This time of year at least someone I know will get a sticking cold, and usually Henry my son will get a cold as soon as the weather begins to change.
So how can you avoid those horrible coughs and cold?
Teach your child to put their hand in front of their mouth, and make sure you have plenty of tissues to hand. Teach them to wash their hands regularly and give them a nice warm bath.
Keep them wrapped up and use Calpol if your child is not allergic but if they have a temperature and always have a thermometer to hand, as we keep us near by in the kitchen at all times just in case.
Sometimes a cold is unavoidable and having a cold will help make their anti bodies stronger and their immune system, but at the same time you want to make sure it doesn’t get any worse, and if you are concerned then do book an appointment with the doctor or speak to your health adviser.
Make sure the child is well hydrated and check their diet. I am guilty of giving my son sugary food and I know it is bad, so I do make sure now that when he goes to school he has a piece of fruit to take with him aswell as his cup with water in it.
If they are really bad then do avoid then going to school especially if they have a temperature as coughs and colds are contagious.
I wrote a blog a while ago about Sometimes I find it a Struggle, and I still now there are times when it is so hard, that I just wish I could click my fingers and it all be right again. I can get my son’s uniform on without a fight, I will be at school without the long dreaded walk, and I will get a good report each day after school, but that wouldn’t be life.
Life is about facing good and bad times and parenting most definitely has its ups and downs. No one tells you the truth and if someone tells me now that it gets easier, I ignore as I know that isn’t the truth, it just changes as your children grow.
Sorry to break the bad news, but it’s true, there are still hard times it comes I have found with parenting.
Last week was my toughest so far as Henry refused to get dressed and put his uniform on, so I would raise my voice and have tantrum of my own, he wouldn’t go to the toilet when told I had to pick him up and take him there, and I literally had to pull him out of the house to get him to school, as he wanted to watch his tablet, and we had a few bad reports back after school too.
I think a lot of it was due to tiredness as when he is tired he will play up, so we are trying to get him to sleep for longer and not wake up so early, even though that’s a challenge in itself.
Come Friday he was a lot better and has been this week so far. I feel nervous in saying that, as one thing I have learned from becoming a parent, is it can all change again tomorrow, and I will be having tantrums of my own again.
I do try and stay calm but I slowly feel the heat rising and just want to scream, but staying calm as much as possible helps more than when I have a tantrum and when I begin to rant and rave.
No one told me what a mission it was to get a child to school on time, especially as Henry wants to stop every minute or so to watch the cars, vans, lorries, buses and planes fly over, and see if we can spot any squirrels. I try to be patient and just walk without rushing, but when time starts to tick over I can’t help but worry about being late, even though we have so far made it time, it just takes forever to get there.
The one thing I am pleased about is that he is happy to go to school once we are out and once we are there, he goes into his classroom without a fuss, and he ran in there yesterday before I could catch him, he was gone, but then when we (my husband and i) picked him up he wanted to run out of the school aswell, which I don’t blame him as I hated school when I was a kid and could’t wait to leave.
If you are having a hard time then remember is doesn’t last forever and Henry like I say has been OK so far this week. Yes it can all change, but I also don’t want to wish his little life away either and yesterday he actually told me for the first time of what he did at school, which is a break through, as before when we asked the response we got was “Yeah” and nothing more.
So lets see how today has gone, I feel nervous about picking him from school because I never know what the report back will be, but I will keep my fingers crossed and keep being persistent with teaching Henry to be good at school and hang on in there, as I hope like most things do they will work out in the end.
Yes it is true, and I do feel mortified that my son swore apparently during assembly, in front of the whole school.
How do you stop your child from swearing?
This is a tough question, because my son being 5 years old now still doesn’t get that those words mean. He says them in the right context though, so we teach him to replace the words, with shoot or instead of Bloody, “oh my goodness”.
He began swearing back when he was at nursery and he had nipped it in the bud, but it seemed he had started again.
Both my husband and I are aware we have to watch our own language in case our son repeats them.
A lot of it, is to do with attention and seeing what reaction he is going to get, so I try to ignore or replace the words so he knows what words are OK and which aren’t.
Band the F word
I have now band the F word from my lips, and have tried to get my husband to do the same, even though it still comes out whilst my husband is driving so I do have to keep reminding him that the F word shouldn’t be used, or I say “Stop swearing”.
It can be tricky but try not to bring too much attention to it, as if they see they get a reaction they will continue, well my son does, so we have to try and make him see that this word is fine, but we don’t say that word, as its a bad word.
There hasn’t been any more reports of him swearing which I am relieved for, I hope I am not tempting fate, but so far he has stopped.
Here is a video by Pappa Stig of how he stopped his son from swearing.
So if you have any dilemmas such as your child swearing get in touch. I feel as a fellow parent we should support each other the best we can.
To me the holiday season has never been more important to me than since my son was born. Teaching him about the different seasons is such a huge part of their childhood that as much as I can be a humbug and for while lost my spark for Christmas it was important to me to get it back for my son to learn and to celebrate the festive season too.
I will be encouraging my son to help decorate this year and have him open up his presents in the morning whilst having his breakfast.
I am going to buy a gift from him for his daddy and for his grandparents, so he sees it is about giving gifts aswell as receiving them, and teaching him what Christmas is truly about, the birth of Jesus Christ. He may decide when he is older not to believe in the birth of Jesus, but I think as a parent it is good to give them the choice so they can decide for themselves on what they want to believe in.
I will be reading him stories about Christmas which I have done since he was a baby.
When it comes to Christmas it for me is about sharing some time with family weather it is just us three (me, my son and husband) or spending time with grandparents and cousins, etc
Having a good meal, pulling crackers, playing games, or watching a good old Christmas film, that for me is Christmas.
So lets get ready for the Christmas season and let our kids enjoy it much as possible as they only get one childhood, so it worth making the most of every minute and every season ahead.
It is that time of year when in the evenings, certainly where I live you can hear fireworks going off most evenings during fireworks night.
We even took our son to see some fireworks at my Step Dads school. I thought he would like them but he didn’t and soon went back indoors with my mum.
They can make young children jump and my niece had to back indoors too as she really got upset. Some children don’t like fireworks, not saying that fireworks night should stop, just think about and be prepared for when they don’t like them.
As a young child I didn’t like big bangs and would often cry because of how much they made me jump. Children can become used to fireworks, over time but can be a shock to them at first.
Don’t put them too near, we made that mistake. He wasn’t so so close that he could touch them in anyway as they had fences blocking the way to the fireworks, but try not to get them too close, the further away the less of the shock it can be.
If they become hysterical take them away until they have calmed down.
Be careful of sparklers, many a kid I remember as a child seeing adverts about kids touching sparklers and burning their hands, try and use glow sticks as a alternative instead or use glow up toys.
So if you are going to fireworks evening keep safe and never beat yourself up over it because they didn’t like it.
Never show them your fear the best you can, as this can rub off on them. Try and make them excited about fireworks, but keeping their safety in mind aswell.
If there is a bonfire, keep at a good distance so they can still see it, but they don’t get too hot.
Bring refreshments for the evening if there aren’t any there or give them their dinner beforehand if possible.
Wrap them up as it can be quite cold in the evenings. With Henry I put on two layers, a long sleeved t-shirt, jeans and a padded jacket, with some comfy shoes and woolly socks on.
So where are you going to fireworks or have you already been and you have some tips and advice to share I would love to hear from you.
The parenting adventures 