Last day of term and planning for half term

Yes, my son breaks up for half term, some schools in the UK have already begun having time off as many schools have a two week half term, and so I hope it is going well, with your kids, as you love them to bits, but can drive you mad at the same time.

Image inside Battersea Power Station

My son has been a little devil the last few weeks, and being a little more strict with him, because Henry wants to watch his tablet as soon as he wakes up, but because he was mucking about, not wanting to eat is brekkie or get dressed for school, made it a rule that he can watch his tablet, once he has eaten his breakfast and gotten dressed for school, and yes he has been protesting but has started to be less stressful and wants to play rugby instead.

Tablets and Android devices can affect a child’s behaviour and so I monitor now how long he spends on his tablet and have sometime watching educational stuff.

I have discovered a new learning APP Called, https://uk.ixl.com/ and will be using it a lot next week, as I have been with y son in the mornings, done some learning in maths using this platform and is great APP to continue their learning out of school.

So I do have things planned for half term. I am taking him to the Natural History Museum because along with trains he loves dinosaurs, and then is going to a kids club for two days, and then plan to take him up London, and get the train to London Bridge, as he has been asking if we can do that for a while, so if the trains are operating then we will be taking trip into London from Epsom, and then it is Friday, and then he is back to school a week later.

If you visit London check out the museums, I often take Henry there because they will add new things to see when you go and one time we went I booked a film about the Antarctic and was so interesting, and you did have to pay, but wasn’t very expensive and was enjoyable to watch, but if you do’t do that then they are free to visit, but would recommend to prebook.

In London Bridge there are shops inside the stations, Borough Market and have street acts, then over the bridge from London Waterloo there is Covent garden and from there, is Trafalgar Square, and many theatres and restaurants where you can have a good meal.

Also check out the Southbank Centre too: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/families?type=family-young-people They have a some shows on and there is often a book market and then have the Festival Hall, the London Eye, Shrek Adventure, London Dungeons and the London Aquarium.

Check out the UberBoat, we did this in the summer holidays and loved it. North Greenwich is a great place to go, as there is a Trampolining, Cable Cars, a Virtue Rollercoaster ride, which me and Henry did and wanted to get of at first, but was a great laugh, and then there is Battersea, and so plenty of things to see and visit.

So I hope that helps give you ideas. I am not sponsored by anyone, and personal choice and on attractions I have visited often that I know can be so much fun.

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X

Planning the Easter Holidays 2023

Yes so the Easter holidays are upon us and time to buy those chocolate eggs and baskets. I filmed a Sunday chat video on my Youtube channel talking about Easter and even though money may be tight you can still celebrate the holidays.

I filmed it for my Sunday chat video sharing ideas. Check out this link: https://youtu.be/XSkAvLcQ91M and I did write a post that shared on Pinterest for some time ago, if you’d like to check that out for ideas for Easter. https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/309270699409733991/

Photo by George Dolgikh on Pexels.com

There will be a few days where my son is going t to a holiday club called Youngstars which was £49 for a full day, but not bad and they are brilliant and Henry misses the interaction of being around other children and then we are going to go up London to his favourite place London Waterloo and Swimming. We use Better gyms to go swimming as they do Swim for all sessions and can pay as you go. You can book and I would suggest you to do so, or if you are in another country and have access to a pool then use it, but of course it depends on the weather too.

Where I take Henry they have two indoor pools and he loves it, and they have a soft play section to where we can go after swimming, but going to see if I can book this as it is in another section in the Leisure Centre and does get full.

I will be taking a few snacks with me and some cash, and will be making packed lunches on some days as going to restaurants and eating out can become expensive and when it is warm I often like eating a packed lunch and Henry enjoys it and I love picnics so I hope we will be able to do that.

Plan for the weather not to not go out but to know what to wear and if it is a new place you are going to check out what is local and if you don’t want to be carrying a packed lunch if they do reasonably good price food and if there is a coffee shop and toilet facilities.

I have found that the older a child is the less you need. So with Henry I don’t to carry a lot but make sure I have enough money on my Oyster card (this is a card that you top up to travel on public transport) and that I have some cash and my bank cards. Often I will take a change of clothes but to be honest unless we are going swimming don’t I need to take any but just his coat, and to carry would recommend a bumbag as these are great things to have and will be what I will be using, but to carry coats gonna use his rucksack which is light and for any other items, like tissues and wipes.

The one thing I like is the Easter Egg hunt and my mum usually plans this, and have time with other family members we don’t always get to see and friends and can easily be done on budget and why not have a Easter Egg making challenge and task and I would love to do that with my son, as I did do this one year and they were great to make, so why not give it a try. All you need is chocolate and moulds and then once made can be stored once completed in the fridge or freezer to harden and add sprinkles or putting treats in side.

