LEARNING THE ART OF LIVING WELL
As an entirely inevitable conversation unfolds about death, loss and grief this week, I wanted to share a children’s story I wrote some years ago. Many adults feel unsure about how to discuss death with children, and as a result the subject can be avoided entirely or made oblique to somehow soften the blow. I […]
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My son and I got a puppy yesterday. Lots of people had warned me about how much work it was going to be, but when I’ve made up my mind about something I tend to be quite dismissive of any neigh-sayers. It’s probably not the gentlest response, but I find it quite easy to shut […]
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We’re getting a puppy. I told my son, in no uncertain terms, that it was never going to happen and now it is. This tale began in lockdown. I’d taken Jackson for a walk one day – when he had started schooling from home and I had started living at work – and he asked […]
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Lost for Words: Advice for Children About How to Cope with Grief. You can read this piece in English at the end of the post, too. My sincerest thanks go out to Luca for the translation (sei il migliore, Luca). Oggi e’ la Giornata Mondiale dell’emoji, e per celebrare l’occasione, ho dato il permesso a […]
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I’m doing a radio interview for Father’s Day this Sunday, and so earlier this week a producer got in touch to clarify a few points about who I am.
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I find it pretty awful when people try to reassure me that I’m a good parent right now. Instead of revelling in the words of praise, I recoil as I recall all the recent times I’ve nearly exploded, pushed by a child to the edge of quarantined sanity. Go ahead and #sourdough your way through […]
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Yesterday was horrendous. While, strictly speaking, it was the first day back at (home) school after the Easter holidays, I suppose parents across the country made a decision about how stressful they were going to make it for themselves. I – perhaps predictably – went full-force. I could have eased my son back in, but […]
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I’m not going to mince my words: my son has really been getting on my nerves over the last few days. I, like so many other adults out there right now, have been attempting to balance working from home with homeschooling during what’s arguably the biggest world crisis of my lifetime. This is not normal. […]
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Lots of parents and guardians across the UK picked their children up from school for the last time in who-knows-how-long on Friday this week. The abruptness, shock, fear and confusion of it all reminded me of something else: grief. And grief, at least as I experienced it, can feel a lot like pressure. What will […]
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This is a preview of the foreword of Lost for Words, a new book created by the Life Matters task force – a coalition calling for better support for bereaved families – to mark Children’s Grief Awareness Week 2019. The book is made up of advice and insights by children across the UK, bereaved from […]
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Growing up in a predominantly white, middle class town in the north of England, I never really spent much time – aside from my own childhood insecurities – thinking about how it must feel to be ‘other’. That changed nine years ago when my mixed race son was born. In the early months and years, […]
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I spent the day with one of my best friends at his new house in Cheshire on Saturday. We first met at high school and have since been through pretty much every high and low in life together. When we get together we can – and we do – talk for hours and hours. It’s […]
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MAN ALIVE 