Category: School Days

1. Back To School : Getting the right shoes for your child's feet.

   Posted on 8:35pm Sunday 23rd Aug 2015

   I bought my eldest daughter some sandals at the start of the summer. They are now too small for her so I haven't even considered buying school shoes just yet, although I am not particularly looking forward to it, despite my love of shoes as we tend to have very different ideas on what is appropriate for school shoes these days. I want well fitted and practical whereas she wants whatever all her mates are wearing!

   

   It is therefore interesting to learn that barefoot shoes pioneer, Vivobarefoot, have launched a nationwide campaign to highlight the damage ill-fitting, tapered non-foot shaped shoes do to children’s feet. Supported by medical professionals and parents across the UK, the barefoot shoe brand is mounting pressure on mainstream footwear manufacturers and retailers to carry warnings informing people of the proven[i] danger of conventional footwear design on a child’s natural foot development.

   • To launch the campaign, an army of frustrated parents and children took to the streets of London barefoot to highlight the dangers of wearing standard tapered, cushioned shoes.
   • With 200,000 nerve endings, 33 major muscles, 26 bones, 19 ligaments; the human foot is a natural feat of biomechanics, and is the most sensitive part of the body after the hands and mouth.
   • Cushioned shoes compromise vital feedback to the brain from the feet, and a tapered shape, which does not mirror the natural shape of the foot, prevents the foot from splaying when you step, limiting toe mobility and weakening the foot.
   • Up to the age of ten years old, the bones in a child’s foot are soft and can be easily misshapen by external forces like poor fitting shoes and in a matter of weeks a child’s foot development can be compromised.
   • The company is campaigning for footwear that does not meet the standards required to avoid damage to feet to carry a formal warning on packaging and sales material in the same fashion as cigarettes and other products proven to damage health and wellbeing.
   • As evidence surrounding the dangers of conventional footwear on children’s feet grows, Vivobarefoot is building an army of medics, scientists and health professional to take its barefoot message global and lead a revolution within the footwear industry.
   • Barefoot footwear, which provides wider, flat-soled, flexible shoes without cushioning is proven to mitigate issues of footwear damaging children’s feet.
   • In order to educate parents, Vivobarefoot is running parent learning sessions at its London store in London and has provided a guide to buying safe shoes on its website www.vivobarefoot.com

   I have got terrible feet from doing pointe ballet at a (too) young age and squeezing my feet into fashion heels for the last 15 or so (ahem) years so making sure that the girls have the right footwear is really important to me. I love being barefoot, so I already have a pair of Vivobarefoot trainers myself, so welcomed the chance to get some for the girls. They have a handy size chart on their website which you can download so you can buy online confidently and my youngest daughter wont take them off her feet .... even when she is watching TV.

   

   We will be reviewing them fully once the girls have had a chance to give them a good run out and we will let you know how we get on!

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2. Back To School : Win a back to school book bundle worth £100

   Posted on 9:43pm Wednesday 19th Aug 2015

    

   Back to School! It seems like we have been talking about it since the children broke up from school but no matter how long those 7 weeks seem, they soon fly by and there is frantic last minute purchases that are apparently essential in a 10 year olds life!

   She will be going into Year 6 this year so we will have the preparation for the dreaded SATS and although they are not the "be all and end all" of your child"s education, the National Tests (SATs) can potentially be quite stressful (for parents too). Providing your child with some simple "steps to success" will improve their confidence and help them to feel prepared. 

   So I am really pleased to be working with Collins this month, who have produced a parent guide that includes practical information or parents about each stage of their child’s education, as well as product recommendations for key stage. This is a FREE (we love free) guide that parents can download at www.collins.co.uk/parents 

   

   There is some really useful on the website about talking to your child when they have finished their homework or revision tasks, asking questions like "How do you feel that went?" "Do you need any extra help?" "What areas are you still struggling with?"

   They suggest that learning should be a fun process by trying to shape some of the key exam objectives around the interests of your child. For example, with percentages, fractions and word problems, why not take your child shopping (this works for me)? By connecting knowledge with experience, things start to "make sense" to children.

   

   In addition to this great resource, Collins are also offering a 25% discount plus free P&P on the Collins Back to School range of books until 30 September 2015 using promo code SCHOOL25 which can be used on the colllins.co.uk website.

