Parenting
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…
Home truths: Are nurseries damaging our children?
As any parent of young children will tell you, toddler groups exist as much for the adults as for the…
Did the makers of When I Grow Up have no qualms turning a small boy into a hate figure?
Channel 4’s When I Grow Up had an important lesson for middle-class white males everywhere: you’re never too young to…
Stop going through the motions – committees are a waste of time
God save us from committees. They’re an increasingly outdated way of getting things done. But there’s a certain sort of…
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Dear Mary: How can I get my annoying children to answer my texts?
Q. I have learned through a third party that a friend, who is feeling particularly insecure these days, has not been…
Children are everywhere – and they’re spoiling everything
There was a time when middle-class liberals used to complain that the English were a nation of child haters. They…
Dear Mary
Q. My children are very lucky in that we have bought them all flats. However, they are now renting out…
Why I’d like to be a more dangerous dad
According to figures obtained by BBC Breakfast last week, more than 500 people were arrested in England and Wales in…
Driving test advice from 80 years ago
First test The driving test celebrated its 80th anniversary. The first person to take the test, R.E.L. Beene of Kensington,…
Older, more angsty...and maybe wiser: the new face of growing up
We live in an age of generational turmoil. Baby-boom parents are accused of clinging on to jobs and houses which…
The bits of Magna Carta that David Cameron won’t want taught in schools
The not-so-great charter David Cameron wants every child to be taught about Magna Carta. Some bits he might want to…
The publicist who's doing her best to keep me off TV
I went to a meeting at Penguin earlier this week to discuss ‘publicity opportunities’ for my forthcoming book. Chance would…
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…
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…
