We've all been thrown well and truly in the deep end right now. How are we supposed to support learning from home when we are, in fact, working from home ourselves? We've been doing it for a few days now and day one I. was. done. So done. But I can't be done. And you...
Chances are you're in self-isolation with the kids at home right now, or very soon will be. Confined to four walls and, if you're lucky, a garden. No excursions, no day trips, no 'phone a friend and get out of the house'. Just you, the family, and the walls slowly...
My first kid went back to school today, the other two are in tomorrow. Which reminds me - tomorrow is my new year's day for mums. Ignore the 1st January. It never works out for a mother. We try to be 'brand new' but there's no kidding ourselves: it's hard to turn over...
SPOILER ALERT:The picture above is not what happened. Sort of. I'm naturally a very untidy person, but I like neat. I learned long ago that in order to get neat, you have to do tidy. In fact, you have to do tidy again and again and again, over and over, every single...
Aaaaaaargh! Can you hear me screaming in frustration after being interrupted or the eleventy-billionth time this morning? I can't blame the kids - it's just as frustrating for them to be at home while I'm working from home. I get stabby. Hence these work from home mum...
I think our youngest had just-turned two when we first started holding family meetings. She thought it was great sport. The "older" kids (who were four and six at the time), took it very seriously indeed, which made family meetings great sport for us parents too. The...
The temptation to do absolutely nothing on Sundays is strong, I know. So instead of 'Sunday habits' you may wish to call these Saturday habits. Or even Monday habits, if you're prepared to get up nice and early on Mondays, which I am not. For me, they have always been...
Before the tiny folder Marie Kondo came on the scene, there was Leo Babauta's simplicity and decluttering tips. He's passionate about sharing decluttering tips and way back in 2008 he shared this post on his blog Zen Habits. This is how you start...
After every school day there's a sprint to the school gate as kids race to attend extracurricular activities. Most kids, most families, are committed to some kind of after school activity on most days of the week. The things is, there are so many brilliant...
Daily life with kids is always going to be complex and complicated. It's hard enough managing our own day-to-day, let alone the schedules, mess and emotional needs of everyone else as well. It's no surprise that most mums have 'be more organised' at the top of our...
COVID-19-ways-to-roll-your-eyes-at-your-family fever has well and truly set in at the Mumlyfe household.* Like most families out there, we've moved through the first three stages of quarantine to emerge bleary-eyed into the sunlight. Just don't go out into that good...
I’m lucky to have many lovely South African friends. They are a generous, fun, good-natured bunch and you get used to the accent. Actually, you never really get used to the accent. But once they introduce you to South African rusks, you won’t mind. When a friend...
This one-pot Mediterranean chicken recipe from the new book The Feel-Good Family Food Plan makes a great family meal. Throw in whatever veggies you have in the fridge. The book is jam-packed full of everything you need to feed your family well, from one of Australia's...
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