Typical party food usually includes sandwiches, sausages, sausage rolls, chocolate biscuits and of course, cake. When my five year old dairy and wheat intolerant son goes to a party I have to send him with his own packed lunch. I am not criticising anybody. This is...
A Taekwondo grading means more than just demonstrating a series of moves in front of an examiner. For children, they must prepare by showing respect to their family, behaving politely, making their beds, cleaning their rooms etc. I'm not kidding. Out comes my son from...
Getting muddy, being sporty and teaching our kids to be safe. These are some of the things we are being encouraged to do this week. I found out about these interesting events, so I thought I'd pass on the information. They involve children, getting outside and being...
Shannon Thompson is back on Friday Fiction again today. She has kindly provided an excerpt from her brand new book, Take me Tomorrow. You read it here first! The link is open as usual if you would like to add your own story (published or unpublished). Just follow the...
Ladyland Farm in Horley, Surrey, calls itself 'the living classroom'. Open during term time for school visits and birthdays only, it aims to create a hands-on farm experience geared specifically to the ages of the visitors. For the reception children on their school...
World Cup fever hits outer space! I'm delighted to have guest author, Karen Inglis provide an extract from her book, Eeek! The Runaway Alien this week. We're big fans of Karen's books in our house. I hope you enjoy this too. Now I knew Eeek was a runaway alien, many...
I recently wrote a set of articles about encouraging children to go beyond earning their weekly pocket money and develop their business ideas as a young entrepreneur. This came about because we were experiencing a lot of negativity from our eldest daughter, which we...
Our second city break of the year took us to Rome. This is a place that both my husband and I have already visited, so we had the advantage of having prior knowledge of the city. Previously I have climbed to the top of St. Peter's cathedral, toured the Vatican...
How do you teach your little ones the value of true friendship? Forming relationships with peers is an integral part of development, but not always an easy task. Friends will come and go and there will be heart break along the way. It's not easy to see your children...
The bar is crammed full of people, standing close together in their groups, chatting loudly and animatedly. I push my way through, trying to ignore the feeling of claustrophobia that is starting to descend upon me. Mixed with the smell of sweat and alcohol, my stomach...
FOR GLUTEN AND DAIRY FREE RECIPES AND INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT A 'FREE FROM' LIFE. Eating out with children when you're on holiday can be challenging, especially when you have a child who is gluten and dairy free. As much as is possible, I do my research before hand...
The crazy boy has been up to his funny antics again. We were in Rome last week and he was fascinated by the Coliseum. The funny thing about this place is that around the outside you find numerous 'Roman Soldiers' eager to have their photos taken with the tourists and...