My son is very fussy when it comes to clothes. He won’t wear anything that has a hood. So because of that it can be hard to find a coat or a jacket, and bought a water proof jacket because we lost his coat on the train and was one that had a removable hood, and will not wear the one I bought, and didn’t think about when buying it. The nearest item to a jacket with no hood he will wear, is a body warmer which was from Trespass, via Amazon.
So when buying a coat, if they don’t like hoods then look for one with a removable hood or a bodywarmer making sure they have insulated tops, like a jumper and long sleeved tops, as he will often no matter what, even if it doesn’t have a hood, wear a coat or jacket.
He doesn’t like Polo shirts, and so will only wear his ones for school but non other, and we really have to convince him to wear them, and he looks so smart in them, and great for all year round, but he is not a fan.
I now let him choose what he wants to wear, and have his clothes laid out so he can grab them and put them on. The same with socks and pants.
Have some fun with clothes, as my youngest niece liked to wear pretend princess dresses and there was a little girl at a Swimming class my son goes too, was wearing a princess dress after swimming. I like to dress me and my son in the same thing. It really helps him get dressed and ready for the day. My son never really liked fancy dress, but not so bad now, as he loves dressing up for Halloween and World Book day, which is today as I write this blog, but his school he is at now, the children didn’t dress up, and if they don’t want to be in it all day, then put on underneath, other clothes or pack some spare clothes from them to change into.
I also like to go through his clothes so anything that he will like wearing, but not worn for while get them out of his wardrobe to wear, and won’t wear slippers, and he will tell us now if he wants to keep his socks on, and won’t wear sandals, so will make sure that he has pair of trainers and is wearing ankle socks so in the summer he feet doesn’t get too hot and be in barefoot if it is okay for him to do so and get his feet measured, and he likes to wear his school shoes daily if his trainers need cleaning or changing.
Kids choices will change as they grow, and so will buy clothes for the next age that I know he will wear and keep some polo shirts he has to see if he will change his mind and shop with them and let them choose clothes to buy, when you go shopping and give them a budget of how much they can spend, and will help with waste and get use out of their clothes, and going to keep his fleeces to see if another child they may fit will wear them, or sell or donate.
Thank you for those who follow this blog, it really means the world to me and welcome to those who are new, and I hope your kids are having fun with World Book day and there are more blogs to come.
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Today Sunday the 12th March 2023 my son, made his own and first Vegetable soup, and ate it. As a baby I would give him vegetable and fruit Purees, but as he has grown and with encouragement will eat them.
The homework for my son this weekend was to make a soup and so he chopped up the ingredients needed, helped stir and add the other ingredients, then helped blend them and chopped up the herbs, and it was really tasty. He has begun doing DT at school, and the soup was really good and didn’t make a fuss in eating it.
This inspired me to write this blog, because it was a success, when sometimes it is not.
The key thing to do is to involve in the whole process. We, my mum and I took him shopping and helped us looking for the ingredients, and then made the meal, and we had for lunch.
Kids like to be responsible, and they like it when they can be involved in doing things like cooking and baking. It helps them to understand about food and trying different things. This means even when they are fussy as children’s taste-buds change. I have been guilty of giving him easy meals like fish and chips, burger beans, but now he is learning about food and he is starting to learn what is healthy and what is not, and slowly his feelings on fruit and vegetables has changed, and he will eat them. Start with just a little bit at a time, and mix the veg a bit of potato is they like them, and just a little bit can make all the difference and their willingness when it comes to vegetables.
I do like a biscuit and so does he, but I want to slowly change that and no longer use food as a bribe it can lead to it being a normal habit which I don’t want, but I feel bad in saying no.
However I am no going to deprive him or me, but not eating things like biscuits all of the time. However with Henry enjoying his soup is a good turning point and get us both back on track when it comes to food.
Our kids being healthy is important, and the one thing I don’t ever encourage is fizzy drinks. I never used to drink these as a kid I found them to gassy, and I drink them now, but my son hasn’t and feel good in that. He will drink manly water or milk.
