Children
Mary solves your problems: What do you say when a screaming child is ruining your lunch?
Q. My wife and I were having lunch in our local bistro. A boy of about two was wandering around…
The kids aren’t all right
Our histrionic parenting is making today’s young people mad, unhappy and fat
The danger of no danger
We all know about helicopter parents and how terrible they can be. In New York, where I live, a mother…
The snowflake factory
We’re training our children to be thin-skinned, censorious and belligerently entitled
Barometer
A man in full A relic said to contain a fragment of St Thomas à Becket’s elbow arrived from Hungary for…
The game of the name
How Wolf and Skylar pushed out John and Mary
Diary
I’d like this to have been one of those Spectator diaries that gives the ordinary reader a glimpse into the…
Barometer
Area of doubt Hillary Clinton has said that if she is elected she will open files on the US military…
In defence of gender
Children are not all ‘gender fluid’. It’s dangerous and wrong to try to persuade them that they are
Alice in cyberspace
Damon Albarn and Rufus Norris present a musical version of Alice in Wonderland. A challenging enterprise even if they’d stuck…
Tis the season for disagreeing with your spouse about everything
The older I get, the more Scrooge-like I become. I’m dyspeptic, misanthropic, curmudgeonly, parsimonious and unsentimental. Caroline, by contrast, is…
Christmas lists
William Brown had the right idea about Christmas lists. Under the heading ‘Things I Want for Christmas’, he requests: a…
Dear Mary: How to stop someone from giving my tiny children expensive clothes that they never wear?
Q. Is there a tactful way to deter certain people from buying clothing for one’s tiny children as Christmas presents?…
How do you explain events that even adults can’t understand to a child?
Seeing my ten-year-old daughter, Freya, a week after the massacre in Paris, I asked her if she had heard anything…
Meet Leo, the youngest member of our household
I’m pleased to announce an addition to the Young household — a ten-week-old Vizsla. For those unfamiliar with this particular breed…
Why most four-year-olds deserve to be sectioned
The first episode of Let Us Entertain You (BBC2, Wednesday) definitely couldn’t be accused of lacking a central thesis. Presenter…
My obsession with litter is bordering on mental illness
It’s no good. I’ve tried to resist it, but I’ve succumbed. I’m now a full-blown litter Nazi. Whenever I leave…
The cruellest month
My August-born toddler is being marked out for failure – thank God the rules are changing
Young guns
The Honourable Society of Odd Bottles began proceedings with a report on the activities of our junior branch. These youngsters…
Wild things
Are adventure playgrounds set to make a comeback, asks Maisie Rowe
Dear Mary
Q. At a recent literary festival I attended a talk with a high-profile octogenarian writer. I had already bought her…
Your problems solved
Q. My partner, a leading political commentator on a national newspaper, recently agreed to shave off his hair at the…
The hazards of being a good sport
Not a day passes when I don’t look on my father’s record with shock and awe. I’m not talking about…
I blame the parents
If Britain has a crisis in children’s mental health, it’s easy to see why
I don’t want anyone telling me how to raise my monsters
I was on the phone to Girl, thinking of something interesting to tell her. ‘Oh yeah,’ I said. ‘And this…
