I think a lot of people feel like “spiritual practice” and “parenting” are two mutually exclusive terms; that you can’t really have a spiritual practice while you also have a small person or people running about the place. Granted, meditation can be tricky when you have a small child – Read more…
Today’s post is a guest blog from Alan at OMG It’s A Girl … enjoy! For some strange reason whilst recuperating from her operation Vicky decided to let people guest post for her. Now that’s not that strange. What is strange is she asked me to do one of the posts! Read more…
I love to read parenting books – but not the mainstream ones that advocate use of the naughty step or time outs. I don’t do either of those things (you can read about why, here). I am a big fan of gentle parenting and enjoy reading books about a more Read more…
We’re now two weeks into the six-week summer holidays, and I have to admit: I’m struggling. We both are. S was ill with chicken pox for all of the half term holidays, and after that she seemed to be off school more than she was there for a long while Read more…
I grew up in the 1980s, a time when children’s shows were on TV for about an hour after school in the week, and a couple of hours on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Saturday afternoons were for the football scores, and Sunday afternoons were a time when we never even Read more…
The other day I was talking to a friend who has two sons. She was telling me about how she’d gone out for the afternoon with just her eldest son, and how lovely it had been to sit and have a drink and a chat with him. Then she stopped Read more…
S is obsessed by superheroes these days; if you follow me on Instagram you may have noticed all her superhero themed clothes, costumes and face paints. I often joke with her that I’m a secret superhero too, but she never takes me seriously. The thing is, I really am a superhero Read more…
Is it hard to be a single parent? To be honest, it’s not a question I’m asked a lot. That’s not because I make it look so easy, but because the assumption is just generally made that being a single parent must be really tough. There are two sides to Read more…
Ok, that title is perhaps a little sensationalist – but it got your attention, didn’t it? This is not a foolproof guide, but it is a list of the things I do that help S to get plenty of sleep. S goes to bed between 6 and 6:30 every night. Read more…
For the bank holiday weekend, S and I went to London. At the beginning of August we attended an event at the Waldorf Hilton, where there was a raffle – and we won a free night at the hotel. That visit where we won the stay was S’s first ever Read more…
If I had to describe my style of parenting, I would probably say I favour “gentle parenting” over any other label. I try really hard to parent S gently; I do my best to avoid shouting, and will always favour an explanation over “I said so.” But sometimes, parenting is Read more…
I was really excited to be sent a copy of Sarah Ockwell-Smith’s latest book, The Gentle Parenting Book. I always find there are tons of books about babies, and a few about toddlers – but then nothing, until they become difficult teenagers. There’s very little to help you get from Read more…
Over the Christmas break I was watching a Periscope where the lady listed Hands Free Life by Rachel Macy Stafford as one of the top 10 books she’d read in 2015. This is a lady who tends to read at least a book each week so I knew the book must Read more…
Everyone knows toddlers love to ask why. It’s one of those things we all just seem to know. The stereotypical toddler, answering every word from their parents with WHY? The one thing that’s never mentioned though, the thing I’ve only realised since having S, is that toddlers don’t really know what the Read more…
I take S to the park fairly often. We live around the corner from one, and there’s another not too far away so we’ll often wander off to one or the other for some fun. As S has grown, she’s become more adventurous. She wants to climb on things that Read more…
Yesterday morning I bumped into a friend in town. She is moving away soon, and I’d not seen her for a while – so we had lots to talk about. She had her young daughter with her too though, and young daughters are not so fond of mummies standing Read more…