So, I was hunting through drawers this morning trying frantically to find a baby photo of Flea for some school project or other when I found this: my diary, from January 1985 to August 1985, the last entry being my 11th birthday. I remember, a family friend bought it for me as a Christmas present, saying, "All writers start out by writing diaries." I'm not sure there's much writing talent there, but there are a lot of felt-tip hearts and complaint about being the … [Read more...]
Obviously, I missed the ‘perfect parent’ pamphlet
January 11, 2010 by · 26 Comments
According to some women, I'm talking 'a load of old tripe'. Also my views are 'sanctimonious old bollocks' and 'nonsense'. Why? Because Flea doesn't watch television.I should point out these comments aren't directed RIGHT at me - they're about Davina McCall. Who's probably too busy shouting on late night live TV to care much about what we think of her parenting techniques. Still, I don't get it. When did it become okay to completely slate someone … [Read more...]
A mother’s place is…
January 10, 2010 by · 18 Comments
I’m a feminist. I don’t consider this to be a controversial statement – in my view the world can be divided into two tribes: feminists and people I’d like to beat around the head. I’m a feminist parent, too. I’ve always tried to teach Flea that only idiots believe girls and boys ‘should’ act differently. People are different, whether they’re girls or boys. It’s not just women who do cooking and cleaning, you know. Sitting on the sofa today, I asked Flea what she thinks she … [Read more...]
January Tots100 index of the UK’s Top 100 parent blogs and bloggers
January 9, 2010 by · 79 Comments
UPDATE: If you want to connect with 1,000 British Mummy blogs (and some Dads, too) then please visit the new Tots100 website with up-to-date listings and a brand new PR subscription option, so you can search, filter and contact the UK's most popular Mummy bloggers direct. Welcome to the January 2010 Tots100 index of the UK's top 100 parent blogs and bloggers! I hope all our Mummy and Daddy bloggers had a fantastic Christmas and New Year, and you at least took your eye off Twitter for … [Read more...]
What kind of mother would laugh at this?
January 5, 2010 by · 22 Comments
I'd like to say I don't laugh every time I look at these photos from today. Unfortunately, that would be a lie. Pic 1: Look Mummy, it's snow! It's so exciting! Let's go and play! Pic 2: Come on Mummy, keep up! Pic 3: Oh dear... Pic 4: Ouch. … [Read more...]
Statistics, smacking and bad science.
January 5, 2010 by · 19 Comments
I spent a good deal of yesterday ranting under my breath about correlative and causative data. Why? Because of this story in the Daily Mail about how children who are smacked grow up to be more successful. Of course, being the Daily Mail, the story was followed by hundreds of comments from people saying that of course this was the case, smacking children made them better people. But there's a HUGE difference between correlation (two events that tend to happen together) and causation (two … [Read more...]
Starting as we mean to go on…
January 1, 2010 by · 13 Comments
Flea and I were in the car this afternoon, driving home after a trip to stock up on Diet Coke and carpet shampoo (if my Mother asks, it was Flea who spilled an entire bottle of Baileys on my bedroom floor).I was in a world of my own, wondering whether I’ll ever be able to go into Booths again after Flea told the check-out guy: “My Mummy says you can just take clothes out of the laundry basket if you haven’t got any clean ones in your wardrobe”.I’m calculating the relative … [Read more...]
Recent Comments