You don’t have to be super strict and not make dinner time a song or a dance, as we say in England, but encouragement and teaching kids about cooking is a great start in getting our kids to be a lot more healthy.
This also saves money on meals because you can save soup and freeze to having it on another day and got some for my lunch tomorrow and my son has some for his dinner tomorrow, so GET OUR KIDS COOKING. a really good skill that will last a lifetime, and help to make them independent.
Before I begin I would like to say a big thank you for those who have read my blogs, and liking my content and following me. If this is the first visit of my blog then welcome. I talk about different topics that you never get told and that I have learned since being a parent. I have a 9 year old son Henry and he lives with his dad and me. His dad’s home is in Surrey and I live in South West London.
I also write books, and written books on parenting, so if you’d like to check them out then you can on Amazon.co.uk and I write under the names Carrie Challoner, Carrie Lee Holmes and Carrie Holmes.
I will be updating this book as when I wrote the book I had baby brain and so some of the dates regarding his birth needs changing, but it like a fly on the wall book where I write like in diary form and so I hope you like it. Its available on Kindle.
In this blog I am talking about Building your children’s personal development. It is so important for our kids to be independent and find their way into the world, and will need many skills to learn that will help their future. Such as reading, writing, listening, talking and memory, getting dressed, going to the toilet and sleeping, that it can be overwhelming for you and for your kids.
So start with taking each step as they develop and if they are interested in a book, allow them to sit with the book and flip through. hardback, Fabric books are good for their senses. It would be books like “That’s no mine…”, as they have pictures with different textures of fabric inside, and pop up books that will make them laugh and you want to build their interaction so its good not just reading, but talking about each book they love, as their awareness develops.
Today my son read the first chapter of Horrid Henry and Partly of Billy Goats Gruff. He has develop delay but he can read really well, its just that he doesn’t always show what he can do and that makes it hard when it comes to school because at the moment the books he is reading at school aren’t challenging enough. Kids, like my son tends to hide a lot of what skills they have, so the learning they do at home, will help them when they go to school, because they will perform more at home sometimes compared to school.
Logging their learning into their school diary of what they have done at home, can help the teachers see that he can read a entire paragraph that he won’t show at school. I know many will say, what about home learning full time, but because he is on the Autism Spectrum he needs that social part of school, and he loves being with other kids.
He enjoys school its just he will hold back a lot and so what you can do at home can make a difference, even if it is 10 minutes of the day.
The same with writing. They will build these skills as they read, and using activity books from stores like Whsmiths can be good to start with along with drawing and helping them make associations with words and writing them down.
Fitting in this has been tricky, so want to do more and can write numbers now and small words, and doing a bit each week or day, is good to help them. Henry is often a bit reluctant to write, but we just do a bit for ten minutes, with a reward helps him be happy about it, and that is where books comes in. It can really be a reward itself for them aswell as a bit of chocolate or a toy that the want to play with.
My youngest niece loves writing and writing stories. Not all kids want to do it, and it can be because they may be dyslexic, so something to consider, not to worry as many successful people have this difficulty like Richard Branson. With my son is because he has ADHD and loves physically learning like he loves sport and trains, and he loved buses and so I made him a book about buses and used this to encourage him to write.
This can lead to listening, and something that my son has trouble with, but is getting better, by giving him encouragement and having structure. If we are watching something we want to watch and not him, we will explain to him first, by saying “Right this programme on now, so we want to be quiet” and quiet time is a good habit especially before bed time, and this leads to an important habit and skill, sleeping.
Sleeping can be hard and I as mum has reminded as I have grown of how much I was a nightmare when it came to sleep as I have always has struggles. This stemmed from when I was a kid and we lived on the ground floor in a housing estate and kept playing visions in my mind of somebody trying to break into my room. I know my mum would be shaking her head, because since a baby before we lived on the ground floor I didn’t sleep, but was an influence I would say.
