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By Little Mummy, March 30, 2008 10:06 am

We’ve been busy enjoying a nine day break from work. We’ve been out on a few days out, a weekend to a caravan near pitlochry and I’ve had some mixed results on the poker table (more on that later).

Last week we decided to head to the Time Capsule in Coatbridge. I’d been there a few times when I was younger and remembered it being a lot of fun. Erin has only recently begun showing an interest in ‘splashies’ aka swimming, so we thought it would be a good idea to go and check it out.

The prices were really reasonable, under £5 for us all to swim (I really mean bob and splash), and an extra £1.80 for soft play. Unfortunately the flumes were closed which was a little disappointing, although Erin proved herself to be a daredevil on the rather large (and steep) children’s slide, or perhaps is was an over protective parents view that the slide was “large” and “steep”.

It was a cheap day out, after stopping for lunch the whole day cost under £20.

Comments (15)

By Little Mummy, March 15, 2008 5:19 am

Last year I did a short round up of what I thought were the most appropriate gifts for a one year old. Here is my new version, especially for two year olds. I realise that I only have a girl’s eye view on the subject so jump in with extra ideas, especially for boys.

1. In the Night Garden Characters & Figurines

One commenter recently had a go at me for promoting these items, arguing that there was nothing educational about a babbling character toy. I beg to differ.

The said commenter argued that children in Erin’s age bracket should be learning colours, shapes and numbers. Indeed they should, however, one of the most important (and undervalued) types of play is ‘imaginitive play’. This is any game which involves the child using their imagination to act out scenarios through toys or themselves. This can include playing ‘house’ with cups and saucers, ‘mummies and daddies’ with dolls, or various scenarios with in the night garden characters. This sort of play is highly creative and helps children deal with a variety of emotional situations.

2. Vtech Laptop

This winnie the pooh version is ideal, there are about a dozen games including spelling, basic maths and finding the odd one out. Erin isn’t using it to it’s fullest potential yet, but come the summer I think she’ll understand it a lot more. However, I have heard her imitating the phonics game which is encouraging.

3. Books

It’s old but true, you can’t go wrong with a nice book, or if it’s a special occasion a book collection. We’ve both bought and received the Angelina Ballerina set, which is lovely.

4. Paints

Erin loves painting. I like to find new and interesting (read: CLEAN) ways for her to exercise this hobby. These paint wands are good fun.

5. Play Doh

A big tub with play doh and all manner of tools is a great choice for a two year old. Santa bought one for Erin at christmas and she loves it.

6. Tent/Wendy House

I love watching kids playing ‘houses’ or ‘mummies and daddies’, it’s the cutest. Any tent or wendy house can act as home/shop/vets clinic/doctors office/army bunker/and anythingelse our kids care to think up. You can’t beat imaginitive play – we’ve had plenty of use from our ninky nonk already.

7. A Play Phone

Heard yesterday ” ehlo….yes……kay…..juice….toys…..byeeeeee”. My two year old daughter taking a phone call from whoever…iggle piggle perhaps??

8. Baby Dolls (and accompanying paraphenalia)

Two year olds make suprisingly good parents…until they accidently drop baby, while trying to carry two balls, a boat, a handful of play food and a tombliboo.

9. Personalised plates, bowls and cutlery

If you want to buy something ‘sensible’, plates, bowls and cutlery are always handy.

10. Musical Instruments

This is a long standing favourite. A piano and stool have been the latest addition to the collection.

Comments (2)

By Little Mummy, March 5, 2008 12:31 pm

I’m not really keen on the term organic. It’s become a little too fashionable for my liking, it seems to be as much about the expensive upper class image as about it’s actual roots – no pesticides, ethically produced etc…

Having said that, I do realise that the term ‘Organic’ is serving a valuable purpose.

The Problem

Currently, products are predominantly marked with monetary costs, social costs are rarely advertised.

For example, when you visit tesco (or other food outlet) the only costs displayed are the monetary costs. Each item is labelled with a monetary price. Purchasing decisions are based on these monetary prices, personal preference and efficacy of the marketing/packaging of a product.

Many consumers have become concerned about a different cost. The social cost. That is, the cost to the environment to produce the product and the cost on the animals or humans that produce the product. ‘Fairtrade’ and ‘Free Range’ are relatively new terms to help as make decisions based on social cost. These terms, along with the ‘organic’ label help consumers understand how a particular product has been produced, it also helps to explain the higher price tag these items carry.

These terms enable consumers to make comparisons between products, considering monetary price and social cost.

Beyond Organic

As interest and concern increases over the environment and social cost of products I expect to see new systems come to the fore further enabling consumers to understand social cost and make decisions accordingly, we’ve already seen suggestions of short video clips demonstrating the social cost of battery farmed eggs and caged chickens.

Some possible scenarios might include a traffic light system or star rating based upon the social cost of a product, with air miles, workers pay, animal welfare, packaging and recyclability all being considered and rated. We’ve already seen a similar system established for white goods (based on energy efficiency), is food and drink next?

Will we go one step further and have seperate sections of the supermarket for products with the lowest social costs? Not so far fetched really, we already have seperate sections for organic products, gluten free, wheat free etc..

I also forsee further tax breaks for ‘green’ goods, we already have a tiered system for motor vehicles, we will surely see this going further with VAT breaks on high energy rated white goods and perhaps one day on food too.

This of course would make ethically produced and ‘green’ goods more affordable to the masses, thus having the economic effect of less demand for the products causing the highest social costs. As demand drops, so will supply. We would eventually see farmers and producers change their practices to meet this new demand for products with low social costs.

How far we are away from this is anyone’s guess, but the wind of change is definitely here.

Your thoughts..