So Easter is this weekend, and still got to buy easter eggs, but will be doing this, this week and already have made some bookings for my son and where we are going go through the holidays, and so the cheat sheet I do for this week is dedicated to planning for School Seasonal holidays like Easter.
Some places like better gyms where I take my son Swimming can’t be booked in too far in advance but booked for my son to go to a holiday club and there are many in the UK.
Often schools have organization’s who run holiday clubs through the holidays, and if your schools around you does then book A.S.A.P as they can fully booked and great if you still have to work through the holidays and your kids get to still have fun and in a safe environment so you can drop then off and then pick them up. Many do half days or full day, so is worth having a check but can be expensive.
So it is the first full week of the School Summer Holidays in the UK and today spent it in Wimbledon Park, because they have two playgrounds and a large lawn there to play football on for example, and not sponsored but is a good place to go. They often have a Funfair during the holidays which was there, but not set up yet. They have water sprinklers on for the kids and my son played there all morning and they have a pond where you can feed the ducks and the swans and have rowing and canoeing lessons there, so a lot to do and even have tennis courts and there were holiday clubs in those areas too.
Wimbledon Park, London UK 2022
I used the cafe there for food, and it is okay not expensive, but I had a sandwich and was not nice, but they do do some nice meals, and mainly for kids and sell hot drinks, sodas and different snacks.
Bocketts Farm, which I filmed a Day in a life video of when we had the Easter Holidays, and went last Sunday, and it is a good place for kids. They have animals and a few playgrounds, and has a softplay area and just a good day out. My son this time got to ride on a pony.
I’m not sure if I will be doing Theme Parks, but tomorrow I am taking Henry to the London Aquarium and have already pre-planed and is advisable, because like today we stayed local because of the train strike going on, and so should be back to normal by the time me and my son catch the train into London Waterloo tomorrow but gonna check tomorrow aswell in the morning just in case.
You can do boat trips along the River Thames and so if they are on I will book to see if we can go on one and then there are buses, but often if it is a heatwave can be too hot, but because it has been cooler here in London, UK, will do a bus ride.
So going to say goodnight, as it is 21:55, in the UK and have a good week ahead too.
First of all. Thank you to those who have followed me as I continue to write blogs on this site, honestly, you help me continue the skill I love and I glad that you like them. I would not be here still if it wasn’t for you supporting my blogs and so a BIG BIG THANK YOU!
So kick start being a parent. Life changing experience you’ll always remember, but not telling you how to parent but what will help you.
A good cup of coffee or tea, with a good book to read when you get 10 minutes from your children who may cry, run in my case and you just need to take that time to enjoy such luxuries
Get into a good TV or video series on Youtube. I always need my daily dosage and gives me time to rest and take some time away from everyday errands as a parent, like rushing on school days and afterschool clubs. Parenting is a busy business
A playlist of music and dance to when you and your kids are doing chores or if they are napping and you can get the home together, even the tiniess of jobs. Its good to see ticks on a to do list rather than crossing outs
Meeting the girls for drinks. We all need that time to see our friends without our kids at times. It does not mean we don’t care, but to have that time to chat, dance and catch up on your girlfriends and have a nice evening to yourself, just makes a nice change
Take up a hobby. It is good to learn new skills and good for you and your kids and why not do a hobby that you all can do for a change of environment, being indoors especially as lockdown has started to move on, and it can be painting, playing football, going to football matches, running a family team and get other friends with kids involved too
Have your meals prepped for the week. Something I miss doing and would like to have Henry helping me now in the kitchen preparing meals, great for them in being independent and how to make good nutrious meals
Get your kids to shop with a list instead of you and have them meal plan along with washing up and doing their own laundry instead of you
Have time with your kids making lists of when they do chores on what rewards they woudl like, but are doable and have a chart of what they have done for the reward, like have them strip their beds to be washed or made them. All of these skills will help as adults and its good grounding activities that you can do as a family unit, even if you are a single parent.
Have kids writing a story and have the read them out to you. Writing is a must in skills and letter writing too. Just skills that will create memories and develop good relationships with other kids and other people
Go for family walks and spend time visiting different places, but following the COVID socialising rules.
I do also do a Youtube series on my Youtube channel called Truth About Parenting check out my latest one.
So around this time is when the schools get ready to shut down for the Summer Holidays, even though some schools hire out the school for kids to join the summer clubs that operate on them, and they can be good so why not apply for your child to go.
Henry my son did and last year when I booked for him to join a club outside of school he really enjoyed it.
Kids feel it by the time it gets to this part of the school year, and can be a little grumpy when they know they have a few weeks left. So would you being the parent, as we go into Autopilot and try to plan for them but when I did this I then didn’t do all those things,
They need to rest and this is the perfect time, during the summer holidays to do that, so why not arrange a playdate to enjoy the summer weather and your kids can play happily in your garden of course if you have a flat not possible but can have a playdate in a local part somewhere.
Do you need to stick to a routine still?