Having a bedtime routine will help and yes I know you have heard that, but my child still doesn’t sleep well, speak with your health visitor or doctor as they can help. With Henry he has always been good, until he started to grow and often will moan about going to bed now, as he loves being awake and being on the go all the time, wanting to play and watch his tablet but we now don’t have him watch it before bed as it can cause problems with sleep which I did argue against, but has made a difference and now he doesn’t always awake around 5am,. as he sleeps well but wakes up early.
When it comes with talking, my son loves to talk, but this is why he is on the Autism Spectrum because he has Social communication problems, and so will repeat the speaking on trains, example: “Mind the Gap between the train and a platform” but not engage in conversation. He is getting better and so we are trying to stop this especially if there are other children or adults trying to have a chat with him.
He is a social boy, which I know may be contradiction, but he loves other children and will say hello but won’t always engage, like other children. He will stay sentences now, not always in the right dialect, so we will correct him, not angrily or to make him feel bad, but in a way that he says the sentence in the correct dialect.
Kids learn from repetition and where reading can help, and doing speech therapy is great way to help with talking and speaking to others.
Then there is memory and that is where memory comes in. If you keep on showing how to fold a top, they will copy. The more they say sentences in the right context, the more they will continue. Henry’s memory is second to none and remembers when he hurt his head at school and that was 5 years ago, and when I moaned about Boots (a local pharmacy store in the UK) not having birthday gift cards and only had Christmas and so it is little things like that, where its like. Wow you remembered that? And he knew from as soon as he would walk where the park was.
Building memory is a simple as taking the same route to the park so they get to know where they are going and Henry liked when we would walk to school, would want to walk the same route and often I will go through the street names, to help him, and it has helped us to bond and build our relationship with each other, because kids like to be shown things like street names, and counting house numbers to identify numbers.
Henry though, won’t always show this skill, memory and say he doesn’t know but we know he does it appears that he holds his skills back. I have learned a new method to help him by saying, “Sorry can you do that again?” or Can you say that again” and will as we go through it say the answer to something or a sentence that he knows and will show he knows. He just need prompting.
This skill was watching Youtube of a couple called Phil and Alex, and they have two adopted children and a biological child. If they read this blog. Thank you.
Playing games like Dino Duo, Check that out, is a good way to help with memory and there are different games you can play with these cards. (This is not sponsored), it is a game my son and I play a lot and he beats me every time. Card games are brilliant for memory. It help with counting and remember symbols and images.
When it comes to getting dressed, I will leave the clothes out for him and he puts them up. He can do it my son, but can be lazy. They have to do it for themselves to be independent and so its taking a step back as a parent and allow them to figure it out. If my son gets stuck I will offer support but say, “Turn around the other way” for example, when my son puts on a top. He now because I reward him with a high 5 or a cuddle knows when he has put his top on, that he done a good thing.
That is a tip I’d give, celebrate and seeing it as a win
It is a accomplishment and praise goes a long way.
Then there is toilet training. This has been a challenge, and he will still leave it to the last minute and can be frustrated because he is trained he just puts play at the top of his choices but I have had to install that if he does he won’t be able to play, because if we are out means we will have to go home.
He still has struggles when it comes to using the toilet but he is getting better because he I hope this isn’t TMI, in wiping his bottom. He can do it and tries but still have difficulties, but again with all other skills encouragement goes a long way and I don’t make it a big deal its more like “Go and call me if you need help” and he does and this helps with sleep too that he is to go and not wait.
I have put together a board of some of my blogs on Pinterest and so check them out, and there are more blogs to come.
I also have a Youtube channel for more content, which is all about my life as a mum, writer, doing chat videos, Reset videos, hauls and days in a life:
Yes my son is tucked up in his bed and I am up late going through my plans for the week and the first tip is:
Check the weather: This can affect your plans and so it is good to listen to the forecast so you have some idea if it worth going outdoors or not, and it also helps in knowing what to wear for the week. I am glad I have my trainers as I need them in my life., along with a scarf and coat with a hood and a good warm hat.
