Opinion
Tragedy, Courage and an Over-Simplified View of British Parents
Wednesday 11th of September 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna MathiasMotherhood can take us in many surprising directions. It can inspire us to take stands, motivate us into action, give us the strength us on to put our head above the parapet. In my own life, I know that I have a greater sense of purpose and a [...]
Ordinary Fathers and Celebrity Mums...
Wednesday 19th of June 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna MathiasOrdinary fathers... As I write, it is the evening of Father’s Day. Now, when you have a four year old, a one year old, and are endeavouring to live life on a careful budget, there’s not much room for grandiose demonstrations of our [...]
Falling In Love Again - With My Daughter
Monday 24th of June 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna MathiasWhen parents reach a moment of utter exasperation with their kids, what they tend to say is that they love them, but they don’t like them very much. Love is the constant, and the 'not liking' is borne out of not really being able to make sense [...]
What's In a Blog?
Thursday 4th of July 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna MathiasBlogging, everyone is doing it – or so it seems. But why? In my life among my local friends, some get it, others don’t. Those that don’t, wonder why I devote time to a blog, when in reality we are all of us, as parents, short of [...]
Do you let your children play with guns?
Saturday 6th of July 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Iona BurchellThis is my current dilemma. Recently we went on holiday and my daughter was given some spending money by my mum. We both said she could spend it how she wanted to. She's almost 7 and I agreed that it would be nice to give her some independence. I [...]
Let's Get The Kids Outside!
Wednesday 17th of July 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna MathiasIn the midst of this exceptionally good weather, I have spent a very pleasant Sunday afternoon in the garden of friends watching my children dip in and out of the paddling pool, slide down a piece of plastic, and munch their way through strawberries [...]
My Top 10 Lessons Learned Holidaying with Little Ones
Thursday 18th of July 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Siobhan ThomasA friend of ours recently returned from a long haul holiday to a resort where he and his wife have been several times. ‘Man it was intense, there was just no down time – it wasn’t a holiday’ was how he summed it up! The [...]
A Little Privacy, If You Please?
Wednesday 24th of July 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna MathiasSo Kate has had a boy. I’m glad she’s fine and that her little boy is too. I hope that in the hurly-burly that surrounds St Mary’s they have managed to feel a degree of cocooned privacy for those first few precious hours. I am [...]
A Blog For All People
Thursday 25th of July 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Mr Boos MumAt the end of last month, the Mum Network Bloggers Club had its first Twitter chat, led by the lovely Leoarna. We covered a lot of ground and I felt like I got to know fellow club members a lot better as a result. If you weren't able to join in, [...]
Featured Blogger - Suzanne Lynch-McKay
Wednesday 31st of July 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Suzanne LSo, we’re starting a new series of posts here on the Mum Network Trusted Blogger Club pages; ‘The Featured Blogger’. Each time we’ll take one of our club members, and give you a more detailed introduction to them than you get [...]
How to Survive Being a Stay at Home Mum
Thursday 8th of August 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Kimberley TylerFirstly I would like to say that there is no easy answer to the above question, and I think it is fair to say that for some people it’s just not an option. I am a stay at home and to be honest I sometimes wonder how I am surviving; it is the [...]
Going at Their Own Pace - and Helping Them Along
Friday 9th of August 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna MathiasMy 21-month-old little boy is very much his own man. Before he has the patience to finish his fingers of toast, he wants his “Goos” (read: shoes) on so that he can head outside to play with his big sister. He happily sits in his Little [...]
My Key Parenting 'Rules'
Friday 30th of August 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Jocelyn ReadingI've been a mum now for nearly 4 years. I can hardly believe that my beautiful daughter will soon turn 4, and that my gorgeous boy is 1 this month. We don't plan to have any more children, so whilst I am looking forward to all the fun that we will [...]
Good Enough or Not Enough? Enough Already!
Monday 2nd of September 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Mr Boos MumI am a film buff. I also watched a bit too much telly when I was young. My Mum, sister and I have a shared frame of cinematic and televisual reference that must seem very odd to outsiders. We liberally pepper our conversation with quotations [...]
