Leaving Cert: ‘It requires a lot of mental energy to sit a full exam paper’Kat Ruane (18) has ADHD and dyspraxia, and finds it hard to manage the timings of examsSat Jun 06 2026 - 06:01
Leaving Cert: ‘You just have to go with the child that’s in front of you’When it comes to our Junior Cycle students, it’s all about continued support and motivation Fri Jun 05 2026 - 06:01
Leaving Cert: ‘If I don’t do good, then it maybe sets a tone for the rest of my siblings’Momin Bari is studying seven higher-level subjects and also French at ordinary levelFri Jun 05 2026 - 06:01
The Leaving Cert according to a guidance counsellor: ‘Their brains have been working so hard ... they need to get fresh air’Guidance counsellor says students should focus ‘on what they know’ rather than what they feel they do notThu Jun 04 2026 - 06:01
Leaving Cert: ‘Even though it’s foundation maths it’s still very stressful’Grace McNamara (18) is hoping to do well in English and historyWed Jun 03 2026 - 06:01
‘Kids after Leaving Cert English look punch drunk’: teacher has his say ahead of ‘tough’ first examSheer amount of handwriting required in answers can make heads – and hands – acheTue Jun 02 2026 - 16:06
‘I’m going to do medicine’: Student who left school in second year now aiming for top LC points Kayleigh Quinn says a comment from a psychiatrist pushed her to do the Junior Cycle exams, which has now led to tackling the LeavingTue Jun 02 2026 - 06:01
Leaving Cert: ‘I would much rather wear my comfy clothes’ in the exam hallEoin Murphy found you sometimes can’t win as a Leaving Cert student, such as when you get too much sun Mon Jun 01 2026 - 06:01
'I'm looking forward to my Leaving Cert holiday. Conor Pope didn’t keep me away from it’Danny Goff is the eldest child in his house - a positive and a negative when it comes to exam pressureSun May 31 2026 - 06:01
A mother’s end-of-year school report: B in cake sales, C+ in WhatsApp, E in lunches’Another school year is almost over. How would you score in your parenting end-of-term report card?Mon May 25 2026 - 05:31
Snapchat: ‘I’ve seen so much stuff. I would block them after but the damage was done’Snapchat remains a firm favourite among Irish youngsters but has been the subject of numerous controversies, mostly linked to user privacy, child safety and moderationSun May 17 2026 - 06:00
Coleen Nolan: ‘Everyone thought we were nuns ... and that we’d never even kissed a boy’Jen Hogan: On Conversations with Parents, Nolan discusses how her own experience growing up influenced her as a parentTue May 12 2026 - 06:01Listen to Coleen Nolan: ‘Everyone thought we were nuns ... and that we’d never even kissed a boy’Listen | 45:00
Oisín McConville: ‘At one stage, football was the only thing that kept me alive’The two-time All Star winner says his gambling addiction was so bad ‘loan sharks wouldn’t even touch me in the end’Tue Apr 28 2026 - 06:01Listen to Oisín McConville: ‘At one stage, football was the only thing that kept me alive’Listen | 49:17
I am a Gen Z trapped in the body of a Gen XJen Hogan: Nothing is certain, not your desk, not your emojis, not even your generationMon Apr 27 2026 - 05:31
Colman Noctor: ‘Behaviour is always the signpost to a problem. It is very rarely the problem’Noctor is a well-known child and adolescent psychotherapistTue Apr 21 2026 - 06:01Listen to Colman Noctor: ‘Behaviour is always the signpost to a problem. It is very rarely the problem’Listen | 49:33
Sarah McInerney: When I told my manager I was pregnant he said, ‘can’t be helped I suppose’ Conversations with Parents podcast with Jen HoganTue Apr 14 2026 - 07:44Listen to Sarah McInerney: When I told my manager I was pregnant he said, ‘can’t be helped I suppose’ Listen | 40:25
Jen Hogan: You may be questioning the sort of company I keepI had just about got rid of Cilla Black singing Lionel Richie classics on Instagram, when I’d algorithmically relocated to foot odour feed hellMon Apr 13 2026 - 05:31
Debt shame: ‘I was going to lose my home ... It was one of the darkest times’Thousands of households are trapped in long-term mortgage arrears, and now fuel debt and buy-now-pay-later schemes are affecting many moreSat Apr 11 2026 - 06:00
Cystic fibrosis: ‘My goals then were to stay alive for the next weekend to go out’Managing expectations about the future and enjoying the responsibility and fulfilment of being a parent is now to the forefront Fri Apr 10 2026 - 06:01
Parenting advice: Enjoy your walking pad, just don’t be a dose about itBeing able to watch your favourite show while working up a sweat is enough of a rewardMon Mar 30 2026 - 05:31
The Irish working for US firms: ‘Friday 4.30pm and somebody is trying to kick off a project’US firms employ more than 245,000 people here but working for one entails straddling time zones and negotiating different attitudes to work-life balanceSat Mar 28 2026 - 06:00
Postponing parenthood: How Ireland’s housing crisis is forcing people to delay having childrenTo 30-somethings hoping to start a family, the connection between the lack of available homes and the State’s falling fertility rate is obviousSat Mar 21 2026 - 06:00
Jen Hogan: Mams are the best thing since toilet roll in a pandemic when it’s Mother’s DayI am mother, hear me roar. And not just at my kids when they’re melting my headSun Mar 15 2026 - 06:01
‘A load of nothingness’: What does International Women’s Day mean to your average Joan Soap?‘I don’t want to shatter glass ceilings. I am already shattered,’ says one womanSun Mar 08 2026 - 06:01
The annual ‘is four or five the right age to start school?’ season is upon usIf your child is on the younger side, September 2026 shouldn’t be the only consideration – September 2036 matters too. Here’s whyMon Mar 02 2026 - 05:31
