Early Years
Teething gets blamed for a lot of things it does not cause
Teeth arriving is genuinely uncomfortable. It is also the default explanation for every bad week in the first two years, and that…
Early Years
Newborns to preschool, and the long stretch where nothing is routine yet.
21 articles · updated August 11, 2026 · page 2 of 2
Early Years
Most of the baby equipment list is somebody else’s anxiety
The lists handed to new parents are drawn up by shops, or by people remembering one particular baby. Very little of either survives…
Early Years
Childproofing follows the child, not the calendar
A house is safe until a child acquires one new skill, and then it is not. The prompt for another look round is a new ability, not a…
Early Years
Getting out of the house with a baby is a packing problem
The difficulty is not the baby. It is that leaving requires a decision about a dozen items, taken while exhausted, and repeated…
Early Years
The second baby changes the first child’s life more than yours
You have done the practical part before and will find much of it easier than you fear. The person for whom everything changes is…
Early Years
Toddler groups are for the adult too, and that is a good enough reason
The stated purpose is play and socialisation. The reliable value in the first years is usually that one adult gets to speak to…
Early Years
A party for a three-year-old should be shorter than you think
Almost every difficult small children’s party has the same cause, and it is duration. Ninety minutes is generous; two hours is…
Early Years
The nursery sickness policy will cost you working days you have not planned
Every setting has exclusion rules, and they are not really about how ill your child is. Read them before you need them, and build…
Early Years
Visitors in the first weeks, and the phrase that gets your afternoon back
Everybody wants to come at once, and almost nobody will suggest a shorter visit themselves. The fix is a stated window rather than…