family

  • Five ways having a child destroys your life – in the nicest possible way

    Having a child creates change. Some of it will be good change, like getting out of having to go to that boring lunch or hen do because you now have the ultimate excuse up your sleeve: ‘childcare issues’. And best of all, unlike the death of a fictitious grandparent, there is no limit to how many times you can use it. However, there are many other child-enforced changes that bring far less sparkly outcomes. It’s safe to say that having a child destroys your life and ruins everything that you prev

  • Why the pandemic has led to a boom in the number of male child-minders

    “A lot of people have a very old-fashioned view of child-minding,” says Brett Wigdortz, founder of child-minding agency Tiney. “They think it’s something grandma does a few days a week, but really it’s a dynamic job where you're an important person in these children's lives. It's a vital education job.” If anyone knows about the importance of a good education, it’s Wigdortz. In 2002 he founded Teach First, a social enterprise designed to get graduates from top universities to teach in low-achiev

  • Covid has caused ‘hidden pandemic of orphanhood’, says global study

    Covid has caused ‘hidden pandemic of orphanhood’, says global study. 1.5 million children lost a caregiver during pandemic, including thousands in the UK

  • Firemen said they'd never seen anything like it: How floods destroyed my home

    The four-bed homeowner will now have to live indefinitely in a static caravan with her three sons.

  • As Iceland trials 'successful' four-day week - is this the future of work?

    The Icelandic trial boosted productivity and improved employee's wellbeing.

  • Peppa Pig gets American toddlers adopting British accents and phrases during lockdown

    In Britain, we have the “pingdemic”. Over in the US, parents are dealing with another pandemic blight: the “Peppa Effect”. Young children across the pond have begun speaking with “an unusual vocabulary and a British accent” after binge-watching Peppa Pig during lockdown, according to the Wall Street Journal. The British cartoon has become even more popular as working parents installed their offspring in front of the television to keep them entertained. One nursery-age child “stunned” her parents

  • Republicans, so called party of family values, do not support needy families

    Republicans, so called party of family values, do not support needy familiesThe Child allowance payments are the biggest help in decades – but Republicans just see ‘welfare assistance’ Senate majority leader Democrat Chuck Schumer during a news conference held by Democrats to discuss child tax credit payments of the American Rescue Plan, on Capitol Hill in 15 July 2021. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA

  • What did Covid teach me? It’s time for my kids to look after each other

    What did Covid teach me? It’s time for my kids to look after each otherIt was all going according to plan until my youngest interrupted Succession to ask, ‘Mama, what is a genocide? ‘I liked to think my parents made me do exactly what they wanted, but the fact is that even they couldn’t.’ Photograph: Getty Images

  • I think the married woman I had an affair with is pregnant with my baby. What’s the right thing to do?

    I think the married woman I had an affair with is pregnant with my baby. What’s the right thing to do?There’s little point in throwing a grenade into her life unless you are sure you can be there for the long term if the child is yours, says Annalisa Barbieri ‘What’s legal and what’s ethical aren’t the same thing.’ Illustration: Lo Cole/The Guardian

  • Two-child benefits cap cuts support for over 1 million children during pandemic

    Two-child benefits cap cuts support for over 1 million children during pandemicNumber of households affected by limit on universal credit and tax credits increases 27% in year to April Official figures show that 31% of children in the UK are living in poverty – a figure that rises to 47% in families with three or more children. Photograph: True Images/Alamy Stock Photo

  • 1.1 million children in families hit by two-child limit on benefits – figures

    Some 318,000 families, including 1.1 million children, were affected by the two-child limit as of April 2, according to Government statistics.

  • No childcare this summer holiday? Here's what to do

    Experts say parents are facing ‘huge challenges’ with holiday clubs cancelled and annual leave used up.

  • The Life Edit Podcast on holidays: 'Gramping', childhood beaches and dog seatbelts

    Listen to the latest episode and discover everything you need to know about your post-pandemic holiday

  • The most common dog dilemmas faced by new owners (and how to sort them)

    From gagging and shakes to unquenchable thirst - how to tell when your pooch's behaviour is normal and when it could be a sign of something more serious.

