Séamas O'Reilly

My kids are due for their flu jabs, which is good to hear

But these days more and more parents are ticking the red ‘refuse’ box on the form

‘My son’s pretend bookshop is not profitable, but it’s exciting’

‘Books! Books’ he shouts out, in the manner of a carnival barker, while my daughter manically operates a Fisher-Price cash register

Nostalgia and nausea at the British seaside

Taking the kids to the seaside comes with a heady dose of nostalgia. Little seems to have changed – even the attendants are still surly

‘I treat the sun with the contempt which it deserves. It is my enemy’

I return from holiday painfully burnt – and with no one to blame but myself

‘The kids went to a city farm to… ride go-karts?’

Having grown up around farmland, taking my kids to a Surrey farm was a revelation. Pig-races, for one

‘My daughter is a steel-willed potty refusenik’

Not even her Paw Patrol potty will persuade her to go without nappies and sit down quietly

At 2am, unthinkable things become all too thinkable

A noise from my kids’ bedroom in the middle of the night snapped me into my role of doughty protector

School sports day reveals my son’s new attitude to competition

Inexplicably, my son has become a good loser

Reliving my youth with old friends

A reunion weekend with two old friends was meant to be a child-free zone, but actually we found ourselves missing the kids

Games bring out the best in my son, and the worst in me

I have yelped, I have screamed, I have been brought nearly to tears when gaming with the boy

British dads deserve a better paternity deal

New fathers who want to bond with their babies are treated in a derisory way in the UK – and that harms us all

‘My daughter swims and I am out of my depth’

She’s a true waterbaby, but all I can think is how much I dread swimming

‘With 10 siblings and a frugal dad, we never had babysitters’

Having grown up in rural Ireland with 10 siblings and a fiercely frugal father, it’s no wonder that booking a babysitter feels like the height of indulgence

Séamas O’Reilly on his three-year-old’s capitalistic gleam

She is a modern, independent woman whose supreme confidence is matched only by her lack of motor skills