Tots to teens: Learn the simple signs parents can use to communicate with their babies
This is because they master using their hands to make signs before they master manipulating the muscles in their mouth to form words.
An event at Cork City Library, on Grand Parade, at noon on Thursday, April 24, offers parents the opportunity to learn some simple signs they can use to communicate with their babies.
Hosted by Claire Glynn, of Clever Little Handies, the event will introduce parents to Irish Sign Language, and there will also be rhyming storytelling sessions for everyone to enjoy.
The event is free and all are welcome, but it's recommended that you reserve your spot at exa.mn/baby-signing
A baby journal
When Co Kildare mother of two Bronagh Davidson was pregnant, she kept a journal to record the experience. She wanted to track all the special moments, from the first flutters to the strangest cravings.
She also hoped the journals would help her to connect with her babies, while creating a keepsake she could pass down to them in years to come.
She tried several different journals, but never felt any of them was quite right. Eventually, she decided to design one of her own.
My Pregnancy Journal is the delightful result. It contains weekly progress updates, with space for personal notes and photos, sections where mums-to-be can write letters to their babies, trimester calendars to mark milestones, special pages for events like baby showers and nursery planning, and so much more.
The journal is available from mypregnancyjournals.com and costs €44.97.
Learning to cycle
Learning how to ride a bike is one of the rites of passage of childhood. But it can be a difficult skill to master.
This is where the YVolution Y Velo junior balance bike can help. YVolution is a Dublin-based company that produces a range of bikes and scooters, and this balance bike is one of their best-sellers.
A balance bike has no pedals, allowing children to learn the skill of balance, and making it much easier for them to transition to a regular bike.
The Y Velo junior balance bike is designed for children aged 18 months to four years, and the height of its seat and handlebars can be adjusted as they grow. It's also got large wheels and higher ground clearance, which make it safer and easier to ride on uneven surfaces.
The bike is available in most toy shops for €54.99.
Second-hand baby gear
The Baby Market returns to Cork next weekend, with all sorts of pre-loved baby, children, and maternity products available for parents to buy and sell.
Taking place in the Ballyphehane Community Centre from noon to 2pm on Sunday, April 27, it's the ideal place for parents-to-be to pick up bits and pieces at affordable prices.
Local baby-related businesses, service providers, and craftspeople will also have stalls at the market.
Entry to the market costs €8 per person or €9 for a family of four.
Solid foods
It can be difficult for parents to determine when and how to introduce solid food to their baby safely. A new book by the American Academy of Paediatrics aims to make the process a little easier.
Baby Leads the Way is written by a multidisciplinary team of medical professionals, including dietitians, paediatricians, lactation consultants, and allergy specialists, all of whom are mothers.
They have put together a straightforward, step-by-step framework that is packed with practical advice. It covers everything from teaching babies to feed themselves to creating balanced meals and modifying dishes to make meals that the whole family can enjoy.
The book is released today and it retails for €20.
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Tots to Teens: Bringing colour to a grey world in Stockingopolis
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Irish Times
19 hours ago
- Irish Times
You can win at life by being a good loser
We all screw up. Failure is part of life. But not all of us can brush it off easily. A society that divides people into 'winners' and 'losers' amplifies the cost of failing. Through our smartphones and in our daily conversations, we're constantly reminded that there's always someone else doing better. How should you deal with failure? And how do I resist that niggling sense that, deep down, I'm a loser? Krzysztof Rowiński, a lecturer in cultural studies at Trinity College Dublin , is part of an international network of academics researching our understanding of failure. They met in Dublin a few weeks ago for a conference titled Fail Worse – a subversion of Samuel Beckett 's famous quote: 'Try again. Fail again. Fail better.' Some of their initial findings can be distilled into four general points: READ MORE 1. 'Redemptive' failure narratives may be part of the problem 'If you look at library catalogues there has been an explosion of books that explore failure as a form of success – self-help books, coaching books, business books,' Rowiński tells The Irish Times. 'I saw that as a larger outgrowth of our optimistic culture where paradoxically failure narratives are on par with success narratives. But it's only because those failure narratives are redemptive failure narratives.' Examples of the genre come from tech bros such as Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk , who love to talk about the failures they experienced before becoming obscenely rich. 'If you're not failing, you're not taking enough risks,' says Musk. Rowiński tracked the use of 'fail better' as a phrase in public discourse. 'In late '80s you see a moderate interest and then it blows up in the '90s.' This coincided with the rise of the positive psychology movement and, more importantly perhaps, a drift internationally away from holding the rich and powerful accountable for their failures. 2. Political corruption and extreme inequality means some people can avoid any cost from their failures There is a recognition of failure in corridors of power 'but always with a sense that we can overcome it with technology, or therapy, or some intervention', says Prof Debbie Lisle, of Queen's University Belfast school of history. Another member of the 'failure studies' network, she believes many of the world's biggest problems are exacerbated by 'toxic positivity'. When it comes to war, the migrant crisis or climate change , 'the normalised dominant responses are all about this myth that we will overcome our failures and everything will be fine. Like climate change: 'It'll be fine; don't worry about it because we will use technology and adaptation; it's going to be amazing' ... and no it's not'. We need 'a different vocabulary', she says. 