Be My Guest: Emma Kenny, Potty Training Expert

Potty training can be a challenging time for parents, with most feeling pretty apprehensive about the whole business. However, following a few do’s and don’ts should help ensure potty training is a fun and exciting journey, with parents able to enjoy helping their little one take their first step on the path toward becoming a ‘big kid’!

Starting out

Don’t force it! Toddlers are programmed by nature to understand when they are ready for new developmental stages, so forcing your child to start before they are ready will be unsuccessful.

Do read the signs - if your little one is letting you know when they are wet, showing signs that they feel uncomfortable in their nappy, or are staying dry for a few hours at a time, they are most likely ready to use a potty.

Set an example

Sometimes the best way to teach your child is to show them the way!

Do take your child to the toilet with you and let them know what you are doing, this will stop them being afraid of the loo.

Make it fun

Potty training is an exciting time for both parent and child so make sure you have some fun with it!

Do create positive links with the potty for your child to ensure the journey is a fun one. For example, buy the potty together to include them in the process and give them ownership by allowing them to decorate and personalise it with stickers.

Do swap from nappies to potty training pants, like PULL-UPS, which have fun graphics that your toddler will love and with stretchy sides they can be easily pulled on and off – putting your little one in the ‘big kid’ frame of mind!

Keeping your cool

Don’t stress over how long it is taking or fret over little accidents! You and your toddler will get there, but if you stress it will create a negative environment, which will not help your child progress.

Do be patient. Let your child set the pace of their training and do not allow them to become distressed – if they are screaming no, listen to them. Potty training should be a collaborative experience that is chilled for everyone involved, if it doesn’t feel relaxed don’t force the training further!

Reward on the road to success

Encouragement works wonders, so make sure you reward your little one along the way to keep the potty training process fun and exciting.

Do clap your hands, celebrate and smile whenever your child successfully uses their potty.

Do inspire your child with a star or progress chart. These are a good way of showing your little one their success visually. Visit www.pottytraining.co.uk

to download a free Disney progress chart to get you started.

Do cuddle your child. Hugs are a really great way of making kids feel successful and, let’s face it, all parents should ensure these are available by the bucketful!

For a free copy of Emma Kenny’s potty training guide, as well as PULL-UPS® step-by-step videos and much more click here (insert hyperlink to www.pottytraining.co.uk)

 Potty training expert Emma Kenny of www.pottytraining.co.uk

Guest Post: Kids do judge a book by its cover - Building a lifelong love of reading

Geraldine Grandidier

Babies and children love to browse through books well before they can read, and if children are enabled to explore their books independently, it helps to plant a love of books and reading from the early years.

“Let children choose their own books, from an appropriate selection. This helps build a lifelong love of reading.” Building Blocks US Dept Health and Human Services.

Children do judge books by the cover: They either can’t or don’t read the book’s spines, making it crucial that they can see the (often beautiful) artwork on the front covers of books.

So, when Geraldine Grandidier, mum and Tidy Books’ company founder set out, nine years ago, to find a bookcase that would allow her young daughter Adele to see the book’s covers, and choose them independently, she had to return home empty handed.

Putting her skills as a violin maker to another use, Geraldine decided to make her own bookcase in her workshop for Adele, which changed the way books are displayed to children at home.  As she explains; “Ordinary children’s bookcases, decorated or not, made no sense to me – books fall out. Plus, how can you put such thin books of different sizes on an ordinary shelf? A box doesn’t work either as the kids can’t see the covers. I wanted something that worked well for kids and their books so I created the original Tidy Books Children’s Bookcase.”

Geraldine’s hunch that making books highly visible and accessible was endorsed by education expert, Dr Klaus- Dieter Rossade of the Open University who said of the Tidy Books Children’s Bookcase: “This quality piece of furniture is both a practical storage solution and a learning vehicle offering toddlers and children easy access to their favourite books in a space that is theirs to manipulate.”  In other words, having somewhere special to put children’s books gives them a sense of ownership, and makes books a natural part of their environment.

Then as friends saw the new bookcase, and asked ‘Can you make one for me?’ the Tidy Books business was born.

Tidy Books grew after Adele’s brother Emile came along, as Geraldine had more ideas about making kids storage designs that are not just mini versions of adult furniture, but are created with children in mind, and based in everyday family life.   Some of what inspires Geraldine in her creations can be found in this article written in Junior recently.

Nurseries and playgroups have also found the Tidy Books Children’s Bookcase and the Tidy Books Box are very useful for creating an attractive reading corner in a compact space.

