For any parent or carer, simply getting out of the house can feel like the biggest challenge. But step outside, and a world of adventures, laughter and lasting memories is waiting.

Double Olympic gold-medallist rower and parent Alex Gregory shares exciting, achievable ideas for making the most of family time together – whatever the season and whatever age your children are.

From a quick 30-minute homework session up a tree to a full-day mission building an ancient-style bridge, Dadventures is packed with practical, screen-free inspiration that every family can enjoy.

Short on time? Long on ideas? This is the ultimate guide to ditching the routine, unplugging, and creating fun that your kids will remember forever.

Dadventures – make every moment count.

‘A delightful and important book. Every parent should read this’ Merlin Hanbury-Tenison

What should we teach them – and what kind of future are we preparing them for?

Ben Rawlence began writing to his eldest daughter before she was born, trying to understand what it means to bring a child into a world facing ecological breakdown. Over the next twelve years, these letters – written to his two daughters as they grow – chart one father’s attempt to live with the central contradiction of our age: raising children within a system that threatens all life, including our own.

By turns moving and funny, and always bracingly honest, Think Like a Forest explores love, fear and responsibility in perilous times. Rawlence finds the answers might lie in learning to see the world again through the eyes of a child so that we may embrace interdependence and regain our place in nature. To think like a forest, he shows us, may be the key to how we parent, how we live, and even whether we have a future on our planet at all.

'A gift, not just for the author’s daughters, but for all of us who want to replace ecocide anxiety with the glimmerings of a better future’ Sophy Roberts

‘A thoughtful, tender way to make a map of new and frightening territory’ Jay Griffiths

The essential companion for every mother embarking on maternity leave

‘In one important sense maternity leave is poorly named, as it involves no actual leave. You are constantly on, even when your offspring is having a nap. There is nothing restful about it. In another sense maternity leave is aptly named, because it’s a period of leave from all you know: taking leave of one’s mind, body, job, and relationships’

When Emma Barnett began her second maternity leave, she realized that, despite having been there before, as soon as her first leave finished the rose-tinted lenses had descended and she immediately forgot what the experience was actually like when you’re in it. This collective forgetting, which leads to well-meaning comments such as ‘enjoy every minute’ and ‘treasure this special time’, is doing a disservice to women, leaving them unprepared for the more complicated reality of what it means to be on maternity service.

In this warmly reassuring, refreshingly honest book, Emma sets out to capture this reality, in real time while on her latest tour of duty. She isn’t offering advice on sleep-training or weaning or helping your baby reach milestones. Instead, this book is a celebration and acknowledgement of the work of being on maternity leave, with its soaring highs and challenging lows, and its impact on how women feel about our purpose and ourselves.

‘Kind, funny, smart, soothing and radical … This book is a hot cup of tea, a steadying hand on an arm, a baton passed with care and compassion … A true gift for mothers, and an act of service in itself. This book will change lives’ LUCY JONES, author of Matrescence

*****
Everyone has advice to offer on motherhood.

Becoming a new parent is daunting enough without having to contend with comments and advice from seemingly every corner. ‘They didn’t do it like that in my day’, ‘You’ll make a rod for your own back’, ‘Don’t spoil the baby’. It’s so easy to become overwhelmed, and too easy to feel like you’re failing.

So what pearls of wisdom should new mums actually be listening to? How do you sift through it all and know what to trust? Gloriously comforting and extremely honest, Mother to Mother is an open invitation to find five minutes of peace and solitude with people who can help – other mums. Sharing her own personal story alongside how our approach to parenting and motherhood has changed over the years, Rosie shows how learning to trust your gut and the power of finding your village makes all the difference.

From her mum Lorraine’s birth in 1959, to her own in 1994, and to little Billie’s in 2024, Rosie shares the universal truths that still make sense today, alongside the pieces of advice you can definitely ignore. From pregnancy to birth, the early days and beyond, Mother to Mother explores what we can learn about parenting from our own mums, as well as what we will find for ourselves.

‘For parents and grandparents, old and new, this book is for using: write in it; circle, underline and highlight anything that makes you feel heard. And the most important thing to remember? You’re going to be fine.’

‘Everything is temporary’, ‘You can’t spoil a baby,’ ‘Do what works for you’.