Tips 2:
Check Travel: Yes if you been in the UK we have had a few train strikes, which can affect plans and I check using the Trainline App to make sure they are running. Checking will help you to know where to go or where to avoid and if you can travel by bus instead. Thankfully looks like the trains are running tomorrow as I am taking my son up to central London which he loves and walk along the river, as he is obsessed with trains and I am lucky that I live where a few trains lines travel through and will be filming for my Youtube channel (typicallondongal Carrie Holmes).
Tip 3:
Free places to go: There are many things you can do that are free like visiting the park and tomorrow walking along he River Thames cost nothing, as I already have my Oyster card topped up to travel, and I will take a few snacks and where we are going there are places to grab something to eat, but I’d may just pick food from the shops along the way rather than going to a restaurant. The food is good along there but does get really busy, and can be expensive.
Tip 4:
Plan the days with your kids: Have them decide where to go, but to save tantrums if you can’t fit it all in, give them options and if you don’t do it this half term, then choose it for the next set of school holidays. As much as we’d like to split ourselves apart to go everywhere, it is virtually impossible, and check out sites like Groupon, Virgin Experiences, Buygift.com as they do have some ideas of what to do, and have then choose online.
It all about having fun and avoiding tantrums if that is possible.
It is important as a parent that I have my son learn Life Skills to help build my son’s independence and become a person in his own right. I do find I talk for him and so I have to remind myself that it’s Henry who needs to speak, not me and so making conversation is a life skill that my son needs to do for himself and have him use his voice and not mine.
Learning how to dress themselves can be tricky because they get used to you, the parent do it and not them, so now I will lay out his clothes, but he puts them on. He is not always happy about it, but he has to do it and so I will give him extra time to do this, so there is no rushing. My son gets easily distracted by what is going around him and so I will turn down the TV and make him turn off his tablet, until he is dressed and ready for the day. It is important for me and his dad do this, and be consistent with it.
If they want to do things for themselves then let them and step away, but still supervising with some distance, if it is something like cooking and making sure that your child has buckled up his seat belt if you drive, or crossing a road. The way to do this, is by going through it step by step, as they become more aware of what they are doing.
Being street wise especially living in a city in essential as it is important that our kids, to stop accidents happening, know about road safety and when to cross a road and when not.
Teaching kids to swim is good to help with the fear of water. Henry at one point wouldn’t sit down in a bath and would stand the whole time, but then one day he sat down and so what ever was affecting his confidence with a bath, he on his own, overcame it.
Give kids time and they will learn skills by themselvesand if you make it fun, it can really help conquer their fears.
So swimming can help with that and Henry loves Swimming and has begun lessons at school and has lessons on Saturday’s too, and has no fear what so ever, and he even loves showers and has one once a week aswell as a bath when he is with his dad.
It is all about their growth and understanding and knowing when to step in and went not.
The more independent they are the more they won’t be reliant on mum and dad helping, and if they find something difficult then make sure you work together as parents to support them and practice different skills taking it step by step.
They are going to need to cook and run their own baths and showers and washing up and washing their clothes, and cook, so if you keep teaching these skills whilst they are still kids the more they will be knowledgeable when they get older and can be fully independent.
Let’s help each other and thank you to you for following me, if you do and liking blogs it really is mind blowing and so if you want to keep updated on my blogs then you can by following me.
I hope you have been liking my series of blogs and in this series it about celebrating birthdays and Christmas gift ideas. In this blog I sharing some great experiences for kids.
Firstly though I would like to share my first Gift Guide video I have uploaded and published on my main Youtube channel. Check it out via this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXwBe4M__Gw
So experiences. They can be brilliant rather than a toy that may never be played with and one year I bought my nieces a experience at Chessington World of Adventures to feed the giraffes and they loved it and created them a letter from Santa to invite them and could choose a day they can go and do it. They ended up being there for nine hours.
