When should my baby walk?
“Are they walking yet?” is surely a contender for the most frequently asked question as your baby approaches their first birthday.
Or, if your baby walks early, you may hear “Are they walking already?” (asked in an incredulous tone, possibly followed by a look of sympathy), or else “Are they still not walking?”.
Light nights – great for barbecues, not so good for bedtime!
What’s not to love about summer? Sunshine, time outside, light nights – wait, light nights? Now added to the list of ‘great before children, now... not so much’.
As an adult, long, lazy evenings spent in that syrupy summer evening light are truly glorious. But the light nights might not seem quite so relaxing now that you find yourself trying to get through your usual bedtime routine with a young child who won’t be persuaded it’s time for bed when the sun is clearly still very much up and peeping through the curtains just as it might at midday on an especially bright winter’s day.
Fathers don't babysit their own children – it's just called parenting!
Ever been told you’re lucky your partner ‘baby-sits’, or found people keen to heap praise upon your partner for, you know, parenting?
It can be a bugbear for many when male partners are showered with praise for run-of-the-mill parenting like taking their child to the park or just looking after them (sometimes weirdly referred to as ‘baby-sitting’ when the dad does it), which mums would rarely receive compliments for. It can also feel insulting for dads themselves, many of whom are building relationships with their children that are much closer than the more stand-offish approach that was the norm in previous generations.
How to keep your cool on hot days out
Most of us love the welcome return of the sun. It’s so good to get outside in the sunshine and feel its warmth on your skin after a winter swaddled up against the cold.
But it brings its own set of challenges when you’re a parent. Instead of wrapping your child in layers, you now need to remember sunscreen and sunhats, where you once might have basked in the sun, you now need to seek shade for your child, and you could find yourself worrying about how hot is too hot.
Why your child needs to hear “no” less and “yes” more
As a parent, ‘no’ can very quickly become a word you find yourself using all too often. Jammy dodgers for breakfast? No. Covering the walls in paint? No. Staying at home instead of going to nursery? No. Letting your three-year-old drive your car? No, no, no!
There are plenty of times we have to say ‘no’ to keep our children safe, healthy, to avoid breaking things or because we have a commitment, like needing to work. But sometimes we become so used to saying 'no', that we don’t stop to ask ourselves whether we might actually be able to say 'yes'.
Avoiding the road to hell on car journeys with children
You can’t beat chucking some stuff in the car and leaving it all behind for a day or two, and with three bank holidays in May, you might well be thinking about heading off for a couple of days.
The thought of packing a mountain of children’s clothes and toys coupled with the reality of a long car journey might be enough to think you twice, but it’s always worth it when you get there. Getting away might not be quite as quick and easy as it was pre-children, but we’ve got you covered!
Lack of routine driving you mad? Look for a rhythm instead
If you think back to life before children, it may well have looked pretty different. You might have had a different wake-up time (do you remember actually needing an alarm to wake you up?), or perhaps a morning routine involving some exercise, some quiet time or a leisurely coffee.
It can be hard to imagine the degree of flexibility parenting requires before your baby is born. Little routines and rituals you might have taken for granted disappear overnight, and you might find yourself desperately wondering when you can get some of them back.
Potty-training at 6 months? The lowdown on the latest potty-training advice
As a parent, the words ‘potty-training’ can make you feel hopeful for a world where you aren’t constantly shelling out for nappies (they aren’t cheap!) but can also fill you with dread. How do you actually go from your child using nappies to going to the loo? It can sound like hard work to anyone, let alone a tired parent.
For a start, you might find your parents’ or family members’ experience of potty-training was different from how your friends approach it.
Why you can feel free to skip the craft aisle this Easter
You might have noticed a swathe of pastel-coloured Easter crafts at a shop near you, but you can save yourself money, time and effort by walking straight past it this Easter!
Young children don’t need to do shop-bought craft kits to help them to develop. There are plenty of ways they can explore their creativity that are much cheaper and easier for you, and more beneficial for their development.
Managing eggspectations - the inevitable Easter chocolate meltdown and how to avoid it
Can you imagine Easter through the eyes of a young child? All those brightly coloured eggs dotted around your garden for you to find, that turn out to be made from chocolate, that you get to eat? It sounds like the stuff of dreams!
How you celebrate Easter (if you celebrate) varies from family to family, and so does how much chocolate you decide to give your child.
