Children
Dear Mary: Is it rude to answer my child's call when I'm already on the phone?
Q. My problem is that an older friend, with whom I enjoy lengthy telephone chats, becomes furious when my call…
I know that Richard Dawkins is wrong about Down’s syndrome, because I know my son
I know that people with Down’s syndrome are not better off dead, because I know my son
A.N. Wilson's diary: The book that made me a writer – and the pushchair that made me an old git
Like many inward-looking children, I always doodled stories and poems. Knowing one wanted to be a writer is a different…
Want to be a neglectful parent? Come to a festival and learn
I spent last weekend at Port Eliot in Cornwall. This is supposed to be a literary and music festival and…
The NHS ‘wellbeing’ monkey deserves to die
My young daughter has a furry beaver — lifelike in all but its eyes, which to me seem cold and dead.…
How the Suzuki method changed my life
Do you ever wonder, as your little darling balks at doing her violin or piano practice again, what all the…
I love everything about supporting QPR — except watching them play
I find it hard to pinpoint the exact moment when my support for Queen’s Park Rangers crossed over into full-blown…
The day I discovered what worry was
Before I had children I don’t think I appreciated what anxiety was. I’d been anxious at various points in my…
For my family, the Vikings exhibition was about as much fun as being raped and pillaged
Have you managed to book tickets to the Viking exhibition at the British Museum yet? If you haven’t, my advice…
Why working class grandparents are better than middle class ones
When I told a friend that my nine-year-old son was staying with his grandparents for the whole week of the…
Dyslexia is meaningless. But don't worry – so is ADHD
There is a beautiful symmetry to all things, I think, and probably related somehow to the concept of karma. Only…
Why Boris is wrong to say that the children of jihadis should be taken into care
Do your children have a bleak and nihilistic view of the world? It’s hard to tell, really, when they spend…
Agitprop for toddlers: the oddly strident politics of CBeebies
The oddly strident politics of CBeebies
What nannies know
Soon after moving to London at the age of 20, Nina Stibbe wrote to her sister Vic saying, ‘Being a…
How to get your child hooked on theatre (hint: don't rule out Peppa Pig)
Mike Shaw on what (and what not) to do when taking children to the theatre
Toby Young: It's biological, I become a caveman when my child is sick
The first sign that something was wrong with Ludo was when he complained of a tummy ache. This was after…
Plato on the Today programme
A woman is invited to join the Today programme, and the chatteratae are immediately a-twitter on the subject of female…
The Contented Royal Baby: Gina Ford on how to bring up Prince George
On raising a royal baby
The saddest discovery of middle age: I can get by without my old friends
A few years ago, I got the shock of my life when a girl I was sitting next to at…
