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Writes the everyday

Theo Marsden

  • Nights and bedtime
  • Big feelings
  • Play and attention
  • Siblings and family life

Theo is a journalist who writes about family life, and he has spent most of that time on the parts nobody photographs. Bedtime that takes ninety minutes. The particular silence in a car after a bad afternoon. Why one child will eat anything served on a small plate and another will not eat anything that has touched another thing.

He came to this site through family observation and found in astrology a language that refuses to flatten children into one average child who does not exist. The twelve signs offer distinct temperaments, rhythms and needs, and that recognition changes the quality of an ordinary evening.

So he takes the sign and works out what it means at seven in the evening. What does this actually mean at bathtime? Which sentence works on a child who needs warning before every transition, and why does the same sentence enrage the one who needs to feel they decided? That is the work: turning a temperament into something you can say out loud while holding a toddler.

He writes the nights, the big feelings, the play and the family pieces. His work brings the astrological character of a child into the rooms where family life actually happens.

Everyday pieces

Gifts & Keepsakes Zodiac nursery ideas A zodiac nursery can be as simple as one star print or as full as a room that carries the baby's whole sky. The choice depends on... Gifts & Keepsakes Zodiac birth announcement ideas A birth announcement tells the world a new person has arrived. A zodiac announcement also says who arrived: a small Aries, a quie... Together Two homes, one child: what each sign carries Some children live in two homes: with each parent in turn, or with grandparents for long stretches. Every one of them carries som... Play The zodiac signs as toddlers Two to three is the age when a sign stops whispering and starts shouting. Here are all twelve toddlers: the word they say most, t... Nights The five o'clock collapse Somewhere between the front door and the dinner table, the day runs out. Every child falls apart a little at this hour, but not i... Big Feelings The child who goes quiet Not every big feeling is loud. Some children stop talking, turn away and go somewhere inside themselves when the day gets too muc... Big Feelings Sharing and the fixed signs Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius are the holders of the zodiac. Each finds sharing hard for its own reason, because each is hold... Together The only child, sign by sign Being the only child in a house is not one experience. It is twelve. An Aries only child and a Libra only child can live in the s... Together When the new baby comes: the older child, sign by sign Every older child has to make room for a new baby. Their sign shows what they are afraid of losing, how the jealousy looks when i... Play Imaginary friends, sign by sign An imaginary friend is one of the most common things a small child makes up, and one of the most revealing. The friend a child in... Big Feelings Afraid of the dark: what the fear is for each sign The dark is the same for every child. What it takes away is not. For one child it takes the person, for another the shape of the... Gifts & Keepsakes Pisces baby gifts and keepsakes Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac, the sign of the sea, of music, of stories and of a heart with soft edges. A Pisces baby gi... Gifts & Keepsakes Aquarius baby gifts and keepsakes Aquarius is the water bearer, the fixed air sign ruled by Saturn and, in modern charts, Uranus. An Aquarius baby is friendly with... Gifts & Keepsakes Capricorn baby gifts and keepsakes A Capricorn baby is ruled by Saturn, the planet of time, and takes the world seriously from the start. The right gift is solid, b... Gifts & Keepsakes Sagittarius baby gifts and keepsakes Sagittarius is the archer, ruled by Jupiter, and a Sagittarius baby is already looking past you at the open door. The best gifts... Gifts & Keepsakes Scorpio baby gifts and keepsakes Scorpio is the sign of depth, loyalty and things worth keeping private. The right gift for a Scorpio baby is one good thing rathe... Gifts & Keepsakes Libra baby gifts and keepsakes Libra is the sign of the scales, ruled by Venus, and a Libra baby is happiest with somebody close by. The right gift is beautiful... Gifts & Keepsakes Virgo baby gifts and keepsakes A Virgo baby is ruled by Mercury and notices everything, so the best present is neat, useful and made with care. Here is what the... Gifts & Keepsakes Leo baby gifts and keepsakes Leo is the sign of the lion, ruled by the Sun, and a Leo baby wants one thing above all: to be seen by the people they love. The... Gifts & Keepsakes Cancer baby gifts and keepsakes Cancer is the Moon's own sign, the sign of home, memory and the people who belong