Parenting: Home shouldn’t be a place of added stress at exam time


By Louise Flanagan The Leaving Certificate and Junior Cycle exams are looming large on the horizon. As a secondary school teacher, I’ve heard many parents say they feel as though they’re doing the exams again themselves, what with the LC or JC having consumed the whole house. While we can’t take the tests for them, […]


Miscarriage – I found so much comfort knowing I was not alone


May is the month when I reflect most on my journey to motherhood. It is the month when my first pregnancy ended in miscarriage at 18 weeks back in 2012. Thankfully as the years have passed, the heartache has eased significantly. I have since been blessed with three children and my heart is full. But […]


PARENTING: What to do about Verrucas


Verrucas are such pesky things to deal with. What’s more, they seem to be very common among children. People don’t really talk about them, given that verrucas are hidden away on the soles of their little feet, but they are rife among children. It’s a battle we’re fighting in my own house at the moment. […]


PARENTING: When the time comes to wind back on your child’s dodo


By: Louise Flanagan ALL three of my kids loved their dodo when they were tots. At the baby stage, a dodo was omnipresent; I wouldn’t have left the house unless I had at least two with me. Only an amateur would put themselves in the precarious position of relying on just one. As they got […]


PARENTING COLUMN: The Hot School Meals programme – is it working for you?


By Louise Flanagan Last year, I wrote a column about how tricky and annoying it was to pack a school lunch for my kids. Between them turning their noses up at various options to the cost it added to the weekly grocery bill, I really struggled with the lunchbox. Then, low and behold, the government […]