“I’m 40 and I want to find out about my biological father.” Published in The Guardian

Dear Annalisa am a 40-year-old woman. I had an OK childhood with my mother and loving father, always in the knowledge that I had a different…

How can we protect our daughters from abusive relationships? The Guardian

When I became the mother of one, then two, girls I would occasionally think about the prevalence of eating disorders and what I could do to…

Are we cruel not to give our parents grandchildren? The Guardian

Dear Annalisa My wife and I are in our 40s and have decided that we would prefer not to have children. I have one sibling, a…

My parents favoured my brothers, now my children are suffering in turn. The Guardian.

Dear Annalisa My childhood was marred by favouritism. I was the middle child of three: the black sheep, the difficult one, the sickly one. These aren’t…

I want my mother to say sorry for neglecting me as a child. The Guardian

My father was quite severely depressed during my childhood. I feel my mother handled things very badly when he became ill. When I tried to discuss…

Independent midwives: Why we can’t afford to lose them. Published in The Guardian.

In February 2009 I gave birth to my second child at home. I had no idea as I feasted on post-partum pancakes (not made of placenta) and…

“My son-in-law has a Facebook account with female porn friends.” Published in The Guardian.

I use Facebook infrequently, mainly to look at photos of my grandchildren posted by my daughter and son-in-law. I recently put in the wrong initial and…

“We don’t want to be childminders for our grandchildren – we’re retired.” Published in the Guardian

Dear Annalisa When we reached retirement, I thought life would be relaxed. We spent our lives struggling to bring up two sons and gave them as…

I got wildly conflicting breastfeeding advice. Published in The Guardian

It was nearly 10 years ago when I had my first child, put her to the breast and discovered it wasn’t going to be as easy…

I got wildly conflicting breastfeeding advice from 12 midwives. The Guardian.