Hello and welcome back to normality! It is the start of a new term and means all systems go and so check out this Cheat she giving tips on Getting back from the holidays.
It is completely free and can keep and pass on if you wish and hope you are finding them helpful.
Many thanks for reading,
Carrie X
Hello and happy Monday, so kids are off to school again, and for my son I make sure he makes his bed, brushes teeth, has eaten his breakfast and gets dressed. It is good to have a routine and set chores. This is not heavy tasks but simple ones, as it helps them be independent and that is what we want for our kids.
So this weeks cheat sheet that I do each Monday and I do this with my other blog: https://everyonecanbuildacastle.com
This week it is, Getting kids to do their chores:
My son, Henry wants responsibility and help with cooking, cleaning and on Saturday’s he will help my step dad to do the bins in the school he works at. He thrives on routine and wants involvement, and having them do chores it is great for their development and growth.
Many thanks for reading,
Carrie X
Hello, it is Monday once again and my son’s half term break is over and now returned to school and so here is my new Cheat Sheet I do each week, every Monday to help you have a good one and return to normality.
I have returned to writing my blogs and so check out these:
https://organize4thebetter.blogspot.com/2024/02/getting-things-done.html
https://buildingselfconfidencetud.blogspot.com/2024/02/being-able-to-look-yourself-in-your.html
Many thanks for reading,
Carrie X
Hi all! Happy new year! So this year I wanted to do a cheat sheet for each week to help kick start your week and get things done.
So here is my first one:
Please let me know if you’d like other printables. I will do these each week and have created one for my other blog: https://everyonecanbuildacastle.com
Many thanks for reading,
Carrie X
Hello and welcome to another blog. What an Autumn so far. It is the first week of the new season and it is warm here in the UK, and means being practical when your kids are off to school or nursery or if you have babies then keep them safe.
If they are off to school and they are allowed to wear a school summer dress or shorts for girls and boys, then put these on. Try dressing them in light colours, and avoid black if you can. My son has to wear black tracksuit bottoms and a while Polo Shirt, and when it comes home he will change into something lighter, like shorts and a cool cotton t-shirt.
If they get too hot then if they can take their clothes off into something cooler then do so and in the shade hydrating with water and use a cold towel on their forehead. In hot days do a cooling bath, wash or shower and light bed clothes for when it is hot in the evenings too.
Remember sun cream and make sure you pack some sun cream in their bags, and if they get bitten then make sure you have a insect repellent that is safe for them to use and keep a eye on it, as if the bite gets bigger get medical support, as they can get infected and cause blood poisoning and swelling. I got bitten on my foot and because I picked it, sorry for the TMI, but it swelled up really badly and had to take antibiotics.
If they pick up a Tick, then, they don’t pull it out if you not experienced and take them to the doctors or the hospital for them to remove it. Some children can be allergic to bites and stings, and so make sure they have their EpiPen and know how to use it and that it is in date to be used.
If they wear a hat then make sure this in in their bag, but my son doesn’t like hats and is impossible so I just make sure he keeps cool and has cold water and nothing that can causes dehydration.
So yes it is the beginning of the school year and so more blogs to come.
Many thanks for reading,
Carrie X
Watching video by Zoe Sugg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnJjc0q9Chs who is due to have another baby, was sharing items that she is going to use for her next baby that she used with her first child.
As a new mum I had no idea of what was good to use and what wasn’t. We bought bottles and a pump that was a pain in the arse because when Henry, my son was born, found the teats of the bottles we bought, Tommy Tippee, too soft and so was recommended Avent Bottles, with a variable teat, and I bought a manual pump, but I could have chucked it out of the window, It was a Complete waste of money, so used an electric pump to express milk and never looked back, and there are portable ones and so is a must to have, along with a good steriliser. We had a microwave steriliser and an electrical travel steriliser. There are other ones that you might find better, but the Microwave one for us worked, along with the travel steriliser.
Henry never breast fed, because it seemed that he couldn’t latch on, and wished I had kept on trying but he still had my milk by expressing, and if I were to have another child would try breastfeeding for a lot longer to see, and all babies are different. I never took a bottle I was breastfed and then went straight onto using a cup, and with Henry he didn’t take to a cup at first either. I would recommend Hipp Formula milk.
For skincare I would recommend Boots Baby range. My son for a while suffered with eczema, and why we change his formula milk to Organic, which I recommend above, and used Boots Baby wash and cream and I still use it on him when he has a bath or shower, or even when he has a wash.
I still use Sterimar for his nose, that Zoe talked about in her video, and great for clearing children noses, along with Vicks, as when ever the weather changes he gets a cold and Oabis oil.
There are a few Apps for kids that I think are good and there is Youtube kids App which has good videos to watch tailored for young children and CBeebies App, and so if your child has tablet, those are the two I’d recommend. Henry does watch actual Youtube, but be careful with that, because there are fun videos for kids on there but some can still, if not careful encourage bad language, and what I have done is cleared them, and there is a parental lock you can use, and that blocks certain apps and videos on Youtube from your children watching them.
