Littlemummy.Com

I have been asked to review this page on cyber bullying.

I have had no experience with cyber bullying, and it’s not a topic (as far as I can remember!) that I have ever covered here, so I’m probably quite well placed to see what I can take from the page.

My first impressions on a technical level were that it’s quite difficult to navigate. I spent a lot of time trying to find the information I was looking for, perhaps a basic list of links would help ie ‘Find out about cyber bullying, how parents can help prevent cyber bullying etc… This would be particularly helpful for parents who aren’t used to navigating and researching on the internet. For example this list of Ten Tips to pre-empt cyber bullying is good, solid advice but unfortunately it’s a little too tucked away (scroll down, it’s about half way down). A simple redesign and reorganisation of the information is all that is needed.

On a teaching level, there is a wealth of information and resources which includes lesson plans to help tackle the issue. I’m not sure whether they cover cyber bullying widely at school (any teachers in the audience?), I would hazard a guess that it would be discussed within the larger topic of bullying in general.

There is a glossary of definitions for parents who are not used to hearing terms like ‘URL’, ‘Blog’, ‘Bash Board’ and ‘Trolling’. Even being able to use the language can demonstrate to your children that you are ‘with it’ and gives them confidence they can approach you if there is a problem, which is the angle that the Kamaron Institute comes from.

There is a table of ‘big brother’ style software to track internet usage, however, I’m glad to see that the Kamaron Institute does not directly recommend such software as the answer to the problem.

Overall, good information, that unfortunately is badly organised from a reader’s perspective, and seems somewhat out of order. I hope that when the site manager reads this it will prompt a rethink in the layout and flow of the information so that parents can benefit even more.

Check out the page and add your own views.

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In a recent post I suggested that the popular entrepreneurial venture of a lemonade stand was a good activity that was free, yes, I know the lemons and sugar will cost but you will make that back when you sell the lemonade!

Here’s a recipe I found (Juliet Moxley book again!), I haven’t tried this recipe so don’t blame me if it’s foul and you don’t make any money - only kidding, how foul can it be, it’s just lemonade!

Lemonade

You need;

4 Lemons
4 tbsp castor sugar
Water

A Pint Jug

1. Cut the lemons in half and squeeze the juice with a lemon squeezer (I don’t have a lemon squeezer so I would use a fork).

2. Pour the juice into the pint jug, add the sugar and enough boiling water to dissolve it, stir well.

3. Fill the jug with cold water and refrigerate. Serve with ice*.

*Tip Charge a premium for your lemonade by making lemon ‘n’ lime ice cubes. Cut thin slices of lemon & lime, cut into triangles and put one of each into an ice cube tray, top with water and freeze.

Erin had her feet measured and received her first pair of proper shoes today.

The picture shows the correct style except we chose white (am I mad?!). Clarks were really good, the fitting was professional and they even took her photo in the shoes and entered us into a contest for two years worth of free shoes, so I make that around 10 pairs!!

Note to self: Don’t buy shoes on days when you could only find the same style of sock, not the same colour, which results in an apology to the staff member for falling short of ‘expected mothering standards’.

Erin (oblivious to my shame) was quite taken with her ‘big girl’ shoes and kept pointing and smiling. Aaahh.

How to stifle your creativity in ten steps over at lifehack is a good template for how not to stifle your kids creativity.

Discourage Fear

Discourage fear in your kids, especially fear of getting it wrong or being ridiculed. Encourage ‘giving anything a go’. Don’t pass your own fears and misgivings onto your kids wherever you can help it. Reminds me I really need to let Erin go it alone a bit more in the cruising/climbing and investigating deapartment.

Accentuate the Positive

When they are struggling remind them of a time when they achieved something by trying again and again.

Don’t Plan Their Days To The Last Second

A hot topic at the moment, how many activities are too many activities? When there isn’t any time for free play!

Encourage Individuality

Let them know it’s ok to be different. It could be this that helps them say no, when their friends are all saying yes later on!

Try Something Different

We all like to focus on the things we are good at, but trying new things is important. Rotate the toys, visit a different park, take a different route, there are opportunites to learn in every new experience.