to you. The best Cancer baby gifts carry that f... Gifts & Keepsakes Gemini baby gifts and keepsakes A Gemini baby belongs to the twins and is ruled by Mercury, the messenger. The gifts that suit this child come in pairs, carry wo... Gifts & Keepsakes Taurus baby gifts and keepsakes A Taurus baby is ruled by Venus and meets the world through the senses. The right present is good to touch, slow to wear out and... Gifts & Keepsakes Aries baby gifts and keepsakes Aries is the first sign of the zodiac, and an Aries baby treats life as a race they have already entered. The best gifts carry th... Double Signs The double Pisces child A double Pisces child was born with the Sun and the Moon both in Pisces, the last sign of the zodiac. By day and by night they ar... Double Signs The double Aquarius child When the Sun and the Moon are both in Aquarius, a child is independent in daylight and needs space underneath as well. Here is wh... Double Signs The double Capricorn child With the Sun and Moon both in Capricorn, the child who wants to do it properly by day also keeps their feelings carefully packed... Double Signs The double Sagittarius child With the Sun and the Moon both in Sagittarius, the child who runs for the open gate at noon is the same child who wants a window... Double Signs The double Scorpio child A double Scorpio child was born with the Sun and the Moon both in Scorpio, so the self they show by day and the need they carry a... Double Signs The double Libra child When the Sun and the Moon both sit on Libra's scales, a child looks for harmony in daylight and needs it underneath as well. Here... Double Signs The double Virgo child With the Sun and Moon both in Virgo, the child who notices everything by day also needs everything to make sense at night. This i... Double Signs The double Leo child In a double Leo, the Moon was born standing right beside the Sun, in the Sun's own sign. The need to be seen is not a daytime hab... Double Signs The double Cancer child A double Cancer child was born with the Sun and the Moon both in Cancer, the one sign the Moon rules. Their daytime self and thei... Double Signs The double Gemini child When the Sun and the Moon both stand in Gemini, a child's daytime self and night-time need speak the same quick language. Here is... Double Signs The double Taurus child With the Sun and the Moon both in Taurus, the child who wants the same good things by day wants them even more by night. This is... Double Signs The double Aries child When the Sun and the Moon both sit in Aries, the child who goes first in daylight is the same child who wakes first in the dark.... Names Pisces baby names Pisces is the two fish, ruled by generous Jupiter and dreamy Neptune, born as winter melts toward spring. These are names that ho... Names Aquarius baby names Aquarius is the water bearer, a fixed air sign with two rulers, steady Saturn and sideways Uranus, born in the long nights of Jan... Names Capricorn baby names Capricorn babies arrive at midwinter, under the sea goat that climbs from the water to the mountain top, with Saturn as ruler. Th... Names Sagittarius baby names Sagittarius is the archer, ruled by Jupiter, the largest planet, and born as autumn turns to winter. These are names of bows and... Names Scorpio baby names Scorpio is the scorpion and the eagle, ruled by red Mars and deep Pluto, born in the heart of autumn. These are names with depth... Names Libra baby names Libra is the sign of the scales, ruled by Venus and born at the autumn equinox, when day and night weigh the same. These names ca... Names Virgo baby names A Virgo baby is born at harvest, under the maiden who holds an ear of grain, with Mercury as ruler. These names carry her: grain... Names Leo baby names Leo is the lion, the only sign ruled by the Sun itself, born in the gold of high summer. Here are names that mean lion, sun, gold... Names Cancer baby names Cancer is the Moon's own sign, the crab that carries its home on its back, born as summer begins. These are names that hold the M... Names Gemini baby names A Gemini baby arrives under the twins, with quick Mercury, the messenger, as ruler. These are names that carry that light: twin n... Names Taurus baby names A Taurus baby arrives in the middle of spring, under the bull, with Venus as ruler. These names carry that light: the bull and th... Names Aries baby names Aries is the first sign of the zodiac, the ram, ruled by Mars and born as spring breaks open. These names carry the fire, the cou... Play A birthday party for a water sign child Water celebrates through feeling. Cancer wants the people it loves around it, Scorpio wants a small trusted circle and a little m... Play A birthday party for an earth sign child Earth does not need the biggest party. It needs a real one. Taurus wants comfort and things that are good to touch, Virgo wants t... Play A birthday party for Aries, Gemini or Aquarius Some children want a