Comments (10) It’s been a hectic couple of weeks, between Erin’s birthday and the arrival of our new puppy Daisy we’ve been kept pretty busy. Here’s a lil’ slideshow of Erin’s birthday celebrations, mostly for the grandparents in Wales you understand 
Hello Nanny & Grandad!
I don’t get it. Why is everyone so hell bent on ensuring that their offspring aren’t gender stereotyped? I’m reading lots of posts at the moment discussing how as a parent they’re going out of their way to promote ‘boys’ toys to girls, and ‘girls’ toys to boys, even though that’s the exact stereoptyping they’re trying to avoid. Then there was the say no to pink campaign or whatever it was called and folk getting their knickers (pants?) in a twist about the colouration of toys and clothes and…
and quite honestly I’m wondering what the fuss is about?? Does it matter, really…
Does wearing pink limit your child’s future potential? Is it really so bad if boys want to play rough with their swords and sabres? Do we need to ensure that such stereotyping doesn’t exist? I mean I totally get that we shouldn’t be promoting it like “Erin, you’re a girl, and therefore you’re forbidden from wearing blue” but it’s natural that kids will want to copy peers and fit into life’s stereotypes we’re all conforming to a stereotype of one kind or another.
I’m more of a tomboy myself and Erin, well she likes jewellery, fancy clothing, shopping and skirts. I have no idea where she gets it from but I’m certainly not going to force her into hoodies and football simply to avoid the stereotype.
So what do you think, is there an issue here, and if so can someone enlighten me…
“I’m sorry Buzz Lightyear, you’re too late, he’s been killed….”
As I lay in my bedroom I wonder, how? when? and why is my four year old daughter involved?
Who’s been killed, Woody?
Who would want to kill Woody?
I know him and Buzz had a difficult start but I thought they were friends..
He wouldn’t would he?
It’d need to have been an elaborate plot..
Maybe it’s Jesse, she’s always seemed a bit..a bit…I don’t know… I’m not sure she really loves Woody the way she says she does. Could she have been having an affair with Buzz and now wants Woody out the way? Course she wouldn’t dirty her own hands…
Who could she have hired, Mr Potato Head?
Has he decided to go for the surgery he’s been wittering on about…
Or has Mrs Potato Head’s demands for more facial accessories finally bankrupted him…money as a motive would make sense.
I decide to go and question Erin…
Me: Erin, who was killed?
Erin: Nobody (shifty look)
Me: I heard you saying somebody was killed.
Erin: Well, actually it’s Buzz
Me: Who killed him?
Erin: It wasn’t me
After further investigation I have established that it was just a game and no-one has been killed, no need to call the police. Give taggart a phone though, I reckon our plotline is a winner.
Photo by flickr user Nereski
Idea stolen from Are We Nearly There Yet Mummy, questions stolen from Sticky Fingers
How old do you have to be to drive a car?
This big (arms stretched out wide)
When Nana babysits, where do you think Mummy and Daddy are?
At home
What do you think the Queen looks like?
A crown, a dress….and they curtsy
Where do babies come from?
Out of people’s tummies
How do the babies get inside tummies?
This one’s really hard….don’t know.
How much pocket money do you think you should get per week?
This much (arms stretched out wide)
Who is the cleverest … Mummy or Daddy?
You mum, because you make me good drinks and tea.
What do you want to be when you grow up?
A nurse at the hospital
If you could be anyone else who would you be?
I would be an astronaut, because I like astronauts
Who do you think is in charge of the country.
Daddy?
If you had children what would their names be?
Daisy, I would only have one children like you do.
Who’s your best friend in the whole world?
Elspie
……………………………………………………..
Erin Interviews Me
How do you put lipstick on?
Make sure it’s inside your lips? (I actually have no idea, have never worn the stuff)
How do you drink juice?
From a cup
How do you make breakfast?
Cook toast or put cereal in a bowl
How do you eat?
With a knife and fork
How does glass smash?
