Radio Interviews

Yesterday I got up at 6am, which is actually quite unusual, as my 8 week old son seems to fall into his deepest daily sleep from 4 to 8am. However he was already up, hungry and proving quite exhausting to my wife, who didn't get much sleep.

So I quickly showered, buttered some toast for my wife and rushed out the door to get to my interview with BBC Radio Merseyside at 7am. Tony Snell was very sympathetic, and I was able to communicate our volunteer drive and our services to the local audience.

As a result, we had an initial positive volunteer enquiry yesterday, and hopefully the other coverage we have been getting will mean more people getting in touch in the areas we are recruiting our volunteers.

Our new Chief Exec, Jeremy Todd, did his first radio interview for us with BBC Radio Essex and came across as both positive and well informed about his new role. We'll be hoping to get further coverage for him as he settles into the new role.

I want my mum back!

"I want my mum back!" was the cry from my three-year-old daughter when I told her I was going to work yesterday morning. She is getting wise to things now and doesn't miss a trick, having questioned me as to why I had some coffee in my bag, with my response being that I was taking it to work.

She was suddenly gripped by a sense of panic and ordered me to stay at home so I could collect her from her morning nursery session. We had a chat and I explained that lots of mummys and daddys work, including her friends' mums and dads, and then she was happy again, going off to find something to play with among the mass of toys that fill one corner of our living room!

It's tough juggling family life and work and comments like "I want my mum back" first thing in the morning amidst the usual mad rush to get everyone ready for work and school can knock you for six! Kids certainly have a great way of expressing themselves and this is one memory that will be firmly lodged in my brain for years to come.

Parentline Plus' new Chief Executive visits

It's a new era here at Parentline Plus as we welcome our new Chief Executive, Jeremy Todd. He has taken over the reins from Dorit Braun, who took early retirement last year after nine years of leading the charity.

Jeremy is due to visit us here in the Merseyside office of Parentline Plus on Monday and we are looking forward to meeting him and talking to him about our work over a plate of scouse - well, what better way to introduce Jeremy to the delights of Merseyside!

Jeremy was previously chief executive of Haven House Children's Hospice in Essex.

15 million mums are blogging

It's incredible how more and more parents are now going online about their experiences. The Thames Valley Mums blog reports that the number is now 15 million worldwide, with a growing number of British bloggers as well.

Dads are not excluded from this blogging phenomenon either. Single Parent Dad has hosted the recent British Mummy Bloggers Carnival that is being hosted by Alpha Mummy this week.

For a lot of parents, setting up a blog is maybe further than they want to go. It takes time to write and being parents, time is not always on our side. The fact that there are thriving online communities at Parentline Plus, Got A Teenager and NetMums shows that online support is there for every parent.

With my six week old convinced that he cannot ever possibly fall asleep before 2am at night, I think I'll be putting up a post myself later today.

Get your kids motivated this new year

As a busy mum-of-three kids - a 10-year-old son, 3-year-old daughter and 2-year-old daughter, the new year can be a bit of a shock to the system! It is quite a challenge getting back into a routine after the long Christmas break - my 3-year-old was off nursery school for a whole three weeks and my son was starting to get bored at home. I do prefer being back in a routine but it takes me a few days to get used to the challenge of getting three kids up, fed and dressed and two of them ready for school.

One of the latest parenting topics we in the press office at Parentline Plus have been looking at is getting kids motivated after this long Christmas break. Let's face it - we can all feel a bit sluggish after time off work and some slightly lazier days than usual, combined with a perhaps not overly healthy diet of rich festive food! This can leave parents and kids feeling tired and a bit demotivated.

One of the tips we have picked up from parents who have contacted us in the past is to make sure you get back into a routine and have a cut off time when things like the TV, computer or mobile phone are switched off so the kids can wind down for the evening. You could also talk to your kids about potential new activities they could get involved with to occupy their time, whether that be reading, spending quality time with the family watching a DVD or joining the local cubs group.

It's also a good idea to give encouragement and show appreciation of their achievements, whether great or small, so you can help build their confidence. Last but not least, some good wholesome food or snacks can help give an energy and brain boost to kids and also to us stressed out parents.

For more tips on a range of parenting issues, log on to www.parentlineplus.org.uk.

New Year, New Resolution

Last year was really exciting for us. Angela joined the team in April and Peter in August. Since then we've had a huge amount of media success with Got A Teenager and Be Someone To Tell in the national and regional press, a special feature on the BBC One Show and we finished the year with parenting tips about surviving Christmas.

We are all parents here, so when we talk about what Parentline does, we do it from our own experience, but we should make clear this is our blog, with our views, not necessarily those of the organisation. We'll be posting up what we see and hoping that parents find the blog informative, entertaining and optimistic.