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.

Is this really what men think about woman?

21 Comments / Uncategorized / By

If you dress like a slut then you are asking to be raped. Is this really what men think about woman? I know that it is not something I want to even let my boys contenttemplate thinking and have to say I was shocked that in today’s society that any man, let alone a police officer would band things like this about.

If you go into a shop is it acceptable to steal as you are being tempted by all the things on offer? I didn’t think so, so why does the way a woman dress mean that she is asking to be raped? But fundamentally what worried me was that this is what the man obviously thought and felt strongly enough to say even though he was aware that it was something that he shouldn’t be saying in his capacity as a police officer.

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Encouraging reading in boys

15 Comments / parenting / By

I wrote a post about encouraging writing in my boys and wanted to followup with one about encouraging reading. I am an ferociously reader. I adore books and lap them up, no, that is not quite right I adore reading. I love words, their meanings, the way they make me feel, the places they take me too. SO for me it was key that I introduced my boys to books very early on in their lives.

Make books available

We have books everywhere and we make sure that they are within their reach, We have them in the loo, in bedrooms, in the sitting room, we have a bookcase on the landing and one in the conservatory too. When the boys were smaller I made sure that books were in a box at their level and we rotated them. We were offered a free trial of Reading Chest and I have to say Mini loves it. He gets three books delivered and we can post them back when he has read them and we get three more in the post. It is superb if you are looking for books which are pitched at their ability and you do not have a library or in our case there is no reading scheme in Reception, which means Mini doesn’t get any books he can read, just ones that we can read to him.

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Laughing at, not laughing with

21 Comments / parenting / By

We are going through a learning curve here in the mad house. I try to let my boys have freedom, I believe in letting them play outside and try to encourage them to be independent, but with two boys who are 15 months apart there is a fine line to walk. Mini wants to be out with Maxi and I want to encourage them to look out for each other. In order to help facilities this we have purchased a set of walkie talkies for the boys, which work really well when they remember to take them out! But yesterday things went wrong.

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Patriotic Rice Krispy Puffle Cakes

14 Comments / baking / By

The boys have gone to school today decked out in red, white and blue clothes (right down to their underwear) to celebrate the royal wedding tomorrow. The school is hosting a party for all the children and parents this afternoon and sent our a request for food for the party. So as we had been sent lots of things for baking over the Easter Holidays by Kellogg’s and Disney, which we hadn’t used as we were making the most of the fine weather, we decided to make patriotic Club Penguin Rice Krispy Puffle nests.

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An Easter Sunday at Narnia Newby Hall

3 Comments / days out / By

We are lucky to have Newby Hall just a short drive away and when we were invited to an Easter event there courtesy of Narnia The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, we thought it would be a great way to spend Easter Sunday. Especially as it is the first one without mum and she would help me organise the Easter egg hunts, plus mum loved Newby Hall and we had taken the boys there together.

We were also lucky enough to receive a cop of the movie on Blue Ray and DVD and have to say the boys have watched it 3 times since receiving it and we have watched it as a family too. It is a great movie with fantastical special effects and we loved the previous movies.

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Let’s go hero, the new Ben 10 Ultimate Mission at Drayton Manor

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The boys were super impressed with the Ben 10 Chaos Coaster. What is it with children, especially small ones, they always seem to want to go on rides that are far too scary or just safe for them to go on. My boys have no understanding of fear. I am not sure they have yet learned that emotions. So were delighted to find out that you can go on the ride as long as you are over 90 centimeters and can go on independently sans adult once you are 1.1 meters

It is a really super ride and Pippa has an explanation of the techical name for the ride on her blog A mothers Ramblings and she has a great video of the children and their verdicts. We also managed to get a phot of Sally and Flea from Who’s the mummy? on the coaster.

My boys verdict? Well the fact that they have asked everyday since if they can go back again, I would say it is a big huge thumbs up.

Disclosure: we received free entry to Drayton Manor Park and access to the Ben10 Ultimate Alien Mission ride for the purposes of this post. The boys also received a great goody bag including a Ben10 jacket . MadDad and I recei

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