Water babies

  • June 19, 2011 1:36 pm

It has become part of our Sunday routine to take the girls swimming, this is something that they always look forward to. It has numerous benefits such as:

  • It can be done regardless of the weather
  • It is great exercise
  • It costs very little
  • It is something that we can all do as a family
  • The girls learn a new skill
  • It is a great confidence booster

Like any parent I encourage the girls to be active, whether this is playing a game of football in the park or playing on the wii so the fact that they enjoy going swimming is fantastic. Even when they were babies the girls have always loved playing with water, particularly Holly who now cries when she has to get out of the pool.

Another advantage of swimming is that they learn water safety but they learn through play so it reinforces the fact that water can be fun as long as you follow the safety guidelines. It also teaches them about diet and exercise, which is becoming a very popular topic, especially due to the rise in obesity. So as you can see there are lots of advantages to swimming, so why not see when your local pool have public swimming sessions and see for yourself.

Storytime

  • June 18, 2011 7:07 pm

I have recently started taking Holly to a storytime at my local library on a Thursday morning. Since we have started going to these sessions she has taken to bringing me books usually first thing in the morning and climbs into bed or curls up on the sofa and we look at the book together. We have noticed that Holly really enjoys this activity and it has brought on her speech no end.

Her favourite books are those with tactile pages such as the series “That’s not my…” or those where she is able to lift flaps or her favourites at the moment are those where there are simple signs that run along side the story.

I think that it’s great that both of my children love looking at books. This love of books will benefit them throughout their lives as it provides, pleasure, relaxation, broadens their vocabulary and makes learning to read so much easier as they are eager to learn how. This is an essential skill and if they are able to do it through something they enjoy then I’m all for it. Plus I have found that it strengthens the relationship between parent and child.

Running out of space in Primary Schools

  • June 7, 2011 11:24 am

Will your child have a school place by 2015?

This was the question was on leaflets posted through doors in the south London borough of Lambeth. Before this starts a mass panic Local councils are under a statutory obligation to provide every child with a primary school place. However some are starting to raise concerns about a potential shortfall in the number of primary school places arounds England.

In Lambeth, the demand for primary school places has increased by 40% over 2 years. This has been attributed to a rising birth rate and the recession as better off parents are opting not to go private. As a result it is estimated that schools will have run out of primary school places by 2015.

In Brixton parents believe the prospect of five-year olds having to stay at home is no exaggeration. With these figures parents are becoming increasingly worried. With the current system parents submit a form to their LEA (Local Education Authority) stating your first choice for the school you wish your child to attend, but if this shortage of places becomes a reality then it is going to be a case of children having to either go further afield to find a place. Alternatively will there be any spaces at all?

Some parents have claimed that it’s happening already, some are getting into their fifth or sixth choice and some not getting into any of the schools chosen on their application forms. Some parents are having to travel great distances to take their children to school; in some cases this is not really feasible.
The Office for National Statistics figures show it was 63.7 live births per 1,000 women of childbearing age in 2009, compared with 54.7 in 2001. Primary school numbers have been falling for the past decade, however they are set to rise by 14% according to The Department for Education.

Others claim that the estimated rise will vary significantly with influencing factors being:

  • Movement between areas
  • Economic Changes
  • Migration
  • The Make-up of the population.

It is expected that London, the east and south-east are expected to feel the squeeze the most. Metropolitan boroughs throughout the country are likely to face pressure too. It is thought that these areas need to find several thousand extra school places within the next four years. The new housing developments that are cropping up all over the country will place an extra burden on local facilities. Parents are saying that the Government needs to provide the finances to develop existing schools and build new schools.

The Department for Education claim that £800m has been allocated this year for local authorities to spend on precisely this problem. They argue that the issue has been ignored for too long, accusing Labour of “wasting vast sums” on bureaucracy in its Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme of secondary school rebuilds. They also point out that despite a 60% cut to education capital spending over the next four years; the coalition is still spending more per year on school building work than the previous government did in its first two terms.

A government-commissioned review of school building recommended this April that a better system be put in place to prioritise schools’ building needs and to develop standardised designs that could be built more cheaply. But Lambeth says it needs more money now. It has received £52m over the past five years, but is asking for £50m over the next two.

Potty Training

  • May 12, 2011 6:33 pm

My daughter is nearly 2 and whilst I know she isn’t quite ready yet, I have started making sure that I have things in so that when she is ready we can start. This sounds pretty straight forward, however there are a few hiccups.

  • My daughter HATES wearing a nappy
  • Trying to find pants small enough, very few places make pants small enough (12-18 months)
  • She likes trying to play in the toilet

To resolve daughter hating wearing nappies I don’t put a nappy on her except when we go out and at bedtime. The only place that I managed to find pants that were small enough was mothercare. I have provided alternative water play so that she learns that the toilet is not a toy. Also the potty follows her around the house. When she wees on the floor I simply sit her on the potty and praise her when she does go on the potty or the toilet and include phrases such as “big girl”, “clever girl” and make sure I tell her sister and dad when she has gone on the potty or the toilet so they encourage her too.

Attitudes towards children

  • April 11, 2011 7:50 pm

Why is it that the elderly generally have 1 of 2 opinions towards children? They are either cooing over them like “oh aren’t they adorable” or they act like they are worst creatures in existance. It’s a bit like marmite they either love them or they hate them. Classic example of this was on a recent trip to Derby.

