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.

There is no one way to be a perfect mother

15 Comments / motherhood / By

I didn’t know whether or not to do The Gallery this week. It is something that I pop in and out of when it suits my blog and I have to admit the prompt of mother love had me all of a quiver this week, as I so miss my mum and the mothers love that she provided.

We may not have agreed on everything and over the years we certainly had our ups and down, but I did feel protected in her cape of mothers love. She was there for me when I had my operations and held my hand through countless miscarriages and nightmares about dead babies when the last thing I wanted to do was close my eyes. She was there for me when I spent most of Maxi’s pregnancy in hospital, traveling the 350 miles by bus to come and sit by my side in hospital for the week before he was born, even sleeping there.

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How to get your children to help with product reviews, just give them vorticity vacuum

5 Comments / Review / By

We have wood floors downstairs and cream carpet on the stairs and upstairs (yes silly mistake, but the house came with cream carpets, we replaced them with wood downstairs). Now up until recently this had always been an issue for me when it came to vacuuming the floor. I had an upright hoover and it was a nightmare, it didn’t pick up the crumbs or dust bunnies and I ended up sweeping everywhere or getting the boys to sweep everywhere.

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Is his best just not good enough?

19 Comments / parenting / By

arriet over at Plan B, wrote a really interesting post about how far would you trust your husband and as with all great posts, it really got me thinking. She referenced the post from The Guardian I about being a foundation parent and the fact that woman remain the foundation parent in the household and how this is very 1950’s.

The reason it got me thinking is how very different to my life it is. I was a stay at home mom when the boys were small. we made sacrifices and returned back to our native North East of England so that I could remain at home and be the boys primary care giver and influencer and look after them during the day, however, this has never meant that I am in sole charge of them and the house and when MadDad steps back through that door he takes on more than his fair share of the work.

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Trying to clean like my Grandma

10 Comments / learning / By

Otherwise know as the P&G 1930’s housewife challenge. I along with other bloggers have been set the challenge to try a day in the life of a 1930’s family. We decided to take this on and use it as a learning tool for the boys.

Cleaning in the 1930’s

I was supplied with some white vinegar, a spray bottle, lemon, bicarb, household soap and cloths. I have to say that I already have all of this in my cleaning cupboard and use it all and have taken to buying white vinegar by the 5 litres from the cash and carry. So I did not find this part of the challenge too hard, except the fact that I missed my washing up liquid and my dishwasher. The hardest part was boiling the hot water to clean everything.

Laundry in the 1930’s

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