Author: Sean O’Connor
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How Pokémon is Helping Me Raise a Healthy, Happy Child
My son, after playing Pokémon Go for just two months, has covered 126 km, either running or walking. He’s actually become fit!
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The Secret Joys of Leaving Your To-Do List Till the Weekend
As a single parent, the list of things to do is often overwhelming. There’s the constant tidying, for one. Every surface vies for attention. Then there’s the leaking gutter, the dodgy internet, the widening crack in the wall…
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The Happy Art of Getting On With Your Neighbours
Home is where the heart is. Those nearest you therefore, are closest to your heart. To keep it safe, you need to keep your heart open. So go on, greet a neighbour. Let the sugar bring you together, instead of the crime.
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The Happy Play-Play World of My Second Childhood
As a parent I am privileged to have children nearby – youngsters who remind me to close the door because “the dragons will come in”, and provide a gullible audience for fantasy.
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The Day the Rugby Won My Irish Heart
My parents, both Irish passport holders as well as proud South African citizens, were too settled in their suburban lives during Apartheid to bother getting me that passport that would enable to me roam the world in my later life.
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When I’m the DJ at a Party, You Need to Call the Paramedics
At a party not that long ago some teenagers stared in bewilderment at the old vinyl turning around, unable to believe that the sound they heard emanated from this black shining disc that was being stroked by a needle. With a diamond in it!
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I Don’t Want to be the Dad Who Went Missing in Action
Aah, the complexities of the modern family. Being divorced – pretty happily, most of the time, but sometimes nostalgically too – means I see much less of my children than I’d like, or perhaps they’d like.
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10 Reasons Why Marriage is Like a Game of Rugby
I played an old game: “Why is a this like a that?” It’s something you can do with your kids, if you have any, or your inner child, on a road trip. Why is a motorbike like an orange? Why is a sardine like a photocopier? Why is marriage like a game of rugby? This…
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Why I Want My Son to Play Rugby
Putting your body on the line is a privilege. It is not state-sponsored violence. It is ritualised warfare, yes, but with rules. Aggression, channelled, is a powerful thing, which can move mountains.
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The Lessons I Learned About Rugby & Life From My Number One Fan
Looking back at his dad’s unwillingness to accept anything less than the best from his son, there is a message that echoes down the generations, from player to coach to ref to the ultimate sporting fan…dad. By Sean O’Connor