Whether you remember it vividly or not, I think it’s safe to say that none of us have particularly fond memories of puberty. Hands up who remembers the über excitement of buying your first bra (32AA bless!), or the page-turning wonder of the Girl’s Talk book? Although puberty can mark a happy entry to being […]

9 years ago

Child homelessness increased by 55% from December 2015 to December 2016, despite Government efforts to tackle the housing crisis. The children’s charity Barnardos, who work directly with families caught in the crisis, say that child homelessness in Ireland is increasing at an unfathomable rate. These first-hand accounts of parents and children living in temporary (and totally […]

9 years ago

Well looks like hindsight really is 20/20. A new survey by IllicitEncounters.com has revealed that 59 percent of women regularly fantasise about sex with their ex. Surprisingly, men rank lower coming (heh heh) in with 48 percent. Both sexes agreed that love was the most crucial ingredient in building a memorable encounter. The study also […]

9 years ago

Uh-oh

9 years ago

Prominent pro-life campaigner Katie Ascough has been elected President of the UCD students’ union. The third year Science student won 46% of the student vote in a four-way race to become the university’s union president. Runner-up Philip Weldon came in at 23%, Rebecca Hart at 20%, and Rónán Bartley won 19% of first preference votes. Katie’s father, Tom Ascough, sits on […]

9 years ago

A horrifying and potentially lethal new craze has gone viral on Russian social media. The dangerous new online craze encourages children to secretly turn on the rings of their kitchen hobs, and promises that they will become ‘fire fairies’ if they follow the sinister instructions: “At midnight, when everyone is asleep, get out of your bed […]

9 years ago

Children’s charity Barnardos has launched a new guide for parents on choosing childcare and what to look for in an early years service. Barnardos has launched a new guidebook to help parents choose an early years service for their child. With over 170,000 children attending an early years service in Ireland, the handy guide provides parents with […]

9 years ago

The Workplace Relations Commission has ordered a restaurant to pay a female employee €30,000 after she was sacked within weeks of telling her bosses she was pregnant. Gordon Deegan of the Irish Times reports that the manager of a seafood restaurant was told she had lost her job because “business is business” and to enjoy her […]

9 years ago

A new report from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in the US has warned that hand sanitisers should be kept away from young children, particularly if they contain alcohol. The newly-published report warns that hand sanitisers, often containing up to 95% ethyl alcohol, are frequently combined with scents that appeal to young children. The […]

9 years ago

Car parking charges continue to financially cripple cancer patients. Despite a petition of over 3,000 signatures and a national campaign last December, no hospital in Ireland has changed its parking pricing policy for cancer patients. The Irish Cancer Society is calling for free or subsidised parking for all cancer patients receiving treatment. In December, a report […]

9 years ago

A study has found that taking paracetamol during pregnancy could affect the fertility of your unborn child. According to The Independent, researchers at the University of Edinburgh’s MRC Centre for Reproductive Health gave a number of pregnant rats both paracetamol and indomethacin. It was discovered that their female offspring had smaller ovaries and fewer eggs […]

9 years ago

Vera Twomey has arrived in Dublin after her second 155 mile walk from Cork to Dublin in a bid to get Health Minister Simon Harris to allow her daughter have access to medicinal cannabis. Vera Twomey has received a warm welcome to Dublin (and some pizza) as she arrived to Dáil Éireann and a crowd of […]

9 years ago

The reputation of the ‘Italian Stallion’ is at risk as births in Italy hit an all-time low with 12,000 fewer babies born last year. Italy, a country with a population of 60 million, has announced that births have reached a record low. Figures released for 2016 reveal that births dropped to 474,000, around 12,000 fewer […]

9 years ago

Considering a family foray into the skiing world? France’s L’Alpe d’Huez region gained fame and popularity when it hosted the bobsleigh events of the 1968 Winter Olympics, and remains one of Europe’s premier family-friendly ski destinations. Where Alpe d’Huez is one of seven resorts that make up the Alpe d’Huez Grand Domaine (formerly known as Les […]

9 years ago

AIB has launched a series of initiatives including two weeks’ paid paternity leave and a gap initiative for women on maternity leave. To coincide with Diversity and Inclusion Week which began yesterday, AIB announced new targets for female representation at management levels, alongside launching a paid paternity leave plan and other family-friendly policies. The bank […]

9 years ago

A brave Donegal dad has delivered his baby in the backseat of the family car and used his own shoelaces to tie his newborn daughter’s umbilical cord. Mum-of-four Georgina Doherty has told how her husband, Paul, came to the rescue when the couple were forced to pull in to the side of the Main Buncrana […]

9 years ago

Uh-oh. Bad news for tweens in the UK as schools ban the latest must-have hair accessory, the JoJo bow. If you’re a mum or dad to a tween you might recognise the current hair accessory trend that is the JoJo bow. Youngsters in this country have gone nuts for the oversized hair bows that are based […]

