The thoughts of planning birthday parties for my kids at our house fills me with total joy and excitement.. ..until the actual party day itself. I then spend every waking minute scrubbing, roaring at himself that I have NO IDEA where the pegs for the bouncing castle are, and being arsey with the kids if […]

10 years ago

If your kids are still small and in primary school, the chances are that you are currently staring down the ‘What the f*ck will I do with them for the summer holidays?’ barrel. The entire months of July and August with no schedules to adhere to can seem to be pretty overwhelming at first, but […]

10 years ago

Cancer is still one of the great scourges of our world today. While I recently wrote about my mum’s journey with breast cancer and how we handled it as a family, I was simultaneously grimly aware of a 5-year-old girl in our town who has just been diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. Cancer doesn’t discriminate, as Paulette […]

10 years ago

When it comes to one’s happiness, we are all aware that we are individually in charge of it. There are of course outside factors that can contribute to bad moods and depression but general happiness is something that we can manage and subscribe to if we choose to do so. If we were to study […]

10 years ago

If there’s one thing we know about the readers of HerFamily.ie, it’s that they enjoy a wee tipple after the hard slog that is parenting. We. Are. With. You. And with so many G&T fans among you, we thought it our civil and moral duty to inform you about this week’s Irish Gin And Tonic […]

10 years ago

Well, this is all kinds of interesting. According to reports, the state of Texas will penalise parents who have not paid child support for six months or more by refusing renewal of their vehicle registration (Texas drivers are required to renew their registration once a year). As it stands, the Attorney General is already able […]

10 years ago

If you watch Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby on the This Morning Show, you will know that they are generally an affable pair on our tv screens. From time to time, however, their feathers can be a little bit ruffled and it makes for great morning telly. They recently interviewed Cheryl Prudham who has been […]

10 years ago

Of late, there seems to be more and more stories of ‘breastfeeding shaming’ doing the rounds. We hear about mums being ‘encouraged’ to cover up, go some place private and sometimes actually asked to leave wherever they might be nursing. As we all know, a baby is hungry whenever they are hungry and even if […]

11 years ago

The location of a new children’s hospital has been causing much debate and even more upset for many years. When confirmation came through that it would ultimately be built at St. James’s hospital in Dublin city, that debate and upset turned into a devastated roar. I have lived near to the area and coming at […]

11 years ago

I am SO over the recent commentary on what constitutes sexual consent. That the conversation still needs to be had is a sad reflection of how far behind we still are on the topic. To hear that anyone can imagine there to be varying degrees of violation against another human being who did not wish […]

11 years ago

Do you ever wonder exactly what our kids are seeing as they play using their own imaginations? I overhear my four-year-old creating all sorts of imaginary scenarios with his toys that range from mountain-top rescues to treasure-hunting missions. Hashi is a cool dad from the United States who goes under the name, ‘Action Movie Dad’. […]

11 years ago

I spent a lot of my twenties socialising in gay bars and clubs. The majority of my best pals were all of the LGBT community and so wherever they went to party, I would happily follow. I was never really the kind of girl who wanted to go to crowded straight clubs to get shit-faced […]

11 years ago

We live in a busy housing estate that is both teeming with kids and teeming with cars. As mum to one busy four-year-old and another busy two-year-old, I stress a lot on a daily basis about their general safety. But I am never more stressed out than I am when my son is on his […]

11 years ago

‘Papa Don’t Preach’ has just turned, wait for it, 30 years old. (Pardon me while I peel my ancient ass off the office room floor in shock). Released in 1986, the song caused major controversy in the US as the message of it and the accompanying video was interpreted to be about a pregnant teenage […]

11 years ago

We spent an hour and a half looking for Alan’s car keys yesterday morning. As busy parents to two small kids, we are severely impaired when it comes to the Organisation Department. We don’t have a key hook at the front door and are in and out to the car, garden, house, upstairs, downstairs, kitchen, […]

11 years ago

My son has two more weeks of pre-school before saying goodbye to his beloved teachers for the last time and prepares for primary school in September. I. Am. Not. Able. Despite the fact that I am so proud of him and know how ready he is to move onto the next exciting stage of his […]

11 years ago

Don’t be alarmed, now, but my Alan and I are not married. GASP!! I know, how dare we, parents to two small kids and all. But the fact is, we simply never got around to it (i.e. he simply never got around to asking – COUGH!) until after Baby Number 2 came along. So we […]

