Category: Family & Faith

Faith in the Family

A group of 35 young adults. Three are given tickets to sit at a table where there are cans of lemonade and chocolate muffins. Five are given tickets to a table where there is orange squash and digestive biscuits. The other 29 get no tickets and are left at tables with dry crackers and a…

A rainbow wreath for St Patrick’s Day

St Patrick’s Day is next week and you’ll no doubt be getting ready to collect your shamrocks after Mass, before attending your local parade. While the shamrock is the most popular symbol associated with St Patrick’s Day, there are lots more symbols that mark the occasion, such as rainbows, leprechauns and pots of gold. Make…

Dad’s Diary

This morning, our toddler woke me at 3am. While she drifted off again at about 6am, I’ve been awake ever since. Yesterday, I had a relative lie-in as she only woke me at 5am. That’s two nights in a row of around four hours sleep. At two-and-a-half years of age, most toddlers have started sleeping…

Praise comes less easy than criticism

Parenting Matters Even psychologists have referral patterns. January and February are the months when I get more behaviour-related questions for children than any other time. Winter must be the explanation. Most of us find it hard going and we are not quite in sight of spring but the distraction of Christmas is well behind us.…

Tips for exploring the pleasure of reading

World Book Day is today, March 2, and you’ll no doubt be celebrating your favourite books, authors and illustrators in school. World Book Day is the biggest celebration of its kind, observed in 100 countries all around the world. Now it’s in its 20th year and it seems more important than ever to celebrate reading,…

Faith in the Family

“There goes another one!” We were practising ballads for the GAA Scór competition and we needed help to add harmonies and generally lift the quality of what we had learned from straightforward ballads to something a little special. Brighdín has the most amazing musical ability. All it took was for us to begin singing the…

Pancake Tuesday may be over but it always reminds me of delicious spiced Semlor buns from Sweden. Instead of pancakes, in Sweden they have light cardamom buns filled with almond paste or marzipan, and fresh cream. I’d never tasted anything as sweet as semlor buns and although I’ve yet to try the recipe, I’ve come…

Lent and the art of flipping pancakes

Pancake Tuesday is coming up next week (February 28) and as soon as you finish school you’ll be looking forward to racing home so you can get flipping. Flipping pancakes can be messy work if you’re not experienced at it. You can end up with batter on the ceiling, the floor, your hair and, if…