9 years ago

Mum, sportswoman and philanthropist, Princess Charlene of Monaco, has opened up about raising her twins who she says are “adorable and inexhaustible.” The 39-year-old royal mum told Paris Match that her two-year old twins, Prince Jacques and Princess Gabrielle, are at a demanding age and sometimes leave her exhausted, “They are at an incredible age […]

9 years ago

Feel like doing something a little bit different today? Why not blow off some steam in our beautiful Irish countryside and roadtrip the heck out of it (you don’t even have to get out of the car!). These gorgeous scenic drives are the perfect solution if you’re stuck for places to go: 1. Blustery Burren […]

9 years ago

I need your help. I need to find this “off switch” people have told me about. The one everyone references when talking about fertility. The button that allows you to “put it to the back of your mind” or even better “forget about it” completely! The magic wand that allows you to get back to […]

9 years ago

The director of Amnesty International Ireland has called on the government to fully investigate alleged human rights abuses, following the discovery of ‘significant’ quantities of human remains in Tuam, Co. Galway. Amnesty director Colm O’Gorman has called on the government to “finally and fully ensure truth and accountability for what happened to women and children” in […]

9 years ago

US police are investigating claims of sexual assault made against That ’70s Show actor Danny Masterson. Masterson, who played Steven Hyde on That ’70s Show from 1998 – 2006, is being investigated by LAPD inflation to three separate cases of sexual assault. The 40-year-old actor married model and singer Bijou Phillips in Tipperary in 2011. The couple, who are both Scientologists, have […]

9 years ago

Ah, the island of Majorca – this idyllic Balearic island is one of the most beautiful and often underrated family holiday spots. Think powdery-soft beaches, hidden coves, fun resorts and the stunning capital, Palma.  Here’s our tips for a top-notch family friendly holiday in Majorca: What The majestic Mediterranean island of Majorca offers postcard-perfect scenery from […]

9 years ago

The latest poll on Irish abortion laws has shown more support for the regulation of abortion than repealing the Eighth Amendment. A new Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI opinion poll has revealed that the majority of Irish voters (38%) favour replacing the Eighth Amendment with a more liberal constitutional provision. The opinion poll was conducted on Monday and Tuesday of […]

9 years ago

As the great Irish debate about when Spring actually begins rumbles on (are you in the February or March camp?), little signs of the season are popping up everywhere. Birds are singing, snowdrops are appearing, and the weather is…well the rain is getting warmer. If you feel like you’ve been stuck indoors for months on […]

9 years ago

A team of French researchers have found that children with high levels of pyrethroid, an insecticide commonly found in head lice treatment, are around three times more likely to display abnormal behaviour. Scientists analysed the urine samples of 287 pregnant women and their children’s urine samples six years later, and found a link between pyrethroids and […]

9 years ago

Brought to you by Sky Atlantic As someone who still devours bread crusts in the hope it’ll make her hair curly, I can attest: those little white lies parents tell their children can have a lasting effect.  Why do parents tell their offspring something that isn’t true? Well, the reasons vary from trying to improve […]

9 years ago

Research shows that watching television is negatively associated with early academic skills and drops in school readiness, particularly among low-income children. A study by New York University’s School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, has found that watching television for more than a couple of hours a day is linked to lower school readiness skills […]

9 years ago

Adele has pulled firework displays from her upcoming Australian tour dates after debris from the pyrotechnics fell into her four-year-old son’s eye. The singer kicked off her tour of Oz on Tuesday but was horrified to discover that debris from a firework display ended up in her son Angelo’s eye during a dress rehearsal. The Sun reports that […]

9 years ago

Research into the most hated décor trends has revealed that wood panelling, avocado bathroom suites, and built-in-wardrobes over the bed are the fixtures most likely to put homebuyers off. According to a study carried out by Bathrooms.com, one in six homebuyers would look to knock at least five grand off the purchase price of a […]

9 years ago

A groundbreaking campaign enlisting public support to force action restricting relentless junk food marketing directed at children, particularly on social media, is being launched today. The Stop Targeting Kids campaign is seeking to sign up 30,000 supporters to back its call for Government intervention to protect children’s health through strict controls, particularly on digital marketing, which Irish […]

9 years ago

Karen Matthews, who orchestrated the hoax kidnapping of her daughter Shannon Matthews in 2008, has slammed Maddie McCann’s mother Kate. Karen Matthews, who staged her daughter Shannon’s ‘kidnapping’ in order to gain financially from the publicity and claim the reward money offered for her safe return, has called Kate McCann ‘a dreadful mother’ according to her best friend […]

9 years ago

It’s that special time of year, people. Time to spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about which of your many addictions you can gain some control over. That’s right, the most hopeful (yet disappointing) religious season of them all: Lent. Ah the Lenten period. Coming close enough to January that it feels like a sort of […]