11 years ago

As someone who has just had a new oven installed in her kitchen, I have to say that this video makes me a little bit nervous. Super cool dad and son Toby like to have a little mess around when mum isn’t at home. They get all dressed up and re-create popular music tracks in […]

11 years ago

I love my two children, like I lovvvvvvvvve them so much I sometimes want to eat their faces, know what I mean? But I don’t always love being a parent and everything that comes with it. Some days, it all works out ok and some days I question my entire ability to do it at […]

11 years ago

The kids and I are in the car together a lot. We do school and activity runs, trips to the shops, birthdays, playdates and playgrounds, and every so often, when I’m feeling brave, we’ll pack up the entire family and go visit a new place in Ireland for a weekend away. It often feels like […]

11 years ago

When it comes to ‘those’ days where you need to consume an entire tub of ice cream while simultaneously washing it down with a bottle of wine – we kind of need to stay oblivious about it. We would like to marvel at the pretty packaging as we retrieve fistfuls of chocolate treats from the […]

11 years ago

I don’t know about you, but our two kids spend a lot of their sleeping hours in my bedroom. As all four of us lay down on our queen-sized bed last night to read stories, and my other half and I took turns singing songs to lull them to sleep, I had the same thought […]

11 years ago

We’re calling it. It’s Tuesday after the super-sunny bank holiday weekend and really, the only way to get through it is to declare an ‘International Take A Nap Day’.  There is nothing nicer in this world than taking a little disco nap during the day. Just ten minutes shut-eye can really do the trick if you’re […]

11 years ago

Anyone with kids starting school this September have probably had, or are just about to have, induction days at The Big School. For some, it will go smoothly and their kids will run into their new classroom with excitement. For others, the concept of a new teacher, new surrounds and often times, completely new classmates, […]

11 years ago

My mum is five years Cancer Free this week. I still remember the phone call when she told me that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. I was driving home from work and I popped her on hands-free for our usual daily chat about how our day went. This day was very different. ‘They […]

11 years ago

With the glorious sunny weather we have been experiencing lately comes a challenge for many parents. That is, how to keep the kids from over-heating or burning. Many kids aren’t eating well because they’re so hot and bothered and lots of sleep routines are out of whack. We are slathering them in sun cream, popping […]

11 years ago

It’s really and truly exam weather, isn’t it?! Every Irish person who ever sat their Leaving Certificate knows what the good weather and June Bank Holiday really means: that at a desk in the corner of a bedroom somewhere, a Leaving Cert student is currently sweating it out over the books. As the eldest in […]

11 years ago

A new proposed bill is hoping to regulate the Au Pair sector. Families in Ireland who struggle with the cost of childcare have often opted for an au pair as an alternative, more cost-effective solution. You host a young person in your home who would like to work, study or experience living in Ireland – […]

11 years ago

This is absolutely awful news this morning. A man in his 30s, named as Stephen Hartnett, has been arrested in Bray and charged with assault causing serious harm to four young children. It is reported that the man ran to a neighbouring house in distress and said that he thought the children were dead. Emergency services […]

11 years ago

If you’re headed to Bloom this weekend with the kids, there is a very special garden that you really shouldn’t miss. Husband and wife team Liat and Oliver Schurmann from Mount Venus Nursery in Rathfarnham, Dublin, were commissioned by Warner Bros to create a very special project. With a nod to the upcoming The Legend […]

11 years ago

To be a teacher is a great vocation. It takes sincere dedication, love for education and a respect for your students that goes beyond any personal opinion or choices. I see my son’s pre-school educators now and I want to hug them every day for all that they give him – warmth, space to learn […]

11 years ago

These are some of the emotions you feel when you bring baby home from hospital for the first time: Ecstatic. Nervous. Bewildered. Thrilled. Relieved. Elated. Scared. Weary. Happy. In Love. Anything you can think of, you will most likely feel it. When we brought our first child, Jacob, home, I remember feeling quite strong and […]

11 years ago

As an adult, I am still learning things about my parents that I never knew as a child. I am learning more about their own childhoods and about their struggles as young parents when they started their family. You don’t think to ask when you’re a kid – and especially not as a sulky teenager! […]

11 years ago

Choosing a name for your unborn baby is a BIG deal. You have to take all the usual stuff into consideration – how does it fit with their surname, when abbreviated, will the letters of their first, middle and last names spell out anything ‘strange’, will it bother you if their name becomes shortened and […]

