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I Demand An Apology
I enjoyed David Mitchell’s article in the Guardian about the demanding of apologies and I laughed at the story he told about his parents. It reminds me of being made…
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“Are Those Men Married To Each Other, Mum?”
It is something that we have never talked about with the children. Not because we were avoiding it, but because it has never come up and it would have felt forced and strange…
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Survival
I’m a survivor I’m not goin’ give up I’m not goin’ stop I’m goin’ work harder The song blasted out of the speakers as Amelia gritted her teeth. The pain was almost…
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The Balance of Motherhood
“She is Just A Mum. I imagine she sits around all day in her PJs, drinking tea and eating chocolate biscuits” “Oh, she is a working mother. Her children are in nursery all…
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GummibearGate – Kids and Swearing
Do you get all <catbum mouth> at people who swear at their children? You are not alone if you do. Who would not look disapproving at someone shouting and swearing at their child?…
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Do You Have a Parenting Philosophy – Your Children are not Your Children
Attachment Parenting, Benign Neglect, Authoritarian, Helicopter Parent, Tiger Mum – which one describes your parenting method best? Can you put a name to your Parenting Philosophy, explain it in two or three words?…
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Waxing Children – Bannatyne vs Mumsnet
When is an acceptable age to allow your daughter to wax? And would you take her to a salon to have this done? Tricky question, and one I have been pondering this morning…
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Raising Independent Children
Only one in five children can tie a reef knot, according to a survey carried out on behalf of the Scout Association. My first thought on reading this was, “How on earth will they…
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Parentbloggers and Privacy – What Happens When Kids Grow Up?
This is something that I have been musing on for a few days. There are a lot of “Parentbloggers” out there at the moment and I won’t knock them – some…
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Sponsors Of Mums
It is not often that a multinational company so misjudges their advertising audience as Proctor and Gamble has with their “Sponsors of Mums” campaign. Maybe it is just me, but their ad makes…
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Schools in Geneva
One of the most important issues when expats move to a new country is schooling. You can out up with a less than stunning kitchen (and you often have to here) or a…
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Do the children of writers have a right to privacy?
This morning on Twitter, the writer Jenny Colgan linked to this story in the Daily Mail. Supposedly an article on how even young girls suffer from self-doubt and trying to live up to…
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Féte de Bonhomme Neige
Tonight we went to the Féte de Bonhomme Neige – the Snowman Festival – with ritual burning of the snowman to mark the end of winter. Not that there was much of a…
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Visiting Geneva With Children – City Walk
One of the things that we noticed when we moved to Geneva is that the Swiss are very child-friendly. It is a great place to raise a family. Children are a part of…
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“I have Bless You on my Cardigan”
When my daughter was about two years old, she had a bad cold. After several days of sneezing and snot, she was grumpy and irritable. She sneezed noisily then started sobbing. It took…
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PAPA! PAPA! TOBEN!
This cry rang through my house just moments ago. Toben is a German word and means to play, roughhouse, romp – in our house it means that the children and their father chase,…
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Homework – and why parents should get a free bottle of wine with their children’s homework assignments
We did homework today. Les doigts de pieds s’appellent: a. les oreilles b. les orteils DD: I don’t understand ME: what are the doigts? DD: fingers ME: good. What are the pieds? DD:…
