It can’t just be me, can it? When the weather gets cold, the evenings are shorter, and the mornings are dark, it sure can take the spring out of your step. I definitely feel it. You likely do, too. And for some folk, autumn and winter can be absolutely awful. With reduced sunlight, hectic school timetables, and all the additional monetary and social pressures of the festive season, these upcoming months can be darn difficult.

Those who have it really rough may suffer from SAD, that is, Seasonal Affective Disorder. Yeah, it’s a real thing. If you’ve been feeling gloomy, find some peace of mind in the fact that you’re not alone right now. Us humans need all the good stuff you get from sunlight and fresh air – ie. Increased serotonin levels – to boost our moods. Without it, we can feel down in the dumps, tired, lethargic, even depressed.

Now, there’s plenty of advice out there on the Internet for anyone who’s really struggles with this. I’m no professional. That said, do we actually need to be to help? As part of various communities, including blogging, social networks, actual work, towns, and social groups, we can each do our little bit to help people feel just a tad better.

What your Nan always said was true all along: a smile can work wonders.

Of course, we’re not talking fixing huge mental health epidemics here. Rather, offering a glance of appreciation, friendship, warmth, that could turn someone’s day around. It may be momentary, it might last merely seconds, but by offering your smile more often to more people, you could well be the highlight that gets some people through their day. If you’re struggling, someone being kind towards you is often enough.

So many people struggle with a smile, whether it is because they don't feel comfortable expressing themselves like that or feel self conscious of their teeth. You don't even have to go to a dentists anymore as you can get a free dental consultation online. My husband hadn't been to the dentist for years but after ecouraging him to go back, he genuinely now smiles with confidence. I personally had my teeth whitened for our wedding, I didn't want to feel self conscious about my teeth and having the confidence to smile can be infectious.

It sounds simple, but it’s oh-so hard. After all, we’re all busy people! Reading school letters at swimming lessons, not looking up from your printed memo as you walk through the office, zoning out while you take the Tube across the city. It’s so easy to be wrapped up in what we have to do, meeting demanding deadlines, attending activities and appointments, that we can forget to look up and truly take in what’s going on in the world around us.

For others, and for yourself, let’s try to be mindful as we go about our day. Make the effort to turn that frown upside down and, who knows, smiling may just becoming a mood-enhancing habit.

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No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted’ Aesop

A random act of kindness is basically an act of kindness for no particular reason or reward. You can do these for people you do or don't know.

It is a brilliant idea to involve children in random acts of kindness as it teaches them so much about giving and how absolutely wonderful giving is for both the giver and receiver.

Here are lots of lovely ideas for random acts of kindness. Why not encourage your child to pick ones they would like to have a go at or help them come up with an idea of their own. Maybe this could be a Friday thing, a project for each day of the holidays or just, perhaps, an occasional activity for when the mood takes them:

• Take flowers from your garden (or the shop!) to a local older person care home
• Donate your pocket money to a charity
• Feed the birds
• Tell someone a joke
• Say something lovely to your teacher
• Ask your grown up if you can do some chores for them
• Leave a book on a park bench with a note inside saying ‘Enjoy this book and once finished pls place it back on this bench’
• Make your grown up breakfast in bed
• Put enough money in a vending machine so they next person gets a freebie
• Put together a little photo album for a relative
• Smile and say good morning to someone new
• Litter pick for 15 minutes in your local park
• Read a story to someone
• Offer to make everyone tea
• Start a collection for your local food bank at school or on your street
• Make a bookmark and leave it in a library book
• Give someone (you know) a big hug
• Paint rocks with kind messages and leave them hidden in your local park
• Make a handmade gift for someone
• Take some pet food to your local animal shelter
• Run a second hand stall and donate the money to charity
• Ask someone new to you if they want to play

They could also keep a little journal documenting how their acts of kindness went if they wanted too to record their kindness journey.

If you have any ideas of your own for random acts of kindness kids could do please leave them in the comments below so we can all learn from each other about the joy of giving.

This is an extract from Create Your Own Happy – an interactive book filled with happiness boosting activities for kids age 7-12 written by Becky Goddard-Hill and Penny Alexander (Harper Collins, 2018)

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We were recently invited to a press event for the launch of the new Inflata Nation venue in Birmingham and unfortunately we couldn't attend but really wanted to try it out. It has been open now for a month or so now and we figured it was a good time to go and see what it was all about.

Trampoline parks have been super popular in recent years but what about a park filled entirely with inflatables? The team behind Inflata Nation were one of the original trampoline parks with their Jump Nation brand but with the appearance of numerous trampoline parks in every town, the team were keen to innovate and move the leisure market on to the next generation of leisure activities. 

So what does an Inflata Nation park look like and what can you expect?