I have seen a lot of ideas of baking goods to make on Tik Tok, and great for getting ideas along with Pinterest and just having a good time with family and creating those life long memories.

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X

Handling half term blues/time for spooks today

For some schools it was half term in the UK last week, but this week my son has been on half term, and it’s not quite gone to plan. Monday I took Henry to a park in Putney near the river thames, and because I forgot his ball which I remembered once we got there he was completely miserable for most of the day.

I tried to explain that I had forgotten it but there are swings in the park and we can sit by the river to watch some boats, seagulls, planes fly over, trains, buses and may see a few helicopters, which my son is obsessed with at the moment, however he was still fixated about his ball.

He did cheer up in the end once he had a complete meltdown, and I felt like a complete failure. I did think about his ball, but in the end because I wanted to get there early so not to be back home too late, didn’t think about the ball until we got the park.

Kids can get obsessed with items its part of how they built their likes and dislikes, and so the next day I did bring his ball, as we went to Wimbledon Park and he was my friend again.

To handle half time blues:

• I have got down to his level and talked it through with him and got him to focus on the other things he loved and in the end on Monday, we did have a good time sitting by the river watching the world go by. If you do feel yourself wanting to scream, what I did is let it out quietly so I did weep a little, whilst trying not to see my son see my cry and then brushed myself off and concentrated on the time we had together.
• Count 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 which is the Mel Robbins technique, which I share a lot about on my other blog site Everyone Can Built A Castle, or count to 10 in your head if this counts
• If you are with someone else, take a few seconds out. Putting children in timeout hasn’t always work but getting yourself out of the situation for a few seconds can help wonders

On Tuesday after we had been to Wimbledon Park, I surprised him by meeting Nanny (my mum) for lunch up London. Result! Not gloating, but that’s how you feel when things do go to plan. He did still kick off a little because the one thing Henry struggles with but can do with persistence, is waiting, but once he saw nanny he was all smiles again.

If your son has ADHD and struggles to wait try:

• Getting them to focus on something. Reading the book The Baby Whisper, hits the nail on the hand with this one, and is useful because it can work, depending on the child. What I did was say to Henry “See if you can spot someone we know” and he did.
• If you are waiting for a train or bus, get them to see how many different numbers they can guess of the buses, which was one thing we did on Monday, which worked, and this helps them wait for when its time to get on their bus or train.

The one thing they said at school is that he won’t sit down for very long, but on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, he has. It is often is dependent on what it is, because he sat there lovely yesterday especially watching the birds and the ducks, so if there is something that gets their concentration, then use it.

Yesterday we were out for most of the day. I took him to Battersea Park, where there is a pond, an area to play football which we did and played the crossbar challenge, sat and had our sandwiches that I took with us, and some snacks and then watched the birds by the pond and then walked along the river up to Fulham Broadway. We did have to stop a few times as children do get tired quite quickly but we still did it, and Henry loved walking along the river, going over the bridge and then he got to go passed Chelsea Football club, which I wanted him to see. I wanted to show him a big football stadium, I would love to take him to a match at Stamford Bridge, but just walking passed seeing his face light up I could still he got something out of it.

Henry still had a few meltdowns throughout the day yesterday, because he finds it hard to change from doing one thing to another, but once I showed him that we are going there and perhaps I should print off pictures and map to show him next time to see if this will help, he was fine and as said in the end stopped getting frustrated which is a lot to do with it and didn’t want to go home.

Today he had a bit of meltdown too because we are stopping in for part of the day, but I have an eye screening appointment at my local hospital and then later (my husband and I) are going to take him over to Wimbledon to get his feet measured in Clarks, a great place to get kids shoes, to possibly get Henry some new trainers.

Quick tip# If children start to trip over a lot with their shoes, it is a possible sign that their shoes need changing and their feet are starting to grow out of them.

In any case he really did kick off and I felt myself heat up, so sat down in the Living room and then took a deep breath went back to him and calmly explain things to him trying to use simple words and to see that today we have to do other things but tomorrow we can do a park and walk by the river again.

He did calm down. I am finding talking it out with my son to be a lot more effective then raging which can be tempting, but I can see that this has no effect but can cause an even more a meltdown.

As it is Halloween, time for spooks today we have decorate our home for Henry and my husband too, we won’t be trickle treating but still going to have a bit of fun, going to see if I can make our dinner, burgers, Salad and chips, into something scary.

Even if your children aren’t trickle treating then it can still be a great day to dress up and have some spooking fun.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!

You can keep up to date with my blogs by following me on WordPress.com and please share what you did this years half term and how you have handled the half terms blues, as a parent speaking and sharing things with other parents can really help. You can leave a comment below.

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Many thanks for reading,

 

Carrie X

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