Having two daughters, I dread the days that they will be squabling and often wonder if they will grow up to be good friends or drive each other insane . I love this particular quote and hope it will be true of my girls ....

"Friends are the family we choose for ourselves"

Life  happens. Men don't always do what they're supposed to do but your girlfriends are your gift to yourself. Through the job promotions, childbirth and heartbreak too, no matter how many miles are between you, the good ones will always be there when you call.

I am lucky enough to have 3 best friends (who thankfully all get on) and collectively they have taught me to laugh at myself, listened to me ramble after too many vinos and been there when I needed a good cry. It doesnt matter if I saw them yesterday or weeks ago, I know I can call on them when I need them.

We have all had colleagues who forget favours and acquaintances who are only there for the big events but your "sisters"  are there, no matter how much time and how many miles are between you. Sometimes, they  will even break the rules and walk beside you when you are wrong .... or come in and carry you out of the mess. They will pick you up when you fall down and if they cant pick us up, they will lie down beside you and listen for a while.

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.

With social media becoming a part of every day life for business and personal use, we are delighted to share a guest post from Jodie Cole of JC Social Media with guidelines for parents. As parents ourselves, it makes for interesting reading!

Social Media for Parents – FAQs

A recent study by Minor Monitor found that 74% of parents are concerned about the safety of their children on social networking sites such as Facebook. I have put together some FAQs for parents who may feel unsure about how they should handle their little innocent bundle of joy wanting to step into the big bad world of social media.

Should I let my child have Facebook?

This depends on many factors, such as how much you trust them, how old they are, how much they are nagging you and how much control you wish to keep.  In my opinion the greatest influencing factor would be how ‘streetwise’ and mature they are. Through having a Facebook account and Facebook friends they will more than likely come across pictures and comments that you may rather they not see. For example, 75% of photos on Facebook are of drunk people. If your child is exposed to this on a regular basis then it may become normality to them, and thus become an expectation of their later-teen years. President Obama, whose daughters are 10 and 13, doesn’t let them have Facebook. It will differ between families, but it is important that you sit down with your child and explain the reasons behind your final decision.

Should I be ‘friends’ with my child on Facebook? 

Even if you are friends with your child on Facebook, the extensive privacy settings mean that you may not get the full picture. It is possible to alter Facebook settings so that certain friends can’t see certain pictures, for example. If you have trust in your child and would like to casually check-up on them then I’d say be their friend on Facebook. You also need to appreciate that you are likely to come across pictures and conversations involving little Jonny that you weren’t expecting to see – maybe that he’s more grown up than you realised, or perhaps, not quite as innocent.  All you can do is be prepared for this moment and decide how to handle it. Reprimanding you son or daughter based on material on their Facebook is likely to feel like a major intrusion of privacy and over protection, so tread carefully. 

How old does my child have to be before they can have a Facebook profile?

The minimum age someone must be to have a Facebook profile page is 13. However, Facebook does not require any proof of age before the profile is created, so this minimum age doesn’t act as much of a barrier. Research shows that as many as 38% of the children on Facebook are younger than this.

I want to have control over my child using Facebook. What should I do?

A lady I know (let’s call her Lucy) has a thirteen-year old daughter, who wanted a Facebook profile of her own. Lucy agreed, on the condition that Lucy kept hold of the password, without her daughter knowing it. Lucy’s daughter was allowed to use Facebook but only whilst supervised, and only for a limited amount of time before Lucy logged her out of the site. According to Minor Monitor over 50% of parents regularly log onto their child’s profile to check up on their activity, with or without their permission.

Important tips

Passwords: If you are letting your child keep charge of their own password, make sure that they know the importance of keeping it safe. They should not share it with anyone, not even their best friends.

Privacy settings: Make sure they understand how to check and change their privacy settings so that only their Facebook friends can see their updates and photographs. Facebook have a habit of changing the default privacy settings and this means you can be revealing more information than you previously agreed to. Make sure your child checks their settings periodically to make sure they’re still safe.

Online information: Make your child aware that anything they write on their friends’ Facebook walls can be seen by their other friends, and some features in Facebook (like which bands and fan pages you ‘like’, and your cover photo) are never private, so be sure not to over-share. Make sure your child understands that they are creating an online profile of themselves that will stay with them forever. You may have heard that more and more employers are performing full social media checks on people before they hire them, so although it may seem a long way off you may want to warn your child of this.

Being ‘friends’: Make sure your child understands that becoming someone’s friend on Facebook should be kept exclusively for friends and family members that you know very well. Make sure that they never accept a friend request from a stranger.

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Written by Jodie Cole of JC Social Media – A social media agency that specialises in creating and running engaging online profiles for companies within the health and fitness industries.