Month: August 2017

School uniforms these days are so expensive especially now there are no longer bog standard schools around and everything seems to have been turned into an academy. Long gone are the days where you could buy cheap uniforms from supermarkets. Asda, Tesco and Aldi all do great uniforms and I mean yes they are still available the only problem is once your child hits secondary school they are no long allowed to wear it!

Is it unfair to expect parents to pay so much?

I understand that uniforms are there for a reason, they are designed so that everyone looks smart and they help prevent bullying for students whose parents maybe can’t afford the latest designer wear, but this doesn’t quite work when they become so expensive that parents are now trying to get as much use out of them as possible meaning that children are wearing clothes that are too small or tatty looking.

My children’s school have gone even further in the fact that they have managed to prevent you from being able to pass down the uniform to siblings. How you may ask? Because their P.E Kits have to be embroidered with their initials on meaning that they can’t be passed on unless your child has the same initials as their sibling.

Ellies P.E kit got stolen just before they broke up for the holiday. I was and still am more than a little peeved about this as they were quite new to the school and the uniform was only a few months old not only that but now I have to fork out again for a new P.E kit. As I mentioned above at their school the uniform has to be embroidered so I can’t even get away with getting her a replacement from somewhere cheaper.

Here is an example just of her P.E Kit, not forgetting her blazer, jumper, shirt, trousers, bag, stationary, shoes, coat , trainers.

P.E T-shirt – £17.50

P.E Shorts – £15.95

P.E Skort – £22.95 ( A SKORT!!! I CAN BUY A WHOLE NEW OUTFIT FOR THAT!)

That is the very basic of a P.E Kit they also have fleeces, joggers, socks.

Why do I feel its unfair?

I don’t think that its unfair children have to wear uniforms. I think they look smart and I can see why there is a school uniform however I don’t agree with the fact that it is so expensive. If I was in a position where I couldn’t afford to buy my daughter or son a blazer for example, My child would then be punished with a detention even though it was no fault of their own. For some children the meal they get at school is the only hot meal they get because people are becoming too poor.

Imagine how much those same parents struggle to get the uniform money together. Now I know there will be some of you out there with the whole “Shouldn’t have kids if you can’t afford them” attitude but situations change and as hard as you try to plan for the future you can’t guarantee whats ahead and everything can suddenly change. When Harry was born I was working in a high paid job, married to his dad who also had a very good job and we were comfortable. I couldn’t foresee the health issues and marriage breakdown that would follow. Not everyone who is at home and not in work is lazy some have very valid reasons for it.

Schools keep your uniforms but for everyone’s sake lower the cost or be a bit more lenient on what you accept.

 

Christmas is fast approaching and if you are a keen follower of my blog or know me personally you will know that I am completely and utterly Christmas obsessed, some people would even say I live and breathe Christmas ( though I haven’t quite got to the point of leaving my decorations up all year round just yet!)  I was thinking about our little traditions and was wondering what do YOU do for your christmas tradition?

Our Traditions

Every single year without fail our Christmas Eve has a series of events that we follow. If we have a car then we take a journey to Haughton Village to see their Christmas lights. Haughton is around half an hour from our home and the whole little village decorate their houses with incredible lights and things to see all whilst collecting for charity. The kids absolutely love watching all the lights and animations and ever single year it just gets better and better.

We then come home where there is always 1 present each and ever single year it is brand new pj’s. Everyone has a bath and gets into their new pj’s then we sprinkle reindeer food outside to show the reindeer where to go before hanging up Santa’s key and heading back inside. We sit and watch a Christmas film ( usually whichever one is highlighted that year) with hot chocolate with squirty cream and marshmallows.

Tracking Santa on Norad Santa tracker is an absolute must and we do this from it starts until he hits the UK ( yes even when the kids have gone to bed , what can I say I’m a child)

For us Xmas Eve is more exciting than Christmas day as it’s all about the magic and excitement and build up. We LOVE IT!!!!

Christmas morning the children wake up to a parcel at the end of their beds and every year is colouring book and felt tips. This is something I intend on carrying on until I’m no longer around so they could be 30 and married and I will make sure that they somehow still get their colouring books and pens!

We also get visitors in the form of elves who get up to mischief every year and its very exciting waking up during the days of December to see what they’ve been up to.

My Blogging Friends Shared Their Traditions

Rebecca from I Always Believe in Futures – “We always let Jack choose and buy a new decoration for the tree. We will be doing the same with Olivia now too”

Katy from Katy Kicker –  “We always put the star on the Christmas tree together – the three of us!”

Kerry from Kerry Louise Norris – “We always take a night-time drive with hot chocolate in flasks and look at everyone’s outdoor lights ”

Erica from The Incidental Parent – “I insist on watching A Muppets Christmas Carol while we decorate the tree”

Emma from Our FairyTale Adventure –  “We always have a Christmas Eve buffet / picnic on a blanket, while watching a Christmas movie. We normally eat incredibly well, so the boys have a field day with lots of pizza, fish fingers, chicken nuggets, chips and chocolate. We do at least attempt to balance it though and add a bowl of fruit in as well. We also make a point of doing a charitable act in the lead up to Christmas, last year we did Christmas shoeboxes”

Nadine from Then I Became Mum – “We always buy a new bauble for the tree and we put snacks out for Santa and his reindeer, even as a childless adult (luckily I have my little one now so I don’t look so crazy!)”

