Let’s face it, Dads: whatever your situation, choosing to have children is a really daunting prospect. Am I going to know what to do? Am I going to mess them up? How do I change a nappy? Are they going to support my favourite sports team? When am I going to spend time with them?…
It's still satisfying, isn't it? That first underfoot, autumnal crunch. It calls to the small child hiding inside each of us. But as an adult, the concept of crunch time can take on a whole new meaning. This Autumn, we've welcomed back a member of our fantastic 9-2-3 team from maternity leave. We're delighted to see her again - we've missed her fabulous sense of humour, and her innovative approach. The 9-2-3 airwaves have rung with stories of the return from our own maternity leaves. There have been increasingly enthusiastic - indeed, some might say almost frantic - attempts to pass on several attics' worth of toddler clothes and train sets…
You're probably back into your term-time routine by now. The early-morning scramble for shoes and PE kit and reading books. The absolute determination to practice the recorder at 7.30, just as you thought you were on the verge of successfully bundling everyone into the car…
September brings new routines: the school run, nursery drop-offs, and now, for many families, access to 30 hours of funded childcare. It’s a big help - but as many news reports this week have been highlighting - it doesn’t solve everything…
By the time you read this, your New Year's resolutions may no longer be foremost in your mind. Perhaps they've quietly fallen by the wayside - or perhaps they imploded in a puff of wheatgrass-smoothie-fuelled smoke at some point last week. You may have spent the first week of January declaring that this year you'd practise the saxophone for three hours every day, only eat hand-stroked vegetables grown in the Outer Hebrides, or never argue with your teenage offspring ever again about the levels of hygiene observed in their bedrooms…