As children grow up, if they are in the habit of choosing their own books, reading is a pleasure, not a chore, although there can be problems with judging books by their front covers as they progress on to more advanced books as Tidy Books blogger Ian found out when his son Max chose a book because it had zombies on the front!   

Some more independent reading resources: Nerdy Book Club has some great reasons to get children taking control over what they read., evidence which is backed up by publishing expert Michael Norris who says don’t associate reading with ‘good’ behaviour

You can read more about how Tidy Books got started, and more about our range of original designs for kids.

What do you think?  Have you made a reading corner at home?  How do you get your kids browsing? 

Writing ideas at home for The School Run

Shopping lists

Brilliantly adaptable for different ages and stages. A three-year-old can draw what you need, a five-year-old can write down the initial sounds of each item and a nine-year-old can write it out fairly accurately. You could start by writing the list together, with your child simply being responsible for adding one or two items. Children love to follow this up with the trip to the shops, ticking the items off as they go around. There’s a real purpose, and it’s writing in action. And pretty handy too!

Book reviews

Introduce children to the idea by finding book reviews of some of their favourite and most familiar books (online will be easiest) and reading them together. Then encourage them to write their own versions, or review some new books with you. Questions to answer include: Who were the main characters? What did they do? Did you enjoy the book? Why?

Role play

Adults write for many purposes, at work as well as home. Encourage children to pretend to work at a bank, the post office or a travel agency. They will need to be jotting down facts and figures as they work!

‘To do’ lists

Your child may like to ‘help’ by writing a ‘to do’ list for you for the day ahead. It might include: breakfast, school run, play group, baking biscuits, work, play, etc. Thinking they are being helpful is a great incentive for most children who are striving to be one of the grown-ups! Alternatively, they can write their own list for the tasks they have to complete.

Read more on the school run site.

The Tiger who Came to Tea

Can't wait to see one of our favourite books acted out at The Lyric Theatre this summer... The Tiger who Came to Tea. You can view the trailer here...

LYRIC THEATRE, SHAFTESBURY AVENUE 

Wednesday 4 July – Sunday 2 September

www.thetigerwhocametotealive.com

Summer Holidays

Rhinolast Allergy Spray from chemist.net
Read all about it here

Girls' Joules sun hat

Spa Breaks from Hand Pick Hotels

Girls' Boden shorts



Mosi-Guard Sprays, Sticks and Creams



Vespa Scooter from Casabu - a flash sales website for parents. 

New members to free-to-join www.Casabu.com can also access an additional £5 off with the voucher code Casabu25055.



MiH Jeans from Trilogy Stores

Warehouse floral top from John Lewis

A Hershal Supply Co Bag from Red Square Clothing

Shrek

My eldest is fit to bursting with excitement about us going to see Shrek the Musical at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. We go on the first day of her summer holiday, "just us two" as she keeps re-affirming. "Yes" I assure - she's obviously worried about her little bro cramping her style on the train down again!


I guess for me it's one of those if-I-didn't-have-kids-no-way situations, but actually having seen the clip on the website I'm looking forward to it enormously! It looks incredibly lively and just plain fun!

McCain Smiles campaign in collaboration with the National Literary Trust

UK parents are being invited to revisit treasured tales of times past with a massive giveaway of classic children’s books launching today in supermarkets across the country.

More than 100,000 Ladybird books will be given away for free with packs of McCain Smiles this summer as part of a National Literacy Trust-supported campaign to encourage more parents to read with their children. 

Research by the National Literacy Trust shows that nine out of ten parents would like to spend more time developing their child’s literacy skills, yet an alarming one child in three does not even own a book!

Help is at hand in the form of this video featuring tips from mums on how to make reading a fun and effortless part of the everyday routine. The fly-on-the-wall-style video captures the conversations of a group of mums as they debate the joys and challenges of reading with kids.  Take a look...

For more info and top tips, click on this link...www.mccain.co.uk/smilesfreebooks




I'd love you to share your tips below for reading with children. The best tip will win a brilliant set of Ladybird books!

Holidaying with friends?

I've read a fair amount of columns of late on holidaying with others. It seems the perfect recession-busting solution.

That's going away, living with people who you aren't related to, who you don't love. Signing up to spend 24/7 with people for 7 long, long days and nights. Days that'll for sure be seasoned with increasingly snide remarks and nights spent, fingers angrily in ears, trying not to listen to the snoring or, much worse still, shagging of (former) friends.

