I forget the derivation of Boxing Day, but the feeling of wanting to invite your loved ones outside one at a time and punch them in the face, does that come into it somewhere? Allison Pearson More Quotes by Allison Pearson More Quotes From Allison Pearson Oh, where is the Fairy Godmother of explanations when you need her? Allison Pearson godmother fairy needs A mother of a one-year-old boy is a movie star in a world without critics. Allison Pearson stars mother boys My child was one of Nature's Tories pitted against a mother who was one of nurture's Lefties: it was no contest. Allison Pearson lefties mother children For centuries, the question of men needing to comprehend women simply didn't arise. Men were valued according to how they measured up to the manly virtues. Allison Pearson virtue century men I don't believe for a minute that women really want to be understood by men. Allison Pearson want men believe The times you don't make it are the ones children remember, not the times you do. Allison Pearson remember children Women run the small country called Home, millions of us do it in our spare time, and no one who doesn't run that small country really knows what it feels like in the dead of night when task lists jitter like tickertape through your seething brain. Allison Pearson home running country My husband is old-fashioned and kind, he does the greatest Sinatra impression, and I'd never have written anything if he hadn't read all those bedtime stories and unloaded the dishwasher while I slaved over chapters. Allison Pearson husband stories doe I've struggled with depression, and the signs that I was falling apart - having heart palpitations at 4 A.M. - were there for a long time before I paid attention. Even when my psychiatrist gave me a questionnaire, I found myself trying to circle the answers that made me seem like I wasn't a wreck. I've since learned to listen to my body. Allison Pearson myself me depression time Every so often, you come across a member of the younger generation who makes you think, 'Well, perhaps the future's going to be OK after all.' Allison Pearson generation think you future Women now influence the majority of consumer purchases. It is women's votes that will secure victory at the next election, hence the altogether delicious spectacle of Messrs Brown and Cameron vying to tell stories about broken nights and childcare as men once boasted of goals scored or pheasants bagged. Allison Pearson goals women broken men I have an American trainer - a bubbly Californian. I tell her, 'Welsh women don't run. We're congenitally incapable.' But she's got me up to five kilometers. Allison Pearson she trainer me women Sometimes it's a relief just to focus on putting one foot in front of the other. Allison Pearson foot just focus sometimes If I had written a book saying, 'Ladies, your life is terrible,' I would have sold three copies. It's always better to laugh people into recognition. Allison Pearson laugh life book people My son was about five or six months old, and he was ill, and I was sent to New York to interview three people back to back. I got home, and I saw my baby. He had been very ill, and he was on three kinds of antibiotics. I'd been away for eight days. I looked at him and thought, 'What am I doing? I'm a terrible mother and a terrible journalist.' Allison Pearson mother home people son Endings are not my thing. Allison Pearson endings thing Girls slightly younger tended to be Donny Osmond girls or Michael Jackson girls, but for my generation, it tended to be David Cassidy. Allison Pearson younger michael-jackson generation One thing that did give me pause for thought, when I told my female friends now that I was writing about a 13-year-old girl, without exception they all said, 'I would not go back to being 13 for a million pounds.' Allison Pearson thought me friends girl We carry our younger selves with us our whole lives, and we can measure out of lives by music we've loved or icons we've loved. Allison Pearson measure us loved music I speak as the journalist who, on the first day back at work for 'The Daily Telegraph' after the birth of my daughter, went to interview Tom Hanks with an epaulette of banana sick on my jacket. Allison Pearson daily day daughter work