'We're f**ed!' is her starting point. 'I start there and I make no apologies about that – but I'm not depressed about that. I'm like, let's be modest and humble and realistic about what's achievable, how we can create solidarities however temporary, probably dissonant, to try to do something.' 3. In other cultures everyone is a loser – so cheer up Ireland is heavily influenced by the capitalistic, Anglo-American view of success and failure. Contrast this with eastern European countries. 'In our part of the world, the perception of failure is different,' says Adriana Mica, a Romanian-born sociologist who set up the Failure Lab at University of Warsaw. 'Failure is something like a skin but nobody treats it too seriously ... You see this in post-communist countries and postcolonial countries; they don't trust failure. They think failure is something politicians use as a rationalisation.' This is not entirely healthy from a political viewpoint. It results in a situation where 'we are suspicious of success' and cynical or dismissive about failure. 'We did some research about Covid policy failures and people were saying: 'What policy failures? Covid was a scam.' So it's completely different.' Her research is looking at why students drop out of education, and whether it is due to 'failure deprivation', or because they had 'no taste of failure', before reaching college. This may be a greater problem in more affluent societies. In countries such as Romania and Poland, she says, 'I think we still remember the hardships ... but it can change very quickly.' 4. You're a winner in God's eyes In her latest book The Genius Myth, journalist Helen Lewis explores our understanding of 'natural talent'. 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The truth is you can 'win' at life by being a good loser.
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Irish Times
Dublin's new tallest building: This tower of darkness should never have been allowed
The random tower that has reared up on Tara Street in Dublin photobombs itself into almost every important vista in the city centre. It intrudes into the historic precincts of Trinity College as well as College Green and looms up behind O'Connell Bridge House in views along the Liffey quays. It can also be seen from Lower Grafton Street, Parnell Square East, St Stephen's Green West and numerous other locations. Although some high-rise cheerleaders are no doubt thrilled by such a brazen jump in scale within the city's historic core, there is nothing elegant about Marlet Property Group 's vertical slab of build-to-rent apartments rising from the top of Longstone House, an 11-storey office block opposite Mulligan's pub on Poolbeg Street. It's a dark and brooding alien edifice redolent of a sci-fi portal of darkness and as menacing as Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back. Why it presents such a black picture is a story in itself. As originally designed by Henry J Lyons Architects , it was light in colour and intended to have 'a calm presence ... to reflect and converse with the Dublin sky'. But the three members of An Bord Pleanála who dealt with an appeal by An Taisce against Dublin City Council 's decision to grant permission decreed that it should be redesigned – to have more impact. Light or dark, the new tower should never have been built. There was no provision for it either in the Dublin city development plan 2016-2022 or in the 2009 George's Quay local area plan. While this local plan envisaged that there might be a 'mid-rise marker building' at the corner of Tara Street and Poolbeg Street, it clearly specified that any such building on the site 'shall not exceed a maximum of 12 storeys in height'. READ MORE What Dublin got instead is now the city's tallest building, at 82m – 3m higher than the dreary brick-clad Capital Dock tower on Sir John Rogerson's Quay, designed by O'Mahony Pike Architects for Kennedy Wilson. But that tower created its own environment at the nether end of Docklands, whereas Marlet's erection – part of its College Square development, of which Longstone House forms two sides – has been inserted into the Georgian city, between the Custom House and Trinity College. The only tall building envisaged by the George's Quay local area plan was for a site directly adjoining Tara Street station, specified to be 'a maximum of 22 storeys (88 metres)' in height. These were the precise dimensions of a tower proposed by the developer Johnny Ronan – also designed by Henry J Lyons Architects – that An Bord Pleanála finally approved in April 2019 after it had been refused twice by Dublin City Council and once by the board itself. Using this as a precedent, and apparently emboldened by the promulgation in December 2018 of ultraliberal building-height guidelines by Eoghan Murphy, as minister for housing, Pat Crean's Marlet subsidiary Atlas GP opened pre-application consultations with Dublin City Council planners in June 2019 on its audacious proposal to diversify the redevelopment of Apollo House, Hawkins House and College House by adding a 10-storey 'vertical extension'. [ From the archive: Hawkins House to be knocked, but what about its ugly neighbours? Opens in new window ] Marlet's planning consultant Brady Shipman Martin referenced a High Court judgment by Mr Justice Garrett Simons on May 30th, 2019, to suggest that the planners could 'rely on the guidelines to disapply objectives of the local area plan'; in fact, Mr Justice Simons found exactly the opposite: that the building height guidelines 'do not authorise a planning authority to disapply the criteria prescribed under a planning scheme…' Crean's approach paid off. Instead of being treated as a material contravention of both the Dublin city development plan 2016-2022 and the George's Quay local area plan – which would require the approval of city councillors – Atlas GP's tower proposal was evidently welcomed by one of the council's senior planners, Garrett Hughes, who had previously condemned Ronan Group 's tower as 'unacceptably conspicuous' in its context. Tower of darkness: plans for the redesigned, blue-black residential tower at College Square. Illustration: HJL/Marlet While noting that Marlet's proposal 'will have a visual impact' on College Green and Trinity College, he considered this 'acceptable given the inventive nature of the design', with a scale that was intended to 'sit in tandem' with Ronan Group's still unbuilt tower at Tara Street station. 