Ever had a fairy tale moment?

I’m just about to go to the Chelsea Flower show, lucky me as the tickets are a gift. Although I garden with both my daughters I am with Nell,10, more often, so we spend quite a lot of time discussing plants growing in the front gardens we pass. Recently roses have become a big favourite [...]

What do you do in your lunch break?

“What did you do in Green Team today? asked the Spanish teacher as she saw an 8 year old coming up the stairs. “Oh, we just saved the world!” “And that was just lunch time,” said the teacher repeating the story back to me. “What would the Green Team do if they had a bit [...]

Where are you in the TV debate?

Let the kids watch more TV and eat more pizza – that’s the new parenting tip from Dr Bryan Caplan. He’s not an American childhood guru, he’s a marketing genius with strong libertarian tendencies – just have a look at The Myth of the Rational Voter: why democracies choose bad policies . I can imagine generations [...]

Can you clean up Daleks?

Lola’s out walking 10 of London’s bridges for charity – to help Ugandan students make it to secondary school, seeBridges for Africa. Pete’s up in Wigan where he will see West Ham be defeated, and relegated. So it’s just me and Nell at home with a long to do list. We’ve got to sort out the broken junk [...]

What have you learnt this week?

It’s early in the week but Nell, 10, and all those other children around the world are expected to be learning. Pix above show the girls in an historic oak; Vulcan listening to the brass band; admiring sculpture from horseshoes; watching Morris Dancing plus a taste of the indoors – felting. With SATs this week [...]

How do you celebrate seasons?

Spring is turning into summer – the lilac’s out in London and the elder is flowering. Even if we are still in the midst of the hungry gap (ie, there’s not much freshly grown seasonal veg available from the UK and in particular my garden) at the moment the dryness and sunshine makes me crave [...]

What about sick kids?

Nell,10, unexpectedly spent the Easter weekend in hospital. She came back with a chocolate easter egg, two craft projects (a piggy bank and a glitter-decorated egg) plus pictures and gifts other children on the ward gave her. Even little Jennie, 4, in the next bed turned one of her unused vomit collectors (these things are ridiculously [...]

Are you disorganised?

I reckon I’m not. This post is by Nicola Baird written inbetween organising a school film night for the PTA and dinner for my family… My partner, Pete, reckons he’s not but when he asked our daughter Nell, 10, this question – unfortunately calling her by her big sister’s name (luckily not the dog which [...]

Where to go on holiday?

I’ve just been reading a copy of Conde Nast Traveller – the most aspirational travel mag on the planet. That said the April issue is full of clever ideas (and some surprisingly affordable) about how to make use of having children to entertain during the later than ever before Easter school holiday. This post is [...]

Dealing with loss

        I let my girls watch the TV to see the tsunami batter Japan. I want them to understand the immense power of nature, but more importantly Sky’s camera shots seemed far away enough for it to look as if the wave rolled inland without drowning people. It is utterly terrifying to [...]