SARAH PENN

It’s been a good six weeks since I managed to do any exercise at all: with illness and new jobs and life, this vital part of my own...

For a variety of reasons, most of which stem from my childhood, I have never had a strong sense of who or what I am. That will probably...

“One side of her heart longing, the other shielding” Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens The long-awaited roadmap, the route out of...

It's struck me recently how many things Covid-19 has in common with babies. Babies might not have spike proteins or inhabit respiratory...

As lockdown 3 limps disappointingly across our screens, it’s one sequel too far. We are trapped in Home Alone 3 and wondering why anyone...

Sparkles in the long dark winter – I struggle when the clocks go back and the days seem so brief and gloomy. The sound of the strictly...

It’s been an exciting but a tough few months for me. I’ve been working a lot – at the Happy Mums Foundation – and for an increasingly...

A few months on from my brush with social services and I may just have to admit that the experience has made me self-sensor. My initial...

The world still seems to be moving quickly – after months of glacial creep, buildings are whizzing by. I’m back in my day job at Happy...

Obviously plan A is being a great parent all of the time – being firm but fair, baking organic chia bars and inventing fun educational...

With lockdown gradually easing, life is getting more complicated. For what seemed like forever, we were forced into tiny bubbles –...

Everywhere we are surrounded by powerful myths of motherhood. Lily Potter shielding her baby from the dark lord, Dumbo’s mummy cradling...

At first it feels luxurious, like you are an economy traveller who’s accidentally found themselves in first class. People are solicitous...

This time last week I was writing my way out of a particularly dark hole. Each word clawed my battered self an inch closer to the light....

"But since my theme will be the good I found there, I mean to speak of the other things I saw.” Dante, Inferno Canto 1 This week the call...

In some ways time seems to have stood still, or rather thickened. It used to flow freely from day to day, thrust onwards by plans or...

Macbeth meets a toddler Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last loo roll of the...

Never has a visit to the supermarket meant so much. My week was up, the confines of my house were breached and I ventured forth into the...

After weeks of stultifying sameness, the last week has felt revolutionary. My little girl has been back in nursery, which she has loved...

The return of schools and nurseries this week has become a hot topic in the press, social media and between friends. I, for one, am...