Jen Walshaw | Mum In The Madhouse

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Author name: Jen Walshaw

Mum-in-charge Jen Walshaw runs the UK’s top parenting blog Mum in the Madhouse, and she describes herself as a “fat, feisty and over 50” Northerner. Based in North Yorkshire, she’s mum to young adults and a big believer that family life is messy, creative and fun. In 2009 a double mastectomy gave her the nudge to start blogging; with two boys under three she needed an outlet and a digital scrapbook to capture their chaos.Jen’s posts are a mix of crafts, kid‑friendly recipes and honest parenting, peppered with northern humour. She’s happiest when up to her elbows in tea, fabric and pizza dough – sewing and making homemade gifts – before sneaking off to write about it. As a proud Northerner she warns PRs that a “quick pop down to London” isn’t quick at all. Her blog has earned her a stack of accolades, including the Cision #1 Mummy Blogger title in 2024  and consistently topping Vuelio and Tots100 parenting‑blog charts. Whether she’s advocating for diversity and body neutrality or sharing tales of parenting teens, Jen keeps things chatty, real and refreshingly down‑to‑earth.

Kids Get Arty: Exploring Kandinsky’s Art with Fun Activities

6 Comments / childrens craft, mini mads / By

So when Mini asked if he could have the watercolours out to paint and started painting concentric circles in squares, I decided to sit down and we had a fab discussion.

Wassily Kandinsky (1866 – 1944) was a Russian-French painter. His style of painting originally belonged to expressionism, and is sometimes included in symbolism. Kandinsky was one of the artists who gave shape to the abstract art in the early twentieth century.

Kandinsky was inspired by music. So whilst mini was painting I popped on Vivaldi’s four seasons. We talked about the fact Kandinsky thought that each colour has its own language and expression. Kandinsky tried to convert musical compositions into paintings. He heard colours in music and he saw music in colours. Mini told me that black must be sad music.

We also talked about the fact that paintings do not have to be of things or people and can be looked at in lots of different ways. I loved the fact that it is something that MIni could easily mimic and didn’t feel that there was a right or wrong.

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The Mothers Union wants to ban letters to Father Christmas

15 Comments / Christmas / By

Tips for making it cheaper:

Think of things are preloved rather than second hand
Do not give gifts in boxes and then children have no idea if they are new or not
Talk about giving to children less lucky as themselves and sort though toys before Christmas
Make gifts, rather than buying them
Set realistic expectations
Father Christmas is always listening, just because you do not get all on your list doesn’t mean he hasn’t seen it, it just means he said no to some of them!

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Craft-A-Day and a giveaway

37 Comments / competition / By

This is a delightful book which gives you a simple craft for every day of the year themed by weeks. The crafts are all achievable fun and many can be made with things that will already be in your stash. With weeks such as star week, Bear week and mittens week, I was hooked and so were the boys. The book is fantastic for novice crafters or perfect for a teen looking to craft. Yes some of the crafts are simple, but I am a big fan of simple crafts. Most weeks induce a cake topper and garland.

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Please don’t blog every day on November – NaBloPoMo

13 Comments / blogging / By

NaBloPoMo – what do those innocent looking letters mean?
NaBloPoMo – National Blog Posting Month.

National Blog Posting Month, or NaBloPoMo, is a month long writing exercise intended to occur annually in November. The first NaBloPoMo occurred in November of 2006, and was the brainchild of an American blogger. It was inspired by National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which also happens every November. Now I have no issue with NaNoWriMo which was founded in 1999 by authors in the San Francisco Bay Area who wanted to motivate themselves into producing more written work. This challenge requires authors to produce a 50,000 word novel within one month.

But writing a blog, is not writing a novel.

I have to say for me blogging is about quality not quantity and I often find myself just bypassing blogs that I normally enjoy on a regular basis during the month of November. A large part of me feels that if you do not have something to say on every other day of the year what makes November special? It is a dark, dank and often dismal month in the UK and I look forward to reading blogs filled with all sorts of inspirational writing, making, baking and tales of everyday life.

Please don’t get me started on writing prompts. Who need a daily prompt of what to write about? Get a journal people and spare the readers.

Oh and yes, before anyone says it is a free world and I don;t have to read if I don’t want to, well I know that and I won’t be.

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Dracula’s Strange Addiction: A Story by Mini, Age 6

5 Comments / halloween, minimad / By

ini is also joining in with the Spooky Scribe team and below is his story, which the team at Asda are going to to add to a book for him to keep. So without further ado, I present you Mini’s story, which he typed up himself and added the clip art too (he is six and I am in awe of his computer skills)! I guess you can make out from this story, that Mini has a sweet tooth.

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Get outside this half term

5 Comments / autumn, Autumn/Fall, mini mads / By

It is our half term next week and we are big fans of the great outdoors and very lucky to have some wonderful diverse countryside on our doorstep. We are less than a minute from a fab woodland area 5 minutes from the beach and 15 minutes from the North Yorkshire moors.

One of the things that stop people getting outdoors is that they are not appropriately dressed. We have been trying out some splats and have to say they are the perfect footwear for our damp autumn and are easy for the boys to put on themselves, warmer than wellies and are great for Mini, who can not get into wellies with his wide feet and large instep.

I often find that this half term is one of the most exhilarating to be out in. We need to make the most of the daylight before the darker days and nights creep in. So here are some

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International Day of the girl – Education

1 Comment / education / By

As a mum of two boys, I feel very strongly that they have respect, understanding and think of girls as their equals. Does this make me a feminist?

I feel that it is my job as a woman, mother and feminist to instill in them that women and girls are their equals. All children, boys and girls, have a better chance in life when their mothers have benefitted from gender equality. Educated mothers are more able to support their families both economically and emotionally. Men and boys are part of the solution.

Today is the first ever International Day of the girl. As a woman this is not something that I can ignore. Worldwide, girls carry the burden of poverty more than anyone and 75 million girls are currently denied an education. What is one of these girls is the woman who was destined to discover the cure for cancer? 75 Million girls are NOT in school, which is about one in three girls worldwide. This is a HUGE waste of potential. They do not have a choice in this, but you have a choice in standing against this discrimination.

What can you do to make a difference?

Sign Plan International’s petition to ask that education be made a priority for girls

“speak out against gender bias and advocate for girls’ rights everywhere” as International Day of the Girl asks you too.

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