Parenting Skills

Mums, are you 50+ and 'economically inactive'?

Wow, did you know that in the UK 3.6 million 50+ es are economically inactive (not in work or on benefits, or paying taxes, much more to the point) and the Treasury is telling us to get off the golf course. GET OFF THE GOLF COURSE??!! How dare they assume we are leading a life of leisure? I was caring for my mother for 2.5 years, and like many other women carrying that burden, I was without any…
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Shopping Guides

Carnaby Street Party: The Rolling Stones store and MTV DJ Jack Saunders launch new merchandising

Mums, are you in touch with your teen self? What better way to release your inner child than at Nr 9 Carnaby Street Party at The Rolling Stones store with MTV DJ Jack Saunders celebrating the Stones and MTV’s influence on shaping popular culture. During the event, the new exclusive merchandising collaboration collection was on display. The apparel range features both MTV and the Rolling Stones…
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Parenting Skills

Are you waiting for an allotment too?

Hen’s teeth, allotments are. But worth the wait. Mine took four years. The Roehampton Garden Society runs it, powerful ladies with time on their hands. Frighteningly organised. When the Good News comes, you are invited to a pre-fab on Site 2 where you part with all of £94 plus £5 for one year’s worth of water, sign up to the rules and purchase some compost. There’s a spiffingly pre-war…
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Parenting Skills

Mum, drop everything and Go Dancing!

Liberté, égalité, fraternité. I don’t know any place where you really do find ALL these ideals other than the dance floor. You are free to express yourself, all revellers are equal and you’re best mates with everyone for the evening. It’s not just fun, it’s therapy, so say the scientists. And there are so many opportunities to get out there. Nonetheless, I didn’t go dancing for…
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Parenting Skills

Mums in a Pickle: The Sandwich Generation

Caring for young children and elderly parents all at the same time. This is what I would define the Sandwich Generation. It feels mad what I have put myself and my family through….Two and a half years living with Alzheimer’s. When I say living with, I mean, as primary carer and care manager for my demented mum.  In her own home. Till the end. We relocated from Acton. I changed jobs…
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Parenting Skills

Mums and sleep deprivation

Mums and sleep deprivation … we can all relate. I see Meta has employed a paediatric sleep deprivation therapist, suggesting it thinks its parenting-employees need lessons in getting their kids to sleep, too much indulging going on, too much lost sleep, impacting negatively on their Precious Productivity. Oh dear… Companies want it all. And we want it all, don’t we. The Career. The Marriage.
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Attractions

REVIEW: ROYAL BALLET's Like Water for Chocolate

ROYAL BALLET’s Like Water for Chocolate – streamed into a cinema near you. This is a totally new production, all devised from scratch, the choreography, music, set and costumes, based on the novel by Laura Esquivel. The ballet moves are a fusion of classical rigour and exciting modern expression. One big break with tradition which I totally applaud is the drastically reduced time ballerinas…
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Parenting Skills

Mums and Tats: from ick to maybe

Generally I find tats a turnoff. They just look threatening or like a mould-fest. And why do it? All the pain, and weeks of wrapping yourself in clingfilm to prevent infection, only to regret the whole thing in later years. During lockdown however, I read a novel called The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng which inspired me to think otherwise. The lovers are bound by an agreement that the…
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Mums Tips

Spice up your February

Curating your life – continued from my blog series – just to get us through this dismal patch… This is February! I reject the cynics who say that organising fun stuff and posting beautiful photos is ‘Insta-vanity’. Rather it’s an antidote to gloomy thoughts and even depression. It’s our own form of self-medication, a conscious choice to embrace the light. So chocks away and let’s…
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Shopping Guides

News and views from London's Toy Fair 2023

I recently paid a mystery shopper’s type of visit to Toy Fair 2023 at Kensington Olympia. I have a bit of a cynical view of toys; they get given in vast quantities, entertain for half an hour, only to be abandoned in a drawer or cupboard soon after, and end up in charity shops. They are often of doubtful value for encouraging children with learning, creating, socialising or imagining. And the…
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