A New Zealander living in Scotland who loves cargo bikes
As regular readers of my blog will know, one of my pet peeves is when people sit in their cars with the engine running. This happens a lot outside primary … Continue reading Engine idling and nobody in London needs an SUV
Day 4 of quarantine and Elizabeth said to me today, “Quarantine is going pretty well”. She may feel differently after several months of this. For me, it has been rather … Continue reading What the kids have done in their first week of quarantine
Daniel turned 13 this week. They say it gets hard again when kids become teenagers. We’ve been enjoying the golden years with both kids between the ages of 6 and … Continue reading We have a teenager in the house
Last week we were invited to Elizabeth’s school to listen to them sing and to explore their classroom to see what they’ve been working on. At the back of the … Continue reading The wishes of children
It’s history in the making today with politicians in Holyrood voting to make it a criminal offence for parents to smack their children. We are the 58th country in the … Continue reading Scotland bans smacking
I just finished reading Watership Down to the kids. It was wonderful. I’d never read it before and I now find myself talking about elil, frith, and hrududus. The author, … Continue reading Watership Down
The kids have spent the past couple of days making a movie with some friends. The four of them made a trailer and a movie called Jungle Adventure. It’s brilliant! … Continue reading Budding film stars
Last week the West London Borough of Chelsea and Kensington, one of the wealthiest in the country, voted against a Transport for London proposal for segregated cycling infrastructure. Although I … Continue reading I despair when I see these people cheer
Tomorrow Aberdeen will be having a mass bike ride in protest of the lack of cycling infrastructure in the city. This is part of a nation-wide group of protests under … Continue reading Police Scotland say roads unsuitable for slow-moving individuals
It was parent-teacher interviews at school last night and I’m so proud of the kids. They’re just amazing in every way. Elizabeth, according to her teacher, finishes her maths work … Continue reading My kids are amazing and I was on TV!
My 11-year-old son told me off for being sexist this week. We were watching TV and one of the characters threw something poorly and I said, “That’s a girly throw”. … Continue reading My son told me off for being sexist
It was announced today that Scotland is going to be the first part of the UK to outlaw smacking. This is great news. New Zealand banned smacking in 2009 as … Continue reading Smacking to be banned in Scotland
Elizabeth has been reading Sophie’s World which is an introductory philosophy book for children. Recently she started talking about someone called So-crates and someone else called Arse-trolls. It took us … Continue reading Arse trolls
I did a terrible thing last night: I sliced Mr Lemon in two. Elizabeth likes to draw faces on lemons and give them names. Last night I needed a lemon … Continue reading Mr Lemon and Mrs Egg
Ben overheard this conversation between Daniel and Elizabeth. They were playing some game together on their devices which involved Elizabeth making a BBQ and inviting Daniel’s character. Daniel: What will … Continue reading A conversation overheard
It’s tough when your kids don’t have any friends at school. That has been the case for Daniel until this year. He was put into the wrong year when we … Continue reading Making friends at school and cycling in the rain
Working from home means sometimes I’m working when the kids are around. This is the case after school on weekdays, on the weekend, and on school holidays. Mostly it’s not a … Continue reading Remote work and children
I copied the following factsheet from George Monbiot’s blog, Car Sick. He is encouraging people to share it: I've written a simple factsheet for schools and parents on what traffic pollution … Continue reading What Traffic Fumes Do to Our Children
It’s that time of year again. Here’s what the kids have put in their letters to Santa. Dear Santa, Can I please have Minecraft toys for Christmas and a Pikachu … Continue reading Letters to Santa
Daniel wrote a letter to Donald Trump. This letter is for Donald Trump. Dear Mr Trump. Can you please give Molly her water back. Please. This part is for Trump’s … Continue reading A letter for Donald Trump from my 9-year-old