• Inflata Wreck - Not for the faint hearted, our multi-person giant inflatable wrecking ball game. 
• Inflata Grab - Stretch that bungee cord to see how many balls you can collect. A real life multi-person human version of Hungry Hippos. 
• Inflata Duo - A giant dual lane drop slide, that you can enjoy with friends.
• Inflata Tots - Only for our under 4’s, a dedicated arena with lots of fun features, including slide & ball pool.
• Inflata Drop - Try this jaw dropping inflatable slide and land in a giant ball pool. 
• Inflata Wall - Take on the wall and you'll be scaling our giant inflatable climbing wall, on your own or with friends.
• Inflata Race - Who will be the first to complete the two lane assault course?
• Inflata Bubbles - A large extra bouncy ‘bubble’ area, when all you want to do is bounce.
• Inflata Bash - Air filled inflatable pillars that you can bash around. 
• Inflata Duel -  A wibbly wobbly gladiator duel platform. Will you win the dual or take a tumble onto the the giant airbag below?

There are different levels of activities, some are just hilarious and some are for the daring. The adults in our party got on with the children and personally I was just pleased when I could stay standing up for longer than 2 minutes. It is great fun but you get hot very very quickly, so definitely do not wear a jumper!! 

All entrants to the park should sign a disclaimer and watch a safety briefing prior to bouncing and in the interests of honesty, I would note that we did not have to do this. We were running late and the session had already started. We are pretty sensible but this should be a standard safety requirement.

Also there were a few areas that were off limits due to "maintenance" which was disappointing for a new park but again, safety should be paramount so we were happy to avoid them. 

Despite all the inflatable areas, the HUGE ball pool remained a firm favourite from diving into the balls, to hiding underneath them. All the different activities and areas kept the children busy for the hour, although the adults escaped to the on site coffee shop and watched while we cooled down a bit. It is worth noting that the children have to come out of the Inflatables and walk round to the coffee shop, if they want to come out to talk to you.

They regularly run classes at Inflata Nation Birmingham including fitness classes, Inflata Tots and disability friendly sessions. Given how difficult it seemed for the adults to stay upright, it certainly is a new and unique way of exercising. 

For a standard "bounce" session it is £9.95 per person (over the age of 4), under 4's are £5.95 as they are limited to a restricted area.

Top Tips

• We would highly recommend booking your timeslot in advance, our session was fully booked and there was only one other free spot on the day we went, so it is definitely a popular location for weekend fun.
• Take £1 for a locker (this is refundable)
• Fill out the disclaimer online and in advance
• The added bonus of this particular park is that is is also located on a retail park so you "could" send Dad in with the kids, while "Mum" indulges in a little retail therapy! Everyone happy! 

It is a great way to spend an hour or so with the children, it is great exercise and definitely gets the heart racing and the laugter flowing.

My husband insists he is going to have the words "What's That Smell" engraved on my headstone. I very often walk into a room and say those infamous words, so when we were given an opportunity to review the new game "What's That Smell?" from WowWee, we jumped at the chance.  

If you have teenagers you have probably already been through the food challenges they love to do and sometimes the worse the better, so we thought that this was an ideal game for a teenagers sleepover, because taking a sniff can make you a winner! 

The game includes:

• 48 mystery whiff cards
• 4 STANK cards & scent-barrier bags
• 6 cardholders
• a sheet of whiff strips
• scorepad
• Instructions for 2-6 players ages 14+

The best games are always the most simple ones and thankfully the format of this game is really simple. Every player has a card, the timer starts and you scratch and sniff using your whiff strip then write down the answer on your score pad. You get awarded extra points for guessing which category the scent is from and for sharing your funniest memory with it. 

Some of the smells are sweet but there are also smells that are downright awful. I am not afraid to admit some definitely hit my gag reflex!  The winner of each round is crowned the Nose-It-All and gets to nominate someone to suffer the Whiff of Shame – 3 big sniffs of one the disgusting Stank Cards! ( I wouldn't recommend eating before doing this!!)

This game can be played with or without the app. We didn't use it but think it could add another dimension to the game and you can use the app to track the number of players and sniffing time, earn extra bonus points by comparing guesses with other people who played the game, and record the priceless Whiff Of Shame. 

We played this with the teenagers but can imagine an evening with friends, fuelled by a few cheeky drinks and this could be a hilarious game for adults too! 

What's That Smell? game is not for the feint hearted but it is horrific and hilarious in equal measures and we hope that WowWee will add extension packs with new ranges of smells in the future.

It would be a perfect gift this Christmas and we are delighted to be able to give our readers the chance to win the What's That Smell? Game which retails for £24.99 with Amazon, Smyths and Argos.

What's That Smell?

• This giveaway is open to all UK residents only, and you must be over 18 years of age to enter.
• ONE winner will be chosen via Gleam and announced on this page.
• The winner will be contacted by e-mail within 7 days of competition ends. If they do not respond within 28 days another winner may be chosen.
• Your details will be passed to Wire PR, but will not be passed onto any third parties by Little Lilypad Co.
• The prize will be sent directly to the winner from Wire PR.
• Any damage to the prize is not Little Lilypad Co's responsibility.
• The company reserves the right to substitute the prize for one of a similar type/value if the prize above is not available.
• Entries using any software or automated process to make bulk entries will be disqualified.
• End date 25/11/2018

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