Don’t Be The Dictator

Encouraging kids to make good decisions for themselves is what we should be aiming for. It’s pretty easy to dictate their every move, but, eventually they will be teenagers and we are going to need to rely on them to make their own decisions, I think I’d rather start early and encourage good decision-making before the decisions involve drugs, alcohol and other such teenage activities nudge..nudge..wink..wink.

Encourage Questions

Questions show that they are thinking about their world. The constant why’s are serving a purpose, remember, they are starting out with no knowledge whatsoever, it’s no wonder they have so many questions. So stay calm and answer as many as you can.

Follow Up On Ideas

Encourage them to follow up on their creative ideas and thoughts ie “Mum, this would make a really cool……” take that washing up liquid bottle and help them make that rocket, then encourage them to make a rocket launcher…. This has two benefits, being able to follow through on ideas, and love of learning, think about it, they will probably need to research what a rocket launcher looks like before they make one!

Ask Their Opinion

Make them feel important and worthy of an opinion. Even seemingly inconsequential things like “should we buy green apples or red apples” can be important to kids who are living in a world where they have very little control.

Challenge

Encourage them to challenge themselves, even if you think they might fail (unless it’s dangerous), failing is something we all need to do so that we learn how to bounce back and achieve success next time. You never know they might just surprise you and themselves by achieving success the first time around.

Thoughts welcome…..

Ben at Instigator Blog has a very interesting post entitled 10 Things They Need To Teach in Highschool.

I’m in agreement with most of the list, here’s what I would add.

Goal Setting - How to set goals and achieve them. Discuss ambition and motivation.

Research Skills - When you know how and where to find information and resources you have the power to teach yourself anything.

Self Development - How to continue to grow once school is behind you.

Life Skills - I’d have many topics under this heading including how to buy a house, basic diy, basic car maintenance, parenting, being a good citizen, manners and etiquette…

I agree with Entrepreneurship, Psychology & Personal Finance from Ben’s list.

Entrepreneurship - I would like to see kids being taught about various ways to make money if they are made redundant/unemployed perhaps then there would be less of a strain on the benefits system. Also, how to spot opportunities and how to start your own business.

Psychology - I’m going for this because I would have loved to have done it at school.

Personal Finance - On a basic level, budgeting, living within your means, debt and the consequences of, saving and investing could all be VERY useful skills in today’s society.

Feel free to add your own…

I found this idea in a very old book by Juliet Moxley. Erin’s too young for it yet, but it seems so simple, and ideal for mums and dads that aren’t that great with more in-depth projects.

All you need is some newspaper, a large piece of paper (wallpaper will do), masking tape, paint and a paintbrush.

Prep: Cover the work surface with newspaper.

1. Tear strips of newspaper and lay them across the paper, don’t be too tidy, the more raggedy (is that a word?!) the more interesting a pattern you will create, don’t forget to leave gaps in the paper where you can paint.

2. Once you are happy with the pattern tape the newspaper ends to the work surface (which should also be covered with newspaper!).

3. Paint the whole picture, before removing the strips one by one to reveal the pattern.

*Tip This would work great with zebra or tiger colours. For a jungle/zoo display use huge pieces of wallpaper using the pattern as a background.

Photo by flickr user Lorna is copyrighted.

The Simple Dollar is urging us to have a money free weekend. Spending time rather than money is a lost art for many of us. Living on one (and a bit) income, and being an avid reader of the simple dollar for some time now I have thought a lot about the activities we can do as a family that are free.

Have a DVD Night

Dig out the dvd’s you haven’t watched for a while, use snacks from the house and make your own ‘in-house cinema’.

Teddy Bears Picnic

Younger kids will love to take dolls and teddies on a picnic, all you really need is a blanket and a tea set.

Go Cycling

If you have bikes, go cycling, free and healthy. We don’t have bikes, but I think I might hire one when I go to Centre Parcs.

Visit Your Local Botanical Gardens

Most areas have local gardens that are well kept and free. Sometimes they even have free exhibitions.

Keep an eye out for Freebies

For example, in Scotland, this weekend, all historical sites are FREE entry, also, I just this week I received an invite to a FREE food tasting event.

