Teachers urged to not ask kids what they did over the summer holidays
12 HRS AGO - As an assignment and even just as a question, it can be very upsetting
Types of spiders who'll be coming into your home - and which ones can bite
1 DAY AGO - Autumn is practically synonymous with spiders, and here's a list of some potential house guests
Maid of honour stuns guests at sister's wedding by turning up in fancy dress
2 DAYS AGO - Bridesmaid Christina has no regrets and she had the blessing of her sister
The whole world apart from me is going back to school and I miss it
3 DAYS AGO - This is the first September in 37 years when I haven’t done ‘back to school’. Expand
3 DAYS AGO - This is the first September in 37 years when I haven’t done ‘back to school’. That’s bonkers isn’t it?? 37 years! I was still at college when Bee was born, and she had started school by the time I finished my degree, so it’s been genuinely 37 years of either me or one of my children being in full time education. Last year was a little different as it was Belle starting college rather than going back to school, but it was the same rituals, the same slow build of anxiety and worries about outfits and timetables and friendships. Belle has decided college isn’t really her jam, which is totally fine, it’s not for everyone, but it means that my life, for the first time since I was four years…
The post The whole world apart from me is going back to school and I miss it appeared first on Slummy single mummy.
The whole world apart from me is going back to school and I miss it was first posted on September 2, 2019 at 10:37 am. Collapse
Early experiments suggest our son is not an abstract expressionist…
4 DAYS AGO - We bought nonstick, easy-clean paints and put down lots of newspapers, what could possibly go Expand
4 DAYS AGO - We bought nonstick, easy-clean paints and put down lots of newspapers, what could possibly go wrong?We’d gone into that fancy children’s shop near our house, the one that sells little wooden toys that kids do not like. Those and the kind of gifts you buy for your richer friends’ kids, but never for your own child, since £9 is a lot for, say, a pair of cutesy socks, but cheaper than a bottle of wine if you have to bring something to a party.We had popped in to buy our son a new mealtime sleeve bib, since his last one was so caked in gunk that the fabric had hardened. We probably should have replaced it sooner – I picked it up the day before and nearly cut myself – but I was enjoying the way it stayed in place, free-standing, when we took it off. At first he greeted the blue paint as a new and alluring flavour of yogurt Continue reading... Collapse
A letter to… the neighbours who complain about our baby
5 DAYS AGO - ‘We can’t turn his volume down. We can’t reason with him. He’s a baby’: the letter you always Expand
5 DAYS AGO - ‘We can’t turn his volume down. We can’t reason with him. He’s a baby’: the letter you always wanted to writeIt’s 2am and I’m sitting up in bed, breastfeeding my four-month-old son, running through in my head what I might say to you if I happen to bump into you on the stairs in our block of flats. I’m struggling to think clearly as we’re now into the second week of hourly wake-ups during the night.No wonder sleep deprivation is used as a form of torture. When we eventually come through this stage, perhaps I’ll be able to survive anything. Related: A letter to… the woman who shot my dad Continue reading... Collapse
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Mum left blushing as daughter makes x-rated addition to her school bag
14 HRS AGO - Tara Young was called up by her daughter's teacher, who luckily saw the funny side
Mum warns of dangers of using much-loved Bunnykins sets after testing them
1 DAY AGO - So many of us have these in our homes, but you may want to reconsider letting your kids use them
Children’s charity celebrates 30th birthday party in Tooting
1 DAY AGO - On Sunday 1 September, Ronald McDonald House Tooting hosted their very own house party as part of Expand
1 DAY AGO - On Sunday 1 September, Ronald McDonald House Tooting hosted their very own house party as part of a nationwide celebration to mark the 30th birthday of Ronald McDonald House Charities UK.