Parents on posting: ‘We’ve opted out, so my child is being excluded’As concerns grow around safety, identity theft, consent and AI, attitudes to sharing images on social media are changingSat Feb 21 2026 - 06:00
‘Take school dinners’ before cutting SNAs, parents and teachers tell Government Parents of children who rely on the support of SNAs are fearful of losing this vital resourceFri Feb 20 2026 - 13:00
Teens and screens: How much mischief can they really get into?Jen Hogan: It’s not only the people they speak to online, it’s the content they consume - and the messages Mon Feb 16 2026 - 06:00
Online dating at midlife: ‘He wanted me to drive from north Dublin to Wicklow for sex at 2am’As people in Ireland settle down later than ever, more people in their 40s and 50s are turning to apps to find love online Sun Feb 15 2026 - 06:00
Nine good reasons Irish people are having fewer children, or noneWe’re continually told we’re facing a demographic crisis, but solving it is not as simple as lying back and thinking of IrelandMon Feb 02 2026 - 06:00
‘They’re missing out on so much’: How screens and Covid are shaping childhood in IrelandBasic skills such as playing, pretending and conversing have been affected by tech use and pandemic isolationSat Jan 31 2026 - 06:00
Irish women share their stories of motherhood after 40: ‘I knew if I didn’t try, I would have regrets’ Motherhood in Ireland is changing, with more babies born to women over the age of 40 – and indeed, 45 – than ever beforeSat Jan 24 2026 - 06:00
FAFO parenting has taken over from the gently-gently approachThis new trend sounds remarkably like the parenting of the 1980s and 1990s, the kind we’ve mostly been trying to avoidMon Jan 19 2026 - 05:31
When Dry January becomes permanent: ‘Even though I was fit and energetic the weekends were gone’ Weight loss, better skin, some questions – three people share experiences of dry January and beyondSun Jan 11 2026 - 06:00
Nollaig na mBan is just business-as-usual with a trendy titleInstead of mounting an uprising, I’m going to list my Women’s Christmas resolutions here to make the rest of 2026 a little less chaoticMon Jan 05 2026 - 05:31
Should we ban social media for under-16s? Irish teens share their thoughtsAustralia’s ban on social media for children under 16 is being closely watched around the world - and also by young peopleSun Dec 28 2025 - 06:00
Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: ‘If men gave birth maternity hospitals would be palaces and we’d get three years off’Ó Ríordáin’s youngest daughter Róisín was born prematurely a few days ago at 26 weeks’ gestationThu Dec 18 2025 - 06:01
From toe-nail clippers to jaffa cakes: What’s the worst Christmas gift you’ve been given?What’s the craziest, or most unexpected present you’ve ever received?Tue Dec 16 2025 - 15:00
Virtual reality as a lifeline: ‘For some young people it’s the social’Foróige GoVirtual seeks to connect vulnerable and isolated young people through virtual realityTue Dec 16 2025 - 06:01
‘It used to be you sent in something small’: Christmas presents for teachers in Ireland ‘There’s never anything about teacher gifts. It just puts unnecessary pressure on families’Tue Dec 09 2025 - 06:01
‘I am the Grinch,’ one friend told me as I teased him about disliking ChristmasJen Hogan: Plenty of people feel the season-to-be-jolly is overratedMon Dec 08 2025 - 05:31
The WFH parents balancing work and childcare: ‘I struggle with it. The two things don’t mix at all’Some parents say they have no choice, but is working from home with no formal childminding arrangements feasible, or even acceptable?Sat Dec 06 2025 - 06:00
The most annoying thing about parent-teacher meetings? Parents who hog teachersOn behalf of frazzled parents everywhere, please make a separate appointmentMon Nov 24 2025 - 05:31
Richie Sadlier: ‘My kids will be sick of me mentioning the word sex’Conversations with Parents podcast with Jen HoganTue Nov 18 2025 - 06:00Listen to Richie Sadlier: ‘My kids will be sick of me mentioning the word sex’Listen | 45:55
I’ve changed my old stance on teens and alcohol – it’s snus and vapes that are the problemI suspect few enough of us reached 18 before having our first alcoholic drinkMon Nov 10 2025 - 05:31
Tanita Tikaram: ‘The Beatles taught me to sing low’The singer of Fijian and Malaysian descent penned her hit single, Twist in my Sobriety, when she was a ‘introverted, opinionated’ teenagerSun Nov 09 2025 - 06:00
Sophie Ellis-Bextor: ‘We were going out six weeks when we found out I was pregnant’Conversations with Parents podcast with Jen HoganTue Nov 04 2025 - 06:30Listen to Sophie Ellis-Bextor: ‘We were going out six weeks when we found out I was pregnant’Listen | 35:16
Chris Hadfield: ‘I have an Irish granddaughter and I couldn’t be more delighted’Conversations with Parents podcast with Jen HoganTue Oct 28 2025 - 06:30Listen to Chris Hadfield: ‘I have an Irish granddaughter and I couldn’t be more delighted’Listen | 33:09
Women leaders at Ireland’s all-boys schools: ‘Boys love clarity, fairness and consistency’School principals Caroline Garrett and Elaine Kelly, and head coach Tania Rosser, on changing the gender dynamicFri Oct 24 2025 - 12:10
Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin: ‘My mum was mortified I was breastfeeding in a restaurant’ Conversations with Parents podcast with Jen HoganTue Oct 21 2025 - 06:30Listen to Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin: ‘My mum was mortified I was breastfeeding in a restaurant’ Listen | 45:58