  • A pound for a poo: should you bribe your kids to do the basics?

    Getting ready for a day out, as well as reminding my children to brush their teeth and find their shoes, I also call out: “pound a poo”. Immediately, they scurry to the nearest toilet in order to earn the much-coveted coin. Yes, that’s right, I pay my two children, aged seven and 10, to go to the toilet. It is a controversial tactic to say the least, but any parent who has had to deal with last-minute requests for the toilet in the middle of nowhere or on a motorway may be impressed with my init

  • Henry is seven. He raised so much for charity, they named a train after him

    He ran a marathon over ten days, and raised over £11, 000 for homeless people

  • Why older men are getting lonelier - and what to do about it

    The figures are prompting concerns about loneliness in older males living solo.

  • ‘I asked my family to help send my daughter to private school in case of another lockdown’

    My daughter was in Year 5 when the first lockdown brought her education to an abrupt halt. A bright only child, mature for her age because she spends so much time with adults, she’d been doing very well in the classroom. But then the state primary she attends in our village in Essex closed its doors to all but key worker children. I’m a 49-year-old single mother. My daughter’s father lives in Durham. I had no choice but to become her full-time teacher. While some of her friends in private or rel

  • My three-year-old keeps attacking his little brother. How can I stop him?

    My three-year-old keeps attacking his little brother. How can I stop him?. Your older son doesn’t want to pinch and push any more than your younger son wants to be pinched and pushed, Matt Beard says. Take that as your starting point

  • 'If the surgery on our twins went wrong, we'd have to choose which baby to save.'

    Nichola and Pete Luther's twins had a rare condition - and there was every chance things could go wrong.

  • Pixie Geldof announces she is pregnant with first child in stunning bump picture

    The daughter of Bob Geldof and Paula Yates revealed the happy news on Instagram.

  • Will my menopausal wife ever want to have sex with me again?

    Will my menopausal wife ever want to have sex with me again?Instead of trying to control her, be curious about her experience, says Philippa Perry ‘Your wife may feel infantilised by you taking care of research and becoming the expert on her’: Philippa Perry. Photograph: Flashpop/Getty Images

  • The kids that never went back to school... by choice

    For many families – perhaps most – the great home-schooling experiment we involuntarily joined in these past 16 months came at rather a cost. Ask most parents how they found it, and they’ll hardly know where to start. The chaotic Zoom lessons? The reams of work to print out, make sense of, then force our dejected children to complete? The dreaded fronted adverbials and the constant need for bribery? The impossibility of juggling it all with our jobs? Or the point where we all gave up and turned

  • I don't want to be 'best mates' with my children: I'm their parent, not their friend

    Remember the saying, ‘children should be seen and not heard’? It was the first commandment in days of yore when parenting wasn’t even a verb; people just had children and did their best to provide for them while expecting good behaviour and respect in return. Fast forward to the present day and, according to a new survey by sweet-maker MAOAM, modern parents now want nothing more than to be best mates with their children, with 73 per cent preferring to play and joke with their mini-mes rather tha

  • ‘Let your kids entertain themselves’: tips for keeping children occupied while working from home

    ‘Let your kids entertain themselves’: tips for keeping children occupied while working from homeFrom ‘boredom-buster’ jars to school holiday programs on Zoom, experts suggest how to keep kids engaged while everyone is home at once Working from home with kids can increase stress already exacerbated by lockdown, but firm boundaries, and activities at home and online, can lighten the load. Photograph: monkeybusinessimages/Getty Images/iStockphoto

  • Why be a performative Insta parent when your kids will be happy in front of the TV?

    Why be a performative Insta parent when your kids will be happy in front of the TV?There is no best kind of parenting, but if it gets you and your kids safely through the day, then that’s enough ‘I can honestly say some of my family’s happiest moments have been when we have watched TV together.’ Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images