Ta-da! Welcome to our new series on education and schooling, covering pretty much anything you’re interested in (so keep the suggestions coming). Here’s my big question. Education is awesome, but does schooling have anything to do with it? Do you remember third form maths and all the time you spent on set theory? It was […]
There’s a special treat at the bottom of this post. To be able to watch it, all you need to do is either a) leave a comment responding to one of the questions below or b) ignore that invitation and scroll down and press play (I’m not nearly committed enough to enforce the rules with […]
My toddler has been deeply asleep for two hours, and looks like he won’t need anything more than a lying-down, half-asleep feed between now and morning. So why am I writing a blog post instead of catching up on the sleep I missed last night when he was up every hour? Because, like many parents, […]
When SBJ turned one, several friends were kind enough to address congratulations to me (some to my husband, too, of course). We’re going to a first birthday party today, for a little girl we’ve met once, for five minutes. Her mother struck up a conversation with my husband in a cafe on Saturday morning, as […]
My Greek teacher, one of the loveliest men alive, reports seeing hot cross buns and Easter eggs on sale in an Auckland supermarket on 4 January this year. So presumably Easter’s not far away! Before Easter, for much of the world, comes Lent, one of my favourite parts of the church year. This year Lent’s […]
Sesame Street is a great source of wisdom and inspiration, don’t you agree? Like this song, a regular when I was in the target demographic: So who are the people in your neighbourhood In your neighbourhood, in your neighbourhood? So who are the people in your neighbourhood? They’re the people that you meet When you’re […]
A year ago today my dear, dear friend Kent died. There are too many things to say. I said some words about Kent last year that you may like to read here. He was an exceptional man. Instead of trying to tell you in new words why I miss him and why it is a […]
How important is it that our children are obedient? This from Annalisa Barbieri in the Guardian: Most parenting books are about how to get children to do things well. By well, read obediently. When and how you – the adult – want them to do something: eat well, pee in the potty, sleep well (that’s the […]
In Steve Biddulph‘s new book, Raising Girls, he apparently calls for an army of aunts to take their place in helping parents to raise resilient young women in a difficult era. The Guardian reports: It is a view about to be revived by bestselling author and psychologist Steve Biddulph, who is calling for an “aunties […]
If there were just one male role model I could pick for my boy, it might be Jean Valjean. (Who would yours be?) It’s kind of cheating, though, since Victor Hugo created Valjean to represent all humanity, how we relate to God and the people around us. His struggles are our struggles and how he […]