party that moves. Aries wants action and a turn at being first, Gemini wants something new every few minutes... Big Feelings After nursery for an earth sign child Earth carries a nursery day in the body and in its sense of order. Taurus needs the usual steps home, Virgo needs to put the day'... Big Feelings After nursery for an air sign child Air processes a day by putting it into words, or by needing a break from words entirely. After nursery, Gemini may talk without p... Big Feelings After nursery for a fire sign child Fire spends itself in a day of new people and shared toys. What arrives at the gate is what is left: a spark of temper, a hunger... Together The first nursery day for a water sign child Water reads a new room by its feeling before its furniture. For Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces, the first nursery morning is decided... Together The first nursery day for an air sign child Air meets a new place through people and words. Gemini, Libra and Aquarius are listening on the first nursery morning: to names,... Together The first nursery day for a fire sign child Fire does not wait at the edge of a new room for long. Aries, Leo and Sagittarius enter by acting, and the first morning usually... Big Feelings After nursery for a water sign child Collection is not always the end of a nursery day. For a water sign child, the journey home can be the moment when the feelings h... Play A birthday party for Leo, Libra or Sagittarius The same cake and guest list can feel like three different parties. Leo wants a moment that shines, Libra wants a room where peop... Together The first nursery day for an earth sign child A new room has its own sounds, objects, people and order. Earth signs notice the material world keenly, but Taurus, Virgo and Cap... Together Grandparents and grandchildren, by sign A grandparent can give a child a second kind of belonging: the feeling that the family is larger than the daily household. Each s... Big Feelings How each sign comes back A big feeling has an entrance, a peak and a return. The return is where many adults accidentally restart the storm. Each sign com... Play How each sign ends a game The end of play is where many good afternoons become a fight. The child is not only stopping an activity. They are closing a worl... Play Open afternoons, by sign An afternoon with nowhere urgent to go can restore a child or leave them circling the room. The difference is not how many toys a... Together How each sign learns to share the house A child can share a room and still feel that the whole house belongs to someone else. The sign shows what kind of territory, rhyt... Big Feelings The apology each sign can hear Sorry is a beginning, not a shape. One child needs the broken thing restored, another needs the truth named, and another needs ro... Nights The moment before sleep, by sign The hardest part of bedtime is often not sleep. It is the crossing from a vivid day into a quiet room. Each sign crosses that thr... Nights The story each sign tells in the morning Some children wake with a report, some with a feeling, and some with a question that seems to have arrived from another room. The... Together The first friendship each sign tries to make Some children arrive in a group as if the room were already theirs. Some watch, some offer a toy, and some need one familiar pers... Together The role each sign finds in a family A family gives children a stage before it gives them a speech. One child becomes the spark, another the keeper of memory, another... Big Feelings The way each sign asks to be seen Children do not all ask for attention by calling attention to themselves. One brings a drawing, another brings a question, anothe... Nights Twelve ways to resist bedtime Every child fights the end of the day. What changes from one to the next is the shape of the fight: the stalling, the second wind... Play Four kinds of attention You bought the good toy. One child has not looked up for forty minutes. The other has already left. Attention is not a quantity t... Nights The Moon sign and the four in the morning wake At four in the morning nobody is their Sun sign. They are pure need, and the old tradition has a specific name for the part of a... Together Two temperaments, one house People talk about sibling rivalry as though it were one thing. It is at least four things, and which one you have got depends les... Big Feelings Four kinds of weather Advice about tantrums almost always assumes one kind: loud, sudden, over in ten minutes. Anyone with two children knows there are... Big Feelings Five kinds of comfort, and who needs which Most of us comfort a child the way we like to be comforted, which works beautifully about a third of the time. Here are the five... Together The child who is nothing like you Some parents get a child who makes immediate sense to them. Others get a stranger. This is about the second kind, which is more c...