With two young children the nights can be long, so very, very long. Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes writes about one marathon night among many. The night shift started with an attempt to write something and ignore the pitter patter of feet on the stairs. I knew they belonged to my four-year-old. He knew he … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today: Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes inspects the chicken nuggets at the Chipmunks indoor play centre. I can remember the first time I had chicken nuggets from the fine establishment that is Chipmunks. If you don’t know what Chipmunks is – … Read more
To continue the thrills and spills of Murder Week, our Parenting editor Emily Writes recalls a Sensing Murder-style haunting of her own… by 24 star Kiefer Sutherland. When I was a kid I saw a movie on TV that scarred me for life. A little girl was getting ready for her birthday party and Kiefer … Read more
The NZ Herald hosting a video attacking children for the bathrooms they use at a New Zealand high school has shone a spotlight on the hate promulgated by Family First. Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes shares some advice on how families can fight back. The hate group Family First is at it again. This time … Read more
Let it Go, Let it Go, please for the love of all that is holy can’t they let that fluffing song go? Kids music can be great and it can also be more painful than childbirth. Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes and dad and music critic Simon Sweetman discuss some of the better stuff that can be … Read more
Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes interviews a midwife and unwittingly reveals plenty of baggage from her own labour – mainly focused on how much she pooped. This is the fourth in a series of posts in which I ask health professionals questions about child health, crowd-sourced from you. Today’s interviewee is a lovely midwife who is remaining … Read more
There are plenty of things that children love and parents hate: Barney the Dinosaur, mud puddles, getting up at the crack of dawn. But that’s nothing compared to the loathing Emily Writes has for those ride-on toy cars for children. Hate is a strong word. But I really feel strong feelings – feelings that are … Read more
Every day, all around the world, babies are born and people become parents. It’s a beautiful thing. Emily Writes has a message for all of the new mothers who are welcoming their new babies. When a baby is born we say welcome. Here is this world for you precious baby. Here are the people who … Read more
This is The Spinoff Parents podcast, Dear Mamas, a straight-talking parenting conversation with Holly Walker and Emily Writes. Our brilliant and talented sponsors are Little Big Crate. Little Big Crate delivers gorgeous threads for your little big person, right to your front door. This episode includes discussion of the loss of a child, so please … Read more
The Wellington Sevens that took place this weekend was a noticeably less raucous party than tournaments of years gone by. Ruined by the ‘Fun Police’? Emily Writes isn’t buying it. The Sevens is no longer a drunken mess, she says – and that’s a good thing. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but The Fun … Read more
Just like adults, kids have the right to voice their anger, fears and hopes for the future. Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes explains why her children accompany her to protest marches and hikoi. As it is after most news-making protests, in the last couple of days I’ve seen the usual online arguments about whether children should … Read more
Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes has not slept for a long time, but suddenly her son who hates sleep has started to sleep through the night. She explains how it happened. For the last almost two years my son has been exceptionally committed to never sleeping. It wasn’t just that he woke many, many times … Read more
Earlier this week we published a post by Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes detailing her sexual attraction for actor Idris Elba. Following a critical response published today on The Pantograph Punch, Emily made the decision to take her post down. She explains her decision here. There are a lot of lessons I try to teach … Read more
Editor’s note, January 20 2017: This post has been removed at the author’s request. Emily writes about the original post, the response, and her decision to take it down here. Thank you Lana for this post, I hope it’s shared widely. I apologise sincerely for my ignorance and racism https://t.co/ffTwP1PuLF — Emily Writes (@DearMama_) January … Read more
In a quest to recreate the Christmas magic her grandmother always made, Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes ends up covered in vomit and balls. After my grandmother died Christmas became quite bleak. I couldn’t reconcile how Christmas happened without her. She always started the family water fight that we had after lunch. She would walk … Read more
It seems many mothers get smacked with a label no matter how hard they try to avoid them. Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes talks about some of the labels she’s been given and how much she hates them. The first time I was called a Slummy Mummy I had to look up the term. I figured … Read more
Is Christmas Day the best or worst day of the year? Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes has crowd-sourced a list of the characters you’ll break bread with this Christmas. Tis the night before Christmas, and your house is a mess. The kids have gone feral, and you’re not feeling #blessed. You’re starting to sweat about lunch the … Read more
No-so-secret metalhead Emily Writes guides you through the best metal covers of Christmas classics. In the world of metal you’re classified by what you like – you can’t really just say you like ‘metal’, you have to specify your genre. And then chances are, especially if you’re a woman, you’ll be lectured in a blisteringly … Read more
Christmas is a time for togetherness and giving, with one golden rule: don’t be a dickhead. Emily Writes shares her guide to not being a dickhead, making Christmas Day fun for kids, and being kind at Christmas time. Whether you have wee ones or not, Christmas can be a stressful time. Or a magical time. … Read more
Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes exchanges emails with a paediatrician and asks all of your hard questions – and some inappropriate ones. Being a paediatrician is serious business. And as such they’re not really interested in answering questions a hypothetical editor of a hypothetical parenting section might ask about Hot Paediatricians being lusted after by thirsty mums. … Read more
A special message for Spinoff Parents readers from editor Emily Writes. The Spinoff Parents is an almost three-month-old bundle of joy and so it’s time to remind you that this precious baby only exists because of Flick Electric. They’re the parents of Spinoff Parents. Without them we wouldn’t exist. I truly believe we need this … Read more
The effortlessly stylish Spinoff Parents editor walks us through the decorating ideas that transformed a suburban Wellington family home into a magical Christmas wonderland. How does she do it? Welcome to this week’s issue of Parents Who Are Very Tired Monthly. It’s the very special Christmas issue! It’s jam packed with wonderful Christmas WHAT ARE … Read more
Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes sits down with a General Practitioner and asks all of the hard questions, from colic to reflux to tongue ties to bloody amber beads. This is the second in a series of posts in which I ask health professionals questions about child health, crowd-sourced from you. Today’s interviewee is a lovely … Read more
Making judgemental comments about other parents’ choices doesn’t do anything to help improve early childhood education, says Emily Writes. It just makes you an asshole. Oh look! There’s a new article about how parents are evil for putting their children in childcare. And the commenters aren’t happy. Every parent apparently has the same choices according … Read more
What’s your parenting style? Are you an attachment parent? A helicopter parent? A free-range parent? An authoritative parent? An evolutionary parent? A paleo parent? A tiger parent? Having a parenting style is a great way to find your people and/or feel smug at the kindy gate – and luckily, there are new ones popping up … Read more
Emily Writes sits down with a dentist to drill him about kids and teeth and all the stuff parents need to know about dental health. Open wide, this shouldn’t hurt a bit… This is the first in a series of posts in which I’ll be asking health professionals questions about child health, crowd-sourced from you. … Read more
‘A good mother would do this. A good mother would get her child sleeping through the night.’ Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes shares a wrenching account of life inside a chronically sleep-deprived household. At night my home is a horror film. Screams reverberate off the ceilings. There is no peace. My son came into the … Read more
Emily Writes loves indoor playgrounds. Chipmunks, Junglerama, Jumparama, Laughalots – she’s never met a soft-play establishment she didn’t like. There’s just one problem: too many of her fellow parents don’t seem to understand the (unwritten) rules. So listen, she’ll say this only once… Oh Chipmunks, how I love thee. You are my office. You are … Read more
Halloween isn’t just for your kids. Emily Writes shares her list of costumes that would be great for you – an exhausted parent who doesn’t give two shits about Halloween. Want to be scary? But also sexy? But also you honestly don’t give a fuck at all because it’s just another night of no sleep? … Read more