Eileen from 2 Nerds & A Baby – “We do the same opening pyjamas on Christmas Eve, there’s always small presents in a stocking and a mandarin to make sure we ate something before the madness. My dad used to tape the door shut so we couldn’t sneak in to open presents”

Tracey from Pack the PJs –   “Every year, on the evening of the day the children break off from school, we pile in to the car (dogs as well) and head off on an ‘adventure’. One year it was a road trip to Germany in the quest to find a genuine Black Forest Gateaux. One year it was to visit as many Christmas Markets as we could. Last year it was to make a snowman in Chamonix, France and this year – well, we tend to decide last-minute. We head back to the UK on Christmas Eve, ready for the festivities to kick in. I hate the build up to Christmas – so many adverts trying to convince you to buy items you don’t need – so we go away and chill out/have fun instead!”

Lianne from Anklebiters Adventures – “Go on a boxing day walk up the mountain and come back and have turkey curry and watch Xmas movies ”

Collette from Truly Madly Cuckoo – “We walk around the town where we live to look at the Christmas lights, have a hot chocolate and come home to open a Christmas Eve hamper. We then order takeaway of choice and watch a Christmas movie.”

Sarah from Whimsical Mumblings – “We get our whole family together on Christmas Eve. Aunties, Uncles, Cousins and have a big party and exchange presents. Then on Christmas Day it’s just our little family at home.”

Lisa from Mummy Gummie – “Going to pick a Christmas tree together, stockings at the end of the bed/outside bedroom door in the morning of course with obligatory clementine in the bottom too! We always have ‘Santa’ presents for first thing in the morning and then the rest of the presents after lunch to space it out. Buck’s Fizz first drink of the day! Christmas breakfast of smoked salmon, scrambled egg and croissants”

Jessica from Beauties and the Bibs – “We always go to my friends moms house and she makes roast pork sandwiches with stuffing and gravy”

Jade from Mummies Waiting – “We read the same Christmas story on Christmas Eve. My mum read it to me and my sister every year since we were born and now me and my sister read it to our kids every year. It’s Judith and Jed, 2 mice who are hungry.”

Kerry from Kerry Shaw Mummy of Four – “We always go on a steam train on Christmas Eve, the kids get a gift from santa and the adults have sherry. We come home to open the Christmas Eve boxes that the elves have left under our tree, put on our new pyjama’s and watch a Christmas film before the big day”

Lucy from Momma Mack -” We aren’t allowed to go downstairs to see our present until everyone is awake and then we have to go downstairs in age order, youngest first. There are now 16 of us that do this in one house ”

Suzanne from Meandering Wild – “We go to our local beach whatever the weather, put glow sticks on the kids and dogs and walk along the dark beach to town for a chip supper, then back to a warm fire, hot chocolate and marshmallows.”

Emma from Emma Reed – “My son was born on Christmas Day 2013 so our day is now very different! We spend the morning celebrating his birthday and doing his presents and then the afternoon is about Christmas. I think if anyone has a birthday on this day you need to get the balance just right.”

Emma from Ready Freddie Go –  “My husband and his family always have pork pie and mustard for breakfast and so that’s what we do now too!”

Jo from Mummy Needs Wine –  “We always have Buck’s Fizz on Christmas morning and whatever festive film is on the tv at the time”

Vikki from Family Travel with Ellie – “We have Christmas Eve boxes that our Elf on the Shelf leaves for them on Christmas Eve – inside they have Christmassy PJ’s, a Christmas film and popcorn/candy. That’s Christmas Eve evening sorted . ”

I have absolutely loved diving into other peoples traditions, some of them are so cute!! Thank you for sharing them with me… What’s your tradition? Tell me in the comments below!

 

 

Freddie turned 3 in July and STILL isn’t potty trained this is because of us moving home at the beginning of the year. Before we moved he was almost fully trained.  This time I’ve been a sneaky mummy and made him think it is completely his own idea.  We were talking about nappies and how nappies are for babies and big boys wear pants. He then had his nappy changed and I asked him if he wanted a new nappy or pants and he chose pants because he is a big boy!

Reward charts aren’t for us

We have previously tried reward charts for different situations including his behaviour and they work fantastic for a few days and then he gets fed up, bored with them and they no longer keep him engaged so this time I am going with the treat approach.

If he has a wee/poo then he can have a treat, thankfully he is a fruit bat and absolutely loves every fruit in the world so the idea of getting strawberries for a wee is very appealing to him.

Today is the first day and touch wood so far no accidents but I am sure that we will have it nailed before he goes back to nursery in September.

Have you potty trained? Do you have any tips that you’d like to share… below you will find my list of tips that I found useful when potty training my brood.

1.  Don’t put on too much pressure, if they don’t want to do it then don’t force them they will all do it eventually, I’ve never met an 18-year-old in a nappy.
2. You are not a bad parent if your child is almost 4 and not trained. All children are different and develop at different rates. Annabelle was trained VERY young as was Ellie but my boys took a little long, In fact Ellie was trained young then had a kind of relapse and wasn’t interested again until she was 3 and a half!
3. Reward charts DO work for some children. I know some parents that have used a very successful chart where they get so many stars for a wee and so many for a poo and once they’ve collected 10 or 20 they get a toy from the shop and this has worked absolutely brilliantly for them.
4.  Distract them. Some children hate the potty with a passion. Try reading them a book or singing nursery rhymes whilst they’re on the toilet to take their mind off it. Failing that go straight to the toilet ( 2 of mine went straight to the toilet and weren’t interested in the potty)
5. Try not to emphasise so much when they have accidents, yes it can be frustrating but toddlers respond very well to praise, attention and excitement so if you make more of a big deal over the fact they’ve used the potty/toilet than you do when they have an accident they will learn the attention is there more when they do good.
6.  Don’t waste your money on big expensive potty’s they use them for such a short time there really is no need, Not sure about you but my toilet doesn’t sing or dance or play me a tune when I wee 😉

Thank you for reading and good luck Freddie!!!