Lucie now likes to sit on a seat of her own instead of sitting on my knee on the bus. On the bus an elderly lady sat next to Lucie and the pair of them were chatting away quite happily with the occasional coo in Holly’s direction. Whilst waiting for the bus home an elderly lady barged straight into Lucie knocking her off balance and causing her to get tangled up in the lady’s bags. When this factor was pointed out to her she looked disgusted at Lucie and those of us who pointed this out to her. Her response was: “well she shouldn’t have been in my way, her mother should have better control over her”. My jaw dropped at this point as Lucie was standing right next to the pushchair causing no trouble at all.

Other instances where have encountered this bizzare attitude is queuing for toilets and in supermarkets when either waiting to pay for the items or whilst actually doing the shopping

Overcome your maths phobia!

  • April 4, 2011 8:41 pm

Maths, some people love it whilst others it can bring them out in a cold sweat. Well now help is at hand written by a maths teacher there is a book that teaches strategies so that you will be able to do it all in your head with confidence. The book is called Fun With Figures. It has already helped lots of people and I can personally recommend. Before I had kids of my own I used to childmind; so when I had children asking me to help them with homework I used to dread maths as it was my least favourite subject at school. This was because I used to get frustrated because my classmates were reeling off the answers to the problems before I had even got halfway through the problem. I stumbled on this book completely by accident but you can check it out for yourself just follow this link:
Fun with Figures

Planning a Wedding

  • February 23, 2011 9:29 pm

I have recently got engaged, to my partner who I have been with for 3 years. Whilst insanely happy about this factor I now have the task of organising the big day, this is proving to be a bigger job than I had anticipated and more expensive.

My fiance wants to get married abroad which is by no means cheap as there is a lot of red tape to accompany the marriage should you decide to persue this route in order to ensure that your marriage is legally recognised in the UK. The best place to find out the legal requirements when considering a marriage abroad is to speak to your local travel agent. This avoids having to make an awful lot of rather expensive phone calls or trawling the internet to find all the information. The cost for a wedding abroad is approximately £5,000. This price is including everything except the reception, however in some countries this can be alot higher.

In order to plan the wedding you want without having any last minute dramas the best advice I can give you is to collect prices and ideas that you like and put them all in a scrap book that way all the things are in 1 place thus making it easier to find what you are looking for. Another thing that may help is the following link to a wedding checklist: Printable wedding checklist. Another link that maybe helpful is the following to money saving expert, Money Saving tips for a wedding

Bleeding during pregnancy

  • February 8, 2011 12:10 pm

I am now 20 weeks pregnant and early this week i had a small amount of bleeding. My initial thoughts were panic and distress but have now realised that bleeding during pregnancy is much more common and is usually nothing to worry about. Although, I would always recommend going straight to the hospital or contacting your midwife as soon as possible so that they can do all the necessary checks to make sure you and your baby are ok and there are no futher problems it’s always better to be safe than sorry. There isn’t always a reason why women bleed during pregnancy it can sometimes be a little reminder to start taking things easy and rember that you cant be doing all the normal day to day runing about. It is good to remember little things like not do any heavy lifting or carrying and do day to day task at a much easier pace take slow walks into town or the shops rather than rushing around.

Avoiding conflict

  • February 7, 2011 10:26 pm

There are many ways in which you can avoid or control conflict between yourself and your partner. Keeping a controlled and happy environment can help keep a healthy relationship when in an argument calm yourself first.

VOICE: Keep your voice steady and calm: an even tone and pitch. speak gently,slowly,clearly and carefully.

FACE: Show that you are listening and attentive: use nods to show you are following. Try to relax your facial muscles,and convey openness and empathy.

EYES: Make eye contact but avoid constant eye contact that may be perceived as threatening.

POSITION: Avoid eyeball to eyeball position or positions were you may be higher up than the other person be careful not to invade personal body space.

These tips can help you calm yourself during conflict and avoid things getting any worse and make it easier for you an your patner to be able to work things out in a positive and calm environment.

Interact with and respond to children

  • February 7, 2011 10:10 pm

The most important factor in childrens’ language development is interaction with other people. It is important that people who work with children adopt practices that contribute posititively to children’s language development. This is a recognised link between the quality of adult imput and the quality of childrens language. Listed below are some important pionts to remeber when interacting with children.

When talking to children rember the following:

  • The tone of your voice – does it convey warmth and interest in the child?
  • How quickly you speak – do you speak at a pace that is appropriate for the child or children you are talking with?
  • Listening how do you show the child that you are listening? -Eye contact and getting down to the childs level, together with becoming involved with the conversation, indicate that you are listening and interested.
  • Waiting – do you leave enough time for the child to respond? young children may need time to formulate a response. Rember that pauses and silence are part of a conversation too.
  • Questions do you ask too meny questions? This may make the conversation feel like a question-and -answer session.

The method you use to interact with children will vary. Depending on the childs stage of development and personal preferences. Some children will respond more easily than others but the important thing is not to worry about all these things and your child’s level of comunication will all come in time. All children develop conversation skills at different rates and good comunication from you will help them.