Trials and Tribulations of a Single Parent

My best friend’s wedding

by 29/05/15 11:58am

I WAS four, so she must have been five when we first became friends one summer. What attracted me to her was the fact that she and her sister owned the two finest tricycles on our road. A gang of...

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Kids? You really do have to love them!

by 22/05/15 10:13am

SO, there we all were, having a jolly old time of it over lunch on a Saturday afternoon. There was me, my teenage daughter, my older sister and two nieces. There we were, nattering away and enjoying ourselves, when the...

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Losing my religion

SO there we were watching The assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford when the definition of the word ‘assassination’...

Friday, 01/05/15 - 10:34am Read More

A new school isn’t always a bed of roses

SHE wanted, she said, to go to Coláiste Fiachra to start a new life. She said that she was “sick...

Friday, 24/04/15 - 11:55am Read More

Car-test centre would test your patience

THE waiting room was busy for that time of the day. It was as busy as a doctor’s surgery on...

Friday, 17/04/15 - 12:07pm Read More

Hovering like a helicopter

A helicopter parent is a parent who pays extremely close attention to a child’s or children’s experiences and problems, particularly at...

Friday, 10/04/15 - 11:29am Read More

Oh my Goth!

And these children that you spit on As they try to change their worlds Are immune to your consultations They’re...

Friday, 03/04/15 - 11:52am Read More

Weddings aren’t always everyone’s cup of tea

I OFTEN mistake the word ‘wedding’ for ‘funeral’. I don’t mean to do it and it’s a troubling trait to...

Friday, 27/03/15 - 10:06am Read More

Getting into the sprit of St Patrick’s Day

SORCHA and Siobhán and the others are going drinking on Paddy’s Day,” she says, squinting up from her phone. Reader,...

Friday, 20/03/15 - 2:49pm Read More

My mother had the foresight to go with the times

“AS A woman in this family, you only have to think of a penis and you’ll get pregnant!” My mother...

Friday, 13/03/15 - 11:17am Read More

Back to the future down at the local

THERE are huge advantages to having a clatter of sisters and brothers. Not least the fact that you can go...

Friday, 06/03/15 - 12:15pm Read More

Common ground

Scene: The sofa on Saturday night with my teenage daughter and I watching The Grammy music awards Teenage daughter: My...

Friday, 27/02/15 - 12:24pm Read More

If the ‘mocks’ are stressful, what will the real thing be like?

“I’M so stressed. My life is so stressful. This is so stressful.” I gathered that my daughter was under some...

Friday, 20/02/15 - 11:22am Read More

Quality takes a back seat on St Valentine’s night

ST VALENTINE’S night in any restaurant is different to every other night of the year. An air of expectation hangs...

Friday, 13/02/15 - 3:37pm Read More

Zumba class nearly turned into a ballroom blitz

MY daughter’s singing segued effortlessly from ‘shake it off’ to ‘let it go, let it go’” as she walked up...

Friday, 06/02/15 - 12:42pm Read More

Blame it all on the jumper

“SERIOUSLY? You’re not wearing that, are you? You’re never going to find a man in that get-up,” my youngest sister...

Friday, 30/01/15 - 12:31pm Read More

I don’t know which is worse, the profanity or the diction

“HOW are you, hon?” “Shi.” “Sorry?” “Shi.” “Come again … what do you mean ‘shi’?” “When I say shi, I...

Friday, 23/01/15 - 3:10pm Read More

My goals for 2015

A NEW year, a new you. 2015 has already got its feet under the table and people are detoxing left,...

Friday, 16/01/15 - 10:15am Read More

A swift solution to a present crisis

“SO, pet, what do you want for Christmas?” I nonchalantly asked my 15-year-old daughter a week before the big day....

Friday, 09/01/15 - 11:58am Read More

Never mind Candice and Karlie, our Ed’s a proper role model

HE’S the type of chap that you could bring home to your mammy. He’s kind, funny, talented, loves women and...

Friday, 12/12/14 - 12:05pm Read More