Yes but you can let them sleep in as they can find the end of the a school year tiring, the same being a parent, and also have some days where they can have Pancakes for breakfast, making different food for the holidays different from when they eat when they come home from school.
Take them to have a breakfast in the garden when it is not too hot and then have a afternoon picnic in a local park. Do different things from the norm and why not go on a bike ride or for a walk with everyone.
Then eat out or pick up sandwiches and snacks to have outdoors.
Just make it excitable for them for the summer and then slowly wean then back into the school routine for when it returns.
In this blog post I am talking about 5 Skills for your kids wellbeing.
So with the internet it can, and it has be proven to cause kids to have anxiety and lack of self confidence and so it is more important now than never to look after our kids mindset and making life simple and easy living for them as much and as possible.
I have created a Printable with these skills too, which is completely free and I hope you find useful:
Let kids make their own choices. So instead of you picking an outfit for them, let them do it and have low sized wardrobes and racks, and chests of draws with handles so they don’t trap their fingers and choose their clothes for the day
Discuss mental health with your kids. This is so important as I became aware of my #mentalhealth at a young age and it helps them help you to meet their needs in terms of mental health and tell you how they are feeling
Teaching kids about mindfulnessand meditation. Once I get to spend time with my son and other children again soon, this is something that I’d like to teach them should they feel stressed and if they are having any worries, and if you as a parent not done this before, it is good for new parents too. I am going to talk about Mental Health, being a parent in a post or video, because it is a common factor. If they decide it doesn’t help them, then that is fine, but it is a skill worth practicing and you can use wellness flash cards so they can go through different emotions of mental health and again can discuss the different feelings of the human mind to help deal with mental health problems that can effect children
Have a child look after a pet. As a kid I grew up having cats as pets and knowing people who had dogs, and they can be a great source of wellbeing. I found it gave me a sense of responsibility and when the cat didn’t attack me, being “Target number one” he would sit on my lap and a cuddle. With a pet can be a lovely sense of unconditional love, and it good for kids to know about animals and creatures, its a great way to get in touch with the world
Do a project with your kids. So as many kids are off from school due to Lockdown, why not do projects, like a Science project, write a book, like a children’s book or have them do a computer project example: teaching kids on Desk Top Publishing.
So I hope these tips have helped you, and thank you to those who have liked and followed me so far on this site and I will be back with one next week, and if there is a topic you’d like me to talk about them please leave a comment below.
Hello and welcome! So in this blog I am sharing details of my New Child Safety course to help parents, kids clubs, organisations and institutes protect children, and stop them from being Abused or Bullied.
My course will consist on written information, blog posts, PDFs and Videos.
I have already added the Introduction to the course on the course I am developing and on Youtube and my follow on video, below, is talking about How in the UK we can be more vigilant, and petrol kids settings by having Police Officers working with these clubs, schools, Nurseries and clubs.
I have also set up a new site called The Arch Angels Network, using WordPress aswell which is for Kids being Abused or bullied and is an extra place for them to go and get tips and information.
I think in this day and age that any act such as bullying and abuse carried out, should be looked into immediately and investigated, because it still does go on and I remember when working in the nursery in Wimbledon, when we had what was known as a “Peanut Drill”, that someone was trying to get in.
I was absolutely shitting myself, and tried to keep myself calm, but getting all the kids together without a fuss became a difficult task, and I couldn’t help but panic and the children were hysterical.
People who do this kind of act aren’t worth the blood they were born with, and as far as I am concerned, is the worst thing a person can do and they have no remorse at all.
It makes me see that abusing a child aswell as bullying can be hidden in families and you wouldn’t even know it, and yes they should all be locked up with the key thrown away and given life.
If they take a life they should get life and I am going to fight for it and have all Paedophiles nicked and given life with no rights at all.
My dad could bully me, but he never abused me and I do miss him so much. I am sad I never got to see him before he died and I am gutted about that, I thought he was against me too, but he was just angry.
He taught me how to fight back and yes, I did, and I will continue to fight for children’s rights and stop all abuse and bullying from happening and it is tricky and often controversial topic, but I feel I want to talk about it, as I would like victims of these kind of acts to tell their stories to help others do so aswell.
All kids who have lost their lives I want a monument built and all the names of kids that have died due to abuse in memory of them all, be called “The Angels of Heaven” and have their names on it.
Once a child’s life has been taken you can’t bring them back and yes it causes suicide too, and I felt that a lot this year and is not good when you hit rock bottom. I did take an overdose last Christmas, and I yes my son didn’t know what was going on, but I literally took 3 to 4 Diazepanes in one go. I was a complete mess.
Abuse and bullying can turn a happy go lucking child into a mess and is so soul destroying that it can cause hurt to an entire family, and those who I felt were there to look out for me weren’t and yes it has changed who I am, and it can make a child feel like that too.
If you are abused remember you can always called Childline and they will act straight away.
