Doors creaking, loos flushing, lights flicking on and off – a night at our house can feel like a horror film. Yet it used to be bliss! Knackered by 9pm, my husband Mat and I would conk out shortly after our three children, who all slept like a dream. Then the stress and upheaval of Covid struck, just as Mat and I started to midlife-wobble, … Continue reading When did my family forget how to sleep?
Sick of being cooped up together at home? Maybe it’s time for you to draw up a family charter. My husband, Mat, and I can’t be the only parents who started lockdown with best intentions. Hunkering down with our children (Poppy, 14, Stanley, 12, and Rose, 10) we’d play Yahtzee; make papier-mâché; pickle things. Well, that was the plan. Four weeks in, we’re shuffling from bed … Continue reading Help! I’m trapped in lockdown with a professional team-building coach
So, how has it been for you? While it’s too soon to start talking about lockdown as a thing of the past, life is showing signs of returning to some form of normality. We may not out of the woods yet by any means, but it’s starting to feel like the right moment to assess how we’ve all been coping so far. With last Monday … Continue reading B+ for effort: how has your family scored on the big lockdown test?
Last week, my nine-year-old son came home from the park sporting a huge shiner. Pushed over by another child, he’d let it go (the other boy was younger, the “grown-ups in charge” hadn’t seen) but I was outraged. “If I’d seen that kid,” I blustered, “I’d have…” Done what exactly? Truth is, we’ve all moved a long way from the days when children played in … Continue reading Is it OK to discipline someone else’s child?
Everyone in a long-term relationship knows there’s a price to be paid for security. All-night sex sessions are traded for a good night’s sleep, and “lovey-dovey” chats cede to logistical briefings. (When did you last have a conversation that didn’t end with: “You forgot to buy BIN BAGS?!”) As the years pass, it’s too easy for partners to take each other for granted – and … Continue reading The 20 questions that will save your relationship
The other night, I was roused from sleep, not by an amorous husband, but my six-year-old daughter weeing on me. It wasn’t her fault – she was under the weather – more pertinently, I was in her bed again. Driven from the marital bed by my husband’s snoring – and my own fitful insomnia – I frequently shack up in the spare room, and when … Continue reading Is it time to stop sleeping with your partner?
Every month, we scan our bank statement; every year we scrabble to file our tax returns – but isn’t there a far more important audit we’re missing? In any long-term relationship, there is an unspoken list of checks and balances. If too many grievances start to land in the debit column, a marriage can start to go under. Why not mine? On paper, granted, things … Continue reading Is it time you gave yourself a marriage audit?
Once a month I wake up with booze on my breath, guacamole in my hair and an ill-defined sense of shame. If I were 21, this might indicate a cracking night out. As I’m 43, it means I got drunk again discussing Jodi Picoult on a near-stranger’s couch. Because like 99.9 per cent of middle-class, middle-aged women, I belong to a book club – and … Continue reading The truth about Book Clubs
Moving to the country – trading a tiny town house for a rambling, rural pile – it’s the middle-class dream, isn’t it? Well, it is if you’ve got three small children, a business run from home, and a garden that couldn’t say ‘boo’ to a shed. That’s where my husband and I were two years ago: not really “living” in London, just treading on toys … Continue reading Dreaming of escaping to a big house in the country?
Feature for the Telegraph Online, July 31st 2015 Mid-life was once a time to sit back and smell the roses. OK, you probably smelled your partner’s socks, too, but that was the price you paid for security. Not any more: the mid-life marriage meltdown is on the rise, from Hollywood to Huddersfield. According to the latest figures by the Office for National Statistics, divorce rates … Continue reading Divorce in middle age
Tash Bell 