Creatures of habit can also change

10:57am Monday 29th June 2009

Helen Mead column: The people at the takeaway were surprised. “Tuna?” one said, reaching for the container.

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Are every-day bathers right or wasteful?

9:24am Monday 22nd June 2009

Helen Mead column: I was heartened to read, recently, that women wash their bras on average just six times a year. We are, it seems, a nation of grubby-bra wearers.

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Fix drinks on Father’s Day... not sinks!

10:57am Monday 15th June 2009

Helen Mead column: Do men REALLY love power tools? Husbands and boyfriends are forever being lectured not to buy women anything connected with housework as a gift.

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Bad memories of teenage days at work

11:13am Monday 8th June 2009

Helen Mead column: I think its about time my children went out to work. Well, maybe not my youngest, who has just turned eleven, but certainly my 13-year-old.

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I’m sure they think I could do with a spruce-up

10:26am Monday 1st June 2009

Helen Mead column: I felt very old the other day when, out shopping with my youngest daughter, we ended up in Tammy.

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Bring back communal washdays

11:19am Monday 18th May 2009

Helen Mead column: When I was young I hated wash day –– which in our house seemed to be every day.

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Traditional parties are memorable

1:45pm Monday 11th May 2009

Helen Mead column: It’s that time of year again. The fortnight when I have not one, but two children’s parties to organise.

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I always find Bank Holidays such hard work

2:52pm Tuesday 5th May 2009

Helen Mead column: I can’t decide whether I love or hate Bank Holidays. Obviously it is great having the day off work.

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Is it time my hubbie went for pink pants?

11:02am Monday 27th April 2009

Helen Mead column: “I don’t think my husband would be too amused if I replenished his underwear drawer with brightly coloured briefs,” I told a colleague.

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I never got over losing my cuddly toy

12:14pm Monday 20th April 2009

Helen Mead column: A friend of mine moved house recently and somewhere along the line, lost a lion.

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It is time we harnessed the power of a nap

3:56pm Tuesday 14th April 2009

Helen Mead column: Am I the only one who has felt exhausted since the clocks went forward?

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The perils of playing netball brought home

4:14pm Monday 6th April 2009

Helen Mead column: I am starting a campaign to ban netball. To erase it from the school timetable.

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I’d rather not bathe in bleach

9:37am Monday 30th March 2009

Helen Mead column: New research reveals a fifth of mothers admit to rarely or never teaching their children to cook.

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My husband has discovered the art of clipping

11:18am Monday 23rd March 2009

Helen Mead column: It’s not the nicest gift to buy your husband, but when I presented him, a couple of years ago, with a set of nasal clippers, it wasn’t out of love, but necessity.

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I really exploit Mother’s Day for all its worth

11:40am Monday 16th March 2009

Helen Mead column: Where are all these rich kids? For weeks now I’ve been bombarded with information on gift ideas for Mother’s Day.

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Losing sleep over daughters’ sleep-overs

11:52am Monday 9th March 2009

Helen Mead column: Many moons ago, when I was a young girl, I would regularly stay at my friend’s home.

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My life motors along, but only if I have a car

10:07am Monday 2nd March 2009

Helen Mead column: I thought I could do it. I even mentioned to my dad how I was thinking of living without a car.

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Having people to dinner is a stressful affair

11:04am Monday 23rd February 2009

Helen Mead column: My children love Come Dine With Me, the Channel 4 show in which people try to impress each other with their skills in setting up and cooking a dinner party.

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Internet coughs up more strange, interesting facts

9:35am Monday 16th February 2009

Helen Mead column: Is it tickly? Is it itchy? Does it sound like a bark? Or a foghorn? Is it accompanied by any other problems – hot flushes, rashes, or palpitations?

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If you don’t know what it means, don’t ask Dad

2:29pm Tuesday 10th February 2009

Helen Mead column: As usual at this time of year, I’m wracking my brains as to what to buy my husband as a token of my affection.

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I’m fed up of hearing how we’re all bored

10:28am Monday 2nd February 2009

Helen Mead column: It’s a phrase commonly associated with children – usually the horrible, spoiled variety who demand sweets with menace at the tills in Morrisons: “I’m bored!” .

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The parents’ evenings can be terrifying

9:15am Monday 26th January 2009

Helen Mead column: Tomorrow it’s parents’ evening at my daughter’s school. Another chance to show my complete ignorance of most of the subjects she’s studying.

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Tomorrow is a difficult day for married couples

11:23am Monday 19th January 2009

Helen Mead column: I’m half expecting my long-suffering husband to make an announcement tomorrow.

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I’m in the pink as obsession could be over

11:01am Monday 12th January 2009

Helen Mead column: "I WOULDN’T get that – it looks too boyish, and it’s in the boys’ department."

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Next in the mad 2009 line up: eyelid transfers

3:33pm Monday 5th January 2009

Helen Mead column: I was disappointed to miss one of my favourite films over the festive break.

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An (amateur) doc’s man flu observations

11:25am Monday 15th December 2008

Helen Mead column: First of all, I apologise for contributing even more column inches about the widely recognised afflication dubbed ‘man flu’.

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It’s worrying if children are feeling stress

10:29am Monday 8th December 2008

Helen Mead column: Shopping for a birthday present for one of my daughter’s friends, she suddenly homed in on the "perfect" gift – a stress ball.

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The questions all men must ask themselves

11:26am Monday 1st December 2008

Helen Mead column: What to buy the man in your life for Christmas? For me, the socks/cheap aftershave dilemma never fails to put a damper on what is meant to be a jolly time of year.

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How the West was lost for our children

12:32pm Monday 24th November 2008

Helen Mead column: My husband has just subjected the children to what they described as "a boring afternoon."

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The weight tumbled off, shedding 3.5g

12:06pm Monday 17th November 2008

Helen Mead column: Saturday morning saw me and the children heading out on our monthly visit to the local slimming class.

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