When my baby started moving around and exploring, I heard myself saying ‘Be careful!’ an awful lot. My husband and I are pretty relaxed about SBJ taking risks and maybe getting a bit bumped. We don’t make a fuss if he falls over (when he falls over) and mostly neither does he. Our standard has […]
Letters of Note is an extraordinary site, publishing transcripts and facsimiles of fascinating correspondence. There’s a huge range. The most popular letter ever on the site is this one from a former slave to his former master. The most recent is this beautiful letter from Fiona Apple, written just last week, to her fans in […]
Christmas carols start wafting through shops earlier and earlier each year, but this year one thing about Christmas is later than usual. The church season of Advent runs for four or so weeks before Christmas, helping us to imagine life before Jesus, and anticipate the celebrations of his birth. This year it begins on Sunday […]
A guest post by Sam Kilpatrick. My wife is awesome. Of course I have to say that because I’m married to her, and she is sitting across from me in the lounge! We’ve been talking about some of the ways in which I’ve made a difference in ministry or teaching or work and then it […]
I attribute my brilliant and amazing parallel parking skills to all the Lego I played with as a kid. I’m good at reading maps, too. Here’s a step up, though, if you want to encourage not just spatial development, but the kinds of skills in technology and design that lay the groundwork for an engineering […]
In A Prairie Home Companion, Garrison Keillor gives the news each week from the township of Lake Wobegon, where ‘all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.’ It’s not just Lake Wobegon. Some friends of ours observed the amusing number of parents around them who considered […]
Remember Susan Cain? You may have seen her fabulous TED talk that I posted a week or two ago, based on her book, Quiet: the Power of Introverts. The guru on introverts in an extraverted world, she gives ten tips for parenting introverts on her website. For me (an extravert pretending to be an introvert at […]
A guest post by Jenny Bucksmith. I sometimes feel like the third wheel in my own family. As the only female surrounded by boys there is a definite imbalance of hormones – but I wouldn’t actually trade that for the world. I love having two sons, I couldn’t imagine having a daughter, I wouldn’t know […]
In honour of Baby E’s first birthday (her Mum inspired the YouTube Party series): If you like to talk to tomatoes If a squash can make you smile If you like to waltz with potatoes Up and down the produce aisle… Have WE got a SHOW for YOU! This is the opening to VeggieTales, the […]
At bedtime at Grandma’s house we’d start by setting the table for breakfast – yes, before we went to bed – with plates and cutlery, toast rack and jam tray.  Then in bed we would say a prayer you may know: Gentle Jesus, meek and mild Look upon a little child Pity mice and plicity […]