Category Archives: writing

Ten Books, Four Words Each: Most Influential

The latest booklovers’ chain-letter going around Facebook seems to be a challenge to list (without too much agonising) your ten most ‘influential’ books. Heavens. To stay in the spirit of the challenge I’ve tried to write this in one sitting, presumably missing a lot of worthy contenders, but hopefully capturing some kind of truth. And […]

Read More

Making Parenting Easier #1: 12 Ideas to Make You Feel Better

This is part of a series aiming to help us all go easier on ourselves and make our parenting lives more enjoyable and satisfying. The whole series list is here and more links are at the bottom of the post. [Update: 2.5 years later I’ve revised this and added some stuff in. Feel free to suggest […]

Read More

Easter, Sort Of

You’d think the task of ‘explaining Easter’ would not be a tough one for a minister. Hm. I have the privilege of writing occasionally for the parents’ resource website Kiwi Families. Mostly it’s great fun, but sometimes it’s flippin’ hard work, like the other week, when the editor, Rochelle, asked if I could write something […]

Read More

The Only Easter Storybook You’ll Need

I’ve just reviewed a stunningly good Joy Cowley book for the Kiwi Families website: As Easter approaches, and shops are already full of hot cross buns and chocolate eggs, I know plenty of families would like to bring some balance. Exploring the original story of Easter isn’t just for Christian households, either. If you’d like […]

Read More

A Generous Lent, Act 13: Share the Bible

It took me some courage to decide to blog on this activity from the 40 acts of generosity Lent challenge. Is there any book in the world that provokes such diverse and heated reactions as the Bible? Among Christians there is an enormous range of responses, from obedience to respect to frustration. Fans of the English language […]

Read More

Making Parenting Easier #3: Get Some Sleep

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, […]

Read More