Those who laugh about it when doing an act of bullying or abuse aren’t human, they are animals and cowards and need to be taught that if you do this, then you need to do the time for doing the crime, and yes all schools, kids clubs, nurseries and playgroups should have a Safeguarding officer to stop it or a welfare office, which I would like to do one day and get it kicked put.
Due to the internet it is so easy to share pictures of our kids, of days out and when they have started school and birthdays, but it is also important to be vigilant .
With Ipads and Tablets they can share anything they want to, but the other side of it , is that you have no idea who is reading and seeing that information, because Peodophiles thrive on pictures of naked pictures of kids, and this is why I never share pictures of my son naked in case the pictures ends up in the wrong hands.
I want help stop child abuse because it wrecks their childhood and to keep our kids safe, we must be aware of what content they watch, who they speak to and do they stop watching something when you walk into their room. When abusers target kids it is for one reason because they can and they will.
My first tip is:
Monitor what your child looks at and there are settings you can put on your child’s tablet and iPad, parental lock on certain sites, same with TV’s and computers/laptops
I remember there was a guy who lived in the New Croft Estate that would watch pornagraphy and would make his kids watch it. I know this because my brother would hang out with his son’s and saw it for himself.
2. Get to know other parents well enough before allowing them to go to their friends for a playdate and if you do run a sports or children’s club to always do a CRB check first on volunteer helpers and make sure they have an up to date DBS.
They can put their DBS on an update service, which shows that their DBS is up to date.
When your DBS expires then you do have to have a new one when working with children.
Going on my experience though these channels don’t stop adults from abusing but it will help you see if they have any passed convictions or not.
When looking after children it is your responsibility to keep them safe and I remember when running a kids football team, one of the boys wondered off and so I told him off to the point I did make him cry because they were my responsibility as a football coach and I didn’t want any of the kids going missing whilst I was in charge, as that is something I didn’t want on my conscious.
3. The one thing I did when we had a match is made a substitute area so they could have a kickabout and keep warm whilst the game was playing and had one of the kids parents watch them whilst I coached the team on the pitch, and I would say to do this all the time, and make them wear bright coloured bibs whilst not playing as if they do wonder off they can be easily seen.
I would say to do this when taking your kids out of the day too, wearing bright coloured clothing but also if they still walking without knowledge of where they going have them wear reins just until they learn about their whereabouts.
4. If you run a kids club of any kind make sure you’re wearing bright coloured bibs or t-shirts too so they know who is supervising the club and an ID badge with their name and role within the club.
To help with child abuse if a child reports abuse or you notice abuse may be taking place, have a Safeguarding officer within the club, who will be specifically there to help kids stop the abuse and to make sure those responsible are investigated and the report is given to the Police aswell.
Also you can seek advice from Childline, NSPCC, Barnardo’s and your local authority.
5. When taking kids to the toilet always have them remove their clothing themselves if they can and make sure if you are in a children’s setting like a nursery you have trained staff who can change nappies safely following hygiene rules and no touching of their private areas, and if you see any bruising near these areas that this is reported immediately.
Do make sure if they have any soiled underwear that this is changed and clothing is washed above 40 degrees to make sure they are thoroughly cleaned and germs are removed.
6. To stop intruders coming into a kids club, school or nursery have a system like having a parent give a password that only the parents and you know, for picking up children if it isn’t you the parent or carer, and make sure keep a register of the children and their guardians.
I remember running a football team and the lady organizing the club didn’t tell the parent that I would be coaching the team and so when she turned up had no idea of who I was and was expecting to me the male coach.
Always communicate with you club volunteers and helpers of who will be attending the club and who will not be for health and safety and in case of a fire.
7. Do a medical form if they are doing sport so they can give you details if they have any medical conditions that could effect them from participating and that they give you an emergency number.
Never pass on any child’s personal information and all subs or fees are taken in and kept safe to bank, and make sure the name of the child and parent is named, and the best way to do this is a letter with fee and have a strip that they can cut to hand in, and that they have a copy of what they have paid to them too.
8. If you are a child minder then make sure you register as a childminder and that your home is checked by Ofsted and that you get to know the child first, and chat with the parents before looking after a child.
Take note of when they usually have their nap and of when they need feeding and changed.
9. When a visitor does check your club or organisation that they fill in a visitors book and they to are given an ID badge and you check their ID.
Always do a risk assessment of venues for health and safety, for any potential hazards.
10. Make sure when using equipment that it has been cleaned and that no doors or corridors are blocked and that you lock equipment away and you are aware of where the fire exits are and assembly points.
I remember when at Butlin holiday camp they did a fire test in the restaurants, and the new staff we had there had no idea of what the fire alarm sounded like and do when it went off they stood around not knowing what to do.
All volunteers, children and parents should be made aware of the fire safety rules and what the alarm sounds like and where to find the vacuation point is, and mark everyone on the register in case there is someone stuck in there.
All tower blocks should have a sprinkler system, a fire escape and an alarm fitted, and don’t stay inside evacuate immediately.
Keeping our kids safe should be top priority and so do make sure you take note of these tips and advice to protect you and your children.
The parenting adventures 