“Is this the little girl I carried?

Is this the little boy at play?

I don't remember growing older.

When did they?”

I received an SMS text message this morning that brought a lump to my throat. It was from my son. The apple of eye. My lovely little lad. It read, simply, ‘Hi dad’.

Why the impact? 

Because it is the first text he’s ever sent me. More...

We've done it!

It's taken over 2 years of hard work since the original plan for Memory Pools came about, but on 31st December 2010 we finally put the Memory Pools Beta site live. All we need now is some users!

The idea behind Memory Pools is simple - making it easy to capture, share and relive the  precious memories of bringing up your children. It's so easy to forget all the amazing things children do and say, and all the emotions and feelings we all go through as our children grow from small babies to complete individuals. Sure, we're great at capturing birthdays, Christmases and holidays - but so much of the wonder of bringing up kids is the little things they do and say. The things that can so easily slip our minds. More...

Oh dear. Our 10-year-old had a bit of an 'accident' on saturday.

The day started so well. We all spent a lovely day at Twin Lakes  (a farm-based play park in Leicestershire). We were there for six hours, so a lot of energy was expended, but nothing too excessive. More...

I know, it sounds a stupid question.

But I've been a parent for nearly 10 years now and I'm very aware that I'm forgetting too many of the wonderful little moments and memories my kids have given me over the years. Much of this is because I've made a complete hash of 'capturing' their childood. More...

The colour ‘pink’ is taking a bit of a hammering right not. Pressure group ‘Pink Stinks’ http://www.pinkstinks.co.uk/ is urging parents to boycott shops that sell pink toys and clothes, and it’s recently been backed by a government minister.

Jordan and the Early Learning Centre come in for some particularly harsh criticism.

At the heart of the group’s issue is what they call the ‘culture of pink’ – from the media’s obsession with celebrity and body image to the paucity of ‘positive’ female role models that result.

Low self esteem is an issue for young girls, but to link the start of the whole process to the ‘pink stage’ many girls go through seems to me to be taking things too far.

For starters there is scientific evidence to suggest young girls of a certain age have a natural predilection for the colour pink. Certainly if my four year old daughter is anything to go by, you betcha! We haven’t in any way pushed dolls, princesses, or pink on her but  - like it or not - pink is her favourite colour and she wants a princess fairy tale castle for Christmas. More...

We've been spending a little but more time playing board games and a little less time watching TV in the Memory Pools household recently. Not sure how it came about but it's most definitely a good thing.

To that end, I thought I'd share my experiences of a few classics that you may well have gathering dust in a drawer somewhere. More...

"Oi, Tucker. Booger Benson is gonna do you." Grange Hill, 1978.

With all the debate around school starting age and primary education at the moment, I thought it worth wading into the debate - but from a slightly different angle. If, like me, you're in your (late) 30s your memories of primary school will be centred on the 70s and 80s. Remember them? Blimey, school was different. More...

"I don't have to do what you say, Daddy. No. Go away." 

Blimey. She's only been at school for a month of her life and she's already developed a bit of an attitude problem. Then again so has her 9 year old brother.

Is there something about starting - or starting back - at school after the summer hols that sends children a bit loopy, or is it just my kids? I've talked before about the sudden changes that happen to our kids seemingly overnight, and it seems like we've hit another one, or rather two. More...

That's it then. My daughter joined her big 'year 5' brother and successfully started school yesterday.  We've safely delivered both children to the point of full time education. Mission accomplished. More...

I don't know what it is about children of certain ages, but there are times when they suddenly take big leaps forward. That litttle person you have got to know suddenly metamorphosises into a new little person (somtimes overnight). I remember the first time i realised this was going on. My son was two or three (see i can't REMEMBER!!!!) and I'd got used to this easy-going, happy little boy. More...