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 »
Just Say No!
No, this blog post is not about the toe-curling anti-drugs eighties-fest that is the Grange Hill Just Say No video (though it’s worth having a look if you fancy a nostalgia-based giggle). It’s about a much more prevalent problem in primary school at least – bullying.
I was bullied a bit at school when I was a child. Not obviously and not aggressively. I never had lunch money taken but there were a few bigger girls in the class who picked on me by leaving me out of games and playdates and teased me because I was smaller than them. Read more »
Rainy days and Mondays
With half term approaching and the British weather being what it is, it’s always a good idea to be prepared and plan some activities to avoid finding yourself with a house full of grumpy bored faces.
So here are my top favourite ‘rainy day’ activities purloined from the Perform Book Of Brilliant Things To Do. Some of them might seem a bit sketchy but they’ve all been tried and tested and anyway the simplest ideas are often the best. Quite a few involve music so have an ipod/ CD player and a few different CDs to hand.
Potion Play
All children love playing with water and I’m sure that yours are no exception. This activity needs close supervision but can be a lot of fun and great for stimulating imaginations.
Tell your children that you are all going to be magicians who have to make up some magic potions. Get together some clear plastic tumblers, put them in a washing up bowl and put them on a table your children can sit at. First of all, you have to make sure that all the equipment is really clean so show them how to wash and dry everything up beautifully (also useful for the future!).
Now part-fill the tumblers with water and put a drop of different coloured food colouring (the stuff you use for icing cakes) in each. Now challenge them to make up different potions according to their own recipes. It’s amazing how much they love adding the different colours to see what happens. For every potion they create, they must give it a name and say what it is for. Read more »
Could you make do with just 10 items?
On a visit to the dentist this week, I was flicking through an old copy of Red Magazine and came across an article called “Your Life in 10 Items” – sadly I can’t seem to find it online, so you’ll have to make do with my synopsis… Ready? Here goes :)
The article started out citing Mahatma Ghandhi as an inspiration as he could reputedly count all of the objects he owned on two hands (i.e. he had less than ten possessions); and that while just ten might be a stretch (well duh); being possession-light might actually enrich your life.
Had I been drinking tea at this point, I may well have snorted it out of my nose. Hmmm – a glossy magazine (which let’s face it pretty much embodies consumerism) seems pretty much at odds with this noble message. Anyhow – let’s park that for now.
It got me thinking – do I really need all of this ‘stuff’ I’ve accumulated over the years?
