My university days
I saw a post on Instagram recently by my friend Helen aka Actually Mummy about university and it struck a huge chord. University days are the best days of your life, right? Not for me they weren’t. I didn’t know much about university. None of my family went there. Most of what I knew came from a friend whose parents had both gone there and met their friends for life there. My friend knew for certain that she would meet her...
How to get a teenager to do their homework
If you’ve come here looking for answers, I’m afraid you’ve come to the wrong place. I am firmly of the view that you CAN’T get your teenager to do their homework. Not if they are a certain type of personality. No doubt there are a few very strict families out there who rule their kids by fear – and have done from very small – who can’t get their teenagers to do their homework. But we are not...
Parenting an adult
I’m more than three months into parenting an adult now. So how does it differ from parenting a 16 or 17 year old? Technically of course, it shouldn’t really change a lot. On a young adult’s 18th birthday, they are still only one day older than they were the day before. No wiser. No more grown up. But that number 18 is huge to them. It means so much. How do you balance that with your own life as a parent? Of course,...
The avulsion fracture and recovery part 2
Earlier this year, my son suffered an avulsion fracture on his pelvis. Avulsion fractures are usually related to sport and are more common in young people who are growing quickly. My son’s fracture was caused by pulling a muscle while doing long jump, which pulled his bone away. He was in a lot of pain and was taken to hospital by ambulance. He made remarkable progress in his recovery in the first week. You can read about that...
My daughter’s 100th parkrun
My daughter and I ran our very first parkrun together, back in May 2015. She has just run her 100th parkrun. My daughter was just 9 when she ran her first parkrun. We ran a fair few runs together back in those days (children have to run with an adult until their 11th birthday). In the first few months, she was pretty enthusiastic. Then her first panto came along and she had to miss a few Saturdays for rehearsals and performances. She...
Cheltenham half marathon 2019
Cheltenham half marathon 2019 was my 18th (I think) half marathon in total, my sixth at Cheltenham and my fourth this year. Since running my first marathon earlier this year, 13 miles has held no fear for me whatsoever. In fact, I quite often just run 13 miles on a Sunday morning for fun. A few weeks ago, I heard some men at parkrun talking: ‘Are you ready for Cheltenham?’. And I thought: oh yes, people get ready for half...