If you hit it with something. (I actually got this one wrong several times according to Erin)
Erin’s never been one to try lots of different foods, well apart from when she was a baby and would eat anything (including thai green curry!) Recently however, things had gotten worse she was eating little other than bread, plain rice or pasta along with fruit and some veg. It wasn’t critical, she was still eating most food groups but was completely unwilling to try anything new, making it difficult to eat as a family.
Introducing Littlemummy’s Marble Shop
In a bid to bribe encourage her to attempt new dishes and eat more of the good stuff I opened Mummy’s Marble Shop. Each meal she eats in full (no quibbles) she earns a marble which can be exchanged for one treat (small sweet, one biscuit, a desert). Each meal she doesn’t even try she loses a marble. Each half finished meal earns nothing, but no marble is taken away either. The system has been working well and I’ve noticed that not only is she eating more good stuff she’s also trying new things and because her treats are rationed she eats less of them too. She knows if there’s no marble then the shop is closed. Erin seems to love trying to earn marbles and exchange them for her own choice of treat/desert, taking responsibility of a balanced diet herself and eradicating the constant nagging for sweets. It’s out of my hands and off my conccious whether she’s allowed a treat or not, it’s up to her when she uses her marbles
As we introduce pocket money I think I’m going to add in an extra rule where she can ’sell’ her marbles to me for X amount which she can then save for a toy or whatever further encouraging her to reduce her ’spending’ on sweets and save towards toys or books.
Do you have a similar system? How do you manage to get your kids eating well whilst controlling their junk intake?
Photo by flickr user whodenee
My entry into Tara’s favourite picture meme.
I love this photo, it was Erin’s first time paddling in the sea. In the future this will be the picture that reminds me just how much fun it all was, and how I wish I could turn back the clock and read one more story, have one more cuddle, go paddling just one more time.
Erin’s in preschool but before long I’ll be signing her life her education over to the professionals, up until now I’ve been her teacher. We’ve spent nearly four years together, I’ve taught her to walk, talk, make pasties and play noughts & crosses, all life skills I’m sure you’ll agree. So now that she’s due to start school next year I’m beginning to wonder where my ‘teaching’ role begins and ends.
Is it time I let go? Allow the professionals to get on and do their job, after all I don’t have a teaching degree.
Do I play the supporting role filling in the gaps with craft filled afternoons and trips to the museum?
Or is it the other way round, are the teachers supporting me? Will my role change at all? I don’t know.
I’d hate to think after four years hard graft I’m going to be consigned to the dump, bright enough to educate a preschooler but too dim to teach anything beyond basic addition, but if I do try and get involved will I end up hindering her progress, teaching her letters in the non-phonic way or teaching her that quadratic equations are pointless
Should I be pleased to be ‘hands off’? Who wants to re-learn quadratic equations anyway?
I just don’t know
So I’m asking you, how much do you get involved in your child’s education? Do you help with homework? Do you do extra learning at home? Or do you stay well out of it.
Whose responsibility is it to teach our kids?
My predictions for parenting in the new decade.
1. A return to home parties
Everyone’s still skint because of th credit crunch, add to that the fashion of ‘homemade and I reckon birthday parties in the home are destined for a big return. The cool kids are already doing it.
2. A continuation of having breastfeeding rammed down our throats (excuse the pun)
In the 70’s and 80’s it was fashionable to bottlefeed, in the noughties it’s become fashionable to breastfeed and woe betide anyone who decides not to.
3. Demise of parenting mags as forums and mummy blogging take over mwah haha
Is the parenting magazine dead? I don’t know but I reckon it faces a tough fight to maintain its market share. Forums and ‘mummy blogging’ anre on the rise, mummy to mummy advice is where it’s at, many don’t listen to the so-called experts anymore.