11 years ago

Just kidding, I promise not to write a list with 8 million points. But I could, if I wanted to, about my daughter. Up until the moment, at 34 years of age, that I decided that yes, I would like to have a baby – I never really thought that I would have a baby. […]

11 years ago

There is a common point of conversation between parents these days and it is that they aren’t on the receiving end of as much help as they would like. Whether it is indifference to their newfound parenthood from immediate family and in-laws, or the feeling of abandonment from old friends – a LOT of parents […]

11 years ago

Morning times – what used to be a relatively nondescript part of the day (because I used to mostly sleep through them) has now become something else to us entirely. In our house, it has now become known as ‘The Battle To Get Jacob Dressed’ time. Jacob is 4. He doesn’t mind getting dressed on […]

11 years ago

If you have just found out that you are expecting a baby, congratulations! It really is such an exciting time. There are so many fun things to start planning and dreaming about in the first trimester, but important decisions need to be made too, such as how you envisage your maternity care working out. Once […]

11 years ago

If you have just found out you are pregnant, the chances are that you are currently weighing up your options when it comes to childbirth. You might be investigating whether or not to use the public, semi-private or private services at your closest maternity hospital, or the possibilities of having a home birth. Another option […]

11 years ago

So, you have found out that you are pregnant – huge congratulations! You are probably now wondering what kind of hospital care will best suit you – and if you should use the public health system, go semi-private or fully private. The range of maternity services on each tier above varies from hospital to hospital, so […]

11 years ago

Having small kids means that there are certain daily routines that always need to be adhered to. My kids are 4 and 1-and-a-half and so they REALLY like routine and generally hate change. They like to eat the same foods, go to the same places and get to bed at roughly the same time each […]

11 years ago

If you are getting hitched this summer, the excitement is probably at peak level right now! All that last-minute running around is SO thrilling as the big day draws near. We’ve been trawling online for gorgeous wedding cakes that are perfect for summer weddings, and rather than keep them all to ourselves (yum!), we thought […]

11 years ago

Emergency services called to the Milldale Crescent area of Derry last night discovered two twenty-four year old men who had been seriously injured in an assault. Both men were taken to nearby Altnagelvin hospital, where one of the injured men later died. While the second man has also sustained head injuries, the PSNI have stated […]

11 years ago

We are in the process of moving back into our house after having some building work done. Even though we were ‘only’ out for four months, the moving back in process has literally been like moving house again. There are a gazillion boxes of toys and approximately eleven hundred bags of clothes to sort out. […]

11 years ago

We are always on the hunt for the best baby names here at HerFamily.ie. And we pretty much love them all – Movie-inspired baby names, Swedish names and Vintage-inspired baby names – just to give you a little flavour! One of our readers (who also has an awesome name!), Michele Bukowski, recently got in touch and asked […]

11 years ago

Mrs. O is in trouble again. Host of US daytime talk show ‘The Talk’, she reportedly described Kate and Gerry McCann as ‘insane’ for leaving the then 3-year-old Madeleine unsupervised at their holiday apartment while they went for dinner. The talk show panel were discussing a recent thread on Mumsnet which posed the question; ‘Would […]

11 years ago

Whether you’re a fan of Jamie Oliver or not, I think we can all agree on one thing: he has done more for obesity awareness and children’s health than any efforts made at government level. Nobody else has rolled up their sleeves and gotten stuck in to access and change the way that children and […]

11 years ago

You know those days when you are leaving the playground with the kids and realise how lucky they are to have you pushing them back to the car in their stroller? You are ALL exhausted from repeat circuits on the swings, slides and the blasted zip-liner (WHY??), yet you’re the only one that has to […]

11 years ago

If you have yet to have the PRIVILEGE of watching the video of a mum with her new Star Wars face mask on, I am here to make your day. We’re talking over ONE HUNDRED MILLION VIEWS on Facebook for the mum who bought a ‘talking’ Chewbacca face mask and uploaded a video of her […]

11 years ago

A new study from Glassdoor Economic Research has us mums working outside of the home scratching our heads again. The study collected data across 18 European countries in an attempt to analyse the gender pay discrepancies that may or may not still exist. In some countries, such as Sweden, Finland and Norway (non-surprisingly), female employees are […]

11 years ago