Teaching Stranger Danger & Striking a Balance
Wednesday 4th of September 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Siobhan ThomasITV’s Daybreak ran a feature this morning on the issue of children’s vulnerability when it comes to trusting strangers. A Simple Experiment They tested 9 children in a park, with their parents’ consent, to see whether they would [...]
15 sippy cups and 7 potties later...
Tuesday 10th of September 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Emma LanderWhen my daughter was around six months old, I was told by my health visitor to try her with a sippy cup for water and juice. Not unusual really. Like many children though, she was so fussy with the type of spout and I ended up buying many, many [...]
Featured Blogger - Jax Blunt
Thursday 12th of September 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Jax BluntSo, we’ve started a new series of posts here on the Mum Network Trusted Blogger Club pages; ‘The Featured Blogger’. Each time we’ll take one of our club members, and give you a more detailed introduction to them than you get [...]
Finding Your Sparkle
Friday 13th of September 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Suzanne LA little while back I posted on eggdipdip about losing my mojo. I felt flat, like I'd lost my sparkle and more like a week old bottle of cheap supermarket cola than a fruity little bottle of sparkling rose. Turns out, a few of my very lovely [...]
Change - Friend or Foe?
Tuesday 17th of September 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Suzanne WhittonAs the leaves begin to turn and the central heating becomes ever more appealing, we also welcome the start of a new school year. Or do we? Welcome it, I mean.... Last week my middle child started secondary school - a milestone we've [...]
Weaning: The tips that helped me, and the tips that should have!
Thursday 19th of September 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Siobhan ThomasReading last week’s news articles about research into processed baby foods got me thinking about weaning. In about 8 months’ time I will be doing it all over again and I will need to remind myself what worked for me, and what might have [...]
When No Means No (Except When It Means Yes!)
Monday 23rd of September 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Sharon PicklesOver the summer holidays we visited various museums, farms and attractions in a bid to keep the little darlings entertained and stimulated. No matter how educational or wholesome a museum or castle may be, you can bet your bottom dollar that [...]
Time flies - when you're a Mum
Thursday 26th of September 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna MathiasI’m in contemplative mood this week. The reason? Our little girl started school this month. Now, you’d be forgiven for thinking that, in this case, I have no place writing for website that focuses on babies. But, bear with me, I do have [...]
Bitter Sweet Baby and Toddler Show
Tuesday 1st of October 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Emma LanderWhen I announced I was attending Manchester’s Baby and Toddle show on Friday, some people asked why? My daughter is nearly 3 so I can see their point. It got me pondering why myself. Before I had Elizabeth I didn’t really take much [...]
Messing Round With Gender Roles?
Thursday 3rd of October 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Kerrie McGiveronIn light of Toys R Us removing their labels for girls and boys toys, I would like to just say that I for one am very glad that this is happening. As a mother of three young girls with very different personalities, I think that it is so important not [...]
The Meningococcal Season
Friday 4th of October 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna MathiasI’ve written before about how social media keeps me more than up to date with what is going on in the parenting universe, and provides me with ample material for the purposes of my regular posts here. It is usually to twitter that I turn for [...]
The High Heel Debate
Wednesday 9th of October 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Emma LanderWhen Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise’s daughter Suri was photographed in high heels, the world commented. From the sexualisation of children to simple, harmless fun, it seems opinion was divided. Well I have a confession to make. I have bought [...]
Featured Blogger - Suzanne Whitton
Thursday 10th of October 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Suzanne WhittonWhen did you start blogging, and what prompted your decision to go ahead? Blogging is something that I had considered for months before taking the plunge – I was constantly creating posts in my head, thinking of titles but chickening out when [...]
Keeping Hold of Our Kids
Thursday 17th of October 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Kerrie McGiveronHow do we keep hold of our kids to keep them safe? How much is too much? Should we wrap them up in cotton wool or let them get street-wise? These thoughts have been running around my mind for quite a while now. Ever since Emily turned about 7 and [...]
