We all know that things change when you’ve got kids. But the biggest shock to the system after my first baby wasn’t just the lack of sleep, or loving someone in ways I’d never thought possible – or even that it had somehow become acceptable to have a conversation with your other half about another human being’s poo. It was what happened on New Year’s Eve. When you’re childless, what you’re doing on 31st December is of monumental importance. You might welcome in the new year i

Any working mum knows that the most wonderful time of the year is also the most exhausting. A newspaper decided to prove this by printing a picture of the Duchess of Cambridge looking less than her sparkling, Reiss dress-wearing self this week. The headline read, ‘Two young children, three official functions in a week AND Christmas shopping . . . no wonder she looks shattered.’ Personally, I think she looked pretty good, certainly compared with how some of us (aka me) appeare

I love the idea of baking with my children. And at this time of year, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was obligatory. The foodie magazines are full of festive recipes – for gingerbread men, child-friendly mince pies and present-shaped pastry decorations with which to adorn your tree. TV programmes are overflowing with suggestions for home-made gifts, truffles and fudges that are false-teeth-friendly and therefore ideal for grandparents - the idea being that you can whip the

The countdown to Christmas is firmly on, now that we’ve got those traditional festivals like Black Friday and the first airing of the John Lewis advert out of the way. So my kids have one priority this weekend – to visit a grotto so they can present a lengthy list of items from the Argos catalogue to Father Christmas. But I’ve come to learn over the years that visiting a grotto can be a hit-and-miss experience. If you get a good one – with twinkling lights and Santa really ge

The power of advertising is a scary thing if you’ve got children. I realised this the day my three-year-old approached me while I was scrubbing the sink one day and declared: ‘Mummy, you need some Cillit Bang. Just rub it in and, BANG! The dirt is gone!’ Advertisers know that children are like sponges when it comes to retaining information. And at this time of year, when parents are frantically trying to work out what Santa might do well to bring down the chimney, it’s ultima