I am a writer, creative wellbeing practitioner and entrepreneur. I have a strong interest in parenting, neurodiversity, creative therapy and women's wellbeing.
Slow living is easy. Unless you have a job
When I tried to follow the trend, it all fell apart
It’s January, which means the wellness influencers are out in force. The insistence that the new year requires a “new you” – and the implication that there is therefore something wrong with the current you, and you should buy stuff to make yourself better – is something I’ve long avoided. But this year one wellness trend sucked me in – slow living.
Slow living is what it sounds like – taking life at a slower pace. It encourages us to move th...
No one owns a name. Not even the Queen
The Sussexes have every right to Lilibet
When my half-Italian mother was pregnant with me, she debated a huge range of girl’s names, but none felt right. She liked Gabriella, but she worried people would call me Gobby Gabby (she was probably right). For a while I was going to be Francesca, but once I was born, she just didn’t think it suited me. So I was nameless for a while, and my parents began to worry I was just going to be Baby Girl for ever.
Can we tone down the Halloween decorations? My kids are terrified
I’m sure the displays in shops and public spaces have become distinctly more horrific
My five-year-old daughter walked into our local supermarket, squealed, and tried to run straight back out. Now, to be fair, that’s my reaction to shopping on a Saturday, too. But it wasn’t the thought of pushing a trolley through crowds of people under harsh fluorescent lights and jostling for space to get to a tin of beans that upset her.
It was the huge, menacing witch’s mask, with grotesque features twist...
My daughter’s school punishes attendance by cutting outside playtime – it’s ridiculous
Attendance doesn’t necessarily correlate with achievement
“We’ll never get extra outside time!” my daughter sighed wearily at school pick-up. When I asked what she meant, she explained that her class get additional playtime outside if – and only if – every pupil is present every day for a month.
I cannot get my head around withholding playtime in the fresh air – so vital for physical and mental health – from a group of five-year-olds, but when I asked, the school insisted it’s necessary to ta...
My boss said he’d sack me if I didn’t flirt – I bet Schofield and Clarkson never had to deal with that
I was 16 the first time a boss tried it on with me.
He waited until everyone else had left, then closed the door before I could follow and stood between it and me.
“What do I have to do to get you to go on a date with me?” he asked. I was terrified. I didn’t know what he was going to do in that empty office, and I was pretty sure I would lose my job afterwards.
I’ve joined a secret sober WhatsApp group because it’s too hard to tell friends I want to drink less
As a country, we need to confront our dependence on booze
I’m giving up drinking. Strictly speaking, I think drinking is giving up me. My tolerance plummeted after having children, and a couple of drinks now means feeling rough for days. Throw in complete intolerance to wine thanks to perimenopause, and booze is no longer worth it.
And in my journey to sobriety I’ve found that I’m not alone – lots of women want to give up – but few are talking about it.
I don’t care if your dog is ‘friendly’ – keep it away from my kids
Perhaps we need licensing for all dog owners
I was walking on the beach in the last week of the summer holidays with my children, when a dog came bounding up to us. Dogs aren’t allowed on this beach, but a dog came bounding up nevertheless. It jumped up at my five-year-old, putting its paws on her arms and yapping excitedly into her face. She shrieked, I pushed it away, and she hid behind me, shaking with fear.
I didn’t let my four-year-old go to the school coronation picnic – what’s so radical about that?
My daughter’s primary school held a picnic on Friday to celebrate the coronation, but, while her classmates were waving flags and eating sandwiches, my child was at home. She’s four years old – at an impressionable age where teachers are viewed with uncritical trust.
It might seem cruel for me to have kept her away from a party with her friends, but I cannot go along with the promotion of political propaganda to children.
Why we should ditch school holidays and allow kids to book ‘annual leave’ instead
Half my inbox in the run-up to school holidays reads: “Can I get back to you on that in a few weeks? I’m in a mad rush to get things done before the kids are off on Monday!” Followed by a chain of sympathetic responses agreeing we’re all in the same, soggy boat.
Holidays for secondary schools are a nightmare for parents. We get, on average, 28 days of annual leave, but our children get 91. Those numbers don’t add up.
Affected Systems
Short story. Content warning: contains some graphic descriptions of violence.
Mums should strike at Christmas, then the world might wake up to the value of our labour
Right now it feels like every public service employee is having to resort to strike action to gain acceptable standards of employment. Who’s next? If we’re talking about labour that is woefully undervalued and unsupported, it should be mums.
Now the UK isn’t majority Christian, let’s celebrate Diwali, Eid and Hanukkah as much as Christmas
England and Wales are no longer Christian countries. In the 2021 census, only 46 per cent of people identified as Christian. So is it time to reconsider the pressure that we pile onto the celebration of Christmas? Can we start to imagine a society where there is less expectation to join one big party, and space for everyone to dance when and how they choose?
How To Regain Your Sense Of Self After Having A Baby
Motherhood changes you. Apart from adolescence, it’s the biggest physical, hormonal and psychological change we go through. One in five women experience mental health challenges following the birth of a child, and many more report struggling with the adjustment to parenthood. So this piece provides five ways that you can smooth the transition and rediscover your sense of identity.
There’s No “Me” in “Mummy”: My Identity as a Mother
“How are you doing, Mummy?”
The first time she said it, I felt quite excited. I was in hospital, in the early stages of an induced labour with my first child. I’m going to be a mummy, I thought, and it felt thrilling to be addressed as one by the midwife. The second time she said it, as labour increased and I was no longer in quite so warm and fuzzy a mood, I was starting to think it sounded a bit trite.
The third time she popped her head around the door to ask, “How are you getting on, Mummy...
Why is Public Health Messaging Out To Get Women?
You might have read a report two weeks ago that stated that anyone who can’t fit into the jeans they wore at the age of 21 is at higher risk of diabetes.
There are so many issues with this headline. For one thing, who can fit into the jeans they wore at 21? Maybe 22-year-olds? There are also the damaging implications of the research gaining traction – where they essentially put a group of people with a healthy BMI on track towards a starvation diet.
But this felt like just another attack on w...