Friends these days have kids too. This can mean one of two things; either your kids will be the 'rebels' the ones who don't adhere to the strict 'polite' criteria of the other family. Perhaps they don't ask if they can leave the table, maybe they burp at will or don't have to finish their gazpacho before pudding. Other family's rules can be a mysterious code to fathom, a process full of pitfalls. Some children I know are forbidden to say "no", "mine" or "can't". My kids are allowed to say any words they choose, not the four letter variety obviously. But how can you holiday with all these many, varied and, frankly, abstract rules at play without a sense of injustice?

Or perhaps your little angels will be showing the philistine brats belonging to your no-longer-friends for what they are; in-polite, un-intelligent thugs. You'll start the week smiling with pseudo-nonchalance and end it in over-the-top far-too-loud compliments of your own sprogs; "well done darling for asking, yes you may leave the table", which serve the basic purpose of inferring, "and you didn't ask you barbarian-child".

See, I like a holiday with my family. They're nice and their quirks are so familiar they can never annoy me. My children rarely remember to ask when to get down, we've had pudding for starters on occasion. We don't do this all the time obviously, but on holiday we like to be a little chilled...

So will I holiday with anyone who I didn't marry or give birth to? Not likely. I like my friends and I think some of them might even like us, let's keep it that way.

Chiquito!

Having our house on the market is leaving me with several more excuses to become even more slobbier than before. Firstly I don't tidy unless there's a viewing, I mean why would you? Then when there is a viewing we have to go out, and by going out, I mean staying out until tea time!

Tonight we went to Chiquito in Nottingham. I hadn't been to one since my brother and his girlfriend (now wife) were students in Hull in the 90s and we went to one in a huge cinema complex and thought we were the utter height of sophistication. So I wasn't sure what it would be like at all, but it was actually lots of fun and very kid friendly! Also, it's quite lively and there's music - and any parent with a pretty vocal 3 year old will know this means less embarrassment when the screaming starts!

Disclaimer bit....

This is not a sponsored post nor do I work for Chiquito. The PR team invited us to eat there without the promise of a complimentary review.

My kids ARE the best. Well fancy that!

I do try to keep all overt parent bragging down to an absolute minimum but I'm fit to bursting at the moment and if you don't allow me a little annoying boasting, I'm likely to start chanting "my kids are better than your kids ner ner ne ner ner" at some point very soon.

So here goes. My kids are quite simply amazing. I'm in awe of them at times. My eldest, now 6, is growing so much that I just keep taking second glances when I'm chatting to her. When did she become so tall? So average-height when she was always so dinky? Everyone used to guess her age at a good year younger but now she's 6 she looks all, well, 6.

My youngest, now 3, where to start? His language (he's under the speech therapist) is just too cute. He's full of, "my love you"s and "my not cute, my big"s. And he is getting bigger but he's still little enough for me to squint and still see a toddler, a big baby even (OK, one that walks, runs, cycles, scoots and talks) but still a baby.

If you're still with me *waves* and you haven't gone off to be sick, being a Mum to these too is just such an honour. It's not always been easy, Charles has had a few health things and Rosie can strop for England (geese, she makes me look relaxed sometimes!) but God they're fabulous!

Anyway, that's it, I'll shut-up and leave you be. Just wanted to let you know how utterly amazing my kids are right now. You're welcome.

Read my latest feature for Spirit and Destiny here.

Quit dropping me in it!

As my son Charles carries on with this business of 'learning to talk' he remains persistent at dropping me right in it.

The vocab he has is clearly gained from the life we lead - the life that Charles and I lead,that is, whilst Rosie is hard at her school work and "Daddy" is out earning a crust.

Just last week we were all walking through town when Charles (the consumerist tot) spots one of his most favouritist logos; "darbux" he says. "Starbucks, did he just say Starbucks?" "Errm not sure, how funny, what's that over there?"

Cripes it's not like we're always sipping bambinocinos whilst you two are sweating away - not always.

Then on we go meandering through town until we happen upon our destination - we venture into a local non-Starbucksie type cafe. Charles points at this humongous chocolate cake topped with a gallon of butter icing, marshmallows and Maltesers and shouts for all the clientele to hear "Mummy's cake". The little squealer! I had that cake once, about 6 months ago and it had been your suggestion!

Well Charles all I can say is if it carries on like this there'll be no more cakes or hot choccies - remember, my boy, what happens on our meanders stays there. High five little one.

It's not about the....

Having kids is a pricey business. They've clothes that fit them for around a month, shoes that cost more than adults and are seemingly the only living mammal who can polish off a box of Weetabix in around 5 days! And when will it end? Well, with uni fees bound to soar even higher between now and when my kids get to go, not any time soon.

