I had a nightmare recently, where my husband and I were both sent to prison – separate prisons. I don’t remember what we were convicted of or whether we’d done it. I just remember the horror of realising that our punishment was the break-up of our family. How appalling. I did a criminology paper at […]
‘The Second Shift’ has persisted through the several decades that women have been working outside the home in large numbers. It’s the name authors Arlie Russell Hochschild and Anne Machung gave to the phenomenon of working women coming home and doing another whole shift of house-based work. Also known as the double burden, the problem […]
This is the first in an occasional series on our experience of co-sleeping with our baby (and toddler, as he becomes later on!). You can see the series list here. We didn’t intend to become ‘attachment parents.’ We don’t tick all the boxes, but we could certainly sneak into an AP Christmas party and fit […]
If you have kids and if you are lucky enough to have someone in your life who can look after them beautifully for a whole day (in yesterday’s case, my kind husband), you can: leave the house lightly laden think jaywalk have a leisurely breakfast over four courses at the cool new cafĂ© down the […]
Sure, most adults eventually marry or enter long-term partnerships, but even more adults in the West spend a considerable period of life as a single person. Actually, I’m just guessing about that, but it’s probably right. I read that nine out of ten American women will be widowed, given statistical life expectancy. Even among Christians, […]
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 don’t have time for ads, generally speaking. Largely for this reason, I don’t watch tv except online or on dvd, and I rarely read newspapers and magazines in print anymore. But yesterday I caught up with two contrasting ad campaigns, both for men’s formalwear. (My interest in my husband’s wardrobe makes me more their […]
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 […]
Nicholas said to me in 2005, using his sharply-tuned crap-o-meter, that saying ‘I don’t have time for that’ is, consciously or otherwise, code for ‘I don’t want to do it.’ I’ve been hyperaware of the phrase ever since. I think I’d just told him I didn’t have time for getting back into yoga. Oops. Clearly, […]
Today is A Bad Day. It didn’t start out that way, and I don’t know quite how it slipped into the chasm, but at about 1.15pm I suddenly felt deflated. I don’t want to be a downer, but I thought it might be helpful to describe what A Bad Day can be like. Quite a […]