Lets support the local theatres and see a show. The are the famous theatres in London but there are local ones, like where my son lives they often put on shows at the Epsom Playhouse and the Polka Theatres. They do a load of kids shows for all ages and the one near me in Wimbledon have a softplay area aswell and I am taking my son to a pantomime at the Wimbledon Theatre and another one at the end of the December in Woking. It is worth it and they don’t have to be for a lot of money. There are companies called Groupon and buyagift.com do special offers on seeing a theatre show and it s great afternoon or evening out.
If you unable to afford it then why not create an experience at home, like a Christmas afternoon tea with turkey sandwiches and cakes. I am taking my son on Saturday to see a football match at AFC Wimbledon and tickets not that expensive, £20 adults and £5 for kids under 18 years.
Why not have a football night and have hot dogs and burgers indoors and can be made into a playdate so they can watch it with their friends, and save you a lot of money and create an invitation to invite their friends around. Make these by hand, with plain and different coloured paper.
Create a camping experience and have them camping out in the garden, if they love camping and again have there friends over to join them and make a bonfire to melt marshmallows. Not necessarily in the winter but create a voucher for it and set a date and write a letter from Santa to tell all about it and what will be included. Like there will be friends coming and games they will play or telling spooky stories.
Arrange a sleepover for your kids and invite other family with their kids around and play party games like, pass the parcel or musical statues. Have them play a board game, which I feature in my gift guide I have linked above of classic games they can play and have a lucky dip.
It is all about making in special and personally for them to have a memorable time and have lots of fun without spending a fortune.
~Why not organize a day where they are in charge of the day and can choose different experiences that can be booked in the year ahead, like go Ice skating. As a kid my mum and her friend would take us to Queensway in London and often at Christmas time they have an ice rink near the museums in South Kensington in London and such good fun. Yes again you may need to save for it but is worth it. Go for a meal at their favourite place and give them a list to write to choose which experience they’d like to do and if they are good get to do what they have chosen and really great to create everlasting memories.
I hope you find these tips helpful and will be doing more blogs as we get nearer to Christmas and birthdays coming, and if you’d like to tell us what experiences you loved that others on this blog would like to read then please do so below.
Music has so many benefits, such as teaching kids about sounds, different words and as a kid when I had to learn my timetables, my mum bought me a tape that was singing, but of the timetables, because I would listen to music all of the time.
It did help me and was a great way to learn, and to help with Henry my son, we use Oak Academy which has different classes and in their lessons, they sing a song, and it makes it fun and not like school work, yet in has benefited, in that his writing has improved and learning new words.
It is free service and no I am not sponsored, if they’d like to then that would be great, but no and it was my mum who introduced it to me and there are English lessons, maths, geography and Drama, etc and music is a good resource.
I am listening to music now as I write this blog and it can help with concentration, and when it is catchy kids will listen to it, and at school I did like music class. I did sing in the school choir at Primary School and then played the recorder, and was not a lover of school, which I have documented. If you’d like to see more of my content like videos and other blog sites then they are linked below.
As a kid I would sit in my bedroom and listen to music and is how I relax, and is like water it comes naturally to me and love having good sing. No I am no Jessie Ware, who I am listening to now, but I do have the music within me. I did Karoake and loved it and that I’d love to do that again as it is about having fun and you can buy them. I want my son to do more on music and it gets their attention.
My son has ADHD, so anything that helps support his development and grabs his attention I will use, as long as it is a good resource.
So, have fun and why not have a summer party and having kids sing songs is a great way to doing that.
Many thanks for reading,
Carrie X
Typical London Gal.
P.S: See link below where you can see more of my content:
As a kid I was a super fussy eater and would not have sauces, vegetables unless they were a pea, and when I ordered a burger in McDonalds I would have just the bun and the burger and wouldn’t stand it when food touched other food on the plate. If a pea, and had to be garden peas, touched a chip of example I wouldn’t eat the chip, but eat the pea.