That's why for the first time in our lives we're actually starting to think about savings. Since these little people entered our lives we haven't felt exactly minted but we do feel more (and I apologise for being a bore) responsible. Afterall it's up to us to provide for them, both now (excessive cereal consumption and all!) and in the future - whatever they choose to do.

We don't want to live our lives worrying about money. We don't want to be too tight and not make the most of our kids being young. We want to go away lots, have spontaneous treats and all in all have fun. But we've noticed that our kids couldn't care less if this fun is found in a forest, a campsite, a city or in a 5 star hotel! They just want us to be all together and sometimes adventure can be found in the smallest of events. In fact, I'd say that kids can teach us big folk a lot that way... as a famous wordsmith once said; "it's not about the money, money" etc.!

This is a sponsored post.

Last Minute Father's Day

Striped Tee from People Tree

Chilli Sauce from Trees Can’t Dance

Polo from Boden 



Loake Shoes from Number 8 Clothing



Chocolate filled figgy bonbons from Delimann

Beringer Classics range from ASDA and Ocado 

Fantastic free loft insulation offer

All snug now!

Last year we got our loft insulated when my love of Victorian houses was being deeply challenged by my utter hatred of being constantly cold! Well, it's made a massive difference, both to the cold and to our electricity bill. So, when Southern Electric asked if I'd help promote their latest offer of FREE loft insulation, I was really keen to get involved. 


As I mentioned, I'm no fan of the cold, particularly in my house, so that was one clear reason for me getting it done. Another though is the green factor, as it really does result in you using less energy as a household. We do try and 'do our bit' and definitely more so since having children; so we nag like anything about leaving lights on ("it's not the Blackpool illuminations" as my Mums used to say!), and not always having the heating on etc.  Southern Electric  have a really useful site for other ideas, get to it by clicking here.


Of course, this lesser energy means bigger bank account - and I don't know many people right now that couldn't do with a little more cash each month! But how much can you really save? In fact, it's calculated, that loft insulation can give you a saving of more than £300 per year. That's several food shops, numerous hair dos done, or, if you only want to spend on the absolute essentials, a couple of gorgeous pairs of shoes!!

So, what's the deal?

Southern Electric wants to help families save money and get greener with their great offer, which includes:

·  Free insulation for everyone, even if they are not a customer of  Southern Electric  - as long as their home meets the terms and conditions

·  Free suitability assessment to see if the property meets the terms and conditions

·  A high street shopping voucher worth £75 pounds for those who qualify – please note that those with children of under 5 and an income of under £16,190 are eligible to receive the voucher if they are receiving Child Tax Credit

As well as this free insulation offer the  Southern Electric website also provides access to a number of energy saving tips and products, which could help families save money. The  Southern Electric  iplan online service is designed to save costs in your day-to-day energy expenses, with a smart energy kit – which includes an energy usage display screen, which can be linked to an online account to help you plan your energy use to suit you, and track how much money you save. This service is free with four  Southern Electric  tariffs!

Find out lots more about the scheme on the Southern Electric site by clicking here. Please read all terms and conditions by clicking here as the offer does not apply to all.


Find out about the Southern Electric iplan service by clicking here.

This is a sponsored post.

Is it a chair or a bed??



As our eldest is starting to reach sleepover stage these bed chairs from GLTC are just ideal for anyone who, like us, is short on space; as they fold from chair to bed so so easily.


Not only will it be used for sleepovers, and for lazy front-of-the-telly type resting, but it also seems to do just as well as a devise for practising somersaults, head stands and more!


We love our star one but, typical GLTC, they have several gorgeous fabric designs to choose from. All the covers are 100% cotton and the beds themselves are super-soft and comfy. They are suitable for children up to aged 8. See measurement details on their site here. 

Folding Chair Bed - £80 from GLTC

Disclaimer bit: Whilst this isn't a sponsored post and I don't work for GLTC, I was sent this gorgeous item to review.

Ultralift

As most people don't believe in the true effectiveness of anti-ageing products, beauty brand Garnier launched a campaign to tackle this scepticism last year.In 2011 it became one of the largest ever consumer studies into the effectiveness of an anti-wrinkle cream and more than 18,000 women signed up to take part. 80% of these women commented on a positive result.


Due to it's amazing success they've just launched the 2012 campaign, challenging consumers across the UK and Ireland to see the results of their Garnier Ultralift products for themselves over a 14 day period.

