by iamcrabstix | Oct 20, 2020 | Fashion
It always makes sense to handle your medical appointments as a family. This approach can save loads of time, give you the chance to avoid visiting these professionals as often, and may even make it easier to avoid taking your children out of school for it. Of course, though, while this approach comes with some benefits, a lot of people find themselves struggling when they come to visiting professionals like an optometrist for the first time. To help you out with this, this post will be exploring some of the steps that can be taken to make this process easier.
Prepare Your Kids
This whole process starts with some prep work. Your youngest children may be scared when they first visit a place like this, with all of the strange tools and machines that optometrists use being quite daunting for an imaginative mind. Of course, though, you can easily make these fears go away by explaining what they will have to go through. Some parents also find it helpful to show their children some videos of the process to make it easier. For restless children, making sure that they are aware that they will have to wait around a little bit and having something for them to do can be very helpful.
One Parent First, One Parent Last
It’s not always easy to predict how a child will react or behave in a situation like this, but you can make sure that you are ready to take them into a different environment with the right structure to your appointment. Having one parent go first will make it easier to take children out of the optometrist while the rest of your family has their turn. Some children will be very hard to control when they have gone through their tests, making it hard to keep them from distracting the optometrist and the patient being tested. Having the other parent go last will ensure that the kids don’t have to wait too long for their turn.
Taking Your Prescription Online
Once everyone has had their test completed, you will have a choice; you can leave and get glasses elsewhere or stick around an choose a pair right away. It usually makes a lot more sense to leave at this point, as the kids are likely to be getting bored, and making them wait for the process of choosing glasses will be difficult without chaos. Thankfully, websites like https://www.eyeglasses.com/ are perfect for this, providing you with the chance to sit down and take a good amount of time to choose your glasses. Not only is the more convenient, but it can also save you a small fortune.
With all of this in mind, you should be feeling ready to take on the challenge of taking your family for a trip to the optometrist. This sort of process doesn’t have to be painful, but you need to put some time and effort into it if you’re going to have an easy experience.
by iamcrabstix | Aug 12, 2020 | Reviews
We were fortunate enough to get tickets for the opening night of the Virgin Money Unity Arena to see the legend that is Sam Fender on Tuesday 11th August 2020. I thought that I would share my honest review for anyone who is due to go. Going to a concert in a pandemic may cause some people to be anxious, but they really have thought of everything to make it a great experience.
The Virgin Money Unity Arena is the first of its kind, it is the first dedicated socially distanced music venue operating in the grounds of Gosforth Park, Newcastle. The team behind it are SSD Concerts – a North East events company with vast experience organising events, such as This is Tomorrow Festival and Bingley Weekender and the social/publicity/comms side of things appears to be Virgin Money’s very capable marketing team who are also North East based.
The venue is just off the A1 North, so it was easy to get to and the flow of traffic was good and there was very little queuing.
What do you need to know before you go?
Check your ticket email and any subsequent emails you may receive, as they will enclose the details you need but as a reminder:
Tickets – print them off. Don’t have a printer? They will accept them on the screen of your phone, make sure you have enough battery to show them! Thanks to the very responsive team on the venue’s twitter account for getting back to me within a minute with an answer to that question before our gig!
Allocated arrival time – you will have an allocated arrival time, this is to keep the numbers of people trying to enter the venue at once down to reasonably sized two-metre distanced queues and to limit waiting times for car parking/drop-offs. Stick to it if you can, it is there for your benefit.
Parking – there are fields for parking and another area for drop-offs/pick-ups within the grounds of Gosforth Park. It is a one-lane road so depending on how many people are before you there may be a slight queue, but the cars kept moving, we were in and parked within a matter of minutes. Leaving the venue was really easy too as stewards were there to stop/start different rows of traffic to keep it all flowing and to ensure everyone could get out fairly.
Remember your masks – you will need to wear your mask when you have your tickets checked, right up until you arrive at your viewing platform. Staff were regularly checking and asking people to put masks on. This means you need a mask on anytime you leave your viewing platform to go for drinks, food, toilet or wander around the field.
