Life as a carer: ‘You are always on high alert’‘I wouldn’t necessarily say you cope with it. For me it’s just about getting through the day’Wed Feb 26 2020 - 06:01
Trying to find a holiday for my brood is making me despairI wasn’t quite prepared for the recoiling in horror when innocent enquiries were made about our optionsMon Feb 24 2020 - 06:01
Carrying out acts of kindness is a type of homework I can get behindAn end to primary school homework would allow families to spend more time togetherWed Feb 12 2020 - 06:01
Life as a carer: ‘Crumlin hospital don’t ring you on Saturday morning for no good reason’With her daughter seriously ill, Ciara Reid left work. The family now face mounting financial costsThu Feb 06 2020 - 06:01
Life as a carer: ‘It doesn’t feel natural that you become your mam’s mam’Martina Murphy discusses the challenges of caring for both her son and motherWed Feb 05 2020 - 06:01
I have no desire to watch Love Island with my teenagers‘The mammy in me feels a need to constantly point out the wrongs and rights of it all to my offspring’Fri Jan 31 2020 - 06:01
Mother had to fundraise to get palliative care for her dying six-year-old daughterMother of child who needs 24-hour care says she feels ‘let down by the system’Thu Jan 30 2020 - 05:01
‘Some of us dream of being in hospital as it would give us a break from caring’Mother tells of difficulties she faces as a lone parent caring for her severely disabled sonWed Jan 29 2020 - 06:01
Life as a carer: ‘If something happens to me, what will happen to my girls?’Lynn McDonald on the relentless challenges when your child has a life-limiting conditionMon Jan 27 2020 - 06:00
What parent actually has a couple of minutes to spare?A child’s sadness that the most wonderful time of year is over has a familiar ring to itMon Jan 13 2020 - 06:01
Making new memories with my family is my main New Year’s resolutionTime seems to have passed in the blink of an eye and I wonder if I’ve made enough memoriesWed Jan 01 2020 - 06:01
My most memorable birthday? The one when my son nearly diedI have my friend’s quick-thinking mother to thank that he’s still here todayTue Dec 10 2019 - 06:01
How three families teach their children Christmas isn’t all about material thingsGiving to charity, fundraising, volunteering – all help children understand kindnessFri Dec 06 2019 - 06:01
Childhood obesity: How parents can learn to say noSocioeconomic factors and retailer tricks make it a tricky – but not impossible – puzzle to solveWed Nov 27 2019 - 06:01
Having the sex talk with my sons: ‘You mean people do that on purpose?’Chatting with your children about sex and growing up shouldn’t be an ordealMon Nov 25 2019 - 11:30
We need to redefine ‘having it all’ because there’s a fast one being pulledIt’s as if school attendance removes the need for childcare instead of posing a very different logistical nightmareWed Nov 13 2019 - 06:01
‘A few days before, life was perfect and the next thing I was planning his funeral’When Lisa Coulhoun’s husband Christopher died suddenly aged 33, her grief was compounded by the platitudes of well-meaning peopleTue Nov 12 2019 - 06:01
Stephen Teap: ‘The only way I can describe grief is like a tsunami of emotion’Stephen Teap's wife Irene died in the wake of the CervicalCheck scandal.Tue Nov 12 2019 - 06:01
‘People asked did she leave a note? What did she say? That is unbelievably intrusive’Helena Tubridy’s daughter Karla died at age 17Mon Nov 11 2019 - 06:01
The Irish school that doesn't believe in homeworkOne Dublin primary school’s ‘no-homework policy’ has been a resounding successWed Nov 06 2019 - 06:01
My father died at 39. I named my daughter in honour of him‘You see friends with their own two parents and you think: why haven’t we got that?’Tue Oct 29 2019 - 06:01
‘Grief chips at you making you feel like a bystander to your life’Adelle Kenny lost her mother Geraldine to a form of terminal brain cancerTue Oct 29 2019 - 06:00
The politics of kids’ birthday parties and entertaining the parentsTo stay or not to stay – that is the question. Please don’t, is the answer from meMon Oct 28 2019 - 06:01
‘We got the words, I’m sorry, there’s no heartbeat. I just started screaming hysterically’Anne-Marie Murtagh lost her son, Patrick, at full term and even though she went on to have two more children, the trauma and grief are still rawTue Oct 22 2019 - 06:01