I would recommend in opening up a child’s bank account. Henry has a savings account for when he is older, 18 years and I add to this each month, and worth it, as you do have to think about your children’s future. I did a video talking about this along giving gifts for kids: https://youtu.be/i–zbKpxuos
Audio books. These were a good alternative to reading a book, when tired and sleep deprived, these made a difference and would recommend the Disney ones, and the songs too. Henry still likes a story before bed and loves the Tiger who came to tea, and Billy Goats Gruff. He can read books himself and we use Biff and Chip books. He has development delay, but they are becoming easier and on Youtube you can watch Blippi, which my son loves and went to see his show today, and was really good fun, and have also seen, the show The Tiger Who Came To Tea, The Gingerbread man and Zog. Check out the Polka Theatres, The Rose where we went to today, and saw Zog there too, and the Theatre in Woking.
We are going to see the Shrek Musical at the end of September at the Wimbledon Theatre, and very in expensive.
Sheet protectors for children’s beds, especially if you are toilet training and bed pads too for any accidents at night, along with a portable toilet seat. Henry didn’t take to the potty and went straight to using the big toilet. Every child is different and there are potties that play songs and says if they actually went.
A travel cot. We had one that was super convenient and you have to buy the mattress separately, which I had no idea until we went to buy one, but was a great investment and there are bedding too that you can buy to fit the mattress, and as long as it is in good decision can be passed on to someone else or for another baby.
When it comes to school uniform, you can get good sales on Polo shirts from stores like ASDA, Pepco Poundland, TU Sainsbury’s and Marks and Spencer, or you can buy second hand, check out my last blog: Going back to school, and bought Henry a string rucksack from Amazon, to store his PE Kit, and PE Shorts. His school rucksack he will be using daily, was Smiggle. Their prices can be quiet high, but was a good investment, because we were using it for his Swimming lessons on Saturday and dries really quickly and easy to carry.
I hope you like these recommendations and find them helpful, and if you’d like to read more of my blogs then you can, by following me and if you have any items you’d recommend of Must haves, then you can, by leaving a comment below.
Many thanks for reading,
Carrie X
Some of you have already gone back to school, but my son is due to go back in two weeks and will be a new one and I am apprehensive, but that is normal, right? His first week is going to strange for all of us, but more so for my son, and it is my job to make sure that he settles in and we are ready for this change.
School can be daunting, so children can get the jitters, like my son did and that is okay, but help prepare them as much as you can and if you can visit the school before they start, this will help them to get to know the environment, like the classroom, the teacher and where they will be having lunch and assembly. Along with discussing any fears you have, to ask their teacher and school staff.
Kids starting school can be daunting for us too, and it was strange to me at first and getting to school was such a mission, but did get better, and so I hope this new school is it, that will really help him progress and say if your child has any learning difficulties, so they can put things in place to help them.
Henry has ADHD and suffered being in school with large amount of kids, so in his new school, he will be in one class, which he wasn’t at his second school he went to, he would be in Year 1 for part of the day, then in a class with other children with learning difficulties and then be in his mainstream classroom, year 4 and so won’t be moving around and will be with smaller size classes.
Then there is uniform. It can be expensive, but there are ways to get pieces cheaper by buying secondhand uniform at schools. The schools that my son has attended would sell secondhand uniform and we donated items to one of Henry’s schools, so they can be worn by another child. We washed them first, and then handed them in and stores such as ASDA and Sainsbury’s do some really good sales on uniform. Along with Pepco at various Poundland stores.
The good thing is we don’t have to buy is any stationary supplies as these items are supplied from the school, but if your school doesn’t then it is worth checking stores, like Wilko’s who are sadly gone into administration. I find Whsmiths expensive and Rymans, but they do some good deals on notebooks. Then items such as pens, I always order from amazon.
If you have any tips on getting ready for school then please to share. You can leave a comment below.
So I really hope your children settle in to the school and everything goes well.
Many thanks for reading,
Carrie X
I do this a lot and not sure what is right and what is wrong a lot of the time. My son loves the trains and whenever he can’t go on a train he finds it hard to understand why at the weekend, and will keep on saying that he wants to go on a train, but last weekend being so hot and worried that they would be busy put me off, and have limited service on Sunday, in the end we were driven back, and didn’t go on a train.
However yesterday after school we popped out and watched the trains and it rained but being so hot it was a relief and actually was a success and last weekend before when we went to my nieces birthday he was fine, and there was a part where he wanted to find my brother’s and Sister in law’s family cat, but mainly played outdoors and it is when those moment happen you feel like “Oh I got something right”, and my doubts that I had go away.
