The crying game
By Karen Charlton I celebrated my 33rd birthday last weekend by having a ripper car fight with my husband and crying into the green woods of…
Joining the 5am writer’s club
By Karen Charlton I can hear Ruben stirring – strike that – crying from his room. Either that or a small wolf cub has entered our…
Putting yourself first
Post by Gillian Harrison I left my children in early 2010. My partner convinced me to take a kid-free holiday to Malaysia for 6 days. I…
Paper boats in a digital sea
Post by Karen Charlton Hamish is in my office, discovering all these books I’d forgotten I had. Rupert Bear: a Noddy book that belonged to my…
Small child with a big file
Post by Karen Charlton Tomorrow my middle son, Hamish, will have his tonsils removed, and his third round of grommets inserted into his right ear, and…
Women writing on the internet and why it’s important
I have a problem. I try to keep my parenting to myself because I know when in public, as soon as people realise I am a…
Writing with your sneakers on
I’m sitting in the overhanging atrium of the public library cafe, surrounded by glass louver windows. I’ve just been handed a coffee by the sour barista,…
How to overcome a spiky morning
I woke up feeling like I hadn’t slept at all. I could think of only one thing: a hot shower. When I saw that our downstairs…
Wisdom from the produce section
On Thursday morning Ruben and I walked to the village to check the mail and stock up on bananas. After our usual rounds of post office…
Feed your kids books for breakfast
The other night, after finishing his school readers, 6-year-old Louis picked up Oliver Jeffers’ Incredible Book Eating Boy and we folded ourselves into his single bed,…
Writing letters to the person you punch the most
When my sons aren’t play fighting, they are real fighting. Think dogs constantly biting at each other’s throats, mostly just mouthing but sometimes sinking in their…
Don’t be scared of monsters kids, be scared of LIVING
The narrative of safety weaves itself through our society like so much fluorescent orange barrier mesh. Watch out! Don’t go there! I wouldn’t if I were…
August
We were going to name you August. You were due on 8.8.08, the luckiest date in the Chinese calendar. When my waters broke early morning, I…
The bedtime recital
I hear chatting on the baby monitor. I dry my hands on the tea towel and begin the climb up the stairs. I step lightly on…
the rhythm method 