In lockdown in Galway City, Burke focused on the bright side – creating gaudily retro, deadpan tableaux with his parents in all the starring rolesEnda Burke spent lockdown with his parents in Galway City on the west coast of Ireland. As a street photog…
Teenagers have taken up smoking in droves – and forgotten the lessons of the past | Zoe Williams
Young people don’t remember the 1980s at all, and the hard-won knowledge we gained from our nicotine habits. Primarily, that it really doesn’t help beat stressWe are as far away from 1980 now as we were then from 1939. I know that because I read it on …
‘I feel like it’s quite shaky acceptance’: trans kids and the fight for inclusion
Trans children and their families still often face suspicion and suppression, but attitudes are changing‘My preconceptions about trans people came from the media, and I certainly hadn’t heard of trans children. So it just flummoxed me having an assigne…
My children have had their first taste of competitive sport – and they love it | Emma Brockes
At school in New York, any whiff of competition is firmly avoided. Not so at my six-year-olds’ summer tennis campThere’s a game I play with my children that we never tire of, in which I share details – outlandish, unimaginable – of how things were in t…
Depression is why I’m writing this. Shame is why I’m writing it under a pseudonym
My Asian parents, like many, did not understand my depression or anxiety. Today, talking about how it affected me openly is still treacherous terrainI can’t recall exactly when we started referring to them as my vitamins. Looking back, it feels as if I…
Hot summer nights: ‘On the phosphorescent sea, I realised I was just a tiny part of something bigger’
A sailing holiday with my dad and his mate didn’t sound too promising. But when I took the tiller in the middle of the night, I had a teenage epiphanyMy dad had a pal called George who had a boat. It was a sailing boat but not a very big one – 25ft lon…
Zoom dilemmas solved! Expert advice on making video chats less awkward and more fun
Whether it’s chatting with small children, planning occasions or finding ways to socialise off-camera, after 18 months of lockdowns we’ve learned what worksWith many parts of Australia still in lockdown, connecting with others can feel increasingly cha…
I act like a petulant child when I’m with my busy, uninterested mum
It’s all too easy to return to the roles we used to inhabit, but try and see the situation from your mother’s point of viewThe question I am a 43-year-old woman. I have a happy marriage and amazing kids. During lockdown my 76-year-old mother, who is a …
Help! My parents won’t accept my move to my wife’s home country
You have given this decision a lot of thought and already plan to visit your parents. You haven’t done anything wrong, says Annalisa BarbieriMy wife and I have decided to move with our two young sons to her home country. It was a difficult decision and…
‘Don’t fall in!’ Readers’ tips for the perfect canal boat holiday
Nothing beats experience when it comes to handling a narrowboat – or making the most of life when you’re moored and chilling out. Old hands explain what to wear, what to pack and how to get unstuck if you run agroundNewbies on the tiller have an obviou…