“Want other mummy, not you!” said the two-year-old, pushing me away when I tried to hug him after work this evening. Oh. Not what I was expecting. Maybe I’d misheard. I tried again – reached out for a hug. “No, you stay there. Want other mummy, not you!” Right so,
It was the August bank holiday weekend, and I really wanted to be like those families who head away spontaneously for a night – we’ve never done that. The budget allowed for this to be a one-night-only event, so options were limited. We considered a self-catering house, but this seemed
I’m a bit nosy, and have been enjoying the “week in dinners” series on Bumbles of Rice lovely food and parenting blog. This week it’s payback time – she’s asked the rest of us to confess our own “week in dinners”, warts and all (that’s not actually a nice image)
“I have guilty moments, I think most mothers do. Fathers tend not to, which is interesting; most men I know are pragmatic about it. Work has to be done, bills have to be paid” This week’s Office Mum interview is with Sinéad Crowley; journalist, RTE Arts and Media correspondent and
Before I had children, I had pretty high expectations – of myself. I thought I’d be a good mother. I thought I’d have children who ate mostly vegetables. I thought they wouldn’t watch TV. And I thought I’d maintain a certain level of personal-grooming. No need to let it all
Statistics from Safe Food show that Irish children are not getting enough physical activity: four out of five kids get less than the recommended sixty minutes per day. It’s hard to pay attention to all the statistics that are sent out over the airwaves. We often switch off – we can’t
Ambition. Motherhood. Not always easy bedfellows. When women become mothers, they often see that career progression is hampered. Sometimes because they want flexibility and are therefore seen as less suitable for promotion. Sometimes even without seeking flexibility, they are put on the mommy-track, on the assumption that they’re less interested in work.
This is how it goes in my house: “Kids, dinner’s ready, come to the table.” Then with a little less patience “Kids! Please come to the table!” Multiply this by pointlessly high number. Give up calling, start threatening and/ or physically lifting them into their seats. Cue dinner responses: Eldest:
I wrote a Mother’s Day post for eumom and hadn’t intended to write another one here, but then my six year old told me about a game they had played in school – all about mums. Taking her turn along with each of her classmates, she was asked to tell
Arriving home from work one evening last week, I realised that there was a big, weetabixy handprint encrusted on the back of my trousers. Just about toddler-hug height. There since before I left the house at 7am; visible all day at work. Morto, as they say. Oh well, no time
Five wristbands, secured, we were checked through the gateway, towards the GPO. The elderly lady behind us didn’t have a wristband, but it didn’t matter. The woman on security told her so – the lady’s years of experience were enough she said. One Dub to another. Hearts warmed. Then right
You never know what day it is – the first sound I hear every morning is the light patter of your small bare feet, and the first words I hear are “Is it morning? What day is it today mummy?” And if I say that it’s Saturday, you sometimes ask “Am I going
“The oldest story in the world: I followed a boy” This week I meet Maud, who left her native Dublin at the age of 29 and a half to live with her boyfriend in America, just for a few years. Almost eleven years, one wedding, and two children later, she’s
“Look at you in your gorgeous dress!” I said to my friend’s five-year-old daughter, then remembered, too late, that I’m trying to avoid telling little girls that they’re beautiful. This was prompted by a Huff Post article I read a few months ago that suggested asking little girls about a
“I think that most working mothers do look for a balance with work and raising their children and it baffles me that the corporate world can often look at that as a negative.” This week I meet Jenny Bishop, who is the Marketing Manager of The Marketing Institute and has
Of all the celebration days during the year, Valentine’s Day is arguably one of the most commercialized; one of the more makey-uppy ones. Although not as makey-uppy as yesterday’s “Get a Different Name Day” which coincided with “Madly in Love with Me Day” (what, you mean you missed both of
Two weeks ago, Sam tried to climb out of the cot, so we ordered a bed. The bed quickly became the touchstone for all our dreams of finally getting some sleep. We had only seen it in a picture on the internet but nevertheless, we pinned our hopes on this
Recently scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed, I came across this: It had been “liked” by over 1.2 million people at that stage. I was taken aback to see that so many people agreed with the sentiment; agreed that spanking children is a good thing to do. Agreed that teaching
“I began a career break so my new job is stay at home mammy and my hours are now 24/7!” This week, I meet Lucy O’Connor, a mother of three who last June went from working full-time to taking a career break. Lucy has swapped HR management for school-runs, and
So. Baby. It’s time to chat. Well, you’re not a baby, and that’s sort of the point. You’re two years, one month and one week old, and it’s two years, one month and one week since I last had proper sleep. Yes, yes, I know there was that month before