I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned it on this blog, but our eldest son is painfully shy. Well, he was painfully shy. At one point, my wife suspected he had selective mutism, a condition where the child behaves normally at home, but outside the house they barely communicate at all. In front of other [...]
Do you call your parents Mum and Dad, or do you use their first name? Or, more importantly, do you allow your children to call you by your first name? I’ve been meaning to ask this question on the blog for a while now, because our daughter – quite of her own free will – has [...]
What do you do when you notice your child’s friendships breaking down? Do you intervene, do you try to get them to talk it out? Do you try to get them to spend time apart? Do you mind your own business and be there to pick up the pieces? Rachel (who’s only 7 years old, [...]
Lisa and I are both the eldest children in our respective families. Both of us can remember that there are special perks associated with being the eldest. In my case, every Saturday night, my Dad would slip out of the house and bring back fish suppers for him and my Mother, then they’d call me [...]
I stumbled across this post over on Ririan Project today about the 7 habits of highly successful fathers. Funnily enough, when we first started a family, I picked up that book by Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Successful Families. While it was an interesting read, I never got to the end of it. It’s on [...]
Rachel’s fascination with the iPod continues. At the moment, the shuffle at the side of my bed has the new Dixie Chicks album and Carrie Underwood’s debut. Because of the holidays, I’ve been letting Rachel lie in our bed and listen to some songs before she goes to sleep. When she gets tired, she switches [...]
I just love the stage that our baby boy is at right now. Actually I should probably stop calling him a baby, he is more of a toddler at this point. But he is our youngest and last and I want to have a baby for just a bit longer! Anyway back to the point, [...]
Normally by this time of year I am at least half organised for christmas. I know how boring that sounds but the thought of buying all my presents in December terrifies me and I could never afford to do it all in one month anyway. This year however I seem to be lagging behind. I [...]
Over the last few weeks I have felt as though I am banging my head off a brick wall. Jake has always been more free with his hands than Rachel, but over the last six months or so, I have noticed that he rarely hits, kicks or pushes anymore. Since summer holidays started though I [...]
Up until recently there was very little differentiation in our home between the toys Rachel played with, and the toys that Jake chose. If Rachel wanted to play with Barbies or My Little Ponies, then Jake was happy to join in. But in the last few weeks our wee boy has started to emerge. It [...]
