Happy St David’s day
When I was a child, my favourite days of the year, in order, were:
1) Christmas Day
2) My birthday
3) St David’s Day
The first two are obvious of course – they involve presents! But the third, St David’s day, might surprise you.
For those who don’t know, St David’s Day is is the feast day of the patron saint of Wales and every year on March 1st, we celebrate. I think one of the reasons the day even now gives me a shiver of pleasure is that, as a Welsh child, it was a half-day at school. The afternoon was spent visiting older relatives to show them what we looked like in our Welsh costume followed by singing a song for them. Read more »
Why French Children Don’t Throw Food
There’s been a lot of discussion in the press recently about Pamela Druckman’s intriguingly named book, French Children Don’t Throw Food, which promises "parenting secrets from Paris".
I’m always a bit sceptical about reading this type of book but I have to say that it has completely hooked me and I am now trying to bring out my own ‘french mummy’ with my kids.
Pamela Druckman moves from New York to Paris to be with her English boyfriend who is working there. They marry, have a child and immerse themselves in Parisian family life. But, after being a mother for a while, she starts to compare her own American/British techniques with the French mums around her and wonders why, amongst many other things, “French children don’t throw food”. Read more »
Make some space for Drama, Mr Gove
Yes, I know I’m always harping on about confidence and its importance, but I just don’t think that there is enough emphasis on this vital contributor to lifelong success in our children’s Early Years education.
Drama, which is a proven way of helping children develop confidence, concentration and all manner of social skills for their future lives, is still appallingly low on the National Curriculum’s agenda. One example of this is the fact that Drama is still being treated as part of English rather than a subject in its own right
Anyone who has experienced Drama classes themselves or seen their child transform during Drama, will know that the difference it makes cannot be underestimated. It really is high time that this was addressed by the Department for Education.
