Eating Out with Your Child
Eating out should be fun, right?
Sadly, I know some parents who’ve given up on eating out with their children altogether as they’ve found the experience entirely too much of a trauma to bother with.
I love eating out (no cooking, no washing up – what’s not to love?) but like many parents have found it tricky to keep my children amused (and indeed seated) when in a restaurant.
I’ve canvassed opinion from a few Perform parents and popped some tips below which hopefully you’ll find useful:
Music & your Child
Most children love music, whether it’s singing nursery rhymes complete with actions (of course), having a little dance or even listening to something more soothing before they go to sleep.
My Mum loves to tell people about how I would make up my own songs when I was little (well perhaps ‘songs’ is pushing it) they were more like stories which I’d sing to myself – e.g.:
I’m certain that they weren’t necessarily particularly tuneful, and I probably never sang the same song twice. I don’t have much recollection of doing it as I was too young really, but apparently I’d keep myself amused for hours. So, suffice to say, music has always been really important to me – perhaps even before I can actually remember!
Bloggers for Haiti
I’m sure you’ll have seen on the news the dreadful situation that the survivors of the Haiti earthquake are now facing.
In an effort to help a group of bloggers have set up a just giving page to raise money. Our aim is to raise enough money for three rescue kits from the charity ShelterBox.
Each box contains:
- A ten-person tent with privacy partitions that allow its occupants to divide the space as they see fit
- A range of survival equipment including thermal blankets and insulated ground sheets, essential in areas where temperatures plummet at nightfall
- Means of water purification. Water supplies often become contaminated after a major disaster, as infrastructure and sanitation systems are destroyed, this presents a secondary but no less dangerous threat to survivors than the initial disaster itself.
- A basic tool kit containing a hammer, axe, saw, trenching shovel, hoe head, pliers and wire cutters. These items enable people to improve their immediate environment, by chopping firewood or digging a latrine, for example. Then, when it is possible, to start repairing or rebuilding the home they were forced to leave.
The Lunch Box Debate
With the latest furore around packed lunches – just 1% meeting the basic nutritional standards apparently; I can’t help but feel that as parents we’re set for yet another bashing.
I agree wholeheartedly that nutrition is important, and of course the findings of the study were indeed worrying. I also think that it’s important to highlight findings like this in order to provoke thought, and indeed change.
But I think we need a bit of a reality check here. Let’s assume you’ve decided (as is your right) to provide a packed lunch rather than opting for school meals.
Should You Encourage Children to Make New Year’s Resolutions?
Well, it’s a brand new year, and (for some at least) I’m guessing that New Year’s resolutions are front of mind.
They certainly are on the Supernanny website, where they’ve compiled a list of potential New Year’s resolutions for kids. On the face of it, I have to confess it sounds pretty good, right? You and your child agree a set of resolutions which they’ll try to stick to.
The only problem is, well let’s be honest now. When it comes to New Year’s resolutions we don’t necessarily take them all that seriously. Normally my resolutions last around a week or so, or possibly if I’m very focused, until the end of January; then – well they just sort of fall by the wayside. Read more »
