My name is Octavia and I live with my husband and two children in Manchester, England.
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I have a First Class degree in French and English from the University of Liverpool, a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) and a Masters in Education from the University of Sheffield. I started working with young children when I was a teenager as an au pair in France and Spain, and taught for several years in primary and secondary schools in the UK before taking time out to have children.
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My experience teaching children of all ages (from nursery through to the end of sixth form), as well as raising two kids of my own, means I like to think I at least sort of know my stuff. I realised that if I wanted to write a blog about parenting young children, I had better get on with it given that my son and daughter are now six and seven.
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Even without a global pandemic to contend with, life with young children can be unbelievably hard sometimes. Unbearably hard even. So if the truth is that you spend a lot of time thinking life with your kids is so gruelling, relentless and exhausting, you sometimes wonder what on earth you were thinking having them in the first place, then this is the blog for you.
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While you no doubt love your kids to pieces and you wouldn’t go as far as to say they’ve completely ruined your life, you may well feel they have scratched and dented it quite badly. I have a strong suspicion that most parents and carers of young children feel this way a lot of the time, it’s just that most people aren’t prepared to say it out loud.
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While my husband and I are finding life with our kids so much easier than it was, we most certainly haven’t enjoyed every minute of it. In fact, there are huge parts of it we have downright hated, particularly when we were stuck at home during the pandemic lockdowns with them for the best part of two years. The photo at the top of this text shows me with my children at the start of the first lockdown in March 2020, just before my son turned two. They do say a picture tells a thousand words…
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The idea for this blog was simple. I wanted to help other parents navigate these incredibly challenging years with babies and young children and share all the tips, tricks and techniques I’ve learned through my experience as a teacher and a parent.
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If you want one of those websites that’s full of pictures of perfect families doing perfect things together in immaculate houses, having a lovely marvellous time together, this is not the place for you. I hope you detected the hint of sarcasm in the title of this blog (photo credit to Nathan Dumlao for the crying child in the party hat).
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While I write posts on the more practical side of parenting, such as what to feed a sick toddler who has no appetite and how to hide vegetables in food for picky eaters, I also write posts on some of the more emotionally challenging aspects of parenting. This includes topics such as, how to discipline a child without yelling so much, how to cope with a strong-willed toddler who screams at you all day and what to do during those times when you just feel it’s all getting too much.
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As I am raising my two children with French as well as English, some of my posts are specific to helping parents who want to introduce a second language into their household as a non-native speaker. I also have a son who was born with cleft lip and palate in 2018, and write about my experience of this with the aim of helping others who are expecting a baby with a cleft.
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I hope that every parent will find something of use here, and that I might help them realise that during those truly overwhelming times raising babies and young children, they are not alone. I like to think of it as offering a virtual cup of coffee and a hug to my readers, particularly those who are finding the whole parenting gig relentlessly hard and exhausting.
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As I live in England, all the links to websites, products and resources are based in the UK. However, most of the posts should still be useful to English-speaking parents living outside of the UK.
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For continuity, I use ‘parent/s’ in my posts, but I’m always referring to anyone who cares for or regularly looks after young children, (including beleaguered grandparents).
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If you like what you read here and want to subscribe to blog-related emails, or want to get in touch about anything at all, scroll to the bottom of the page. I would love to know your thoughts and hear about any topics you would like me to write about.

Finally, on those seemingly endless tough days with your kids, remember to keep repeating the mantra, ‘This too shall pass,’ and tell yourself that tomorrow is a new day. Hang on in there. Your kids think you’re great no matter what and for now, while they’re young at least, you’re the centre of their world. And that’s something to celebrate.

Happy reading and I hope you find it helpful.
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Octavia

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