A (VERY) HONEST TAKE ON
LIVING, WORKING AND PARENTING IN DUBAI
FREE – downloadable family wall planner for 2021

FREE – downloadable family wall planner for 2021

FREE downloadable family wall planner for 2020

FREE downloadable family wall planner for 2020

Your guide to getting a Will

Your guide to getting a Will

Why we need to get real about parenthood

Why we need to get real about parenthood

How should we parent in the digital age?

How should we parent in the digital age?

Nanny or nursery? Finding childcare in Dubai

Nanny or nursery? Finding childcare in Dubai

#InIt… For my family

#InIt… For my family

My little black book: 2018 edition

My little black book: 2018 edition

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Dear mum. I get it now.

Happy Mother’s Day, to anyone that is celebrating, or being celebrated, from breakfast in bed, to a hastily typed WhatsApp with a heart emoticon. This is my second – my first year as a mum I was six weeks in, still so raw with emotion and trying to leave the house. But this year I […]


11 things that happen after giving birth (that we really need to start talking about)

When I was pregnant, many women who had already given birth would give me a squeeze of congratulations then pause – weighing up if they should tell me what I might go through. No one did. We went to antenatal classes that covered labour, breastfeeding (top tip: make your boob like a burger) and swaddling, […]


Meningitis B in the UAE – your questions answered

With rumours and concerns growing about the unavailability of the Meningitis B vaccine here in the UAE, I spoke to Kim Quick, travel medicine specialist at Health Bay PolyClinic, to find out more – and if parents should be worried Can you tell me a bit about Meningitis in general? There are many different strains […]


Why I have quit my dream job

This feels like a break-up, and even though I’m the one ending it, I’m still heart-broken. Three years ago I was about to launch a magazine, working long hours fine tuning everything from how the page numbers would look, to our very first cover feature, pouring years of publishing experience into a project that would […]


A parody of Rudyard Kipling’s If – by a mum

Kipling’s famed poem is about stoicism, something a lot of mums know a lot about, so I felt a little mother-themed update was in order…. If – by The Mothership If you can keep your head during witching hour, While the baby is screaming blue murder, If you can be trusted to go on a […]


20 lessons the first year of motherhood has taught me

This time last year it was my due date. In fact, this time last year I was in City Hospital, watching my husband eat chicken biryani while I was sick with nerves. And yes, I took a selfie to prove it. I went for a check-up and was told that our daughter’s heart rate was […]


Parenting with a hangover

On Friday night I had three hours of sleep. Not because the sprog was teething and I spent the night shovelling Calpol and camomile powder down her neck, but because I went out with a pal and had so many cocktails I thought I was 25 (and forgot there would be baby-related consequences). Dinner turned […]


A love letter to our nanny

Loreta came into our lives when I was six months pregnant. The sister of a friend’s nanny, she wasn’t happy with her current family for reasons too awful to go into (but needless to say she was paid badly, treated worse and hadn’t seen her passport in two years) so was looking for a new […]


How did we get here?

Do you ever, out of nowhere have one of those ‘how did I get here?’ moments where, suddenly, you take a step back, disappear into your head and try to make sense of that exact second in time? It happened to me today, as I was driving. It was almost like a realisation – I […]


How to travel without children

It’s the season where bloggers offer handy hints for heading home for Christmas with children in tow (here’s mine: iPad, spare clothes, giving baby to cabin crew), but after a long weekend sans famille to the UK, I feel some mothers might need some tips for travelling solo 1. Packing Just pack what you want. […]

ABOUT ME

 

I’m Helen Farmer, an editor and journalist, mum to 4-year-old Phoebe and 2-year-old Tabitha, wife to Nick and a mummy blogger in Dubai (even though I don’t really identify as one, but I blog, and I’m a mum, so there you go). I’ve been living in the Middle East for the last 10 years, working in books, magazines and broadcasting, shedding some light on the good and bad of life, work and motherhood in the UAE.

ABOUT THE BLOG

The Mothership is for you if you’re a busy, active mum who can’t stand small talk, bad info and twee blogs that make out that mothering is all unicorns and rose petals, instead of admitting that you can love your child so much it terrifies you – while still wanting a night in alone watching The Great British Bake Off with a double G&T or a night out pretending you don’t have children.

 

Time Out Dubai Kids Awards 2016 - Winner - Parent Blog of 2016

 

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