Featured Blogger - Iona Burchell
Thursday 24th of October 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Iona BurchellWhen did you start blogging, and what prompted your decision to go ahead? I started blogging in earnest in September 2012. I'd had a blog registered for a good few months beforehand but hadn't done anything with it other than played around. It was [...]
The Juggle of Modern Motherhood?
Friday 25th of October 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna MathiasWhen I first started blogging, I was very preoccupied with the never-ending juggle I seemed to be compelled to perform as a modern mum. Baking for a birthday party, or the school cake sale one day. Writing website content on Post Natal Depression or [...]
The Threenage Years
Tuesday 29th of October 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Suzanne LAs I sit here typing, my 3 year old is being the picture of angelic perfection. Playing beautifully with his big brother, occassionally dashing over to me for a quick cuddle and just being generally lovely. Twenty minutes ago, the scene couldn't [...]
Making Sense of Tantrums and Making Childhood Better
Wednesday 30th of October 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna MathiasI don’t know about you, but when our youngest child, who will be two in a couple of weeks’ time, hits full tantrum mode, my equilibrium is severely tested. While his older sibling was more than capable of letting us know how she felt [...]
Trick or Treat...
Thursday 31st of October 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Lucas JamesI had that thing earlier - you know when you overhear something and know that you should say something but you don't do then you spend the next three hours obsessing over what you should have said? Okay, maybe the next six hours. And [...]
Adjusting Expectations
Tuesday 12th of November 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Michaela FoxI have never liked the term “shy” to describe my daughter’s personality. I remember the first time I heard someone refer to her as shy and the negative inference that accompanied the word. Since then I have been mindful to shield [...]
Your Juggles of Modern Motherhood
Monday 11th of November 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna Mathias‘Multi-tasking Underpaid Miracle worker. Mum for short’; that’s how Suzanne Whitton describes the modern juggling mother. Her fellow club member Oana asked her own mum, many years ago now, ‘When is your work going to finish [...]
Featured Blogger - Mr Boos Mum
Thursday 21st of November 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Mr Boos MumWhen did you start blogging, and what prompted your decision to go ahead? I started blogging a little over 6 months ago in April 2013. I wrote my first post the night of my son, Boo's, first birthday and a week after I finished a short course of [...]
I'm waiting for the first lesbian Disney Princess!
Friday 22nd of November 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Sharon PicklesMy little girl was singing ‘I kissed a girl, and I liked it’ by Katy Perry earlier this week. She loves pop music and sings her heart out in the car when the radio’s playing; on this occasion she began to think about the [...]
What Does Healthy Mean to You?
Tuesday 26th of November 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Lucas JamesWe've all heard it, and many of us have said it - we don't mind if it's a boy or a girl, so long as it's healthy...But what do we mean? Health can be a tricky concept when you have a family member with what some professionals refer to as 'complex [...]
Featured Blogger - Michaela Fox
Thursday 5th of December 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Michaela FoxI started blogging about 14 months ago. I’d love to be able to say I thought long and hard about establishing a blog and fulfilling a long-held dream, but the truth is a lot more prosaic than that! Having had three kids in less than three [...]
Actions Speak Louder Than Words
Monday 9th of December 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna MathiasActions speak louder than words. Kids are far more likely to copy what you do, than they are willing to follow your instructions - or at least, that is how it seems to me! This means, more seriously, that we as parents truly are role models, in [...]
The Games You Don't Want to Get Your Children This Christmas
Wednesday 18th of December 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: James BrightonAppropriate Games? The age old gaming debate has reared its head again this Christmas with over 30% of parents saying that Grand Theft Auto V is the game they'd least like their children to get this Christmas. It's not surprise that this is the [...]
How Do You Define Motherhood?
Monday 23rd of December 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna MathiasAs regular readers will know, we recently ran a competition for our Mum Network Trusted Blogger Club members on the Juggle of Modern Motherhood. It seems that in taking a close look at what it like to be a mum in the 21st century, we were [...]
