With one kid about to start school in September and another about to embark on the Terrible Two’s, my other half and I are getting all geared up for a big round of behavioural problems. Our son, who’s almost five, is FULL of attitude at the moment. He won’t get dressed, he wont go to […]

10 years ago

As it’s World Breastfeeding Week, we at HerFamily are doing our best to offer a balanced view on what breastfeeding means to our readers. We love and support our mums no matter what because we know that they are doing their best for their kids. We’re not down with telling them what they ‘should’ or […]

10 years ago

Some parents find the unexpected impact of having their first baby enough to put them off having any more kids for life, and I was one of them. I loved my son but I didn’t love the idea of being a parent. When he was done with every piece of baby-related paraphernalia, I gave it […]

10 years ago

Planning your little darling’s birthday party can be great fun if you have the energy and a bit of time for creativity. As mum to a very typical four-year-old boy, I have, to date, organised and hosted a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle party, a Bob The Builder party AND a Lego themed party. Despite the […]

10 years ago

My other half and I weren’t entirely sure that we were going to go for a second child. We had struggled a lot with managing our first – we were ill-prepared, emotionally overwhelmed, sleep deprived, frustrated and overworked. Oh, and we were also completely besotted, head-over-heels in love with our gorgeous little man. When he […]

10 years ago

Being pregnant is like being a reluctant subject in the world’s greatest hidden camera TV show. Except without comedians or any cameras. You might be casually going about your pregnant business, heading to the shops for a bumper packet of Meanies and a stick of rhubarb, when somebody unexpected will jump from the bushes to […]

10 years ago

A family who adopted a boy who was born with foetal alcohol syndrome are in limbo as they await the outcome of their plea for help in the British courts. According to reports, the child was born in the UK and adopted at the age of two by the family who moved home to Dublin […]

10 years ago

When it comes to newborns, there isn’t very much they can do that we don’t think is cute. They can puke on your favourite chair, have one of ‘those’ accidents from their teeny tiny little nappies onto your brand new, white (why?!) rug and still, we would coo and smile at them, marvelling at their […]

10 years ago

This coming September marks the very first time I truly realise what it means to be a grown-up parent. You see, I’ve been cruising this parenting lark with my almost five-year-old and my two-year-old up until now. While the road hasn’t been easy, heck, it’s been hellish at times – for the most part, it’s […]

10 years ago

Whether you are a mum working in or out of the home, the list of, well, lists, you have to get through every day is fairly monumental. In my almost-five years of being a parent, I have both stayed at home for periods to raise the kids and now, leave the house a few days […]

10 years ago

Whenever something – anything – promises to help our kids go to sleep at night, we parents are all ears. Lullabies, clocks, particular colour paint on the bedroom walls, blackout blinds, scents, specialised toys – we have heard about them all, we have bought them all and we use them all. But what about something […]

10 years ago

When it comes to anniversary presents and surprises, it doesn’t get any better than this. Carl Gilbertson and his wife Laura have been married for 10 years and to mark their anniversary, Carl arranged the most amazing surprise flash mob to honour his wife. With the help of their friend Stephanie, who is the head […]

10 years ago

Dad Frank Brenes has taken to Facebook to air his outrage over some valuable family possessions that were stolen while he and his sons were having a swim. The Brenes family are from California and dad Frank had taken them to Crystal Cove Beach in Orange County for a fun day out. While in the […]

10 years ago

A recently-published study conducted by The Journals of Gerontology has found that married couples report being happier together on the basis of whether they drink together or not. We know that many of our HerFamily readers are dedicated parents of small children who look forward to that glass of wine at the end of the day, […]

10 years ago

There is nothing so lovely as dreaming up baby names for your soon-to-be little bundle of joy. Maybe you’ve always had a perfect boy and girl name picked out but are open to alternatives, or maybe you’re waiting until you meet them to decide what name really suits them. Either way, we love researching gorgeous […]

10 years ago

My other half and I willingly opted into a four-hour car journey with our two small kids recently. “Madness!”, I hear you cry, and you’d be right. You see, we had forgotten that we parents sometimes trick our brains into conjouring up these perfect, romantic situations that include our kids – and thought that a road […]

10 years ago

When it comes to designing a nursery for an expected newborn, there are generally a few basic rules that parents mostly follow. DO: Go with a colour scheme that is either neutral or matches the sex of your kid (if you know in advance!). Create a soothing ambiance that your little darling will rest in […]