'Overall, the impact is considered to be positive given the modern and assertive design and the overall upgrading of the existing urban block'. Hughes also noted that the 'perceived height' would be 'moderated by the architectural treatment of the upper and lower parts of the building', with the office-block element having a blue-black terracotta frame, 'whereas the upper residential tower adopts a comparatively lighter character with the use of fritted glass and white ceramic fin detailing' – the facade finishes that Henry J Lyons Architects suggested would give it a 'calm presence'. [ From the Irish Times archive: The little known architectural firm that is transforming Dublin Opens in new window ] Dublin City Council's decision to grant permission in December 2019 was appealed by An Taisce , which warned that Dublin was 'heading toward an incoherent Manchester or Brussels-type townscape with modern high-rise towers randomly inserted into the historic urban structure'. The Irish Georgian Society said it would also 'exacerbate the negative impact' on the skyline of the tower approved at Tara Street station. The Bord Pleanála planning inspector Irené McCormack, in her 40-page report to the board, said Marlet's building would not be 'dominant or uncharacteristic with its surrounding built context', as it was 'notably slender in form and light in colour and reflective'; on the contrary, it 'would generate a strong sense of place through the diversification of the skyline and make a positive contribution to the urban character of the area'. The board triumvirate that dealt with the case consisted of its only architect members – the former deputy chairman Paul Hyde , who would later be convicted on two counts of failing to make full declarations of his property interests, and Michelle Fagan , a former president of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland – along with Terry Prendergast, previously senior planner with Grangegorman Development Agency. The new Longstone House/College Square building development over the Dublin skyline. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni The new Longstone House/College Square building development over the Dublin skyline seen from College Green. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni The new Longstone House/College Square building development over the Dublin skyline seen from inside Trinity. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni As 'presenting board member' in charge of the case, Hyde convened a meeting with Fagan and Prendergast to discuss it three days after McCormack submitted her report. The trio were apparently so unhappy with the scheme that they decided to issue a rare notice under section 132 of the 2000 Planning Act to Atlas GP requesting significant design revisions to respond to 'this pivotal and highly visible location' in the city centre. In sending the Henry J Lyons team back to their designs, the board bluntly stated that the reason for doing so was that 'the proposed development, due to its architectural design quality and materiality, does not successfully address the opportunities provided by the site, does not protect or enhance the skyline at this location nor does it, in its present form, make a positive contribution to the urban character of the area'. It considered that the design and materiality of the tower 'contrasts negatively with that of the lower blocks' on Marlet's huge site while its 'horizontal emphasis ... and lack of facade articulation provides an unsatisfactory response to its context'. But matching the 'materiality' of the build-to-rent tower with the dark-terracotta frame of the office block beneath it inevitably meant that its skyline impact would be more strident. [ Dublin's disappearing venues: A promised 500-seat theatre is shrouded in mystery Opens in new window ] In its response, submitted in July 2020, Henry J Lyons did exactly what it was told by redesigning the tower 'using the same materials, profiles and rhythm of the base building', as it explained, while also giving it a 'strong vertical emphasis' with a frame of blue-black terracotta fins – similar to the office floors below – reinforced by a 'double order' expression, meaning that horizontal profiles occur at every second floor. Henry J Lyons claimed that its darker finish would contrast with the lighter stone of historic buildings in Trinity College, allowing these to be 'read independently and not to be confused with the backdrop'. Does that sound like grasping at straws? A revised townscape assessment by the Paul Hogarth Company conceded that the tower would be 'more noticeable' on the skyline and would also have a 'heavier' presence in views along the Liffey quays. After holding two further meetings to consider the case, the board's triumvirate decided unanimously on September 14th, 2020, to grant permission for the proposed development 'as superseded and/or amended by the plans and particulars submitted in response to the section 132 request', with the order signed by Paul Hyde. It was, to paraphrase Yeats, 'all changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is born ...' In March 2022 Dublin City Council approved Marlet's plan to add a floor, increasing the number of build-to-rent apartments from 54 to 58, including a large penthouse on the 21st floor; this raised the tower's overall height to 22 storeys, topped by a 'crown' that appears peculiarly unresolved. One can just imagine how discordant this high-rise luxury tenement will look at night, with light in some windows and not in others. The view from Lower O'Connell Street towards Burgh Quay, originally designed by the Wide Streets Commission as a uniform composition, has been so spoiled by uncoordinated redevelopment in recent decades that it resembles the urban-design equivalent of a dog's dinner – now trumped by a tower of darkness on Tara Street that will sadly stand for decades as a monument to developer-led 'planning' in Dublin.
