It seems that Max is evolving into a teenager. My once-little boy is turning into a large, gangly creature whose speech often lapses into muffled grunts. His appetite is ferocious and he'll often go back for seconds or even thirds of dinner. He spends hours on Facebook, MSN or his mobile phone using communication modes which look like this: yer, tmoz, sup?, gr8, nah, bcoz and - of course - lol...

I suppose it’s my own fault, for not having taken much interest in babies before I actually had one, but when Max was born I was clueless about how to look after him...

Did you know there's an insidious cult carrying on its business right under our noses? It likes to wrap its chiffon tentacles around our daughters and brainwash them into thinking that leotards and hairnets are normal items of apparel. It's the dance cult - with the main branch known as ballet...

When you stay at ski lodges you often share communal kitchens and living areas with other people, and therefore share your life for a short time with complete strangers. In a way you get to peek into other people's lives. So it was for me at the lodge where I spent most of last week...

It's that time of the year again where I nick off for a week's skiing, leave the kids behind, and feel vaguely guilty for doing so. It's not massive guilt, by any means. It's just the small, lurking variety...