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What I’m really thinking: the single mother by choiceI think it would be easier for a lot of people if I’d had a one-night stand or been abandoned by a cheating husband; those are easier stereotypes to understand
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Woken by seagulls in my seaside boltholeAdam Golightly puts down firmer roots in a coastal haven he and his family have loved for 40 years -
Seven top tips for driving long distances with childrenFrom leaving early to ice cream bribery to a technology detox – and don’t ask if they need the toilet
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Our family photos – shorts, warts and allNakedness, faulty wiring, strangers with guns and Mum sitting on the loo – Eleanor Margolis tries to get to grips with her family photographs – all 5,000 of them packed in plastic crates – and fails
opinion
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Leadsom is not naive. She aimed her motherhood pitch at her votersTheresa May’s challenger has a fresh, insurgent agenda – and she knows her appeal lies with a restless party membership
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Am I ready to have a baby? You asked Google – here’s the answerEvery day millions of internet users ask Google life’s most difficult questions, big and small. Our writers answer some of the commonest queries
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Why Andrea Leadsom is right to talk about babiesThe Tory party leadership hopeful should not be ridiculed for championing the bond between newborns and their mothers
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What makes you an adult nowadays? Taking care of your parentsAs the normal rites of passage – marriage, children, career – have become so uncertain, swapping roles with our parents may be the surest marker of maturity
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They make convenient scapegoats for everything from emotional damage to lack of housing. But in the end you have to let it goBlame your parents if you must – but then forgive them
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Want a vacation? Send your family awayWith husband and daughter on a week long trip, I was plunged into a silent, indulgent, pantless existence, as good as any swanky retreat
advice
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Dear MariellaDear MariellaMy dad won’t talk to me because of the man I marriedAn Indian woman who had children with a Jamaican has been alienated by her father. Mariella Frostrup recommends trying for a reconciliation
love & sex
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My husband suffers from chronic pain and is angry about our sex lifeWe have introduced toys to arouse him, but he now says I am making it all about me
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I’m Baby Jesus and she’s my FluffyLike many couples, Oliver Black and his wife have pet names for each other. As he points out, these little terms of endearment arrive in odd ways and tend to stick around, despite their often bizarre or cringeworthy nature
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Who was the creepy man in the family photo?As a child, Sarah Lippett would stare at the ‘really weird and creepy’ man in the photo at the top of the stairs in her grandmother’s house and wonder who he was. Years later, letters from Nan began to arrive – along with the answers.
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Blind date: ‘He probably thought I was a crazy-haired chatterbox’Did TV production student Charlotte, 22, spark with tax adviser Alastair, 27?
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A fear of Aids made me sexually inhibited. Can I liberate my desires?I was brought up when homosexuality was against the law, and was traumatised by a dread of Aids in the 80s. How can I overcome this fear?
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I’m becoming menopausal and it’s already getting me downA woman who is progressing in her career has hit a wall with the menopause. Mariella Frostrup advocates investigating HRT to challenge the difficult symptoms
My dad won’t talk to me because of the man I married