   To ease your little ones back to school/to make life a little easier this back to school, Collins are giving away £100 worth of dictionaries, thesauruses, atlases and revision guides, tailored to your child’s school year. For your chance to win, simply answer the following question on the widget below:

    a Rafflecopter giveaway

   Terms & Conditions

   The Prize: £100 worth of dictionaries, thesauruses, atlases and revision guides tailored to the school year of the winner
   The winner will be chosen at random by the random winner generator on Rafflecopter and notified within 7 working days by email
   Collins will make every effort to provide the books detailed here but this cannot be guaranteed
   By entering this competition, you understand that your details may be retained for future mailings. You can unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time.
   There is no monetary equivalent.
   Little Lilypad Co take no /responsibility for loss or damage in the despatch of prizes
   If the prize is unclaimed within 7 days we reserve the right to redraw the winner.
   End Date 12/09/2015 at 12am

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3. Back To School : The Mums Guide

   Posted on 11:10pm Monday 17th Aug 2015

   We have seen lots of back to school guides detailing where you should buy your uniform or how you can prepare your child for school but what about Mum? How do you prepare yourself for your child starting school?

   I see many of my friends with their children starting school this September and them never having experienced the school run, the playground politics, the missing cardigan(s), the endless birthday parties and the emotional separation. So here is my guide, from a mum who has been there, for preparing yourself for the first year of reception.

   

   Uniform can be expensive but children wear it every single day.

   The Schoolwear Association states that, on average, schoolchildren wear their uniform for ten hours a day, nearly 2,000 hours a year, but parents spend more on clothing that their children wear less – only during school holidays, weekends and in the evenings. On average, families shell out £63 per child on outfits for the six-week summer holidays. The research puts the average price of a full primary school uniform in the UK at £33.48 with secondary school uniform at £88.05. Adding PE kit put the figures up to £42.32 for primary and £127.32 for secondary. It is worth getting the best quality that you can afford .

   Tip : "Easy iron" clothes are not always "non iron", choose wisely.

   Label, label, label.

   Uniform gets lost, alot. 

   It is much easier to lay claim to your childs jumper or cardigan if it has a name label inside it. 

   Tip: Don't automatically put the label on the inner label as these can be cut out by unscrupulous people. Not suggesting this has happened but it *could* do!

   Be prepared for their social calendar to become busier than yours.

   During reception, while friendship groups are forming, it seems common practice for every child in the class to be invited to every single birthday party. Depending on your class size, this can mean a lot of weekends taken up in a variety of soft play, activity, entertainment or disco parties. Don't book yourself anything for a Saturday afternoon for the next 12 months.

   Tip: Buying presents for 30 children can become expensive, so buy GREAT presents in the sales. Check out the department stores too, such as House of Fraser Toy Department have some great sales on, which means that you can stock pile presents and not have to rush out on the morning of a party and spend much more than you want to. This *may* have happened to me once, trust me you don't want that panic buying frenzy on your bank statement.

   

   You will get a new circle of friends too.

   There will be cliques form in the school playground because that is what happens but you may also find some great friendships along the way too. Of course any new social situation can be intimidating but it's worth remembering that if you're worried about making friends lots of other mums will be feeling exactly the same way! There is nothing like sharing important life moments with someone who is going through the exact same things as you, at the exact same time. I have really good friends that I met in the playground some 6 years ago and the bonus is, our girls are still friends too.

   Tip : It is useful to get the phone numbers from a couple of mums. This is handy when your child comes home with a strange request, such as "bring in white clothes on Friday" or "wear your own clothes tomorrow", validating this with another mum always gives me peace of mind!

   It is okay to cry.

   You know this is the time you become that embarressing mum? The one that kisses your child in front of their friends, tells them that she loves them for all to hear and after you have waved them off into class with a big smile, it is okay to turn around and have a little cry. It is a big day for you too! 

   Tip: Having tissues to hand will score you brownie points with your new mum friends in the playground.

    

   The Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years (PACEY) conducted research in 2014 to help understand parents’ anxiety around the start of school. It found that over two-thirds of parents feel anxious about their child starting school with half believing that they are, in fact, more anxious than their child.

   Starting school is a new chapter for both the child and Mum (or Dad of course) and the school day is much shorter than you think. 3.15pm comes around really quickly when you are not looking!

    

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4. Summer Holiday : Work / Life Balance

   Posted on 10:12am Tuesday 28th Jul 2015

   There has been a distinct lack of blog posts lately but it is the summer and we all get the summer off right? Well no, not really the children may be free of work for 7 weeks but as parents, we have the 7 week juggle to contend with.

   So the essential (paying ) work is being done (not to mention the mountain of washing and ironing) but the other stuff, well that will get done when it gets done because there are only so many times a child will ask you to play with them before they stop asking completely.

   I worry that my girls are growing up so fast and I can't hold on to it all.
   

   I worry that one day, they won't want me to play any more because they will have grown up while I wasn't looking.

    

    

   How do you juggle work throughout the summer?

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