10 years ago

If you haven’t yet heard of the Lulla Doll, you are about to. Designed and manufactured by three Icelandic mums, the innovative ‘sleep doll’ re-creates all the comforting sounds and feelings of a caregiver to a child. The Lulla doll is super-soft to the touch, has a heartbeat and breathes like a human – and […]

10 years ago

There is an art to going on holiday with children. You need to pick the perfect destination: hot but not too hot, kiddie-friendly but not so much that there is nothing decent for the adults to do, and not so far away that you need to spend more than a couple of hours on the […]

10 years ago

In the midst of every heatwave, we hear worrying reports of people leaving kids and dogs locked in cars while they go about their business. No matter how much media attention these upsetting stories get – or no matter how many fatalities occur as a result of leaving little beings trapped in soaring heat unattended […]

10 years ago

The parents of a two-year-old toddler who was snatched and killed by an alligator at the Disney resort in Florida say they are ‘broken’, and the pain gets worse every day. According to reports, the Graves family from Nebraska have issued a statement which says that they have no intentions of taking out a lawsuit […]

10 years ago

I recently injured my back on a day where I was planning to be at home with my kids being a super parent. It was so simple – I picked my daughter up and when I put her back down, I hit the decks and couldn’t get back up again. My partner works for himself […]

10 years ago

I once watched my friends get married through the screen of the iPad. The couple who sat in front of us were so intent on capturing the ceremony that they held their recording device high above their heads for the duration. We couldn’t see a thing. More and more, I am attending weddings where an announcement […]

10 years ago

Natascha Kampusch was just ten years old on the day she was abducted. Snatched and bundled into a transit van as she walked to school, she spent the following 8 years (exactly 3096 days) in captivity. Her kidnapper, Wolfgang Priklopil, repeatedly abused her, both sexually and physically, for the duration of the time he had her […]

10 years ago

Working in the customer service industry can be tricky. You are dealing with the public so you are at the mercy of all kinds of different personalities and their various requests. You can’t really have a bad day, or at least, you can’t bring a bad day to work, because it’s your job to be […]

10 years ago

With all the hipster-ing happening in the food and beverage industry, it can be hard to find a place to socialise that has a little.. originality to it. Everywhere seems to be ‘rustic’, ‘vintage’ and manned by chaps and chapattes donning beards (yes, I DID mean both). And while that’s all been lovely for a […]

10 years ago

I have to admit that I’ve had my head firmly in the sand over this while Pokémon mania. I’m not a complete technophobe, but my digital brain capacity is currently to the max as I am committing the next four weeks to finally doing a number on all my saved photos. It’s about all the […]

10 years ago

While we are mostly aware, as parents, that the internet is a vast and shady place, there are a few things that we have accidentally put our trust in. The idea that we can tap ‘Peppa Pig’ into the search engine on YouTube and hand a phone or iPad over to give you those few […]

10 years ago

You know those days when parenting doesn’t work? When you wake up in the morning and instantly stand on a piece of F*CKING LEGO that has been perfectly placed on the floor at your side of the bed. And so the day begins. You think you’ll rise above the painful beginning and carry on to bake […]

10 years ago

There is no denying that vintage-inspired weddings continue to be a huge hit in Ireland and across the globe. There is something utterly dreamy about the colour palette, the insanely pretty furniture, delicate lace and not to mention all those speakeasy-inspired cocktails that can (and should!) be included. Here are 6 super vintage-inspired wedding ideas […]

10 years ago

Have you ever nipped out for a few hours and left dad in charge of the kids and the housework? I have – mostly, it works in my favour because my partner does all the cooking in our house and the meals he dishes up on my return are fab. But he will readily admit […]

10 years ago

Having had an aunt who suffered with early onset Alzheimer’s, and hearing friends go through it with their own parents, I have a small understanding of how difficult and frightening it can be for the whole family. My aunt used to wander from the house in her nightgown and onto the road outside her home, […]

10 years ago

More and more lately, I am hearing hearing and reading advice on how to be a ‘cool’ parent at work. You know, the kind of parent who has kids but doesn’t really ‘go on’ about having kids. The kind of parent who can go for weeks without once mentioning something cool that his or her […]

10 years ago

I can’t cope with all of the negativity and, to be honest, horsesh*t, being thrown Victoria Beckham’s way this week. It was over a kiss – a sweet, innocent kiss on the lips with her daughter Harper, who turned five this week. La Beckham posted a pic to her Instagram page of the beautiful moment between her and […]