Food and drink – there are various bars at the back and front of the venue – the option to preorder is available with your ticket information and the pick-up point never had any people waiting at all. Small 2/3 minute queues were at other bars. There was the option to buy 4 pint pitchers for £22.50, pints were £5.50, there was also a pims and prosecco van. Waiting times on food were per vendor, so some were faster than others. There were also people walking past the platforms to sell shots and beer and cider directly. No cash, card payments only at the designated bars.
Merch – there were a great set of bespoke for the event t-shirts/posters on sale and the usual Sam Fender designs at £25 each. Card payments were taken. This may be artist-specific, but this is how it was set up for Sam Fender. There were also mobile vendors who walked around the venue to sell merch.
Platforms – You will be given a number when you have your ticket scanned, this is your viewing platform number and you have to stay in that platform and not move around them to other platforms. If you are put off by standing, there were a number of seats available for those who wanted them. The platforms were three metal barriers, one at the front and two at the side and were a great size and plenty of room between you and everyone else. The platforms are tiered too, so the ones at the back were slightly raised, to allow everyone to see the stage.
Toilets – there are loads of portaloos to the side of the venue, absolutely loads, so you will never have long to queue nor far to walk from your viewing platform. You must wear a mask. Alcohol gel is available just before all toilets and there is also some in the portaloos. Staff were constantly checking the cleanliness of the toilets throughout the event and replenishing paper towels.
I won’t write anything about the actual gig, because I don’t want to spoil it for the people who are attending the second Sam Fender concert, but you will love being back seeing live music.
Verdict
I absolutely loved it and I was absolutely gobsmacked how the venue managed to get absolutely everything right on the first night. It was so well organised. Considering that no one had ever done this kind of event in the country before, it was absolutely faultless. If you’re attending, you will be very happy and if you are tempted, I would say go for it!
As a 37-year-old mum of two used to love going to gigs (I haven’t enjoyed the arena since the days of being sponsored by Telewest!) but as I’ve got older I enjoy my personal space a bit more, this was ideal for me and would be very happy to go to more events like this going forward and for this to be the new normal!
by iamcrabstix | Mar 16, 2020 | Reviews
Having two children at very different stages, aged one and three, I struggle to find places in County Durham that are suitable for them both, especially on a rainy day. So I took to facebook to ask for recommendations and decided to give Daisy Street Play Spennymoor a try, based on the recommendations of a mum with two children of similar age to mine. I was reluctant at first because the website images looked unappealing (the website has since been updated and is much more appealing), which I shared on the facebook discussion, but the mum reassured me that it really was worth going along. I wasn’t disappointed.
Daisy Street Play is situated on an industrial park, just outside Spennymoor near what is now called Durham Gate, but what oldies like me know as the old Black and Decker factory area. It is tucked inside an archway just off the main road in Enterprise City and there is a generous car park thanks to it’s setting.
Under 6 months are free and between 6-12 months are £1.50 and £2.95 for our three-year-old, and we were able to play for around five hours if we wanted to, which is fabulous value for money. The staff were nice and engaging, one lady even keeping a lookout for families leaving so that we could secure a table, which I thought was really kind of her. The decor is lovely, the seating is comfortable and you are able to keep an eye on your children while you grab a cup of something or even a cake, thanks to the room being completely open plan. I even thought it would be ideal to take the children on my own; as I would be able to see them both, even if they darted off into different directions – I get major anxiety about taking the boys out on my own, so this was a big plus for me.
The room has a dedicated play area that has well-looked after toys for little ones and a beautiful tipi area and a selection of books available. There is also a self-contained ball-pit that has a super-fast slide built on top of it, along with a mini climbing wall to get to it for the more adventurous and older children. Make sure you’re waiting at the bottom as the slide is fast!
There is a lovely drawing area with a selection of stencils, pencils and crayons available and a roll of drawing paper, so children aren’t limited by size. There is also a wall covered in blackboard paint and chalk available, which pleased our buddying Banksy.