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Irish Times
Eye on Nature: ‘This huge wasp landed on my son'
While on holiday in Croatia in early July this landed on my small son as we walked along the street. It flew off again almost immediately, but he was a bit freaked out. It was huge – almost two inches long. What was it? A Morrissey, Dublin That was scary, right enough. It is the mammoth wasp – Megascolia maculata – Europe's biggest wasp. The female is larger than the male with a body length up to 50mm, males are only 20mm in size. This is a solitary species of wasp. The female lays an egg in the larva of the Rhinoceros beetle and parasitizes it. It then hatches out and feeds on the larva. It develops over the winter in the surrounding soil and emerges the following summer. It visits flowers for nectar as an adult before mating and laying eggs again. Neither the wasp nor the Rhinoceros beetle occur in Ireland. Small Magpie moth seen in Dublin and Co Clare This small moth was seen by Roisin Sheerin on the ceiling of her home in Harold's Cross in Dublin and by Enda Scanlon on a compactor at work in Ennis Co Clare. Both were curious to know what it was. It is a Small Magpie moth. Moths are divided into two groups – macro-moths, the large ones and micro-moths which have a forewing length of 10mm or less. Many moth books only cover the macro-moths so finding out about micros can be more difficult. The Small Magpie is a micro-moth – a common enough species, whose larvae feed on mint and thyme. It is a day-flying species, visiting flowers for nectar and in the hope of meeting members of the opposite sex – considering them as a singles bar, as it were. READ MORE Great Grey Slug. Photograph: Michael Hill We awoke recently to find this slug at the edge of the bed, some 20 feet from an open window. It had left a gluttonous trail across the carpet. We have a large Hosta on the patio but surely 'indoors' would not normally be attractive? I read that broken eggshells or beer in a saucer are an effective deterrent. (More worryingly, my wife said that if it features in our bed, she'll be gone!) Any advice would be welcome. Michael Hill I can offer advice about the slug (you will have to try a different column for matrimonial guidance). This is the voracious Great Grey slug – Limax maximus, sometimes called the Leopard slug. Hosta plants are seemingly a magnet for slugs of various species – why people who don't like slugs grow them is a mystery to me. But slugs don't eat carpets, so it hardly was a gluttonous trail. It may boil down to a choice between the missus and the Hosta, as broken eggshells and saucers of beer – while they deter slugs – are not nice in the bedroom. Cuttlefish on Mweenish Island. Photograph: Philip Berman On Trá Mhór on Mweenish Island, near Carna, we saw dozens of these cuttlefish bones washed up in the sand. In 20 years walking this beach I've never seen so many. What might the explanation be? Philip Berman Cuttlefish are molluscs and these bones are their internal skeleton. They have many tiny holes, which fill with gas and help them to float. They live for two years and die after spawning. It must have been a good breeding year for them this year. Greylag gosling in Ballynahinch. Photograph: Karin Joyce I saw this bird on the greenway near Ballynahinch in Galway. What goose or duck will it be when grown up? Karin Joyce, Co Galway This is a young Greylag Goose. True wild Greylag Geese are migratory and breed in Iceland, visiting us in winter, but escaped domestic Greylag Geese breed here and produce lovely little goslings like this. Please submit your nature query, observation, or photo, with a location, via or by email to weekend@