Ronald McDonald House Tooting provides eight bedrooms and is just one of the 11 Houses across the UK providing an on-site or close free ‘home away from home’ to families with ill children and premature babies in St George’s Hospital. Since the charity opened its Tooting facility in..... Collapse
Here’s what I lost and what I discovered in the process of surviving breast cancer | Amanda Niehaus
2 DAYS AGO - We had planned to get pregnant again when I found the lump in my breastI was 31, finishing my PhD Expand
2 DAYS AGO - We had planned to get pregnant again when I found the lump in my breastI was 31, finishing my PhD in ecological physiology and planning ahead for an academic career. Planning ahead like I always did, I figured this was the right time to start a family. I’d hand in my thesis and we’d have two in quick succession – maybe even twins, a boy and a girl – then I’d get back to research. I knew the rules, the game. I wanted two kids, maybe three; I wanted lecturer, senior lecturer, associate professor, professor; I wanted to succeed.We got pregnant straight away, and our daughter was born in September. She was small and didn’t sleep and I couldn’t keep up with feeds, much less research papers. But in late April 2008, as planned, we started trying to get pregnant again. Related: I was 31 when I was diagnosed with breast cancer – it cost me so much | Becca Leaver Related: New breast cancer treatment offers hope of longer life to younger women Continue reading... Collapse
When playing with the kids is hard work | Letters
4 DAYS AGO - Janet Kay on how to enjoy time on holidays with children, Jeanne Warren on a generation that just Expand
4 DAYS AGO - Janet Kay on how to enjoy time on holidays with children, Jeanne Warren on a generation that just got on with it – and got no credit, and Annie Tunnicliffe on the struggles of women in a poverty trapIn response to Lucy Mangan’s assertion (After six long weeks of unrelieved parenting, we’re on our knees, 31 August) that “you have no holidays that are worthy of the name after having a child”, I would suggest she stop moaning about the supposed horrors of the six-week holiday and enjoy her time with her child doing things together they can both enjoy. I am a grandparent carer, parenting second time around. I spent the bank holiday on an English beach in the sun with two of my grandchildren, swimming, digging in the sand and sharing a picnic with friends. What’s not to enjoy? If you’re too inflexible to adapt to the wonderful world of children, then don’t have them.Janet KaySheffield• I am struck by how tiring your writers find the care of their children during the holidays. “At the end Collapse
Parents rave about B&M;'s face plates which are perfect for fussy eaters - and cost 10p
4 DAYS AGO - If you have a child who's difficult at mealtimes, these could be worth a try
Stop whining, empty nesters. Your child going to uni is not about you | Barbara Ellen
4 DAYS AGO - Why are parents hijacking their kids’ experiences to put themselves at the centre? It’s not Expand
4 DAYS AGO - Why are parents hijacking their kids’ experiences to put themselves at the centre? It’s not healthyAs a fresh contingent of British kids gears up for university, who should we be most concerned for – them or their parents? I ask because sending a child off to university seems to have morphed from an exciting rite of passage (for the child) into some dark, angst-ridden melodrama starring the parents. How do they feel about it? Are their hearts broken? Will they cope?This is usually accompanied by emotional accounts of parents staring forlornly into their child’s empty bedroom, perhaps weeping on to a favourite toy from childhood, or bravely talking about taking up new challenges to “fill the void”. What emerges is a sense almost of competitive empty nest syndrome. “I’m sad about my child leaving for university.” “I’m even sadder.” “I’m practically suicidal.” And on it goes. Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the most bereft of us all? Continue reading... Collapse
Customers looked right through me': what I learned working in a Chinese restaurant
5 DAYS AGO - ‘You’re too soft,’ said my parents. ‘You need to build character.’ So I spent an exhausting, Expand
5 DAYS AGO - ‘You’re too soft,’ said my parents. ‘You need to build character.’ So I spent an exhausting, demoralising summer waiting tablesSince I can remember, my parents have wanted me to work in a restaurant. “You need to build character,” they would tell me, usually when we were eating out, and always unprompted. “We raised you too soft.”My mother had worked in a Chinese restaurant when she first moved to the US and felt that her experience had toughened her up. When she remembered how wimpy she used to be, her blood pressure would rise. “I made your dad fly from Colorado to Los Angeles to pick me up from the airport. We were dead broke for months, because I couldn’t handle a simple connecting flight.” This was, by the way, not only the flight that had delivered her from Beijing to the US, but also the first flight she’d been on.I often burned my fingers on hot plates and hot-and-sour soup, and dropped boxes on myself in the walk-in fridgeI realised that nothing was stopping me from Collapse
Best stretch mark creams that are great to use during pregnancy
6 DAYS AGO - All bodies are beautiful, but stretch marks can really knock your confidence at any stage in life. Expand
6 DAYS AGO - All bodies are beautiful, but stretch marks can really knock your confidence at any stage in life. If you've had a growth spurt, weight gain or are pregnant, these are the best products to use to help your stretch marks fade Collapse
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John Lewis unveil top toy predictions for Christmas 2019
1 DAY AGO - John Lewis has revealed which toys its believess will be flying off the shelves this Christmas
Lidl launch university essentials range and students can kit out their room for under £75
1 DAY AGO - Lidl's new collection of budget-friendly home items are perfect for students heading off to Expand