‘Grief doesn’t have a clock. Grief only stops when you die’Missed milestones are extremely difficult for the Heffernans since losing their children to a rare disorderTue Oct 22 2019 - 06:01
I appear to have acquired a new dog and I’m not even sure I like herLife has a funny way of throwing curveballs at you, sometimes in front of the car you’re drivingMon Oct 14 2019 - 06:01
‘I kind of felt I’d failed’: When pregnancy goes wrongFor some parents-to-be, pregnancy and childbirth complications can leave them feeling overwhelmed and traumatisedThu Oct 10 2019 - 06:01
‘I despise homework more and more with each passing year’Childhood is short and evenings should be for learning life skills and family timeMon Sept 30 2019 - 06:01
The lonely, isolated and challenging lives of many parentsThree mothers and a father give their accounts of what parenthood can really feel likeThu Sept 19 2019 - 17:01
Seven children later, I am still judged as a mother, mainly by other mothersI thought I was immune to criticism until, two weeks ago, my daughter caught mumpsMon Sept 16 2019 - 06:01
‘My phone is like an extension of my arm – always available, always nearby’The adults in our house need to start obeying the strict rules we impose on the kidsMon Sept 02 2019 - 06:01
Teach girls to box. Send boys to gymnasticsGive your children a diversity of skills by opening your mind about their optionsThu Aug 22 2019 - 06:01
We had no family holiday this year. Here’s what we did insteadI can’t believe the holidays are drawing to a close. I dread the return to normalityMon Aug 19 2019 - 06:01
‘That’s not fair’: With my large family, mum-guilt is the biggest chore of allI’ve been a parent for 18 years and my battle with mum-guilt is raging as fiercely as everMon Aug 05 2019 - 06:00
Why does Ireland have the lowest breastfeeding rate in Europe?‘Breastfeeding is the biological norm for our species. Breastmilk is ... a dynamic substance’Wed Jul 31 2019 - 07:01
When children grow up: the hardest change of allI found myself kept awake, not by a baby in her bed, but by an adult daughter who wasn’tMon Jul 22 2019 - 06:01
Parental leave: Why is the uptake so low?Lack of understanding of employee rights, loss of income and the stigma around men taking time out are reasons many parents fail to avail of what is a statutory entitlementTue Jul 16 2019 - 06:01
Cost of school iPads makes them tough tablet to swallowDespite reports highlighting cost of free education - nothing changesMon Jul 08 2019 - 06:01
‘My boys aren’t a consolation prize – they’re equally as precious as their sister’‘Girls wreck your head, boys wreck your home,’ I was assuredMon Jun 24 2019 - 07:01
Mum’s the word: meeting up to give mothers their sayMum Talks is a monthly gathering for mothers to discuss everything from fashion and beauty to wellness and workMon Jun 17 2019 - 07:01
I wholeheartedly applaud the no medals, non-competitive school sports dayIt is imperative that children are active and the best way to do that is to make it funMon Jun 10 2019 - 11:41
Lessons learned from 14 years on the school runFrom WhatsApp groups to gate cliques, here’s what I learned as a parent on the frontlineMon May 27 2019 - 06:01
Summer with the children: ‘You’re either in or you’re out’Parents seemed to view the holidays differently years ago: I don’t remember anyone stressing about keeping the children occupiedSat May 18 2019 - 06:01
The kids are all howling for another dogSo far I’ve resisted because no dog could replace my beloved Rodney . . . but then againMon May 13 2019 - 06:01
The complexities of working from home while being a parentIf money wasn’t an issue, would you choose to work outside the home or be a stay-at-home parent?Mon Apr 29 2019 - 07:01
How does your child’s school handle bullying?Some schools turn a blind eye to reports of bullying, until something serious happensTue Apr 23 2019 - 07:01
Why are kindness lessons not on the school curriculum?The Leaving Cert looms for my eldest but the entire school journey was an education for us allMon Apr 15 2019 - 06:01
In a house with so many children, my parenting style often changesHow I parent each of them reflects the different personalities of my apparent clonesMon Apr 01 2019 - 07:01
Unrealistic expectations give parents a tough timeGive parents a break by sharing the spectacular tantrums and parenting wobblesMon Mar 18 2019 - 06:01
Time is precious – don’t use it all on after-school activitiesI signed my daughter up to everything and I’ve learned that sometimes less is moreMon Mar 04 2019 - 06:01