Garnier are offering a quarter of a million women 14 day sample kits and inviting them to put anti-aging UltraLift Day Cream to the test.  At the beginning and end of the trial, women measure their wrinkles around their eyes using the Wrinkle Reader, a scientific tool that is used by scientists to clinically grades wrinkles.

To sign up about the 14 day challenge click on this link here. Also if you leave a comment below you'll be in with a chance of winning a fully size set of Garnier UltraLift products.

Garnier Ultralift offers...

·         Instantly smoother and younger looking skin

·         Enriched with Pro-Retinol derived from nature

·         Immediate hydration

·         Anti-wrinkle & firming action

This is a sponsored post.

Silent Sunday

Meeting the Queen. Kinda.

My latest for Guardian Teach

A lot has changed in literacy teaching since I was at primary school 25 years ago; most of it for the better. I'm not quite sure what our Friday morning "lesson" which involved copying from the blackboard was supposed to achieve, but I dare say it didn't achieve it!


We've come a long way in understanding how to teach reading, how to enthuse children over the written word, how to help children comprehend story components.


What I do think our literacy teaching, in general, lacks though is creative writing. By this I mean giving children the opportunities to write (and write and write) a story on something, anything, to let them decide chapter names, develop characters, draw a front cover, illustrate each page should their hearts desire.


OK we might have the odd lesson on story starts, on developing plot, on interesting words to use, but how often do we allow children the freedom to let their imaginations wander off into other lands, to write out adventures which may take days or weeks on end to complete?
Of course, the problem is we're left feeling that we simply don't have the time in these high pressured, target-driven times. There's so much we need to cover – so much we want to get through. When I was at school I'd never heard of phonics, I dare say neither had my teachers! There weren't any "big books" that we analysed as a class, no plenaries where we'd discuss learning achieved, a mere glance at an electronic whiteboard would have been shocking beyond belief. There wasn't the time consuming assessments that today's teachers do either; undoubtedly there was more time.


Whereas I understand the pressures teachers are under, particularly at times when SATs or Ofsted are looming, in my view creative writing isn't (just!) a treat you're giving them – it's a valuable learning experience and one in which their writing skills (and levels) can be improved upon.


Firstly there's the whole thought process involved in the considering of "what makes up a story"? Of course this can be discussed as a whole class or in small groups prior to beginning writing.


Secondly the children can be asked to think of interesting words and phrases they'd like to use in their stories; this encourages them to think about the reader and ask what will keep them reading. Also they will be thinking about format, hand-writing and presentation – they'll want to take pride in their story and should be encouraged to make it look visually appealing.


These different components mean that far from the un-structured story writing I did as a child, this creative writing can be a more structured mix up of teacher-led whole class work and child-led creativity.


In order to make the time for this incredibly valuable activity, schools and teachers should consider having specific workshops (which might be a whole morning or day) or weeks (where each literacy lesson for a week is them continuing with the story writing). Bulking it into such a specific time frame means that the children are more likely to get fully absorbed in the story writing process, feeling like mini-authors, developing plot and character. And from a time point of view it gets it done in a neat block of sessions; forget about phonics and other literacy aspects for that very short time frame and let their brains and minds focus solely on their story.


This is a particular obsession of mine right now as I'm getting the chance to read Roald Dahl's glorious books once more as my daughter has become quite rightly devoted to his stories! I think it's fabulous when teachers can instil in children a love of words and phrases – to let them enjoy the rhythms written by authors and, as the librarian says in Matilda,"let them wash over you like music"!


When teaching creative writing give them time to think of words and phrases even before they begin to write. In some schools they display exciting, interesting words in order to offer inspiration for when "writer's block" hits!


So often our literacy teaching can involve teaching something and then quickly moving onwards; if we're not careful we can become driven only by narrowing the goal posts instead of giving time for re-adjustments and nurturing.


Letting children have time to draft, to change their minds and make mistakes is a crucial part of the writing process; if they aren't encouraged to make changes – to be told that changing your mind can be a good thing, they won't be experiencing the full writing experience and may furthermore be left disappointed with the end result.


What good is a story if it isn't going to be shared? As a whole school arrange when the stories can be read in assembly and where they can be displayed so that visitors, children and staff can all have a read. Designate time for feedback and perhaps do a story swap with another class and let the children do book reviews of eachother's stories.


• Phoebe Doyle is a former primary teacher who now writes on education, parenting and health issues. She's a parent of two young children and blogs and tweets @tremendously2 



Read on the Guardian site.... http://www.guardian.co.uk/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2012/jun/07/creative-writing 

Silent Sunday

Afternoon Tea at The Montcalm, Mayfair...