Lauren Laverne has written about her feelings as her younger son gets ready to start primary school in a couple of weeks (https://www.the-pool.com/news-views/lauren-s-blog/2015/34/lauren-laverne-and-the-pressure-we-pile-on-kids-in-school). I well remember preparing my oldest daughter, just a couple of months past her 4th birthday, to enter the classroom. I booked her a haircut, bought the uniform, had reassuring chats – […]

As baby F nears her first birthday, I feel a familiar itch in my feet that I know cannot this time be quelled by another baby. Having four little girls is a marvellous thing – our tribe is cooed over daily in the street as tiny blonde heads bob along beside me – but we are lucky to […]

There’s a lot in the news at the moment about truancy, school holidays and childcare. It seems to me that there are very few winners in the current school system. Parents are forking out inflated amounts of money for some time away with their family. They are also paying for childcare so that they can work […]