Paddling/Ball Pool

Most homes with children have an inflatable pool for water or balls. This can provide hours of fun for kids.

Hold a Scavenger Hunt

Gather your kids and all their friends and hold a scavenger hunt. A quick list typed on the computer of about 20 items will suffice. Divide the kids into pairs, older matched with younger works best. Offer a small prize to the winner (something from the house will do).

Become an Entrepreneur

Ignite your kid’s entrepreneurial spirit and get them working. Make rose perfume (water and petal, remember that?), a lemonade stand, make badges/bracelets from those make and do sets from christmas, make slush puppies to sell, hold a toy sale, start a car washing business, kids love trying to make money!

Go to the Beach

Preschoolers love sand and they love water. At the beach there is an abundance of both, FREE.

Reading

Challenge your kids to read a certain amount of books in one weekend.

Visit Your Local Art Gallery or Museum

We have recently visited two modern art galleries and have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Hold a Tournament

This is great for older kids. If you have a computer, hold a gaming tournament. If you are lucky enough to have a pool table or darts board hold a knockout tourney.

Arts & Crafts Afternoon

Lay a large mat on the floor and get the glitter, glue, card etc out.

Make a Den

Provide a group of kids with a few sheets/tarpaulin, and other random items to make a den.

Sports

Encourage the kids to organise a mass game of football or rounders in the park.

Photo by flickr user The Alieness

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A while ago I was approached by a McCain representative offering me FREE samples of their new gourmet range, not one to say no to free food, I accepted.

We tried three varieties from their gourmet range, to be honest, although I accepted (free food!) I was pretty sceptical. I don’t usually buy these type of ready made potato products as I find them expensive and they usually have that fake potatoey taste with too much cheap flavourless sauce added to make it vaguely edible. Hmmm…. here is my honest opinion on each product!

Cheddar Mustard Gratin

This was tasty, potatoes layered with mustard and cheese sauce topped with cheese. The potatoes tasted ‘real’, and the mustard wasn’t too strong. We had it with ham, and for a quick meal I was very impressed. So far so good….

Potato Crumble with Four Cheeses

Layered potatoes with a four cheese sauce and crumbly top. Thick potato slices with a nice rich sauce. The sauce was a pleasant surprise, cheesey, thick, and not drowning the potatoes like the usual watery concoctions I have tasted. My only complaint would be it could have done with one more spoonful of sauce. The crumbly topping was a welcome departure from the melted cheese standard. All in all very good and a perfect quick tea served with ham or salad.

Diced Potatoes with Leek, Onion & Parmesan

This dish was afforded the least expectation (I expected it to be rubbish!), but it actually delivered the biggest surpise of all. Crispy little roast potatoes with bags of flavour mingled with roast red onion and leeks. The parmesan was present but more in the background I would say. Very tasty, and would be difficult to guess that it wasn’t homemade.

Hi everybody, Dave, littlemummy.com webmaster here. The site will be available but may look a little screwed up over the next couple of days. We’re refreshing the visual look of the site, so there may be some broken links for a short while as we do clean-up behind the scenes. Please bear with us.

Thanks,

Dave

Update - Everything seems to be up and running now - comments on the new look, as well as any bug reports, are welcomed. Leave a comment on this post or hit us up via the contact page!

Do schools kill creativity?

Following on from my own post Term-Time Holidaying & The Education System please check out the above talk by Sir Ken Robinson. (Thanks T-Bird)

Don’t forget to come back and share your views.

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I think the title is a little harsh, perhaps after speaking to a ‘real’ teacher I can see how difficult the job is, however, I strongly believe that that the points Sir Ken makes are valid. We do have a subject hierarchy that is difficult to justify at a time when the variety of jobs available is vast, the pay-off, both financially and emotionally if you succeed in a non-academic field is huge. I’m thinking sports person, actor, artist, musician…..

I think it is our responsibility as parents to nurture and encourage non academic subjects and interests. We have to accept that schools can’t ‘do it all’, we need to plug the gaps, as a partnership, we can encourage our children to succeed in any area they wish.