There was also a further area with lots of figures and buildings for imaginative play. It was all contained by a little fence, so no worries about little ones wandering. I was thoroughly impressed and would urge any parents in the area to try it themselves. We were big fans of Little Land Play in Peterlee, which sadly recently closed and this is the best alternative we have found locally.
by iamcrabstix | Mar 16, 2020 | general parenting
Sometimes we have to create space to spend time with our children. It is typically the case that everyone in the house is busy working, in school, or taking care of a lot of other things. So when it comes to spending time with the children, taking up hobbies together can build both of your skill sets, give you some quality time and the best thing about it is that people who have hobbies are typically happier too.
Swimming
Not only is swimming good for you, but it is a life skill too. There are many health benefits that we could talk about, but splashing around in water is so much fun! My little ones love swimming and the eldest is at the stage now where he would really benefit from us starting him at swim classes. This will help him with his confidence in the pool, as well as give him a head start when it comes to lessons in school because I know this was something I dreaded!
Puzzles
Most of the time, small children will have a range of wooden puzzles and small jigsaws with large pieces to help them with their motor skills and spatial awareness. As they grow up, you can keep that interest nurtured by having a family board game night. Start with more simple puzzles and jigsaws, and eventually move on to those huge table-filling sized jigsaws or even the 3D ones. Depending on the complexity of the puzzles, they can last over a few weeks too. You could have any board game of your preference here though.
Writing
Writing is one of the best creative outlets and stress relievers. So encouraging your children to get into writing can give them that tool very early on. But to make it an activity that you can all take part in, you might need to think a little outside the box. Creating a family journal or scrap-book will give everyone the chance to get creative with their pages. Family members can add photos, drawings, receipts, ideas, and so much more. At the end of the year, you can look back over the collection of everyone’s pages. It is also a great space to create a yearly bucket list and see what you can tick off.
Gardening
You don’t really need a garden to be able to grow things with the kids. There are many seed packets that are reasonably priced and often have a really good yield too. Sweet peas grow very easily, and succulents are great for learning how some plants can develop roots when removed from the main plant. Tomatoes can be started off very easily in a small pot and transferred to the garden at a later date if that is what you want to do. Lettuce grows quick, and so does cress, which makes them great options too.
Spending time with the children doesn’t have to be expensive, and most of the time they are happy to watch a movie and relax with you, But sometimes increasing everyone’s skill levels and learning together is a lot more fun.
by iamcrabstix | Mar 12, 2020 | general parenting
When you find yourself in the position of having a steadily growing family, you need to make sure that you are doing whatever you can to really look after them as well as possible and to make sure that you are going to make things easier for yourself as well. Ultimately, this is about attending to the needs of your growing family, and that’s something that you should be able to do no matter what as long as you know where to begin. In this article, we will take a look at some of the simple things that you will want to consider in order to ensure that you are truly attending to the needs of your growing family, and taking care of them in the best way you possibly can.
Food
One of the major costs and considerations here is always going to be food, and in a number of ways. Your children need to eat healthily if you want them to grow up strong and healthy, and you need to as well if you want to be able to deal with the whole situation as easy as possible and to keep stress at bay. So make sure that you are planning out your meals well and that they are as healthy as possible, and be sure to do your weekly grocery shop without family so you don’t fall prey to the easy choice of getting a takeaway (like the little fella above). If you can do that, you will be able to continue to feed your growing family easily and without trouble.
School
Their education is of course one of the most vital things too, and how you approach it says a lot about your style of parenting. A lot of people these days are increasingly trying their hand at homeschooling, which can prove to be a particularly good way of educating kids – but you need to consider whether you are really ready for that or whether you are better off just putting your kids in school. If you choose the school option, make sure that you have the means to get them there. That means having a reliable vehicle, with genuine Vauxhall parts & accessories, and having the time in your schedule to do the school run too.
Love
One thing that doesn’t diminish with the growth of a family is love, and you are going to find that this is one of the most joyous parts of the whole thing. But you might still need to think about it to some degree, as if you feel as if you are not going to be able to cope with a growing family then that can affect the amount of love that you express to your family every day. That is not something you want to happen, so it’s important that you keep your head on your shoulders and keep positive as you go along. That, above all, is going to make an enormous difference to how you attend to your growing family.
