Category: Views & Ramblings

1. What age do we stop holding hands?

   Posted on 9:30pm Sunday 6th May 2012

   My daughter and I walked out of school on Friday and without thinking, she slipped her hand into mine and we walked along chatting and laughing. At 6 years old, she is not quite self conscious enough to think its not cool to hold my hand, or kiss me goodbye but I know that time will come, I am just holding on for as long as I can.

   It got me wondering about holding hands, when do we stop?

   We hold our babies hands and they wrap their tiny hands around our finger, we hold our toddlers tightly when we teach them to cross the road, we walk proudly with our children on the first day of school and never ever want to let them go.

   

   Our children grow up and reach out to hold the hands of their friends and boyfriends ((shudder)) and they dont believe they need to hold ours any longer.  They have their life in the palm of their hands and as they grow up, they want to be set free, not held back. I know this so I am thankful that I still have some one to hold my hand. I am a thirty something woman who still loves the simplicity of holding hands, the innocence and the safety it inspires.

   So when are we too old to hold hands? I recently saw an elderly couple walking along the road holding hands and if they are anything to go by, the answer is never.

   So I suppose that whilst I may not always be able to hold my daughters' hands forever, I will have to be content with always holding their hearts.

2. Baby Led Weaning or Baby Food Wearing?

   Posted on 5:41pm Tuesday 17th Apr 2012

   The advice on weaning changes from year to year, when my eldest daughter was 16 weeks old, I was advised to give her baby rice and porridge however with my youngest, I have been told not to give her anything but milk until she was 6 months old.  

   7 years ago, I recall standing for hours pureeing foods and freezing it in little pots, only to find most of it spat back out at mealtimes (I am sure this is no reflection of my cooking) whereas now, we are advised to give babies anything they can feed themselves. There have been reports by the NHS that spoon feeding make babies fatter but the research seems to be in its infancy, so once again mothers are left wondering if what they are doing is right. Here is a snapshot of the findings:

   The general trend in results was as follows:

   • Carbohydrates were the most popular food category for the baby-led weaning group, who liked carbohydrates more than the spoon-fed group.
   • Sweet foods were most liked by the spoon-fed group.
   • Preference and frequency of consumption were not influenced by socioeconomic status, although an increased liking for vegetables was associated with a higher social class.
   • Using NHS BMI guidelines, eight children in the spoon-fed group were obese (12.7%) compared to none in the baby-led group. However, nine children in the baby-led weaning group (14.3%) were overweight compared to two in the spoon-fed group (3.2%).
   • Three children in the baby-led weaning group were classed as underweight (4.7%) compared to none in the spoon-fed group.
   • No difference in picky eating was found between the two groups.

   In all honesty, I have found weaning a more enjoyable experience, rather than the one I endured 7 years ago, the little one is definately more receptive to foods at 6 months than my eldest ever was at 4 momths. So we have had great fun with banana, cheese, toast and cucumber, not forgetting the (apparently yummy) rice cakes.  We do spoon feed with our breakfast, I am not entirely sure I would trust her with porridge at the moment, although after a sneeze the other morning, it was more like baby food wearing than baby led weaning!

   There are lots of books about Baby Led Weaning (we are not endorsing any particular one here) or find out another mums perspective on baby led weaning in this great post over on Pink Oddy's blog.

   

    

3. Kids Holiday Hotspots

   Posted on 8:03pm Thursday 12th Apr 2012

   You know we love children and we are also quite partial to our friends over at Travelsupermarket.com, so we are delighted to share this short guest post from Charlotte McColloch ..... get ready for a giggle!

   It’s widely known that kids say the funniest things and when we invited a selection of 4 to 9 year olds to discuss their views on holidays it was no exception. Watch the below video to see what they had to say when TravelSupermarket’s resident travel expert, Bob Atkinson asked them their views on topics ranging from their favourite holiday destination to how much they think a family holiday to Spain would cost.

   If these adorable descriptions of family holidays inspire you to take a break this year, TravelSupermarket has great deals to help make your trip that bit more affordable from cheap flights to all inclusive deals. Thankfully a break doesn’t have to cost as much as some of our mini travel experts think!

4. Maximum chocolate and minimum self control

   Posted on 8:23am Sunday 8th Apr 2012

   Happy Easter!

   Today is Easter Sunday and a day to celebrate. Its only the second day of the year that shops are closed and families actually have the time to spend together without thinking that they could be somewhere else. It also obviously means that in the run up to Easter Sunday, everyone panic buys food because the shops are closed for one whole day.

   As a child I loved Easter and I remember having chocolate eggs in the fridge till at least June but as a parent now, I inwardly groan at the mere sight of the ever increasing chocolate egg mountain.

   Dont get me wrong, I love that we have so many generous friends and family who want to buy for our children at Easter time but I am something of a mean mommy and I have to admit to "sharing" the childrens chocolate. I am thinking of the childrens teeth (obviously) when I should actually be thinking of my own waistime (clearly).

   So my challenge for next Easter is to find alternatives to chocolate for Easter gifts .... or should I simply just learn some self control??