Family playing Scrabble

  “I decraited a joolrai box with my mummy today. It was lovlai doing stuf with her.”   -Nia, aged 6. My heart melted a little when I read this in my daughters ‘school holiday’ journal. She’d written so many pages in her neatest handwriting, noting down the fun things she’d been up to over…

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Cupcakes

Nicola Skinner offers her own personal guide to spending time with your children. My daughter was born in the early hours of Valentine’s Day, two years ago. After lots of shouting and screaming – mostly at my husband – a solemn naked baby was placed in my arms. I looked down at her, and she…

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Continuing our series of blogs for Child Contact Centre Awareness Week (22-26 April), Mark Stalker tackles the difficult subject of managing recent separation. If you’ve recently separated from your partner and have children then you don’t need me to tell you how stressful the whole situation can be. It’s a time which can be really…

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Continuing our informative series of blogs for Child Contact Centre Awareness Week, Paula McGuire interviews one set of parents about their experience of using a centre. When starting a family, no-one expects to be arranging contact with their child somewhere down the line.  It’s no wonder then that Child Contact Centres aren’t at the forefront…

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Child and parent holding hands

As part of Child Contact Centre Awareness Week (22-26 April), Guest bloggerSarah from Glasgow Mummy shares her moving experience as a single parent. When I was pregnant with my first child, I had never imagined that I’d be in my current situation… separated with a two year old boy & bouncing baby girl at the…

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Although the modern Mother’s Day was invented and trademarked in the early 20th century in the USA, celebrations of mothers and motherhood throughout the world have their roots in ancient festivals held to celebrate goddesses, fertility and the changing seasons. In ancient times, the celebration of motherhood focused on religion and the supernatural. Mother goddess…

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Christmas brings out the bah humbugs in some people. Valentine’s Day can get a similar response, with people saying: “It’s a waste of time!”, “I ignore it because it’s so commercialised” or “The only people who like Valentine’s Day are the florists and the card manufacturers and sellers.” But are they reasons to avoid Valentine’s,…

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And so Christmas approaches again and it’s almost a year since my dad died. It will be a strange time, with a mixture of sadness, being without my dad, and happiness at potentially having more freedom to be with Sara, as I’m now a former carer. Anyway, this can be a very interesting time when…

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This December, several thousand families across Scotland will be facing their first Christmas separated or divorced. It is hard for even the most relaxed family to get through to Boxing Day without some crisis, tantrum or disaster, but when there is the added pressure of a family living apart because of separation or divorce, the…

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Well that’s the summer done and what a contrast of weather and worlds! Sara and I seemed to arrive at a plateau of sorts, which was comfortable, insofar as we found a ‘place’ more quickly than we normally do. Anyway, I guess the thing is that you try and create or maintain a bubble that…

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