4. Baking, crafting, and playing in the park come in. Expensive activities such as soft play go out.
Let’s face it many of these ‘kids activities’ are over-priced, I think 2010 will be the back to basics year where we give the kids a pack of pavement chalk and tell them to come in at tea time
5. The education system will be meddled with, especially when David Cameron finally takes up the hot seat.
It’s as predictable as the sun rising tomorrow, but what will they do next is the real question
6. Smacking will be practically an offence worthy of capital punishment, the ‘naughty step’ will lose popularity and a new strategy for discipline will emerge.
Smacking is pretty much dead, the ‘naughty step’ has become old skool. Watch this space for the next disciplinary fad.
7. Supernanny will have a kid of her own and realise that it’s not as straight forward as she thinks it is!
What are your parenting predictions?
I once read that if your comment on a post is longer than five lines then you should write your own post. Here is my response to Living with Kids post Pink doesn’t Stink! This shouldn’t be read as a personal response to that post, rather a general response to the idea that Katie Price is a successful businesswoman and thus a good role model for our girls..
But while I’m sure they wouldn’t view the likes of Katie Price, the princess of pink, as a positive role model, she’s an incredibly successful businesswoman.
I’m not sure about ‘pink stinks’ but I know that Katie Price’s success is built upon one thing. Agreed the money she’s made from it has been ploughed into other ventures but it doesn’t change the fact that her initial success came from parading herself around half naked. Now I don’t mind people parading themselves around naked, live and let live. In this economy first priority is to earn a living and put food on the table. However let’s not confuse this as real ‘business success’.
Katie Price made a lot of money doing what she does best, it was the money she made from doing that, that funded her other business interests and no doubt they are run by proven business people. Do you think KP does all this herself? Of course she doesn’t, she’ll have a number of advisers telling her what to do next, and how best to capitalise on her intial success as topless model and general girl-half-naked-around-town.
Don’t think I’m ripping into KP, she’s not my cup of tea but I wish her all the success in the world. She works hard no doubt, and pays a certain price for her success, but if we’re looking for business role models Katie Price certainly doesn’t fit the bill in my opinion.
Do we really want our girls believing that the route to business success needs to be built on a foundation of glamour modelling? I don’t, which is why, for me, Katie Price is not an ideal role model.
As I came to my conclusion of this post I tried to think of successful, young, businesswoman in this country that are in the media spotlight, and do you know what, I couldn’t think of one. How very sad. Please help me out here there must be some young successful businesswoman (excluding reality tv stars, glamour models, IT girls), you know someone that has invented something, started a business from scratch or created a not for profit, or something amazing… Anyone have any suggestions?
If you could choose a female role model (under 35) for your daughter, who would it be?
They rolled me into a dimly lit room, as far as I can remember I was the only one in there, I was high on drugs and could make out one nurse rushing around. I’d just had the most surreal moment of my life. I lay there trying to think straight, the nurse brought me water to sip. I could see my husband sitting dumbstruck beside me.
We were in the high dependency unit, there had been complications, with me not the baby.
Erin was wheeled in not long after, Alex took charge of feeding duties, he had the pleasure of nearly all the ‘firsts’. I didn’t trust myself, the medication was strong and my arms felt like jelly. After her bottle I got my first proper cuddle, I made a hook with my arm, for months I had had nightmares about her small frame sliding out and falling on the floor, Alex tucked her up beside me and I looked down.
I inhaled deeply as I thought to myself rather smugly that she was *the* most beautiful baby in the world. I even remember feeling a little sorry for the other mothers who now couldn’t have the most beautiful baby in the world, what a shame for them. In that moment though I was so so proud, I couldn’t wait to show everyone what a great job we’d done!
Out of my drug filled haze and nearly four years on I realise that all new mummys think the same, but I’ll never forget that feeling of pure joy, luck, appreciation and pride.
This post has been entered into the Sleep is For The Weak Writing Workshop (prompt 2)
I'm a 27 year old mum to 4 year old Erin. We live just outside Edinburgh in a small village. I've been blogging for four years and write about anything and everything that takes my fancy.
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