The Importance of Outdoor Learning

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Outdoor learning offers a variety of benefits to young children and it’s undeniably an essential part of their education. Most importantly, it teaches children that learning can happen both inside and outside of the classroom; there is something to learn in everything around us. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum actually insists on outdoor experiences on a daily basis. Taunton School explore the advantages of outdoor learning below. 

5 Ways To Show Appreciation To Your Child’s Teachers

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Teachers spend every day of their lives shaping the future of our young people. They work hard for their students to help them grow and develop by encouraging and influencing them throughout their education. With this in mind, it’s hugely important for students and their parents to show gratitude towards teachers so that they know how much they are appreciated. This is particularly important at the end of the academic year, when many students move into different tutor groups or even different schools altogether. I have teamed up with St Catherine’s School to prepare the following list of ways you can show teachers you appreciate them.

4 Signs Your Child Is Unhappy At School

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Life can be full of ups and downs; everyone can feel unhappy sometimes including our children. It can be extremely worrying when you are unsure how your children are feeling especially when they are away from you at nursery or school. 

Easy Ways We're Practicing Phonics

Starting school can be a big transition for children and learning to read and write is a big part of that. Many children find it easy to to get to grips with their new learning experience but lots find it hard.

The Breastfeeding Journey That Never Was

Breast is best. Fed is best. Bottles share the parenting load. Combo feeding is better in the long run.

When you're pregnant a lot of these statements are thrown around. Whether it be friends, family, your midwife or Barbara who lives down the road and you sometimes see in Tesco, everyone has an opinion on breastfeeding. Modern approaches, traditional methods, when I was pregnant with JJ I heard every single one of them!

But what if you want to breastfeed and you simply can't? 

Our Favourite Baby & Toddler Books

We love a good book and since JJ was a tiny tot he's loved being read to. Whether it be at home or nursery, out and about or at Granny's, he will often have a book with him. We even have a selection of his favourite books in our caravan for when we're away!

Like many kids though, JJ would get obssessed with a book and we would read it over and over for a week. This lead me to create our Book of the Week posts, where I shared our current obsession and there's some very random choices.

5 Things You Need To Battle The Chickenpox

Disclaimer - I'm just a mum trying her best and am in no shape or form a medical professional. If you're concerned about your child's health please seek professional medical advice.

It'll be no surprise to those of you that follow me on Instagram that my latest blog post is about chickenpox!!

Just over a week ago we spotted the first few spots on JJ as we started to get ready for his friend's birthday party. As the afternoon went on there were more and more and soon enough they were everywhere! We had a really scary experience with JJ a few months ago were his temperature was out of control and he was monitored through the night by a GP via the 111 service and was very nearly admitted to hospital. With this in mind I was keen to get things under control and keep him as well as possible.

Using advice from the NHS website and from those that had recently had it themselves or children had, we complied our essentials for battling chickenpox.

6 Facts About Fertility Everyone Should Know

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Regular readers will know that this blog first started as diary of our fertility struggle and I've recently decided to do more posts on the subject. Fertility is something lots of people struggle with and I'm a strong believe in being open about our journey and to stop the subject being taboo.

If you’re currently trying for a baby, or would like to start a family at some point in the future, you’ll find the following infographic particularly helpful. It contains six facts about fertility that have been compiled by a fertility clinic in London and may help you improve your chances of conception.

How To Help Your Child Learn A Foreign Language

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Learning a language can open up a whole new world for your children. But where should you start? Mill Hill School share their top tips on how you can help lay the foundations for your child’s foreign language learning success…



Start early

The earlier you introduce a second language, the easier it will be for your child to learn it later on. Start by introducing your chosen language to your child by learning a few words at a time.

As soon as your child starts to learn new words and begins to develop their vocabulary, start to point out to your child that food, animals and objects can all have two names. You can also use children’s music and television shows in a second language to encourage learning.

Use flashcards or labels

Using flashcard or labeling objects around your house is a quick and easy way to help your children learn the names of everyday items in another language. Simply purchase a pack of ready-made flashcards or make your own labels using sticky notes and a bold marker.

Reading the labels, whenever your child spots them around your home, will help them to store the names of the objects in their memory.

Online lessons and apps

There are many useful and often free online courses and apps that will allow your child to learn from the comfort of their own home. These resources can help to make learning a new language more fun and engaging for children by using interactive games.

These simple starting points will help to provide the essential language learning tools.

Learning languages doesn’t need to be a tiresome task. It is important to make the process fun and interesting for children. Try to incorporate language learning into your everyday lifestyle and use fun activities to increase attention and focus.

Mummy Snowy Owl
xx

Giving Conception The Best Start With Dr Fertility

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When I first started blogging 7 years ago it was all about our fertility struggle. It was an outlet for my emotions and a diary of our journey into eventual parenthood.

Becoming parents was a long road for us. Hospital referrals, two lap and dyes, endometriosis diagnosis, cauterisation, tube flush, repeated miscarriage and a round of Clomid, finally resulted in us having our wonderful, albeit a little feral and crazy, redheaded boy.

