Attending To The Needs Of A Growing Family

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.

Cold Weather Activities for the Family

by iamcrabstix | Jan 8, 2020 | general parenting

It seems that fun just finds us during spring and summer, when the weather is oh so pleasant, and there are so many activities and events to enjoy. During the autumn and winter, however, things can be a little more complicated. Then, we’re mostly pushed indoors, and inspiration for having fun can be a little thin on the ground. But just because it’s more difficult to live life to the fullest during the colder months of the year, that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible. Not at all, in fact! You will, however, need to make it happen. To help get you started, we’ve put together some useful tips that’ll put you on the right track. Incorporate the below into winter, and you might just find that it soon becomes your favourite season.

Movie Marathons

You could look at having to stay indoors as a negative thing, or you could see it as an opportunity to really make the most of all the comfort and entertainment that your home provides. What could be better, for example, than settling into a fun movie marathon with your loved ones? It’s easy to set up. Just make sure your living room is cosy, comfortable, and warm, and get the devices that’ll allow you to watch those classic family films. Add some popcorn and other snacks, and you’ll be ready to roll!

Outdoor Adventures

It’s true that the colder temperatures make it much more inviting to stay in the warm embrace of your home. However, it can also be fun to get all wrapped up, and go into the outdoors for a walk with the family. No matter where you’ll live, you’ll find that there is a beautiful space somewhere nearby that allows you to enjoy the great outdoors. Nature in winter is vastly underrated, in our opinion. You see a different side of life, and, since no-one else thinks to venture out, you’ll find that you have the space more or less all to yourself. When you’re finished, you’ll return home and enjoy a cup of hot chocolate. Perfect!

Baking Afternoons

One of the joys of winter is all the food that we get to eat. We do so under the pretence of keeping that internal engine chugging along and keeping us warm, but we can’t fool ourselves, those foods are also delicious. So it’s recommended that you invest in a quality winter cookbook, one with some delicious cookies and other baked goods recipes. Your child can be your assistant, so they’re included. During the process, your home will fill with those delicious scents, and you’ll get to enjoy all the fun of eating your creations once you’re finished, too. 

Arts and Crafts

If the weather looks too miserable to venture outdoors, then why not look at getting an arts and crafts project underway, and see what you can create? You can create a lot with just a few staple supplies. Things like paper products, glitter, and glue dots can be used to create something that’ll have pride of place on your mantelpiece or fridge for many months to come. As well as simply being a fun way to pass a few hours indoors, arts and crafts are an excellent way to develop your child’s creative side, too. 

Performance Time

If you want to get creative in a slightly grander way, then you could look at becoming your very own one-family talent production, and put on a show. It doesn’t really matter what type of show you put on, so long as it brings out your family’s inner theatrical side. You could hold a talent show, or hold a singing contest, or work together to develop a play. The good thing about this is that virtually every aspect is fun, from the idea development to finding costumes to rehearsing and then actually putting on the performance. 

Friendly Competition 

We’re all so used to diving into our phones, tablets and laptops whenever we’re bored that we often forget that people did, you know, used to have fun before the invention of the internet. If you’ve yet to partake in a mega family board game marathon, then winter will provide the perfect opportunity. Fill your home with those classic family board games, and when the weather becomes too severe to venture out, look at getting them out and sitting down for some friendly competition. It’s best to avoid the games that are most likely to cause an argument, though!

Take a Trip

Everyone thinks to take a trip overseas during the summer months, but this isn’t always the best option. After all, there’s so much fun to be had at home during the summer! So why not consider taking a family trip in winter? There are plenty of options available, more options than in summer, so you can find the perfect trip for you and your loved ones. You could head to the islands of southern Europe, and soak up the rays for a week. Or you could head to the snowy regions of northern Europe, and spend some time living a winter wonderland fantasy. 

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Life is oh so busy, and it’s only when we stop to reflect that we realise just how far we’ve come in life. It’s entirely possible that your children have little to no understanding about what your life was like before they were born. But you know that you were living a different life in those days. So why not use the cold weather as an excuse to show them your history? Bust out the old photo albums, and take a little trip down memory lane.

Art galleries and museums

Finally, why not take a trip to a local cultural site? There’ll be plenty to explore near to your home. When it’s cold and rainy, there are few places more enjoyable than a kid-friendly museum, art gallery, or other cultural attractions. It’ll be fun, but they’ll also be learning at the same time, too — it’s the perfect crime. 

What 2019 has taught us

by iamcrabstix | Dec 31, 2019 | general parenting

2019 has been a very up and down year for me. It has been the best of times, it has been the worst of times and is definitely ending better than it started.

I’ve been crippled with anxiety, worried sick about going back to work, worried about my little boy and his development, had a cancerous mole removed, worried about my partners job, struggling with sleep deprivation and just in a constant battle with my own mind (thanks to everything on that list, thyroid issues and general overwhelm of having two kids under the age of four).

I’ve learned a lot about myself and about the impact that the feeling of personal responsibility for everything can have. Whether it be work-related, miscarriage related or anything else life related, blame and shame is soul-destroying. I feel that this year, I have made progress in regards to these feelings and stopped ruminating on them, which is a big thing. How I would have defined myself last year has changed and I’m actually happier for it, which I would have never expected.

