As the knackered, dishevelled and skint parents of a newborn, it’s easy to take the easy option and blame the little one for a bunch of stuff. Fortunately, we mums and dads are better than tha… sorry, I can’t complete that sentence with a straight face. The truth is, from financial woes to love handles via poor timekeeping and dirty dishes, we parents are more than happy to lay the blame at our child’s nursery door. And to prove this, I’ve come up with a funny list of seven things all parents blame on the baby. Read, laugh, share, comment, point at the screen and acknowledge that you do that ..read more

Hello, long time, no speak. Or long time, no write, to be exact. It’s been over two months since my last post. I don’t usually leave things this long, but right now I’m suffering from one of the most common parent blogger problems. Namely: I simply cannot find the time to blog. How come? After all, being a parent has never stopped me before? This is true (although looking back I didn’t publish my first post until around nine months after my son was born). Over the last four years, I have been extremely consistent in my output, often posting two or three times a week. Recently, however, two th ..read more

Three and a bit weeks in, it’s becoming clear that I could write a book on the stuff I’ve forgotten about life with a newborn. Until I have time to do this, you’ll have to make do with my first book, which you can, hint, hint, buy here, and this blog post, which focuses on the key battle of being a new parent. And the key battle of being a new parent is… the war between thinking in the short term and thinking in the long term. This clash happens all day, every day, but is particularly fraught in the early hours of the morning, when energy is low, tempers are strained and you’d do anything for ..read more

Great news, I’m a dad again. My daughter was born a couple of weeks ago, which means two things. First, life around here is as hectic as you would imagine. Second, I’m trying to come to terms with being a new dad again. Full disclosure: so far, it’s awesome. Our little lady is teeny, cuddly and cute, the Bubster is being brilliant with her and my wife and I are loving life as a family of four. Will this euphoria last? Who cares? I’ve experienced enough rough parenting nights to know that you need to enjoy the good times when they arrive. However, while times are good, they are far from easy ..read more

Luther Vandross and Janet Jackson hit the nail on the head when they sang, “The best things in life are free. Now that COVID’s ruined the economy.” Okay, okay, so that’s not exactly what they sang. But times are hard, money is tight and if you can show me a parent who doesn’t want to hear more about a website that offers up free children’s stories, then I’ll eat your hat (after thoroughly scrubbing it with an antibacterial wipe). Still with me? Great, then allow me introduce you to bedtime stories website Sooper Books. Introducing Sooper Books Sooper Books is an online library of award-winni ..read more

Yesterday, my son became the Fastest Kid in the World. Some claim, I appreciate, but let me tell you a story. Little a lot of modern tales, the little man’s journey from ordinary suburban four-year-old to the Fastest Kid in the World began with a YouTube highlights reel. ‘Best Sporting Moments of All Time’ lasted for around 24 minutes and contained a bunch of footballers, rugby players, boxers, tennis players and athletes doing remarkable things. The fastest man in the world One of the featured sportspeople was Jamaican sprint sensation Usain Bolt. The Bubster watched his runaway victory in t ..read more

Parents! Hands up if you need a lie down. After nine weeks of “staying home”, I think we all do, which is why the latest entry in my lockdown ideas for parents series involves you lying down and your kid(s) doing all the work. Hold on. Did you read that right? Am I saying that I’ve come up with a game that involves parents doing nothing but lying on the floor? Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. It’s called Duplo Shadows. It takes at least ten minutes to complete. And it’s the best nap I’ve had in the last three months. Here’s how it works… Duplo Shadows Get your kid(s) to gather all the Du ..read more

Good news part one: it’s going to be sunny this week. Good news part two: you’re about to read the second entry in my series of lockdown ideas for parents. This entry is called Water Gun Target Practice. It requires water, a water pistol, a few bits of scrap paper and some Sellotape. And it works like so… Water Gun Target Practice Get your kid to draw a selection of different numbers on scrap paper. Note: the numbers should be big enough to see from a few metres away, so make sure your little one draws them BIG. Sellotape the paper to something in your garden. We used my son’s Forza goalpost ..read more

It’s got to the stage where even the games that were really fun at the start of lockdown have become a bit beige. You’re bored. And so are your kids. If only someone could come up with some lockdown ideas for parents that would help to alleviate this tedium. Stop the wheels on the bus, because someone has. Spoiler alert: it’s me. At the start of lockdown, I tried to help all my fellow parents out by putting together a big feature that contained 23 of my best ideas for entertaining kids at home. These have been working wonders, but now, as we approach day 50 of lockdown, I feel like it’s high ..read more

I appreciate no-one cares about anything other than COVID-19 right now, but I’ve made a new parenting GIF that I want you to giggle at. My new parenting GIF (which you can watch over and over again above) stars WWE fan favourite The Undertaker and highlights children’s uncanny knack of waking up the SECOND their parents’ heads hit the pillow. Like all of my other parenting GIFs and memes, it’s hilariously funny because it’s true. I mean, take my son. For reasons I can’t quite fathom (our pillows are soft and silent, his room isn’t anywhere near ours), he always sits up and begins making noise ..read more