Our Blog

Citydad's blog: 10 reasons why...

Ten reasons why dads think they can't take time off to look after their kids (and ten reasons why they should) 1) My employer won't allow it. Since April 2011, dads have been leg... Read More

Esther's blog: Positive parenting, the next generation, an...

Today I'm going to blog on three apparently unrelated things which are actually interconnected. First:  I was so impressed by the Citymothers seminar I attended on Thursday 9th October ... Read More

Tom's blog: The F word...

I started to get itchy feet the other day and began looking at other jobs. Unsurprisingly, there were no ads saying "Senior City lawyer required by first rate firm. Ideal candidate will arrive l... Read More

Ellen's blog: Starting School

My oldest son has started school! I thought I would share with you some crucial lessons learned from this stressful experience: 1. Sewing name labels into uniform can cause near-divorce situa... Read More

James's blog: The Great British Bake Off

Everyone in our family is talking about it.  The cupboards in our kitchen are stocked with ingredients which, six months ago, I never knew existed.  I’ve been practicing my technical,... Read More

Dolly's Blog: In search of the simple life

Back to school.  New term resolutions abound and holiday memories sustain us. We wrapped up the Summer in Brittany, living the three small children and not enough money cliché of a c... Read More

Louisa's blog: Busy busy..

The summer holidays certainly feel like a long time ago, with a busy autumn now in full swing. Our nanny helpfully mentioned Christmas the other day to my 2.5 year old, who as a result is working har... Read More

Jennifer's blog: Statutory flexibility

After lengthy and serious reflection, I finally had a discussion about flexible working options with my Manager.  After thinking about what kind of flexible working would suit and deciding what ... Read More

Citydad's blog: Part-timer?

After four months on paternity leave, the thought of having to go back to work full time, and miss out on being with the kids, was depressing. Did it really have to be like thi... Read More

Esther's blog: Playing the long game in the city

I recently had the delightful experience of meeting up some old friends, all women who’d worked their whole adult lives in various professions, and all with children. We turned to discussing ho... Read More

Tom's blog: Milestones...

This month is an important milestone in our house. When our first child turned two, we had our second. When our second child turned two, we had our third. When our third child turns two next week, we... Read More

Ellen's Blog: Going out

I must share with you my interesting experience with a mid-week night out Does this sound familiar? I left the office at 6pm, intending to stay until about 9pm (3 hours is more than enough, sure... Read More

James's Blog: The Toughest Job

"I’m three months into a four-month sabbatical during which I have been looking after my one year-old daughter.  During my daughter’s first year I worked crazy hours; only occa... Read More

Dolly's blog: The long hot summer

“School's out and with an enormous exhalation of relief we bid adios to our au pair.  Having belatedly realised that she'd been liberally helping herself to my beloved Kerastase su... Read More

Naomi's blog: Superwoman?

"Last year a colleague of mine (also a working mum) explained why she was leaving her job. “Naomi, not everyone can have it all, like you do”).... Wow! So someone actually thinks I h... Read More

Citydad's blog: Man about the house

Three weeks into my paternity leave and I'm cracking up… No, I mean I'm literally cracking up! My hands have sore, bloody cuts on them as deep as the Grand Canyon as I'm washing th... Read More

Esther's blog: Mentoring

"Yesterday Louisa and I launched the new Citymothers Mentoring Scheme, a cross-company mentoring scheme open to all Citymothers members. Of the 120 or so applicants, we were able to match ... Read More

Tom's Blog: Connecting with our children's lives

When a City law firm came up with a list of its defining values, 'connecting' was one of the top results. That got me wondering whether I put us much effort into finding out about the lives m... Read More

Ellen's blog: So what do you want to do?

I was recently asked by a former boss and friend what I would like to do with my career. No idea. The last time someone asked me that I was 15; the careers advice at school was “so what do you ... Read More

James's Blog: My wife recently returned to work

My wife recently returned to work following the end of her maternity leave.  We wanted to delay sending our daughter, June, to nursery for a while, and I wanted to spend some quality time with h... Read More

Dolly's Blog: From the sublime to the ridiculous

Once upon a time we had a nanny.  In fact we had a couple (consecutively rather than simultaneously I should add, just in case you’re getting visions of an Angelina Jolie-esque set up here... Read More

Anthony's Blog: Does this sound familiar?

Does this sound familiar to any of you? It's half term this week. My squeakers are 9 and 11 and I haven't really seen them properly for a couple of weeks - the result of a combination of thei... Read More

Jennifer's Blog: Thriving

"It started off as just another busy day in the office - so busy that I missed my scheduled flight out to Geneva, got myself booked on to the next one, then proceeded to go the wrong London airp... Read More

Citydad: Making it Happen

When my wife asked me if I wanted to split her maternity leave as additional paternity leave, I must admit I raised my eyebrows. "Can you really do that?” I asked her. "Sure you can&q... Read More

Esther's blog: Making a Stand

"In my last blog I asked 'When will men openly acknowledge school sports days, parents' evenings and picking up their children from school ?'. Well, it certainly seems like I caught... Read More

Keily's Blog: Mini eggs and Glue

Last Monday I returned from my first overseas business trip since my daughter was born, feeling rather proud of myself and my family. I was proud of myself (for going and enjoying the trip), proud of... Read More

Tom's Blog: Guilty, or guilt-free?

Is it me or do we sometimes give ourselves too much of a hard time as Dads? During a talk at school, my six year old son's teacher explained that not everyone's family circumstances are the s... Read More

Ellen's Blog: Let's talk about Culture

“Let’s talk about ‘Culture’ - set at the top, but decided in the middle, and applied at the bottom. Nowadays it is increasingly common for employers to offer facilities to hel... Read More

Natalie's Blog: The next generation

“Looking back at my last blog it struck me that I was maybe a bit frustrated when I wrote it, perhaps I was having a bad day? Of course  it might just have been that the torrential unrelen... Read More

Louisa's Blog: Pushing for Cultural Change

Yesterday I received an approach from a features journalist at the Financial Times asking me if I knew any City women with partners who are either stay-at-home fathers, or who do most of the childcar... Read More