You can only do your best
And that is true and stand by that. Having a child is a wonderful thing, and I love my son to bits but find hard to figure it out, and I hate letting him down. The one thing I need to work on is not saying for certain of what we will do and have a plan B. Something that was taught to me when doing my football coaching qualification,
always have a back up plan
because of unplanned events like travel disruption, someone becoming unwell or the weather. Today Henry wanted to wait for the fast train that goes by and got upset as it was coming to the time when my husband would be waiting for us and didn’t want to be late because of him finishing work and doing Henry’s dinner.
In the end though as we were leaving the view we had to watch the trains, to meet his dad the fast train went by and so got to see it, and made my son happy and it is good to have that time together, but was getting upset that he may miss it.
We are teaching him that we, his parents and other peoples turn to choose sometimes of what we will do on some days, but still involve him. This still something that he finds hard, but with more interaction with other children and putting things in place to help him with that hopefully he will understand why we all should get to choose and not be what he wants to do all of the time.
So lets work together in building up our kids and if you have any tips then please share them. You can leave a comment below.
Many thanks for reading,
Carrie X
Yes it will be time to return to the usual routine and that means travelling, making dinners for Henry and writing in the mornings, and in the evening and managing my content around all that and preparing my son for school, and the week my son goes back he will be going on a Residential trip with his class at school and so making sure he has everything he needs for that.
It is going to be checking transport and managing my time to make sure I check my emails and I am nervous always am, but that is because I want it to go well and everything goes to plan.
Thankfully my husband tends to wash his clothes for school and am grateful for that, and I will be making sure that I wash Henry’s bedding as it is hard to get these things done everyday and so I wash his bedding at the start of the week, Mondays and that he has completed his homework and written down what he has been learning whilst on half term and put it in his bag and folder for school to encourage him to share what he did during the school holidays and going to do a photo book to help and you can do this on google and is a great item to keep, and also getting him excited about seeing his school friends again, and this term he has a new teacher, he spends time in a different classroom and planning for when it comes the changing of the weather and that I have sunscreen for when we have warmer weather and be good to play out in the garden again after he has finished school and fit in some learning after school, and what he has not learned at school I have been teaching him at home, like today we learned about the Solar System, because on the news there will be astronauts going to get near to Jupitar and wanted my son to know about it as these things are historical and something that should be taught.
I will be recording this to go into his book so his teacher can see what he has been learning and continue to do this too and share the different the topics we have been teaching Henry, and his dad (my sons) dad put up a world map on the wall so he can learn about the world and different countries.
When it comes to kids it is knowing when to start and when they have had a different schedule to when they go back to school can be a huge adjustment still, and I mean for everyone.
It means setting the alarm again, if you haven’t done this throughout the half term, with my son who is an early bird, he never lays in but is awake early all the time and this can take its toll but I don’t set an alarm only when he goes to his holiday club called Youngstars, but whilst he at school I can take my time taking a shower and putting make up on, but I tend to feel a bit lost after the half term, and my son does get separation anxiety.
So yes time to get back and we have a few more days to still have of this half term fun, but then it is all systems go again and I bet the weather will be lovely which is typical but living in Britain you never know.
Many thanks for reading,
Carrie X
This week it has been half term, if you did’t know , its a yearly holiday that is a week in February. Check out latest day in a life video: https://youtu.be/Kx5LEyZCLqs
We visited a few of our favourite places and yesterday spent time with my brothers family and my son when to a holiday club called Youngstars, so he could be with other children still and because he likes interacting with other children.
I have a week to myself this first week back to school, but usually I would be planning my days to be at my son’s home where he lives with his dad to wait for him to return from school and fit in some homework, play and make his dinner.
Check out these tips to help make life easier as our kids return to school:
Tip#1: if you are two parent family then see if you can swap or have a routine like me and my son’s dad has, so he waits with my son to be picked up to go to school and I wait at his house where his dad lives, to return from school, because of the distance. We make sure hand over when my son’s dad returns home from work, before I set off to go back to where I live in Wimbledon and plan weekends for my son to stay with me and spend time together then too.
Tip#2: If you have a bath and have one or more kids still in infant school, bath them together depending on age, of course if you have teenagers probably not, but if they are infants then this saves on water costs and time.
Tip#3: Have bags labelled with their names and do a list for each child and have a changing station,and have them help each other to get dressed and to wake them up why not do some dancing. My son loved it when we would do this, and really helps their mind and ready for the day. So this not really just after half term but this can help with the half term blues.
Tip#4: Anything you can get done the night before take advantage of this and have their lunches, if they have packed lunch, ready, along with spare clothing as some children can still have accidents along with their shoes and coats.
Tip#4: Have different bag, one for half term like a beach bag and one for the return of school as like me I carry less when my son returns to school, compared to when he is on holiday and I often do this at the weekends, and have a separate list of your own for when your kids return to school.
I really hope these tips help you and remember if you want to be kept up to date with my blogs then press follow and if you like this blog, click like, so I know that these blogs have helped you and made your life easier. That is what you need as a parent.
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Many thanks for reading,
Carrie X
The parenting adventures 