When I first weaned Henry I started with baby rice and porridge and Farley Rusks, and would make my own vegetable purees and he loved them, especially if it was sweet potato and carrots for example and cabbage soup and loved it. Yet now won’t touch a vegetable unless it is super hidden. He is not as fussy like I was, and will eat when he feels like it a banana, but won’t touch any other fruit.
A kids diet has to be nutritious and filling and avoiding too many snacks, but making sure they are hydrated especially in the summer and have a good breakfast, a good lunch and good dinner is important, but when they are fussy it is fish fingers or chicken nuggets and not anything else. So how to get them eat well?
if they can’t see it they can’t moan about it
So making meals that hides the vegetables is a must and Henry is given a multivitamin everyday in liquid form. I have avoided Henry from fizzy drinks and will only have milk or water. I make sure Henry has good amount of exercise and so after he has had his dinner we will go out into the garden to play some football, or I get him to run around a cone, just making sure he is active. I know some say that they shouldn’t exercise after they have eaten, but it is good for their digestion and it’s not fast, intense exercise just a jog and a kick about.
I don’t have it all sussed out. On the contrary, and do doubt myself as a parent at times, but if he has a good amount of energy, and does some form of physical activity, whether it is tennis or cricket, and a good night sleep then, we as a parent can relax too and helps with our wellbeing too. When it comes to activities it can be one child at a time or something the whole family can do. My son would often join in, when I exercise and dancing, like we did today, when he came home from school whilst his dinner was cooling down.
Life as a parent is not always straight forward, and there will be times where they’d rather watch a video on youtube than play football, but aren’t we all like that at times? I spend a lot of time at my desk, writing and not exercise, but I know I have to move in order to get to Epsom ready for when my son returns from school. Any forms of exercise is good, if you enjoy it and ready so they are properly hungry so they will eat and have them help make food. It is one of the best ways for them to try new foods. I want my son to learn how to cook, and grow his tastes so he is not be fussy and gets the nutrients he needs.
It can be hard work and like last week Henry moaned about having pasta, but he ate it as there was nothing else and is not going to have chips everyday or nuggets. I have worked on my taste buds too, and have controlled my eating. I am no longer super fussy and I now do eat my vegetables and so will your children. persevere, and if they don’t like it at first keep trying, and often if he sees us eat something he not ever had, he was often ask if he can have some. So moving on the right track. Well I hope so, and having a meal together has helped to. As a kid we always sat as a family eating our dinner and so important in their development.
I do write books on parenting on Amazon, under the name Carrie Challoner or Carrie Holmes.
Hello and welcome! Thank you all for following me on this blog it really means the world to me, and really helps me to deliver more content you may like.
So Friday is the last day of term and half term again, and that means going out a lot and it lands on Valentines Day. Yes it is here again, I would like the time to go a bit slower, but out of my control like everyone who feels the same.
I am going to set out a plan for next week and see what I can book that is budget friendly and creates a good time during my sons holiday. These are the times you can really get a lot out of. I still not sure if I will be working next week, so if not want to get outdoors and explore.
Of course it depends on the weather, and going to check this out and planning on taking Henry to the Cinema as was nervous in doing so as he has ADHD, so going to see what’s on and see which Cinemas are open.
When it comes to affording the cinema, as it can be expensive is to bring your own snacks and often you can save money if tickets are pre-booked, or save for it beforehand. I will also be looking at local football team fixtures, but you do have to pre-book once the tickets become available.
My son has started Swimming lessons now and want to heIp, his learning and checked local swimming pools, and they do sessions for all and so going to check to see if I can take him this week, of course it may be busy but great way to bond with your kids and miss swimming myself and going to take this up again, as I like to keep fit however possible.
Check out “Better Gyms” as they do swimming classes too and do parent and baby swimming classes, and some of them have soft play for kids too.
For Valentines why not go for a family meal and give your kids a card. I am going to do this for Henry, and going to get him a kinder egg as a gift and some chocolate coins.
So I hope this helps you to plan your half term and remember if you need a coffee have one as it can be a long week ahead.
The parenting adventures 