Mums and Dads

When a parent goes to prison, it can have a devastating effect on the family that are left behind to cope with the aftermath. The parent that is in prison may feel as though they are the ones left in a difficult position but unfortunately the pressure put upon the parent that is left to care for the family is immense.  Parents in prison often cannot see how their sentence impacts on their family.  They may be suffering with emotions such as guilt, frustration, anger and regret.  They might also feel inadequate as they are not able to fulfil their parenting duties because of the limited contact. However, the time they spend in prison might give them the opportunity to reflect on their situation and take responsibility for the consequences on the family as well as...

By starting a bedtime routine, your baby will begin to associate certain activity with bedtime. Fit it in with your family's routine and decide roughly what sort of time you want to start putting him to bed. The most important thing is that your baby is getting the opportunity to have a good long night-time sleep, as well as his daytime naps. A routine can be a combination of things which signal bedtime is coming:

• Bath
• Story
• Final Feed
• Wind down - dimming lights, soothing voice
• Place in cot

It is recommended that you put your baby down awake if possible. This is to encourage your baby to find ways to get himself to sleep rather than being dependant on you. Then say your "goodnight" and turn out the light. This will help him...

By Nick Duerden

Ten to seven on a Sunday morning, and the plaintive wails from the kids' room tells me that Evie, my youngest, is hungry. I stagger down to the kitchen, spend 30 seconds yawning in front of the microwave, then take the warmed milk up to the room she shares with her sister Amaya, who is also now stirring.

By the time I get there, Evie, now 17 months, is upright and expectant, happy to see me. Right now, to her, her parents are one and the same, interchangeable, mother and father here only to serve her. But with Amaya, three and a half years old and possessed already of an archly manipulative disposition, that is no longer the case.

On this particular morning, she awakens in a hurtful mood. The left eye pops open, she sees me and...

by Nick Duerden Early on in our experiences as parents, my wife and I quickly came to inhabit very specific, and separate, roles. She soon asserted herself as the strict and sensible one, while I was the more laid-back, the one far more inclined to clown around. The first real sentence my daughter had any command over was, "Silly Daddy", which I like to think she meant as a compliment (though I could of course be wrong...)

Anyway, I still pretty much inhabit that role today with both my daughters, Amaya, almost four now, and Evie, 18 months. When I am alone in looking after the both of them, our days take on a more relaxed tone than they would if there were two parents around. There is less structure to our single-parent days. It's almost as if, with teacher out...