I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about motherhood recently, specifically around how to make sure my girl and I have a happy mother daughter relationship – one that serves both of us long into the future. Like many mums…
daughters
While you are sleeping
It’s the tenderest part of our day – giving you both a goodnight kiss as you sleep peacefully in your beds. It’s the end to our evening rituals. First, we lock the house up, to keep us all safe as…
How to survive the school run
Me and the school run have a love/hate relationship. This morning has been pretty awful. My girl went crazy with the surgical tape in bed last night (now safely back in the first aid kit). She stuck strip after strip…
May you always be this brave
‘I don’t want to have babies,’ Nell announces, pretty regularly. She’s only four, and it makes me smile that, although she’s quite happy to swaddle her stuffed baby elephant, she has no inclination for a human baby – plastic or…
How to survive the Furious Fours (kinda)
It’s been a truly horrible morning. Who knew that buttoning a cardigan could cause so much anger, frustration and distress? But it can when there’s a four-and-a-half-year-old involved. At least when it’s my four-and-a-half-year-old. My daughter is going through what…
MIND THE gender pay GAP
Does Carrie Gracie resigning from her £135K BBC job have anything to do with you and me? Carrie Gracie, former China editor for the BBC, recently quit her post and took demotion when she discovered her male equivalents earn 50%…
Who’s your fictional doppelganger?
It turns out that Clarice Bean’s mum and I were separated at birth. Spiritually, at least. If you don’t know who Clarice Bean is, she’s the hero of a series of picture books by Lauren Child (of Charlie and Lola…
Why I posted #MeToo and what it taught me
I posted #MeToo on Facebook this Monday. Along with nearly 8 million other women who used the hashtag to remember suffering sexual assault and/or harassment. I didn’t give any details. I didn’t feel the need to then. And I wasn’t…
How tickling can teach your toddlers about sexual consent.
It’s International Day of the Girl. Hoorah! Wait. What does that mean? Well, it’s something the UN started five years ago: “The day aims to highlight and address the needs and challenges girls face, while promoting girls’ empowerment and the…