MagicMum

Toddlers You’ve just arrived at the preschool door, ready for that lovely moment when your little one spots you and comes running. And then — within minutes — it happens. The wobbling lip, the tears over nothing, the full-body meltdown because you cut their banana the wrong way. Sound familiar? If your preschooler seems to fall apart the moment they’re collected, you’re very far from alone. In fact, there’s a name for it: the “preschool volcano” effect.

Halloween is coming, and if you’ve already got one child asking what they’re going to be and another staging a full protest about their costume from last year, we feel you. What you probably need right now — alongside a strong cup of tea — is a plan. And Emerald Park might have just handed you a very good one.

The start of a new school year has a way of bringing everything into focus — new subjects, new teachers, maybe even a new year group. And if you have a teenager at home, you might be feeling that familiar pull: the urge to jump in and help, while also knowing, deep down, that stepping back a little is probably what they need most. It’s one of the trickiest parts of parenting a secondary school student.

If you’re the kind of person who read Before I Go To Sleep in approximately one sitting and then made everyone in your house talk about it for a week, we have very good news for you. The gripping psychological thriller — S J Watson’s debut novel that sold over six million copies worldwide and was later turned into a film starring Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth — is coming to the stage for the first time ever, and it’s heading to Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre in spring 2027.

There are some conversations that still feel surprisingly hard to have — even in a GP’s office, even when something feels off, even when you know deep down you should probably say something. New research from women’s health brand Daye has put some numbers on that silence, and they’re worth sitting with. The study found that 1 in 4 women don’t feel comfortable talking to their GP about vaginal health. Almost half wouldn’t raise the subject with a pharmacist either.

If your teenager has ever come home buzzing with more energy than seems humanly possible after school — or if you’ve spotted them cracking open a giant can of something neon-coloured before football training — you’re not alone in feeling uneasy about it. New research from Safefood published today confirms that those gut instincts are well founded, and that most of the country agrees with you.

Baby The first few weeks of breastfeeding can feel like an emotional rollercoaster — beautiful and bonding one moment, overwhelming and exhausting the next. If you’re finding it harder than you expected, you are absolutely not alone. So many mums have sat up at 3am wondering if they’re doing it right, whether baby is getting enough, and how on earth they’re going to keep going. The truth is, breastfeeding is natural — but that doesn’t always mean it comes naturally straight away.

There’s a moment many parents recognise — your child heads off to school or out with friends and something shifts. They don’t need you to tie their laces anymore. They’re rolling their eyes (just a little) when you remind them about their PE kit. They want to sort things out themselves. And while part of you is quietly proud, another part wonders: am I still needed? Am I still close enough?

If you’ve ever handed your child a tablet and felt that quiet flicker of unease — wondering what the algorithm is quietly serving them next — you’re not alone. Most Irish mums are navigating the same uneasy tension between letting kids engage with the digital world and genuinely not knowing how safe it is in there. This week, the European Commission announced the EU KIDS Act, and for the first time in a long time, it feels like someone in power is actually paying attention.

You already know Halloween is a big deal in Ireland. But this autumn, Longford and Westmeath are about to remind everyone exactly where the whole thing started — with nearly 50 events across both counties celebrating the ancient Celtic origins of the season we’ve all been dressing our kids up for since before we can remember. Samhain in the Heartlands 2026 runs from Friday 2nd October to Sunday 8th November and forms part of Fáilte Ireland’s Ireland Home of Halloween programme.