During a brief stint teaching, my shoes were captured and held to ransom by students. I don't remember the detail of their demands, just that I was h...

I was once the perfect mother. TV time was strictly controlled, no sugary sweets would pass my little darlings lips, and there was absolutely no way they would be allowed to use iPads, iPhones, Xboxes, computers or any other internet connecting medium until they were mature enough to use them. Possibly not even then. Of course that was before I actually had any kids.

Two parents may be better than one for encouraging normal brain development in growing children, research suggests. Scientists discovered differenc...

Crawling, walking, catching, running, riding a bike and learning to swim - all essential activities to learn for a child. But cooking? It might not sound like a core skill but an increasing amount of evidence points to the fact that learning to cook has numerous benefits for children.

A lot of boys struggle with reading. And yes, it usually is boys. They go from class readers and Horrid Henry to Diary of a Wimpy Kid straight onto Call of Duty, never to be seen again. Unlike great literature, shoot-em ups are easy.

As we all inevitably leave our twenties and begrudgingly begin the slow pitiful march towards responsibility and self-loathing, it's important to ask the question - what next? For some it's fulfilling careers and the exciting discovery of our greatly unrecognised adult self, and for some it's children.

The faster one travels, the slower time moves. We know this from Einstein's theory of relativity. So if something is moving incredibly slowly - a todd...

When my daughter was four months old I decided it would be the thing to sell up and shift our new and amorphous life together two-hundred miles south....

It is written: travelling (alone) with a young child will inevitably lead to trauma. Turns out that's bunkum. It's a far greater strain to have your world shrink suddenly at the point of giving birth than to witness toddler meltdown on the Eurostar. Even when it's rammed.

Restaurant reviews generate mixed emotions in people with small children: there's nostalgia for a time when keeping up with the latest gastronomic tre...

After the excesses of Christmas, entertaining children in January needs to be cheap and easy so here are my top picks of free days out in London for kids, which don't require a huge amount of energy or planning, won't be overly crowded and are fun whatever the weather.

According to Which magazine, almost 50% of Brits funded Christmas 2012 with credit. Be it a credit card, or payday loans, which almost a million families used, there will be millions of people for whom Christmas 2012 is a 2013 problem.

If you're looking for something completely free then head to Duke of York Square's Christmas grotto. It's beautifully decorated, children get to meet Father Christmas, have their photo taken, get a small gift and if they're lucky meet Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer.

I have just bought a chapel! Well with my husband ...at auction a run-down Baptist Chapel which we hope to restore to its former glory..complete with pews, graveyard ( but the bathing chamber will remain below stairs!).