9 years ago

Cork mum Vera Twomey has embarked on a second 155 mile walk from Cork to Dublin in a bid to get Health Minister Simon Harris to allow her daughter access medicinal cannabis. Vera’s seven-year-old daughter Ava Barry has a drug-resistant form of epilepsy called Dravet Syndrome which can cause her to have up to twenty seizures […]

9 years ago

The Higher Education Authority have said that free third-level courses will be offered to homemakers for the first time through their Springboard programme. Yesterday, the HEA issued a call for new programmes for Springboard 2017 and announced a number of changes to this year’s programme, including the fact that all courses will now be available to […]

9 years ago

A new report released by the National Cancer Registry, has shown an increase in incidence of childhood cancer between 1994 and 2014, but major reductions in mortality rates overall. The report states that the rates of childhood cancer in Ireland are close to the European average, but mortality rates in this country are amongst the […]

9 years ago

A birth photographer has told an expectant mum that they won’t document her c-section because “surgery isn’t birth.” The Facebook group Sanctimommy have posted a screenshot of a shocking text conversation in which a photographer pointed-blank refuses to take pictures of a client’s birth because she’s having a Caesarean section. The photographer’s appalling comments and bizarre feelings […]

9 years ago

If you’re in that cuddly, hazy, newborn baby glow you may find it hard to believe that, in a few years time, you will struggle to remember things like your little one’s exact time of birth or what their first word was. Filling a memory box with significant items is the perfect way to keep […]

9 years ago

My wrinkles are from laughing. Mostly. But the deep crevices on my forehead are from life. And age. And I have finally decided to banish them because my resting face makes me look a little more curmudgeonly than I really am. Honestly. When I started researching Botox – aka anti-wrinkle injections I felt like I discovered […]

9 years ago

Singer and mum-of-two Lily Allen has told fans that she is taking a break from Twitter after being subjected to a torrent of abuse about her stillborn baby and mental health. Trolls turned on Allen (31) after she tweeted about the prejudice faced by immigrants and Muslims. The abusive tweets led to the Smile singer revealing […]

9 years ago

Three year-old twin brothers have tragically died after falling into a washing machine at their home in Delhi, India. The incident was reported to emergency services at around 12.40pm on Saturday afternoon. The Times Of India reports that twin brothers Laksh and Neeshu were found head-down in the tumbler of a top-loading washing machine at their family home. The […]

9 years ago

A major new fashion exhibition celebrating the life of Diana, Princess of Wales, opened today at Kensington Palace. Organisers say the exhibition, which will run throughout 2017, traces the evolution of the Princess Diana’s style, “From the demure, romantic outfits of her first public appearances, to the glamour, elegance and confidence of her later life.” […]

9 years ago

Teenagers who report feeling sleepy mid-afternoon tend to engage in more anti-social behaviour such as lying, cheating, stealing and fighting. A joint research study from the University of Pennsylvania in the US and the University of York in the UK, has found that teens who say they feel drowsy halfway through the day are 4.5 […]

9 years ago

Powerlifting Adrienne Osuna, who is a mum to four boys, has shared some inspiring snaps from her get fit journey. As mums we can all get preoccupied with losing baby weight and develop an unhealthy obsession with the bathroom scales, but this inspiring mum-of-four has reminded us that weight is just a number. Adrienne Osuna, […]

9 years ago

A mum-of-four in the US has designed onesies especially for babies that have been born as a result of IVF. Emma Wehrman, who sells the unique baby-wear through her Etsy store, says she initially designed the onesies for a friend, “I was able to make these onesies for a friend that is finally pregnant with her little […]

9 years ago

A one-year-old girl in the UK has been declared at risk of being subjected to female genital mutilation by a High Court judge. After a private hearing of the Family Division of the High Court in London, a judge has placed the toddler under a female genital mutilation protection order. Metro reports that social workers raised concerns that […]

9 years ago

Becoming a mum for the first time is one of the most significant shifts in identity that anyone can ever go through. You go from being free and independent to all of a sudden responsible for a new baby who is reliant on you for everything. Being a new mama is amazing, but it can be […]

9 years ago

A new survey of over 3000 mums with children aged between birth and five years has confirmed what most exhausted mothers already know… The National Sex Survey, carried out by Healthy Mummy, found that 33% of mamas are simply too knackered to get it on. Sadly, one quarter of those surveyed said that they don’t feel confident enough about […]

9 years ago

Trinny Woodall’s odd behaviour has been receiving a lot of attention this week and now it looks like she may have outed Holly Willoughby’s pregnancy live on This Morning. Yesterday we reported that Trinny’s bizarre behaviour on ITV’s This Morning had prompted viewers to query if the fashionista was drunk. Now it appears that the What Not […]

9 years ago

Jennifer Lopez has posted a sweet photo collage alongside a gushing tribute to her twins Maximilian and Emme, in honour of their ninth birthday. JLo gave birth to twins, Maximilian David and Emme Maribel, in 2008, and has taken to Instagram to celebrate their birthday and nine years of motherhood. The single mama, who split from the […]

9 years ago