Speaking for myself, I see women, mothers and feminists as colleagues and friends. We can and should all work together to help dads become better parents and raise the profile of fatherhood. Anti-male blog-posts such as the one written by Louise Pennington create a wedge between the genders.

One million children going without an adequate education would be unacceptable and a cause for considerable public anger to be directed towards the Government... But one million fathers are absent from the lives of their children. The presence and influence of a father is of far greater importance than a school teacher.

I often wonder who writes such gushing father's day tributes. They might be suitable for your natural father (although I frequently question this), but in my opinion you want something slightly more conservative for a stepfather.

Before it was wrong, children often toiled alongside their parents. For their parents. Now we work for them. Like tiny benign overlords they preside over us. Arguably it's better this way. But sometimes, when my toddler rides me like a mule after 12 hours of one-to-one fun, only marginally so.

I haven't enjoyed a full, uninterrupted eight hours sleep in nearly six years. I know this because I have had a lot of time to think about that fact. A lot of time spent lying in bed in the dark, eyes wide open pondering how long it has been since I have slept a full night and since when.

This morning I got up at 6 o'clock with the baby. I then went straight to the kitchen to begin preparing food for my eight children for the day ahead....

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....

So what exactly are these products made of and what are the risks? Fundamentally, I learned it boils down to two chemicals; Phthalates and Bisphenol, which worryingly can be found in a number of products that have been designed for babies and young children to put in their mouths.

Mother's Day, like lots of holidays, has become gift-obsessed: the flowers, the meal deals. And while mothers most of anyone deserve thoughtful gestures, it sometimes seems like it's more about ticking a box than about showing true appreciation.

The truth is that only us fathers can change the world of parenting and break down the ovarian Bastille I referred to. I'll go a step further and say that sometimes us men should do more to become active parents and make this happen.

I'm not some kind of jock-strap burning masculist and I am no fan of political correctness. I do, however, feel strongly that men should stand up and shout about the contribution they make as parents.

When my son was a baby I didn't know what he wanted all the time, I had to guess, I performed all the basic tasks constantly in the hope that one of them would do it - make him smile, keep him well, stop him crying. This scattergun approach to parenting left me fraught and spent.

Halloween has passed, the time for witches and evil, so I've been thinking of what to get my Mother for Christmas. My Mother is a difficult person to buy for, although possibly not for the reasons one would imagine.

Four and a half months in and I am finding having a decent telephone conversation hard enough, never mind a full night's sleep. So why would a mere mortal mother bother to compare herself with a mumpreneur?

I used to be suspicious of Feminists, until I realised I was one. You see, it's almost impossible to be a woman and not be feminist - after all, who would willingly give up the element of choice in their lives, to be told what they should do and how they should do it?

I can see exactly why people hate family holidays. Luckily for me, those people are the rest of my family.

Mothering is a personal bond and is practised subjectively but I do firmly believe that the unifying thread among caring mothers is one of enduring joyful love and devotion to their children. Happy Mothering Sunday.