As a parent, it’s common to want to solve your children’s problems. Scraped knee? Easy to solve. Problems with some homework? Simple. Trouble playing a new game? Let’s play together. Solving problems is one of the main challenges in parenting – and also one of the most rewarding aspects. However, it’s not always quite that…
Fatherhood: Guest Post – Everything is indeed awesome (or at least more enjoyable) when you’re part of a team
I’m changing jobs again, it’s become a habit and one I’ve learnt to embrace. Last time I switched I took the family to Egypt in that lovely between-jobs period when you’ve not got an old job to stress about and you’ve not yet started your new job to stress about, it was wonderful. This time…
Fatherhood: Review – Science4you Play Sets
I was recently contacted by a lovely lady from a website called ‘Science4You‘, who asked if the boys and I would like to review some of their sets. Having never heard of the site before, but being intrigued enough by the name, I accepted happily and awaited my parcel in the following week’s post. The…
Fatherhood: takes on Boyhood
As I sit here in San Jose (California), 5,500 miles away from my family, I have plenty of time to reflect on the aspects of fatherhood which I’m currently missing out on. I’ve only been here for a couple of days so far, so I mustn’t grumble too much – I’m certainly missing them all…
Fatherhood: Half-way round the world in 8 days
This Sunday, I’m heading to the West coast of America for a series of work-based meetings, which will see me spending 8 days away from my family – the longest time I’ve been away from them in their short lives. It will also be the first time I’ve ever been away from Freddie for more…
Fatherhood: Chocolate Charlie Cheers Cheeky Child
Our house has been taken over by chocolate fever, and it shows no sign of abating. Sweeties are causing a rumpus, chewing gum has elicited gasps of excitement and you can’t even imagine the delights caused by gobstoppers… It’s not the Christmas leftovers that are driving my children mad, though – it’s a lot more…
Fatherhood: 2014, A Year in our Family Album – Part 2
Following on from where I left-off a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to finish my round-up of our family year – before the year comes to an end! The second half of the year included a memorable holiday, a lot of exciting day trips and a family Christmas – so without further ado, let’s…
Fatherhood: Review – Hot Wheels Super Loop Chase Race / Total Turbo Takeover Trackset
The good people at Mattel are clearly feeling in the festive spirit, as they asked the boys and I if we’d mind reviewing not one but TWO new Hot Wheels sets. Given that my oldest is an utter Hot Wheels fanatic, I wasn’t about to say no – so that’s exactly what we’ve done! I…
Fatherhood: Don’t let an over-generous Santa spoil another child’s Christmas
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a light-hearted post about whether or not Santa was taking unfair credit from parents. The post was well-received and generated a fair bit of discussion on Facebook. As a result of that post, several friends have alerted me to a couple of Facebook posts on a similar topic,…
Fatherhood: Family Days Out – Christmas at Legoland Windsor
With the big day fast approaching, and a trip to see Father Christmas still not ticked-off our seasonal ‘to do’ list, my wife came across an interesting new option last week. It seemed to fulfil all the criteria: a fun day out, a chance to meet the big man and do some other Christmassy stuff,…