ever. We say that every year of course, and every year we mean it. But last year was definitely going to be the best Christmas ever. We had planned everything in tiny detail – not remembering any of that “if you want
The next interview in this series is with Brenda Brooks; mother of two small children, actress and producer. She has just finished filming The Play Next Door by Deirdre Purcell which will be broadcast in January on RTE 1 and is currently filming Citizen Charlie a three-part drama about Charles
“I’m a firm believer that women can do everything men can, only better and with more humility!” Jill O’Herlihy has worked in Communications at O’Herlihy Communications for the past 17 years. She is mom to two children; Martha is six and Bill is three and a half. She doesn’t have
“I try hard not to compromise the kind of mother I want to be, by not letting work encroach on the children’s time. But inevitably, deadlines need to be met“ Next up, in this series of interviews with mothers, is Carmel Harrington, a sales manager turned stay-at-home-mother and now a published
“He loves his new baby sister” enthused my work colleague about his little boy, “he’s not jealous at all, he’s always hugging and kissing her, he’s so good” Great so, the upcoming birth of my second child was bound to lead to exactly the same kind of loveliness. I wasn’t
An invitation to a charity event in the Disney Store popped into my inbox – their “Share in the Magic” campaign. Children welcome. But on a Wednesday evening. A work-day, a school-night. This would be tricky. But where there’s a will there’s a way, and where there’s Mickey Mouse and a Christmas
Last Saturday morning was always going to be stressful. My husband was leaving at 7.30am for his annual trip to a Liverpool game with “the lads” (at what age are they no longer “the lads”?) – this in itself was not a problem. I feel that six years into being
“I always say ‘nobody died’ and then try and get on with it. Women are natural multi-taskers so we tend to think we can ‘do-it-all’. In my experience, something has gotta give” Lorraine Keane, well-known Irish broadcaster, is this week’s interviewee in the Office Mum interview series. In her capacity as Microsoft
Mothers: what is the solution? With working outside the home I mean, and the attempts to balance. I have never met a mother with whom I haven’t had this conversation – the one about work. All of the below conversations took place over a two week period, just a typical fortnight
“I think once you become a parent, guilt is inevitable” “I often feel like I am present physically but trying to work on something myself while doing homework/cooking dinner etc. I feel like I may be around
The perpetuation of so-called mummy-wars assumes that there is a distinct split between just two types of mothers: those who go out to work in paid employment and those who stay at home with their children. Black and White. Opposite ends of the spectrum. Apparently. And it has reared it’s
This is the first in a series of interviews with mothers; chatting about home and work and family, and that elusive balance that we all seek. Topics range from childcare to career changes, working from home to stay-at-home mothers, setting up businesses, fitting in homework, the ever-present guilt, and mostly,
Maternity benefit has been cut in this week’s budget to €230 per week, down from €262*. This is getting some attention in the media, but understandably, it is overshadowed by more hard-hitting changes. There have been some comments from ISME, One Family, and from the Director of the National Women’s
Is there really a glass ceiling for women in the workplace? Or is it for the most part, something experienced by mothers in the workplace? I realise that this is a controversial question but I’m genuinely interested to know if there are people reading who have been held back in the workplace simply because
Autumn equinox, the country bathed in an unexpected heatwave. A day to mark summer’s end with one last everything. One last ice-cream, one last outdoor lunch, one last walk on the Dun Laoghaire pier. It was the day of the All-Ireland football final, and Dublin Bay glinted in the sunlight,
My baby is not so much a teether, more of a biter. Happily for him and for me, he hasn’t ever gone through a really painful teething period, but he does love a good bite. Of anything. My shoulder. My handbag strap. His sister’s leg. Dolls’ legs. Blankets. My husband’s
Birthdays. They must be perfect. Nobody ever said that that’s a rule, but it is. If you have children, you want them to remember birthdays as their best days ever, don’t you? And realistically, as a parent of small kids, how many days are likely to run smoothly enough to