Hello again: Putting My Head Above the Parapet
Tuesday 14th of January 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Mr Boos MumIf my blog posts were puppies (bear with me…) I’d like to think they were little spaniels. Enthusiastic and positive little things, hungry for love and attention but happy to play with a ball in a corner if people are otherwise engaged. [...]
Some of us wait forever to be a mum - Others are certain it is not for them
Tuesday 21st of January 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna MathiasI will be forever fascinated by what it is that drives us women to want to be mothers – and equally intrigued by those who are certain that they don’t want to be. Clichéd though it sounds, I have always wanted to be a mum – [...]
Are toddler tantrums genetic?
Wednesday 22nd of January 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Emma LanderSo a recent report from the Daily Mail suggests toddler tantrums are due to genetic reasons rather than poor parenting. While this probably makes a lot of parents feel better, it made me lament and worry about what we are in for. I think I may be [...]
Featured Blogger - Sharon Pickles
Tuesday 21st of January 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Sharon PicklesWhen did you start blogging, and what prompted your decision to go ahead? I’d been reading other people’s blogs for a couple of years and I just felt that I wanted to have a go. I tuned 50 last autumn and it was a part of trying [...]
What's in a name?
Wednesday 29th of January 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Jocelyn ReadingNaming your child is a privilege. It's exciting, it's important and it's kind of a big deal! We had a little list of names we liked during each of my pregnancies, and I liked flicking through my name book, the husband taking inspiration from [...]
Relocating Overseas with Kids: My Top 10 Tips for Easing The Transition
Monday 3rd of February 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Sara MurrayRelocating overseas is tough. You leave behind all that is familiar, to start again. It's hard enough as an adult when you can understand and rationalise what is to come, but as a child who has been taken away from family, friends, school, home, [...]
Social Media: A Lens on the Best and Worst of Humanity
Wednesday 5th of February 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna MathiasIncreasingly, social media makes the news. At the same time, news is reported on social media more instantaneously than ever before. The two worlds are ever more interchangeable, blending in front of our eyes, spinning each other around. As I write, [...]
Nicknames as Proper Names
Tuesday 11th of February 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Anne-Marie CThis month's 'village news magazine' had last year's list of birth, deaths and marriages in. Technically it's lists of baptisms and funerals rather than births and deaths, so the lists are quite short, but there was a trend in names that I [...]
Separation Anxiety
Thursday 13th of February 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna MathiasSeparation Anxiety; it is one of those phrases that 20th century psychology ‘gifted’ to modern parents. Knowing about separation anxiety does nothing much for the mum trying to leave her child at a nursery, pre-school or [...]
Is it Just a Number?
Wednesday 19th of February 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Suzanne Whitton"Are you ok if she watches The Hangover?" were the mum's parting words, as I dropped my 13 year old off at yet another sleepover. Having watched the film myself, I hesitated; in my head I'm thinking 'of course it's not ok!' but have to tread a [...]
Which 'brand' of parent are you?
Wednesday 19th of February 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna MathiasWho our kids will end up being will be decided by an incredibly complex mix of factors. We cannot really ever know how our approach to encouraging our children, to disciplining them, our use of childcare, or how much we allow others to have [...]
Girls and Boys Come Out to Play
Thursday 27th of February 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna MathiasHalf term last week saw, in our little part of the world, the sun came out – at last. The kids and I managed to have a couple of days that were plan-free, thus allowing them to bimble about outside. Donned in waterproof dungarees and welly [...]
Breast vs. Bottle - A Dead Heat?
Friday 28th of February 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: James BrightonIt's a debate which goes on between women across the country day in day out, week in week out, and so on and so forth. Breast vs. Bottle will continue for years to come too, as mothers decide how they will feed their baby, whilst in some cases there [...]
