I was fortunate with my first-born, in that he hated dirt, so I entered parenting in a false bubble of 'kids aren't that dirty at all', he wore beautiful little clothes and they lasted until he grew out of them. Smug at my parenting excellence and my ability to produce well turned out children, I… Continue reading #ACEforSchool Challenge [sponsored]
Author: thescenicroutetosanity
Let’s talk about knives
I think we all realise that there is a huge problem in the UK with knife crime, and in particular in our cities, knife crime rose by 22% in England and Wales in 2017, and in fact it is at it's highest rate in 7 years according to government statistics. I can think of at least three stabbings in my local area during the last year where those involved were under 18. We have children, carrying knives and committing violent assaults on each other, CHILDREN committing murder, CHILDREN'S lives lost and ruined to knives, families destroyed. I think we assume that young people that become involved in crime belong to gangs and that we would be able to identify them by the stereotype image that the media portrays, teenage boys with dark hoods up, intimidating members of the public and behaving anti-socially, perhaps. The truth is, it could be my son, your daughter, the child in the class predicted to get straight As or the child with the difficult home life. We live in a society where social media and public image means more than it ever has done before, the potential for peer pressure now isn't just from your friends, it is through your Facebook, Instagram, musical.ly (known as tikTok now), YouTube, Twitter and Snapchat. Children are learning about knives on the street, on the internet via social media and not from schools or the police. We know there is a real issue for our youth and violent crime and yet we are not learning about the dangers in school? I find it very difficult to understand this missed opportunity, and I did watch recently on the Victoria Derbyshire programme, a discussion with a headteacher, a victim of knife crime and an ex gang member, this was a week before the summer holidays and again, I feel this was too late. I also don't feel that identifying children thought to be at risk and directing education to them is effective either, I really think this should be a part of the curriculum in order to reach all young people, and I have a personal reason as to why.
#LoveFreshCherries [sponsored]
As a child I was the laziest eater ever, I never ate meat as I was too lazy to chew it, I didn't like apple peel and any fruit with a stone was a no because, again, too lazy to eat around the stone. So that was fresh peaches, nectarines and cherries off the table for me. As a parent I have tried not to continue such bad eating habits and as a result we enjoy a range of foods that require peeling, de-stoning and chewing (haha). Although I won't lie, a cherry pitter is a game changer and you definitely need one!
My c-section story
Continuing on from my birth story which you can read here, I wanted to write a further post to go into more detail on my complications with my cesarean section, since April is c-section awareness month. I had an emergency cesarean in October 2016 , it was a category 2 emergency which basically means that… Continue reading My c-section story
Childcare Challenges of a Working Parent
Making the decision of when to return to work after having my youngest two children was tough, I believe that as parents we have a conflict within us between collecting our children from school, never missing a play, assembly or class presentation and then setting an example by working hard for a living in whatever form… Continue reading Childcare Challenges of a Working Parent
ASD and sleep
Being a parent is hard work and you lose a LOT of sleep. We have been having a really tough time with our two youngest and sleep, and it has hit a point over the last few months where it is impossible to manage and feels impossible to function. Any tips from other parents of… Continue reading ASD and sleep
We must do more about cyberbullying #Pledge2Talk
Internet matters launch their #Pledge2talk campaign today, which is about getting the message out there about cyberbullying. Recognising that this kind of bullying is different to face to face bullying and helping us as parents, recognise it, learn about it and ultimately take action to stop it. New research suggests that 1 in 5 parents say… Continue reading We must do more about cyberbullying #Pledge2Talk
My birth story
Everyone loves a good birth story so here is mine. In true style of all things that I do, it is incredibly late! This bump is huge! Baby Ethan, our youngest son, was born just before Halloween last year, via emergency c-section. It seems like with each child I have the labour gets a bit… Continue reading My birth story
EHCP drama – an open letter to my local authority
Dear local authority,My heart broke for my baby when I was told he had Autism, I felt a mix of relief to get a diagnosis for him and also sadness and loss for the childhood I thought he was going to have. He was just two years and four months old at the time, and… Continue reading EHCP drama – an open letter to my local authority
Our little camping trip in Norfolk this summer!
This summer we went camping for the first time, a 7 month pregnant me, the husband and Conner who is never away from his xbox for longer than ten minutes, and Noah who is nocturnal. This was going to be interesting to say the least! First obstacle was the actual lack of camping gear we… Continue reading Our little camping trip in Norfolk this summer!
The Scenic Route to Sanity 