Parents

Toy libraries are helping families save money, cut down on clutter and reduce waste

What if you could borrow a toy for a child instead of buying it? The idea is a win-win for families and the environment

Eczema season guide: What is the skin condition and how to support your child

Autumn doesn’t have to mean a surge in sore skin. With a clear plan, eczema need not shape your child’s school life

How do I best help my son who has been diagnosed with dyslexia?

Ask the Expert: While there are common patterns, each dyslexic child is unique and has their own learning profile

I’m not really religious but I still pray to St Anthony when something is lost

This might just be an ingrained echo of a Catholic upbringing but I also find it comforting

Brendan Gleeson: ‘I got very tired of watching fatherhood portrayed as something that was almost an abuse’

Brendan Gleeson plays a beloved father opposite Claire Foy in new biographical drama H Is For Hawk

‘Silent sidelines’ at children’s matches: How utterly depressing that this is where we are

Jen Hogan: Adults’ behaviour is having a detrimental effect on children playing a game. Just let that sink in

Ireland’s maths gender gap: why boys are getting twice as many top grades

Single-sex school and a lack of confidence are key issues - but new training methods and awareness of systemic barriers suggest change is coming

‘I am worried about the racist and misogynist accounts my 17-year-old son is viewing online’

Ask the Expert: ‘He had a girlfriend over the summer in scouts, but then something happened and it ended badly’

The Irish parents using social media to earn a living and how it affects family life

‘It’s up and down all the time, which is not very stable compared to somebody that’s on a salary’

Some wisdom learned from a half a life (and counting) spent parenting

Conversations with Parents podcast is back with a brand new season starting on September 30th

Seán Moncrieff: The wifi went. It was raining. How would our daughter cope?

I tried to think of a problem more first-world than the temporary loss of the internet

Woman forced to give up baby an hour after birth wins appeal in Denmark

Ivana Bronlund’s case has become the latest flashpoint between Denmark and Greenland

How did Offaly become one of the top breastfeeding counties in Ireland?

Breastfeeding rates for three-month-old babies in Offaly have moved from being one of the lowest in the country to one of the highest

Are school wellbeing programmes doing more harm than good?

Some studies suggest one-size-fits-all mindfulness and mental-health programmes may even increase difficulties among young people

‘My son (3) gets very upset and anxious as we approach preschool’

Ask the Expert: ‘The first day seemed to go fine, but now he says he does not want to go in’

I could hardly breathe when I heard ‘Mum’s gone missing’, but then I knew what had happened

At first my mother’s death by suicide shocked me, but I came to accept it, partly thanks to a ritual I created

How to talk to children about the sudden death of a child

The image of Daniel Aruebose is everywhere, and children are not immune to stories of tragedy, they will have questions too

Workplaces must adapt to needs of employees who are single parents by choice through IVF

Almost all who have had the fertility treatment say it affected their emotional wellbeing at work

This was the moment I’d been dreading since the landlord gave me notice

Home wasn’t something I’d ever had to create before. I’d lived in 22 places since leaving home in my troubled teens

The pressure to get a smartphone for my teen daughter was immense. We found a compromise

Parents face a dilemma: do they avoid giving kids any devices or just give in and wing it?

Family feuds: ‘I have to see my aunt in secret . . . Mam keeps asking me to choose sides’

Fallouts are not uncommon but they can damage the mental health of those caught in the middle. Here’s what psychologists recommend

Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy: A famed novelist finally reckons with her own history

Sharp-edged memoir offers a charged account of two women’s arduous stories of becoming

‘My eight-year-old gets into a panic when I leave the house’

Ask the Expert: ‘Last week, when I had an important appointment, my daughter had a full-blown panic. It was really upsetting for everyone’

It took a while to get used to being called ‘mum’. After all, ‘mam’ is the correct term

Jen Hogan: We live in a society that defines women by their uterine activity – how many pieces have you read about working dads?

Any parent who can solve the afterschool childcare equation deserves a medal

Spoiler alert: the solution, in many cases, is ‘granny’ or, perhaps less often, ‘granddad’

Graphic artist Matthew Kelly: ‘If I wasn’t ecstatic then I was depressed’

Kelly, who lost his father at a young age, has used different people’s perspectives on grief, and the love that fuels it, for his comic Porter Loves Cleo

Will borrowing from our children unravel the benefits of the small gift exemption?

Transparency - and an interest rate on the money owed - are the keys if you want to make sure there is no cause for concern with Revenue

Irish authorities tackle 52 cases of international child abduction by parents

Most children taken from Ireland are brought elsewhere in Europe

‘I had always wanted to be a stay-at-home mum ... but I’m exhausted’

Ask the Expert: Moving to vulnerable communication about feelings neutralises resentment

We couldn’t afford Rome due to our ridiculous number of children. Galway it was

I still feel 25, never mind 25 years married, though my right hip begs to differ

‘My three-year-old daughter won’t let me wash her hair ... I’m not sure what to do’

Ask the Expert: She is really sensitive, is easily upset and has lots of fears

A summer of down time: how can three months with nothing to do be good for teenagers?

We often hear how it’s good for kids to be bored, but surely that depends on how long it’s for

Parents’ plan to raise €60,000 to employ extra teacher refused by primary school patron

First-class pupils in Clontarf school face ‘supersized’ class sizes of 34 after post axed due to enrolment dip

New school admissions system for second-level schools to be piloted in five towns in October

New approach will simplify enrolments in pilot areas such as Athenry, Celbridge, Clonakilty, Greystones and Tullamore, parents told

The loss of never becoming a grandparent: ‘You always assume it’s going to happen to you’

Parenting Taboos: It’s normal to feel a sense of loss if you know you won’t have grandchildren, but it’s important to respect your adult children’s decisions

Breastfeed ‘too long’ and you’re a creep; choose formula and you must not love your child

The rhetoric flowing through decisions about motherhood online can be poisonous

Bringing up baby: the tech you need and the stuff you don’t

New parents are confronted with a world of tech-enabled assistance that the marketing tells you no responsible parent can live without

Foster carers wanted: ‘You can be over 55, gay, single, a job seeker, of ethnic minority, and be a carer’

There are lots and highs and lows with fostering, says one family who have taken in four children over 20 years

Relationships and ... postnatal depression: ‘We still live in a society where men’s feelings and emotions are often suppressed’

Birth stresses are not confined to one parent, with at least 10 per cent of new fathers experiencing mental health difficulties

Is it possible to give up to €400,000 tax-free to each of your children as a gift while you are alive?

A gift to adult children starting out in life can be even more valuable than an inheritance

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