Featured Blogger - Kimberley Tyler
Monday 3rd of March 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Kimberley TylerWhen did you start blogging, and what prompted your decision to go ahead? I started www.rubypluslottie.co.uk in March 2013; my aim was to create some wonderful memories for my girls, and have a little place on the Internet to raise awareness of [...]
A Brush with Meningitis
Tuesday 11th of March 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Anne-Marie CThis isn't new content as it originally appeared on my blog, but having been in hospital with my 4 year old this week (broken clavicle - she fell out of bed), it brought back memories of when she was very tiny and this is information I think should [...]
International Women's Day and Women in 2014
Friday 14th of March 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna MathiasLast year I wrote a blog for the Mum Network about International Women’s Day. Another of these took place last week. The anniversary of this worldwide event is as good a moment as any to assess the progress we women are making around the [...]
The Internet and our Children
Thursday 20th of March 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna MathiasIn the few months that have passed since my daughter started school, I have learnt to check her book bag regularly. This isn’t just because her reading books regularly change, and I need to spend time with her practicing reading, but also [...]
Where the buck stops: Me
Thursday 27th of March 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna MathiasHave you heard of Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats? From his own description, de Bono is a 'pioneer of writing software for the human brain'. A Rhodes Scholar and a graduate of Oxford, de Bono has spent his life helping corporations big and [...]
Our Children and Neglect
Wednesday 9th of April 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna MathiasNot long after our eldest child started school, I joined the governing body of the school she attends. It is satisfying to be part of a group of motivated and committed people who want to make things better for the pupils, their families, and the [...]
Marching for Health
Friday 25th of April 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna MathiasIn the last few weeks of her life, my Mother in Law was in the care of the NHS. Each time I visited her, I climbed a staircase that took me past a portrait of Aneurin Bevan, better known as the founder of the NHS in the post war Labour government of [...]
Thinking About Them Every Day
Thursday 1st of May 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna MathiasI’m not that good at keeping up with celebrity news via the internet. But I did see this interesting story on Lily Allen’s experience of still birth just recently. In it, Lily talks of how devastated she was at the loss of her son, Sam, [...]
Do you parent in a radically different way to your own parents?
Wednesday 7th of May 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Jocelyn ReadingGood question. I so want to shout 'yes!' to it, too, but alas I cannot... Now, my children are only 4 and 1, so I've a long way to go yet before drawing full comparisons, and to be honest, it was largely my teen years that had me muttering about [...]
The same but different - Parenting styles across the generations
Thursday 8th of May 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Emma LanderIt is 30 years since my mum was bringing me up when I was the same age as my daughter, Boo. She gave up work when she got me while my dad worked. Fast forward to now and while I only work two days a week, I went back to work after six months [...]
How much can you get in - or out of - one hospital bag?
Friday 9th of May 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna MathiasJust this week a facebook friend of mine put out a request for suggestions as to what she should include in her hospital bag, as her baby is due in the next 6 weeks or so. She got a lot of responses, some of them highly humorous, and I shared a link [...]
Allergy Awareness Week 2014
Monday 12th of May 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Susan ThiraFinally. My chest feels less heavy, my heart slightly less burdened and I can feel the tempering warmth of hope on the horizon. My son (who is now 10 months old) has finally been to see the paediatric allergy specialist. He has a cow's milk protein [...]
Twin Tales
Friday 16th of May 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna MathiasI am a big fan of Channel 4 News. For me, their unique perspective on some stories, and the quality of their investigative journalism, is pretty tough to match. I especially like the regular Friday feature called "unreported world", in which they [...]
Football and Classrooms the World Over
Thursday 26th of June 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna MathiasThe presence (or some might say over-presence) of World Cup Football on our televisions gives us all on opportunity to recognise our status as members of a global community – whether or not you actually enjoy the sport. I personally have found [...]
Crimes Against the Positive Choice of Motherhood
Friday 4th of July 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Leoarna MathiasHere in the UK we ladies probably don’t give much thought to our NHS funded right to contraception. We have, perhaps quite rightly, got entirely used to the notion of being able to ensure that pregnancy is a positive choice, and not a risk we [...]
