No Children Allowed: Finding The Perfect Parents Only Holidays

Going on holiday with your children can be great, but what if you and your partner want a break from everything, including your children? More and more parents are leaving their children behind and going on a holiday where they can relax with no responsibilities, routines or early morning wake ups. While it can be easy to feel guilty, spending quality time with your partner and properly resting can be beneficial to the whole family. If that seems like a dream to you maybe this post will help you start thinking through the practicalities and the possibilities to help it become a reality you can enjoy before your children have grown up?

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How to Stay Healthy and Active When You Have Kids

When you have children your priorities change and sometimes you don’t feel you have any time for you. It is totally normal to feel that all your time is devoted to your family, especially when your children are small, but it doesn't have to be that way. If you know that you need to make changes to get more fit and active then sometimes a few simple changes can help and it might be possible to get the rest of your family involved too.

Presents To Give To Parents That They Will Love

Being a parent is the most wonderful gift, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want presents too. I find I spend so much time looking for gifts for others that it makes me appreciate being given the perfect gift even more. Here are a selection of presents, ranging from the functional to the beautiful that G and I would love to receive and I’m sure other parents would too.

Who's That Girl Tween Beauty Products Review

My eldest daughter loves make up and beauty products. She’s seen me putting on the basics for years so it’s not surprising that she always wants her own bits. As mini me’s our daughters obviously want to experiment, play and copy us, but when it comes to buying her make up and beauty products it can be a challenge to know what to get: the play make up aimed at children is often bizarre colours and slimy, but products targeted at adults doesn’t seem quite right either. Who’s That Girl is a new beauty range from MGA Entertainment aimed a fashionable young Tweens (but suitable from age 6 plus) and I love that the products are more about having fun than covering up. My eldest daughter, M, has been trying out some of the products from the range that we were sent to review, but what did she think? 

The Tale Of A White T-Shirt and the #ACEforSchool Challenge

When my eldest was in her first year of school I was sitting outside a classroom waiting to speak to her teacher. One of the wall displays was a white t-shirt pinned up and covered in various stains. It was accompanied by a message encouraging parents not to mind that their child came home with dirty clothes but to be glad they were having a good time.  It made me laugh because I might not get much out of my daughter if I asked what she had done at school that day, but I can make some guess from the state of her clothes.

Num Noms Smoothie Movie Night and the Snackables Silly Shakes Maker Review

Recently my eldest and I haven’t been getting on that well. Her behaviour is always worse when she is worried about things, but she doesn’t easily open up and talk to me about what is bothering her. There has been a lot of shouting and foot stamping over the last few weeks. I knew we needed to spend some time together to sort things out so it was good timing that we were sent everything we needed to have a Num Noms Smoothie Movie Night. M and I had a lot of fun playing with the Num Noms Snackables Silly Shakes Maker before getting changes into PJs and cuddling up on the sofa to watch a film. It’s amazing what some quality time and having a laugh can do for the relationship with your children. 

Rainbow Themed Gift Guide for Newborns to Adults

Rainbows represent hope following a storm. They are beautiful and they can take your breath away.  I am planning for the birth of my rainbow baby in January (a baby born after loss) so rainbows now mean even more to me. Whether you are buying a present for a family welcoming a rainbow baby, to celebrate gay pride or just someone who loves to see a rainbow when it has been raining here are a selection of presents that might be perfect.

Review of Paradise Wildlife Park in Hertfordshire

It was a cold Sunday morning when we headed to Paradise Wildlife Park to see what was new. Along with lions, tigers and other big cats at the attraction in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire there are meerkats, tapirs, camels, dinosaurs… Yes that’s right I did say dinosaurs, because Paradise Wildlife Park isn’t like your standard zoo,  one side of the park is primarily animals (from the exotic to the farmyard) the other side has a large play area, soft play, splash park, museum of speed and since Easter 2018 a dinosaur area with 30 moving dinosaurs. That means there is plenty to do to keep little ones running around and hot drinks to warm up the big people.

A Next Generation Experience In Cruising

We live in a great time for travel. Never before have so many people been able to afford to go see the world with their own eyes instead of hearing of watching about it. This also means that companies are all trying to compete for our money and give us the best value and experiences possible. As you may have seen already, new Airbus and Boeing aircraft for the commercial sector are getting bigger and bigger. With new engines that have 100,000 ft-lb thrust capability, passenger jets can hold well over 300 people onboard. To counteract this, cruise ships have also gotten bigger and bigger to provide a different kind of holiday experience. When I visited a cruise ship last year I was amazed at how many passengers can fit on modern cruise ships, have space to themselves, enjoy the different features onboard and yet still travel the oceans and seas in comfort. With cruise ships getting increasingly sophisticated, impressive and large maybe it's time to save up to experience one?

How To Stop Your Child Scratching: from the sensible to the ridiculous

Last night I was kept awake as my 7 year old lay next to me in bed scratching, yes it appears that even at 7 years old she is still an occasional bed invader. This time it was because she'd had a bad dream and she felt sick. For well over an hour she kept me awake and in that time I had to stop her scratching countless times. The eczema on her legs has had another flare up (although fortunately not a bad one) and it affects her most at night. It doesn’t matter whether your child is scratching because of eczema, psoriasis or just dry skin, simply telling them to stop won’t make a difference. As I eventually drifted off to sleep I started to think of all the ways you can get stop children scratching and as the dreams took over the ideas started to become a little less sensible.