Anyone who knows me will know that I love everything vintage that relates to children. Especially books and toys. I therefore love this infographic from what2buy4kids. It's fascinating to see how things have changed over the years. But, at the same time, it's great to see how some firm favourites that are still played with regularly here. Master C is especially fond of his Hornby trains and Little Miss C still plays with My Little Pony dolls on a frequent basis. Which of these vintage (or more modern) favourites do you have in your home? ... read more
The Family That Cooks Together, Stays Together
We usually think of the kitchen as a place where adults prepare meals and children just grab snacks, but it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, it might be better if it’s not that way: studies have shown that there are a host of benefits to getting the whole family involved in the cooking process, including improved family bonds, greater child responsibility, and healthier meals. If you think it might be time for your child to roll up their sleeves and help you in the kitchen, read on: we have a bunch of reasons that will (hopefully) convince them it’s the right thing to do. Source: ... read more
Teaching Children The Importance Of Values And Character Development
If you’re a parent and wondering what’s the right age to teach your children morals and how to behave with other people, it may be sooner than you think. Many parents often feel as if they don’t want to have long talks about values with their children until they have a reasonable mental capacity to fully understand what they’re teaching. However, children are given far less credit than they should be, because their minds may be young, but they absorb lessons like a sponge. You should start as soon as they can comprehend the basics of life, and the necessity of human interaction with the other ... read more
Pimp My Pram. The 5 Most Expensive Prams in the World
It’s understandable that new parents want only the best for their little ones, but $60,000 for a pram…? Really? That’s how much the world’s most expensive baby-pusher will set you back if you’re willing to stump up the cash. To be fair, it is plated in 18-carat rose gold. Let’s countdown the world’s 5 most expensive prams - for babies with silver spoons in their mouths and gold-plated carriages at their backs! Would you like to be able to splash out on a $60,000 pram? At Multilotto you can play Powerball, Mega Millions and Europe’s biggest jackpots and have a try! 5. Bugaboo ... read more
7 Tips To Teach Your Child Healthy Eating Habits From The Start
It’s well known that children learn by mimicking the behaviour around them. The adage “do what I say and not what I want” doesn’t work with them. Parents who want their children to keep their room tidy need to show how it’s done by keeping the home clean and organised. Similarly, it’s likely that kids who are shouted at as a punishment adopt this kind of behavior too: loud children = loud parenting. So, it’s your responsibility to show your children the behaviour that you expect them to copy. This goes for social skills as well as developing healthy habits. If you want your children to learn ... read more
Craft Tools That Can Take You From Amateur To Pro
pexels Crafting is becoming something of a popular hobby these days. Many people are turning their back on rank consumerism and enjoying the fruits of their own labor, and instead of splashing out huge amounts of money on new furniture, ornaments, and artwork, they are doing it all themselves. And why not? Regular readers of this blog will know how much I love a good craft project - there is nothing in the world more satisfying than creating something beautiful yourself. You can even start making some money from crafting, too, if you put your mind to it. But make no mistake, if you do ... read more
What to take camping – a camping packing list
I like to think that I'm a bit of a seasoned camper now. I've certainly been enough times that I know what I'm doing and perhaps most importantly I know what I think I need to take with me. I know that when we started out camping understanding what kit to buy and take with us was one of the hardest things. I even blogged about how we had what we thought was all the kit, but absolutely no idea if it was what we needed or not. With summer here again, I keep finding myself being asked for advice on what you should take camping so I thought it time to pull it all together into one blog post ... read more
Say Zoop! – Herve Tullet
As I'm sure regular readers know, one of my hobbies is collecting vintage children's books. There are so, so many things I love about them, but at the same time I also celebrate just how much children's books have moved on since my childhood. Back then books were just stories or factual. If your parents read you a bedtime story it was usually quite a old fashioned thing where they read and you listened. There were a few noticeable exceptions and I always remember the story my mum tells me about reading Wind in the Willows and how that book taught her about the sound of words. The use of ... read more
Wine and Wigwams – more WI summer fun
Almost a year to the day since my WI story stepped up a gear it was time to again get the tent out, but this time I wasn't heading as far as Nottinghamshire (Tea and Tents is taking a year off this year, much like Glastonbury does when the organisers feel the need to put their feet up for a bit). Instead I was heading to a farm in Ware, Hertfordshire, for the Hertfordshire Federation of Women's Institutes (HFWI) take on Tea and Tents - Wine and Wigwams.I should probably come clean here and tell you that technically I was on the organising committee of Wine and Wigwams, but with life and loads ... read more
Willows Activity Farm Summer Spectacular 2017
Living in St Albans we're incredibly luck to have Willows Activity Farm right on our doorstep. It's close enough that plenty of kids from the children's school go regularly. We tend to keep it as somewhere that we go on a special occasion or as a big treat though. Keeping it as a magical place to go for the kids and when they do go they always absolutely love it. It has been a while though since our last visit and since then Willows have become home to CBeebies' Peter Rabbit, so this was the first time that Little Miss C and Master C had been to the Peter Rabbit Adventure Playground or ... read more








