Parenting
Childcare is mothercare
When I was a small child, my mother left me in the charge of an elderly neighbour so that she…
Stella Creasy is wrong about the ‘motherhood penalty’
If you find yourself frazzled by the Christmas rush, spare a thought for Stella Creasy, MP for Walthamstow, who is…
The dangerous cult of ‘toxic parents’
Complaining about ‘toxic parents’ has been a viral hit on TikTok with videos on the topic racking up several billion…
Parents must resist Stonewall’s gospel
I think by now it’s becoming horribly apparent to parents of every political persuasion that we can’t sit out the…
What really happened when my wife left me in charge
I’m currently standing at the top of Brownie Point Mountain, having spent the past two weeks looking after our three…
Why Chinese women don’t want more children
Chinese women can’t afford a large family
Bad news, Boris – childcare has cost me £500,000 (and counting)
Welcome to the cripplingly expensive world of childcare, Boris
A meditation on everyday life: Early Morning Riser, by Katherine Heiny, reviewed
There were many moments in Early Morning Riser that made me laugh out loud in recognition. An episode where the…
The moral debate over Covid jabs for children
The ethics of Covid jabs for children
The conservative appeal of drug gangs
According to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick, the easing of lock-down will be accompanied by a rise in crime…
How middle-class is your dad?
The politics and posturing of ‘middle-class dads’
My kids think my move into the garden shed means divorce
I’ve moved out of my home. No, Caroline and I haven’t broken up. It’s just that we’re having the house…
Children of the revolution
Some steal their luxury leisure goods, but others take their leisure by the luxury of right, and all of it…
Lockdown used to be the norm for new mothers
I laughed when my Spanish midwife mentioned in passing that in Latin American countries they have a custom for new…
The world of make-believe is stranger than we realise
Last summer, in the bc era, I took my then three-year-old to a new group play session: ‘Lottie’s Magic Box.’…
If you want children to love reading, don’t tell them what to read
If you want children to love reading, don’t tell them what to read
In defence of pocket money
Our grandchildren are penniless. They have pretty much everything their hearts desire and they have parents with wallets full of…
It’s possible to talk to children about politics without leading them in one direction
My six-year-old son announced, from the back of the car, that he was backing Boris Johnson. My wife, who’s voting…
Why do we keep pretending that children are wiser than adults?
We’ve begun to behave as if young people are special; more virtuous and wiser than adults. It’s wrong and it’s…
At last, the TV-hogging space invaders have returned to university
‘Hands up which other university parents are bloody glad to have got rid of their lumpen, food-gobbling, space-invading kids…’ When…
The reason middle-class parents are so anxious
On that record-breaking, sweltering day at the end of July, my three-year-old son did a pirouette in the paddling pool…
My daughter’s gone to Magaluf, and it’s hard not to worry
At the Leavers’ Ball held to mark our daughter’s last day at boarding school, there were only two topics of…
The dad revolution hasn’t helped our children – or us
When I was growing up in the late 1960s, boys like me craved the admiration and approval of our dads;…
Parent trap: WhatsApp groups are feeding our fears
The mother of a little girl in my son’s year at school recently committed suicide. On the surface she was…