1 DAY AGO - Lidl's new collection of budget-friendly home items are perfect for students heading off to university this autumn - and it goes on sale this week Collapse
Why are all the motherhood memoirs so white? | Huma Qureshi
2 DAYS AGO - It’s a naturally inclusive experience, yet books on the subject by women of colour are hard to Expand
2 DAYS AGO - It’s a naturally inclusive experience, yet books on the subject by women of colour are hard to findI am more than a little obsessed with reading memoirs about motherhood. It is not inexplicable, for I have three young children of my own, aged five and under. In this intense period of parenting, whereby my tired head spins sometimes from simply trying to remember to call the right one by the right name and endlessly loading the washing machine, reading these individual experiences of mothers has helped me feel less alone. Less afraid.I’ve been spoilt for choice – you can’t help but browse a bookstore without stumbling upon yet another first-person account of motherhood. In the last year especially, motherhood memoirs have become as much of a trend as thrillers with the word “Girl” in the title once were. I’ve certainly noticed, and read, many more memoirs on motherhood since expecting my youngest child, now two, than when my eldest child was born five and a half years ago.It has taken Collapse
A new bedroom gallery wall + 25% off prints at Desenio
2 DAYS AGO - Can you believe I’ve been in my new house for over two years? It’s weird - Expand
2 DAYS AGO - Can you believe I’ve been in my new house for over two years? It’s weird - it’s one of those things that hardly feels like any time at all, and yet I can’t imagine being anywhere else. When we moved in I spray painted my bed pink in an act of newly single rebellion, and then I had the wardrobes built, but apart from that I’ve done very little to my bedroom. (Can you imagine if I had had to share the wardrobes? What a nightmare. It was almost worth breaking up just for that.) For ages my bedroom has been basically like a cheap hotel room - a bed, the wardrobe and a couple of bedside tables, and that’s it. For quite a while I didn’t even have curtains,…
The post A new bedroom gallery wall + 25% off prints at Desenio appeared first on Slummy single mummy.
A new bedroom gallery wall + 25% off prints at Desenio was first posted on September 3, 2019 at 6:33 am. Collapse
A letter from Bee for Colic Awareness Month + win baby goodies
4 DAYS AGO - Advertisement feature in association with Infacol Did you know that September is Colic Awareness Expand
4 DAYS AGO - Advertisement feature in association with Infacol Did you know that September is Colic Awareness Month? No, me neither. Only I do now obviously, as do you. To celebrate, if that’s the right word, I’m hosting a giveaway in association with Infacol. Infacol is Britain’s number one colic remedy and has been used by generations of parents to soothe trapped wind, colic and griping pain.* It can be used form birth onwards, it’s sugar, alcohol and colourant-free. The prize bundle includes lots of treats for a new baby, including a sleep suit, some Infacol, Izzie the elephant cuddly toy and muslin cloth - head to the end of the post for details of how to enter. Before you do that though, Bee has written a letter to her partner about all the things…
The post A letter from Bee for Colic Awareness Month + win baby goodies appeared first on Slummy single mummy.
A letter from Bee for Colic Awareness Month + win baby goodies was first posted on September 1, 2019 at 9:20 am. Collapse
Ruth Davidson departs to focus on family. That decision is only hers to make | Gaby Hinsliff
5 DAYS AGO - Critics on both right and left claim the Scottish Tory leader is hiding her true motives. That’s Expand
5 DAYS AGO - Critics on both right and left claim the Scottish Tory leader is hiding her true motives. That’s an insult to working mothersShe is not the first working mother to walk away from a dream job and sadly she won’t be the last. But few do it with the blunt candour of Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader who resigned last week.Since having her son, Finn, she said, the idea of disappearing on the campaign trail for weeks on end filled her with “dread”. Not for her the sugary euphemisms about putting family first; instead, she evokes the visceral, animal tug of anxiety at being too far away. Sometimes, too far means being in a different time zone, listening helplessly to your child cry down a phone line. Sometimes, even being in the same room isn’t quite close enough. Everyone has a different threshold, and it can easily change from day to day, but still, too far is too far, and you know it when you feel it. Yet even to say her decision is understandable is to enter a minefield. Continue Collapse
Should I make like Rick Moranis and become a full-time dad? | Romesh Ranganathan
5 DAYS AGO - I am going to try to fool my wife into thinking I might be beneficial to the familyI am writing Expand
5 DAYS AGO - I am going to try to fool my wife into thinking I might be beneficial to the familyI am writing this missive in Portugal, but by the time you read it I will be in my garage in Crawley, trying to knock my new tour show into shape while my children enjoy the remainder of their summer holidays, my wife panics about whether they have all the right things for the new academic year, and I wonder what the point of all this is.I have had a wonderful two weeks with my family. Don’t get me wrong: there have been challenges. At the mini golf, the boys’ behaviour was so embarrassing that I threatened to book a flight to Gatwick the very next day. They were respectful enough to pretend to believe that their father, a man who once took them to the Christmas panto a day after the day the tickets were booked for, had the logistical nous to do such a thing. Related: Romesh Ranganathan: The secret to a stress-free children’s party? Prosecco helps Continue reading... Collapse
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