Navigating life

Last September was the first time in four years that I haven’t had a child starting in Reception class – I did, however, go and stand by the door a couple of times!! Four children starting Reception has seen me cover every possible emotion, from tears and trembling to joy, celebration an…

We are in Switzerland. First impressions? We have a few. Cows are disappointingly not purple. In fact, if you were to give me a bovine identity parade I would struggle to pick out the Swiss ones from a home reared Hereford, though the neck bells really are a thing, so audibly they’re instantly…

What links ham that’s been kept hanging in a dank cellar for years, sawdust on pasta and Italy’s second oldest University? Parma. In Italy. I remember a day trip there. City breaks with children feel like juggling with grenades in a crowded space. At any moment there will be an explosion…

I didn’t see it coming. We were driving past cows. I told the children that, as a boy, my family kept two cows. I said that each year they had calves. Then the question came from the back seat, “Where did the calves come from?” Silence. I realised what I had done. Mary and I kept o…

Our first and second children were born “naturally” (if you can call it that, given all the gas, needles and hands involved). Our third was born by Caesarean section. Coming out “the other way” was more different than I expected. Although, as I saw so little of it, I’m …

The first I knew was when my seven year old daughter was shouting in my ear, “He’s been sick”. I leapt into action. But even with my lightning speed, I couldn’t catch a glimpse of my daughter. She was gone; running between bedrooms. One moment offering sympathy (in a patronis…

This too shall pass. This little phrase is often uttered between me and my friends and family. Whatever the current crisis of parenting is, it won’t last long; it will pass. I remember this during the tantrum, the nappy change, the disastrous melt down, the exhausting bedtime or the ridiculous…

Throughout my childhood, Dad kept cows. It wasn’t a farm. We just had cows. Only two at a time. One outcome of having a peculiar pet is that I know more than most about bovine medical ailments. So, when Mary phoned me towards the end of an eventful day at work and said that she had the same il…

We aspire to be a normal family. We have 4 adopted children very close together in age. About 3 ½ years from the oldest to the youngest. When the oldest was five, I scribbled down what the last 24 hours had looked like…. Ready?! It started last night. I was still awake gone midnight fi…

It was an eventful night. Our children were seven, five and just under one year old, and we were at the beginning of a holiday in a motor home. We’re not sure why we thought this was a good idea.The four of us were clear that our littlest must not wake up in the night. The nightmare scenario w…