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My last two columns for Nursery World have been about why children need to experience risky and challenging play. In January 2010 I went to a seminar about the importance of adventurous play at the Nursery World Show. The speaker, Helen Tovey, explained the theory; if children are not exposed to risk, they cannot learn how to [...] I found the climax of our country’s political drama strangely moving last night. Watching coverage of the speeches as Gordon Brown ended his time as Prime Minister and David Cameron started his, my eyes were drawn, both times, away from the men to their wives. I thought how hard it must be for them to stand and [...] Researching for my new column (sorry, I couldn’t resist mentioning it, I’m so excited. It’s in Nursery World and the first instalment is published this week, my copy arrived today!) I found an interesting article called Trying their Hardest, about a report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation called Parenting in Ordinary Families: Diversity, complexity and [...] Yesterday I thought a lot about what being a mother means. For a mother I met in Bangladesh, being a mother means a desperate struggle to keep a child alive and healthy. During the Mother’s Day service, M, one of the Guides, read a prayer for mothers… “for those who struggle to balance the tasks of [...] Last night (Sunday) I sat down to write this post, but there were problems with my website so I couldn’t publish it. Fate I think as I realised it was rather jaded and cynical – a combination of two overtired little boys messing about instead of going to sleep and the fact I’m reading Slummy [...] Perfume, chocolates, flowers, moisturiser – all these things are being advertised as what we want for Mother’s Day. My husband has even been emailed by Comet to suggest I might want a Dyson. Actually, all I want is to be left alone for a while. This sounds utterly miserable, spoilt and selfish. I have friends who [...] In The Times of Tuesday 5 January 2010, Anna Shepard wrote an article entitled Keep calm and carry on. It discussed the benefits of carrying your baby in a sling, especially for fathers. I certainly don’t object to this, but I did feel there were disparaging comments about mothers who put young babies in prams. [...] Nick Clegg has been criticised in the media for taking on Gina Ford and her parenting formula. I agree he was unwise to dismiss what does work for others. We all have our own parenting styles and what is right and what is wrong is not always obvious – and a very subjective and emotive [...] This morning I heard a woman being interviewed on the radio, claiming that she was not sure how she’d cope if her delayed Ocado delivery did not arrive. Oh please, I thought, is this what we’ve come to. Could she not lift herself from her despair and go to a shop? And is it really [...] My six year old has his first loose tooth. His is delighted. Losing teeth is the most popular subject in his class at school (after football cards). He said one boy spent the “whole morning” in the toilet waggling his teeth! T is completely envious of peers who have already lost a tooth but I [...] |
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