The Cityparents Blog
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Lawrence's blog: Wisdom from an old Jamaican
With my wife’s maternity leave having come to an end, she recently resigned from her part-time in-house marketing job in the city in order to take up a new full-time position working from home ... Read More
Freddy's blog: Graceland
In the most privileged way possible, my daughter is currently homeless. (“Somebody sing hello, hello, hello”.)
3... Read More
James's blog: Only child syndrome
There has been quite a bit in the press recently about the growing number of one child families. My wife and I both have siblings – my wife is the older of two sisters and I have an older siste... Read More
Lawrence's blog: The October christmas tree
"During my weekend moonlighting as my eldest’s chauffeur (although we traipse from Saturday activity to activity with her on the back of my bike, so I’m more akin to a Deliveroo cy... Read More
Freddy's blog: For the shy kids
The temptation to fix things is strong. Especially for a man, because it's well-known that our response to a problem, particularly one raised by a woman close to us, is to offer an immediate and ... Read More
Matt's blog: Ingredients for flexible working success
I've worked for my current employer for just over one year now. In looking for a new role, a key criterion was the flexibility of part-time working to allow me to spend more time with my da... Read More
Lawrence's blog: The Parental Leave Experience
Through a chance meeting with a member of the HR team at work earlier in the year I was made aware of my firms recently enhanced ‘shared parental leave’ offering. As you can expect, I had... Read More
Freddy's blog: A run of bad form
When I was 13 years old I had a run of bad form at school. First I got in trouble for insulting my French teacher’s fur coat. She was a Russian woman called Madame Filipovna. A very mean and un... Read More
James's blog: Obsessive Compulsive Parenting
When I was in my late teens I was diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I had displayed symptoms of OCD earlier in childhood but in my late teens and early twenties it took a strong hold over... Read More
Freddy's blog: Education
We're starting to think about education for our daughter. Now she’s almost two, it feels like time. Or it's way overdue. I want to make sure she’s fluent in classi... Read More
Lawrence's blog: The Twin Reaction
After being a parent for nearly four years, my wife and I feel like we are no-longer complete novices in managing the various aspects of being a city parent. Like most working parents, work fatigue, ... Read More
Freddy's blog: New Year resolutions
Happy New Year to all you Cityparents. It seems a lot of people were back to work after Christmas this week, or maybe it was just that everyone was on the pavement at the same time yesterday thanks ... Read More
James's blog: Two new jobs
It's been a while since my last blog. Since then, and after a few years of searching for the right opportunity, I've started a new role in a smaller law firm. So far, things seem to ... Read More
Freddy's blog: The right amount of protection
It’s a brutal place, the City. I saw a guy crossing the street the second the lights turned green and get called the worst word you can be called by a gang of Australian cyclists. I saw a cycli... Read More
Lawrence's blog: In-Law behaviours.
Our working parent household is one that has, after three and a half years started to function with a certain degree of normality. I seem to be able to bundle the child out of the door for nursery a ... Read More
Freddy's blog: Supporting the move back to work
In the 13 months since my daughter joined the family I feel like we’ve been through more than 13 new, different phases of our lifestyle. None of them last long, but such is the warped experienc... Read More
James's blog: Spreadsheets
Shortly after Christmas I handed my notice in to move to a smaller City firm. My old employers were fairly sanguine about my resignation. They knew that I had struggled with the conflicti... Read More
City Dad's blog: The British obsession with schools.
I think we have all had our own share of excitement regarding getting our kids into the "right" schools, but does it really make so much of a difference in the long run, especially in the e... Read More
Bob's blog: Starting SPL
I am sitting writing this in a Tesco's Costa at Royston, North Herts, which is a little removed from the business glamour of Canary Wharf, my usual work place. Our little boy, who is fa... Read More
Lawrence's blog: Gender stereotyping - the subconscious mess...
Our daughter like a majority of similar aged girls loves princesses; be it Elsa and Anna from Disney’s Frozen, Snow White, Cinderella, Belle from Beauty and the Beast or Ariel from the Little M... Read More
James's blog: Consistency
As I’m sure is the case with many professional couples working in the City, it is quite rare for our little family to spend much time with all three of us together. My wife doesn’t ... Read More
City Dad's blog: To party or not to party....
March is a busy, expensive, month for us. My dad, daughter, son and then myself all have birthdays spaced a week apart. The adult birthdays are quite easily handled - a nice card and a family l... Read More
Lawrence's blog: Work/Life Review – A New Approach
In between work and trying to find space for the barrage of toys bestowed by relatives over the festive period (we now seem to have enough Little Tikes utilities to furnish a small flat), 2016’... Read More
James's blog: Reassessing
Reading recent blog posts, it seems that many Cityparents are viewing the new year as an opportunity to reassess their current working arrangements as part of the continued search for their preferred... Read More
CityDad's blog: New Year, New Career?
I write this sitting in one of the few places, in the City, where it is actually possible to get some sun during the winter months, owing to the fact that one high-rise has gone and another is s... Read More
Bob's blog: Firsts...
So. First blog, first marriage, and now we are expecting our first child. 2015 has been a busy year.
And 2016 is set to be quite busy too. Small matter of the birth (most likely early February),... Read More
Lawrence's blog: Living for the weekend
Like most within the city rat race, having had a long, deadline infested week at work, I awoke on Friday morning with optimism about the forthcoming weekend. To do: 1) spend time with partner and dau... Read More
James's blog: Transferable Skills
Reading back through my most recent blogs, I fear that signs of self pity are beginning to show. Recent world events have, however, made me reflect on how lucky I really am. I h... Read More
Tom's blog: Agile working success?
Earlier this year, my firm rolled out an agile working policy to allow everyone in the London office to work at home once a week. I thought I'd share a few observations about the firm's exper... Read More
Citydad's blog: How robust is your business continuity plan?
15:40 on a Wednesday: Inbound call from (live-in) Supernanny to CityMum. The unthinkable has happened. Supernanny's beloved dog back home in another country has died. Devastation. CityMum, a... Read More