10 years ago

I have a lovely pair of gold, sparkly shoes from Next that come with a five-inch heel. There are some days I can wear them without any major hassle or damage done to my long-suffering feet. And then there are others, like a wedding that I went to recently, where at the end of the night, […]

10 years ago

21 Faces is a gorgeous new campaign which features the portraits of 21 children with Down Syndrome.  The campaign celebrates the uniqueness and diversity of children with Down syndrome and is asking the viewer to take a second look and look past Down Syndrome and see the individual child instead. Spear-headed by the Down Syndrome […]

10 years ago

This is very sad to watch and also very important. Ryan Murphy (producer of Glee/American Horror Story) has teamed up with the Human Rights Campaign to film 49 Hollywood celebrities telling the stories behind those who died in the Orlando atrocity. Here’s what you will learn from it: 1. Many of the victims had moved […]

10 years ago

Have you got kids between the ages of 2 and 7 with any of the following symptoms? 1. out-of-character 2. agitated 3. uncomfortable in their skins 4. tantrumming a lot 5. nightwaking, agitated at night – twitching, crying out in sleep 6. really angry 7. tummy aches, constipation 8. itching their bum and/or vulva 9. […]

10 years ago

I recently spotted my next door neighbour out in his front garden, dousing the weeds with vinegar. On enquiry, he told me that it was the best eco-friendly way to get rid of unwanted weeds. Of course, I had never heard about this before, as I’ve been so busy making life difficult for myself all […]

10 years ago

J.K. Rowling doesn’t ever rest, it seems. Not content with being the best-selling author of our time, with an amazing philanthropic streak to boot (check out her amazing children’s charity Lumos), she is now entering the world of screenwriting. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is an all-new adventure movie which is set to […]

10 years ago

Generally speaking, I have to talk myself into taking the kids outdoors. I know that sounds terrible, but it is something I genuinely have to work on. My brain says, “They’re fine, they’ve been running around the house all morning. Get the crafts box out for an hour and that’ll be a nice change in […]

10 years ago

In the midst of all that is going wrong with the world these days, there are still beautiful individuals and families who are working together for a better future for our children. If your child needed to come to you and say that they didn’t feel like the gender they were born in, how would […]

10 years ago

This is the stuff of nightmares. Two adults and nine children are currently in hospital being treated for injuries sustained when the rollercoaster ride they were on came off it’s tracks today. The rollercoaster ride, known as ‘The Tsunami’ derailed this afternoon and trapped children underneath it’s carriages. The accident happened at a theme park in Motherwell, […]

10 years ago

My face and I can mostly live without contouring. I do own a contouring palette but rarely use it, keeping it for special occasions instead. And I know this is going to make me sound like a GRANNY but I really hate seeing gorgeous young girls caked in layers and layers of make-up for that […]

10 years ago

When you plan to have a wedding in Ireland, you are always at the mercy of the weather. Couples who really, really want a day filled with sunshine can only really guarantee that if they opt to have their celebrations in another country! But really, what’s wrong with a little rain on your wedding day […]

10 years ago

The idea of our kids choking on anything fills us with dread. I am constantly reminding my kids to sit down while they eat and ALWAYS cut grapes, banana and sausages into small, manageable pieces for our two-year-old daughter. Then of course we have the Lego Challenge; realising that our four-year-old son needs Lego in […]

10 years ago

We absolutely hate these kinds of stories. A 6-year-old boy in New Jersey has shot and killed his 4-year-old brother. According to reports, the gun belonged to their 22-year-old mother but it us as yet unclear as to how the children managed to be playing with it. Their mother, named as Itiyanah Spruill, has now been arrested and […]

10 years ago

My son’s teachers are all kinds of amazing. He’s in pre-school and has been under their loving, smart and comforting wings for just over two years. During that time he has grown from a kid who was just out of nappies to a truly independent and clever young boy, a lot of which is because of […]

10 years ago

When the school summer holidays roll near, many parents start to freak out about how to handle all that free time their kids will have for the duration. Childcare can be a big issue for some who have to leave the house for work, and a general murmer of ‘What the hell am I going […]

10 years ago

This video will make your day, no joke. ‘The Present’, a stunning piece of animation work directed by German student Jacob Fry, is winning the hearts of everyone who is lucky enough to see it. Based on a webcomic known as ‘Three-Legged Dog’, the animated short tells the story of a young boy who would […]

10 years ago