It was an incredibly hard 6 years of trying to conceive and at the time it was very lonely and isolating time, but when I began to be more open, I found others were too. The support of a select few then helped us through the darker days. Opening up the conversation helped both myself and others speak more freely about trying to conceive and the different struggles to do so.

How We Potty Trained In A Week!

It's been a while since we potty trained, but after commenting on a couple of posts on social media about how long it took us and getting a lot of 'wow, that was so fast' and 'how did you do it', I thought I'd share our potty training experience with you.

Please don't mistake me for any kind of earth wonder mother or child psychologist though. Like many parents the thought of potty training filled me with dread and the thought of pee and poop on my carpet, furniture and me, made me feel a bit sick. As our little boy approached his third birthday though, it was time to get on with it!

3 Sleep & Productivity Tips For Busy Mothers

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Being productive and getting a good sleep can be a challenge when you’re running a tight ship. While you may have the perfect plan in place and try to schedule everything to get the hours of sleep you need, you never know when an emergency can pop up and throw a wrench in your plans. 

There are some things that you can do as a mother to help you improve your sleep quality and be more productive too!

How To Fight For Your Family

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As a parent you will always want to fight for your family so that they can lead the best possible life. Life though can be difficult and challenging which means that sometimes a parent needs to be there to help and there are many situations where this is required. Additionally, a good parent will know when to let a child fight their own battles and provide them with the skills that they need in order to do this effectively and well. Knowing how to do this as a parent is tricky but read on for a few tips on how you can fight for your family and help them to succeed in all walks of life.

Dealing With Childhood Eczema

I know to well what it can be like to have eczema. Growing up I often had irritable patches, which were sore, painful and, as a teenager, a little bit embarrassing.

It was something I certainly didn't want for my little boy but unfortunately it happened, and it happened very early in his life. At his two week check up the Health Visitor noticed some dry patches on his skin. She told me to stop using certain products and to go soap free, which we did. Yet, it still got worse. Much worse. 

I really felt like I'd let him down, especially when some of his skin got infected. After some back and forth with the GP until he was around 5 months old, we were referred to the hospital to see a specialist. 

5 Easy Self Care Moments

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Whether you work full-time, part-time or are a stay at home parent, life can throw a lot at you. 

If you start to feel a little bogged down and that everything is getting a bit much its important to take a step back and have some time to yourself. Maybe act as your own therapist. Being busy and stressed though doesn't always make this easy, so here are five easy self care things to do. Little moments for you.

Have a cup of tea and a slice of cake

Us Brits love our cups of tea and we're fond of a piece of cake too! In times of crisis we often dish out cups of sweet tea, like a band-aid to fix everything, no matter how big of small.

Goodbye Preschooler

A few hours ago I made a complete fool of myself on Instagram stories. I cried. A lot. No doubt some people rolled their eyes and skipped passed but for me it was an intimate and vulnerable moment I chose to share.

I hadn't intended to cry. I expected to perhaps feel a little tearful but once I started there was no going back. 

The reason for my tears, tears that I'm still fighting back as I write this hours later, is that my 4 year old son starts school tomorrow and I'm heartbroken.

This is the boy I waited 6 long years for. 6 very difficult, hard, excruciating years for.

5 Tips To Prepare Parents For School Life

For us the fun of the school run starts next week but as I recently went self-employed we've got into a bit of a relaxed routine.

Sleeping in later, getting to nursery when we feel like it and faffing around a lot!

We need to be organised and get into a routine! As a family we get a bit lazy and forgetful if we aren't sticking to a plan and schedule, so I'm getting organised ready for commencing the school run next week!

All my other school posts have been about preparing the kids but this post is for preparing us grown-ups! So, here are 5 things you can do to be prepared for school life!

1. Label clothes

Have you been so busy buying uniform and PE kit that you've forgotten the all important labelling? It's not too late! I used a stamp from Stamptastic, which I love but if you've not got time to order one have a look in your local school uniform shops for iron on labels. Many of them offer a service where they'll print your labels whilst you wait. Failing that a simple Sharpie or pen offer a quick fix!

Tips On Moving Overseas With Children

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Are you planning on moving abroad in the near future?

There are many different reasons why families decide to move overseas. For some families it's for a better life for the children and for some it's a new job. No matter the reason for moving abroad, the whole process has to be done carefully, especially when children are involved.

3 School Prep Activities

It's already August and the new school year is just around the corner! For many of us it will be the first ever year of education for our children as they head into Reception class.

My last post about getting ready for Reception, Preparing Your Child For School, was quite popular so I thought I'd do another! 

These activities are aimed at helping your little one be ready and maybe a little more confident for starting school.

1. Writing and recognising their name

As I mentioned in my last post, teachers, teaching assistants and nursery staff have all told me that it's ideal if a child can write and pick out their name. That way they can name their work, sign themselves in on a registration board and pick out their school jumper from a pile.

Preparing Your Child For School

I know people say time goes quickly, even more so when you have children, but where have the last 4 years gone!

It seems like yesterday that I waddled across the hospital car park, as Daddy carried out new born in his car seat, yet here we are preparing our little one for school!