I move into 2020 in a good place and where I am still looking for the constant physical danger in every situation with the kids (especially the little one), I’m now not crucifying myself worrying about things like us losing our jobs, for which I have no control over. What will be, will be, whether I think about it between the hours of 1-4am or not.

I still have to overcome a few things, which I would usually avoid, like meetings which I know will cause me to take things as personal criticism, events to manage where I have to delegate to people and hope they do as they should and my little boy still needs help with his speech and speech therapy are being quite useless, so I’m going to have to bash a few heads together. I’d usually fall apart, but I’m learning to lean on others and talk!

Here are some things that 2019 taught me:

1. Truths are the stories we tell ourselves. Truth is different for different people.
2. People may make you think that they are doing things better than you did them, but those things simply weren’t important to them before. See point 1.
3. Most mothers that I have spoken to that suffer from anxiety seem to struggle with intolerance of uncertainty.
4. Sticking to your values is very important.
5. No two children are the same.
6. Assumptions are bad.
7. Potty training should be acceptable to add to skills on a CV as you’re an absolute pro if you do it without any help.

Here are some things that 2019 taught my twitter pals:

1. Jon Shed was right to quit his job.
2. Lisa found that she has no self-confidence and she needs to work on herself first before others (I’m gonna help her all I can).
3. Sarah found that it’s okay to be on your own. She’s spent so long clinging to someone or something, she’s started to really enjoy her own company.
4. Ms. Sentiment Shed is ending 2019 with an “I’ve got this attitude”.
5. AR found that getting half-cut on gin and then pushing the ‘fuck it’ button one night by booking a trip to Disney World when drunk was actually not the worst idea in the world after all. Be more impulsive and stop holding myself back so much!.
6. Jupiter was taught to always keep fighting for what is right, even if it’s hard and you feel like it’s going nowhere. Keep fighting and eventually, you’ll get somewhere.

It’s been a crazy year to live in the UK, but my echo chamber shows that it has given us time to reflect and move forward knowing who we are and what we want a little better.

Happy New Year!

Why nursery gives you things that mummy can’t

by iamcrabstix | Sep 20, 2019 | general parenting

I wasn’t planning on sending my first to a nursery, but a fantastic one opened up close to where we live and I was sure it was going to have a waiting list when people found out about it. It was everything his Dad and I wanted for him; to enjoy being a child, to be outside and to have play at the heart of everything… so we put him for 15 hours per week, just before his second birthday. We did this to be sure that he’d get a place in the year he turned three and to also give him a little bit of routine for when his brother joined us last September. It didn’t quite work out as smoothly as I would have liked, but I have never regretted my decision to put my child in a nursery before the age of three, even though we didn’t need any help with childcare.

The staff have been so fantastic with him. We’ve noticed a lot of things that R needs help with, as he develops, such as his speech, confidence, attention span and all of the other brilliant things he’s given me to worry about on his three years on this earth. He has a long way to go, but he’s already come so far and a lot of that credit has to go to his key worker. I’ve never had a child before, she’s been my go-to person for questions and advice. Another member of staff, who is also a mum, has said things to me at pick up time that I really needed to hear. They weren’t prompted but telling me that he’d starting forming friendships, taking pictures of this and putting it on his tapestry account was just what I needed to hear when I’d been losing sleep about him always playing at the side of the other kids and not with them. Staff have become part of the village that I need to raise this little character. He’s started to be invited to children’s birthday parties and little things like that have given him confidence boosts where it is noticeable in his speech.

R was the first child in our family to go to nursery school before hours were available at the age of three. E will go at an even younger age than R did and although we are in a luxury position where we always have a grandparent available to look after them, I feel nursery gives them so much we simply cannot:

It helps prepare them for school

I had no idea that nursery works under the EYFS curriculum. You are able to look at the age in which your child is working in a range of areas, which will be assessed at school. As R is a summer baby, this is particularly important to us as some of the children at school are up to nine months older than him, which is a lot when they are so young.

It helps them socially

Making friends and having the ability to learn through peers has become our biggest driver for both children going to nursery. We don’t have any close friends that have children the same age as R, therefore our ability to offer him social experiences with people his own age are few and far between and this isn’t good for him. He has strong relationships with his cousins, but three of them are older and one of them is two years younger, so nursery has been crucial for this aspect of his development. It has been an area in which he has needed extra support in too as because his speech is a little later than some of the other children, this has affected his confidence and the ability to be able to form friendships.

Helps develop life skills

I’m just mum. R, until very recently, has operated an own agenda style of communication with me, I’ve been there to get him things and to provide his basic needs. There would be a mighty rage if I would try and teach him anything (I’m putting this down to his younger brother being born). He wouldn’t engage in anything such as reading (that’s for daddy), baking (grandma) and playing in the garden (everyone else). So nursery has been crucial support in helping him develop skills such as serving himself at mealtimes, using cutlery and drinking from a cup, again down to his communication styles. As his confidence has grown we’ve moved onto having a social communication style and now I’m allowed to roll down hills, play shops, sit and do phonic cards, jigsaws, role play with his house and animals. It was great to have nursery supporting that side of his development until he felt that we were all able to move between roles.

So when my baby starts nursery in January, at aged one year and three months, I won’t feel bad because I am doing it for all of the right reasons, for him and his development.