*****
‘An essential book for any new parents wanting to feel a little less alone’ Liz Earle MBE
‘A brilliant and honest read… will help any new mum feel that they’ve got this’ Dilly Carter

“An important and impressive book, that will change how you experience motherhood” Dr Julie Smith

Modern motherhood is insane. We’re expected to parent perfectly, bounce back, enjoy every moment, forge ahead at work and keep smiling through all the endless expectations – all whilst forgetting about ourselves.

Based on years of research, proven transformational coaching tools, world-leading expertise from hundreds of podcast guests such as Dr Gabor Mate Philippa Perry and Dr Becky Kennedy and real-life stories from the Motherkind community, this validating, judgement-free book will help you to:

• Understand the pressures of modern motherhood, and why you’re not failing
• Support yourself through the daily ups and downs
• Change your relationship with guilt, and finally feel good enough
• Handle your challenging emotions and reactions in a new way
• Learn why ‘self-care’ doesn’t work – and what does
• Ditch the idea of ‘balance’ and embrace boundaries instead

This empowering book will give you the tools you need to thrive in modern motherhood and become your happiest self – for yourself and your children.

Positively Potty is your go-to guide for making potty training a fun, smooth, and better experience for busy families like yours! With over ten years of hands-on experience and insights from thousands of little ones, this friendly guide introduces a gentle and playful approach that aligns with your child’s natural development thanks to the innovative Little Steps method, which focuses on Preparation, Practice, and transitioning away from nappies.

Discover how to spot your child’s unique signals and customize your strategies to fit their personality, all while turning potty training into an enjoyable adventure filled with engaging stories, games and activities. Whether it’s mastering daytime success or gaining night time confidence, Positively Potty helps you tackle common challenges without the usual stress and anxiety that comes with traditional methods.

With a focus on fostering healthier bowel and bladder habits while respecting your child’s own pace, Positively Potty is perfect for modern families looking to make potty training a positive and encouraging experience!

Even Sappho, the OG lesbian, had a daughter named Cleis, in honour of vaginas everywhere! For centuries, the women of ‘The Golden Orchid Society’ in Qing-dynasty China were getting married and raising daughters together – platonically, obviously… And Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson’s fabulously bisexual open marriage proved women really can have it all – a husband, two kids, a writing career  and  Virginia Woolf.

Maybe you’re exploring your options. Maybe you don’t want kids but you have  questions. Either way, Kirsty Loehr provides another rollicking guide to the ups and downs of queer parenthood through the ages.

‘The book us parents urgently need’ Dr Julie Smith

The smartphone dilemma: it’s on every parent’s mind. When should I let my child have a phone? What are the risks and how can I protect them? How can I encourage and nurture healthy digital habits? In The Smartphone Solution, highly respected child-and-family clinical psychologist Dr Martha Deiros Collado provides the answers so you can:

• determine the right age to give your child a phone
• answer the questions they may have and turn these conversations into moments that build connection
• distinguish the real risks and benefits of smartphones from the misinformation
• teach yourself and older siblings to model healthy phone habits
• navigate online safety, digital footprints, consent and family tech boundaries
• sign the Family Phone Pledge and build a supportive community with like-minded parents.

Written with Dr Martha’s characteristic warmth and empathy, The Smartphone Solution will provide the information and tools you need to support your child and allow them to thrive in the modern digital world.

‘Will bring comfort and courage to all its readers’  Nell Frizzell, author of  Holding the Baby

Motherhood feels as though you have woken up in Oz and everything’s in  Technicolor. But also, you’ve been crushed by a house.

Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett began writing  The Republic of Parenthood  in the final weeks of her pregnancy. The plan was to document, in real time, what it means to be a parent in Britain today. But when her son was born five weeks early, she found herself catapulted into parenthood: a world of crushing love, and fear, and hope.

Drawn from Cosslett’s agenda-setting  Guardian  column, alongside new essays and beautiful illustrations by Pia Bramley,  The Republic of Parenthood  is a fearless account of the first years of this new life. From Rachel Cusk to Anne Enright, many seminal writers have tackled the subject but, as a new generation become parents, Cosslett uses razor-sharp honesty and great humour to  explore the unique challenges they face.  

The Republic of Parenthood  wrestles with the entire joyful, overwhelming, messy experience, whether writing about the impact of Britain’s catastrophically expensive childcare system, or the quest for the pair of socks that can withstand a persistent toddler’s best efforts. At its heart is the understanding that something so entirely personal is also political; a paean to love and pain, and one that will resonate with weary parents everywhere.