Family |

Archive | Family RSS feed for this section

Managing Family Finances

By Mum's the Word on April 23, 2013 in Family

When I started my job in January, having a second full-time income coming into the house was great as I was able to take some of the financial pressure of of Husband and contribute more towards our family finances. Unfortunately, having a full-time position simply didn’t work for our family, so after much deliberation I decided to become a stay-at-home Mum again. Rather than feeling like I’d gone back to square one and hurtling headlong into searching for a different job with part-time hours, I realised that I could make a contribution in other ways.

One of those ways was to look at our family expenses and make steps towards streamlining in areas where we don’t need to spend.Husband and I both have Current Accounts with different banks, both of which we pay fees for, so I searched online for a way to compare bank accounts easily. Halifax are offering some great deals, including cash incentives for switching over to one of their products and having a suitable account could be an important first step to getting your finances in order.

Our family food shop was another thing that needed cracking down on, as we tend to do a big shop and then still end up visiting our local supermarket (which just happens to be the most expensive supermarket around!) to supplement our regular shop, which just ends up costing so much more than we really need to spend. There are some fabulous blogs around which offer inspiration on meal-planning, something that we’ve found to be a real help in cutting our costs as we go shopping with a definite idea of what we need to buy, rather than aimlessly tossing things into the trolley and being tempted by cut-price deals which seem great but just needlessly bump your costs up.

Another way I cut our costs was to shop around for my car insurance renewal. I managed to get it down from £60 a month to just over £35, which is a big saving, coming in at around £300 a year less. It always pays to shop around for everything, in fact, and Husband and I rarely make a purchase without checking first to see if we can get in cheaper elsewhere or find a discount coupon.

So, while I may not be bringing in as much money now, there are still plenty of ways in which I can contribute towards the family finances and switching to a bank account that fits your needs could help you too.

Post Written in Partnership

Comments { 0 }

Nexus 7 Kids Apps – Our Recommendations

By Mum's the Word on April 15, 2013 in Education, Family, Technology

We’re big fans of Android in this house – Husband loves being able to root his phone and use custom software and I love being able to customise my device to my requirements and the Open ethos of Android lets us tinker to our hearts content. Last Christmas, we decided to buy Sausage a tablet PC and the Nexus 7 was the obvious choice.

She uses it for so many different things, surfing the web, sending emails, using Plex Media Server to connect to the family PC and watch films. Obviously, a big part of tablet use is the apps that are available, so we thought we’d put together a guide to our favourite Nexus 7 apps for kids, to show you what’s available. There are free versions available of some of the paid apps, but I’ve added the paid ones here as I don’t really like Sausage being exposed to adverts all the time.

Toy Story Smash It – £0.65

This is a physics-based game featuring all of your favourite Toy Story characters and is not entirely unlike Angry Birds, in that the aim of the game is to throw balls at the aliens and knock them off of their perch. It’s great for practicing aim and timing and is immersive for adults and kids alike.

Disney Fairies: Lost and Found – £0.65

This app is based on the newest Tinkerbell film, Secret of the Wings and features beautiful graphics and music from the movie. As you move through the levels, you travel around the different areas of Pixie Hollow and the aim is to find as many ‘Lost’ items as you can in as little time as possible, which in turn unlocks new chapters of the story book. The game is great for reflexes and observation and really is beautifully made.

Dr. Seuss Read-Alongs – £1.33 to £3.34

The Dr. Seuss read-along books are a brilliant aid to learning as you have the option to read the book to yourself or have it read aloud, and the read-aloud option highlights each word as it’s spoken, so your child knows what the words look and sound like all at once. There are also interactive parts of each page, so you can tap pictures and the name of the object is read aloud and will appear on-screen. The Lorax is a particular favourite of ours although we’d happily recommend anything by Dr. Seuss.

Wreck it Ralph – £0.65

If you have a child who’s a fan of the Wreck-It Ralph film, they’ll LOVE this game as it’s really close to the content of the movie. You get to choose from three games, Wreck-It Ralph, which is an exact replica of the game in the film and requires you to help Fix-It Felix Jnr fix the building before Ralph wrecks it entirely. Hero’s Duty is a top-down shooter in the vein of Smash TV (if you’re old enough to remember it!), where you have to shoot as many Cybugs as you can whilst moving around the map and Sugar Rush: Sweet Climber is set in Candy Land and requires you to get Ralph as high up in the Candy Tree forest as he can, whilst collecting candy along the way. The whole game is beautifully animated and contains some of the great music from the movie too.

Blackboard – FREE

This one does exactly what it says on the tin – it’s simply a blackboard. It allows you to use your finger as chalk and has been absolutely brilliant for Sausage as she perfects her reading, writing and arithmetic. We use it to write words for her to read to us, giving her words to try and spell, writing sums for her to do and all manner of other things. If you have younger children, it’s also a mess-free way to start mark-making with them. For a free app, it really does have a lot of uses and you’ve got nothing at all to lose by giving it a try!

Nemo’s Reef – FREE

The aim of Nemo’s Reef is to build and maintain the best underwater reef, collecting new species of coral and fish along the way. It’s educational as it teaches kids about marine life and also gives a concept of responsibility as it requires a certain level of attention to maintain what you’ve built. Even aside from the education factor, it’s a lovely little game, very relaxing as the music is ambient and calm and the graphics are really attractive.

Club Penguin Puffle Launch – £0.65

This fast-paced game is amazing for the reflexes as you shoot the Puffles from canon to canon, collecting gold rings long the way and trying to make sure your timing is exactly right, otherwise you’ll end up in the water and out of the game. It’s great for the whole family and totally draws you in. Addictive!

Pou – FREE

I have to admit, I ummed and ahhed about including this game as it’s a bit like Candy Crush in the respect that there are several areas of the game that encourage you to spend money and use paid-for add-ons, which can really pile the pressure onto parents, something that I don’t encourage. And that’s not even factoring in the fact that you’re caring for, well, a POO.

Having said all of that, I actually really like this game. It’s kind of like a modern day Tamagotchi in that the point of the game is to care for Pou with food, entertainment, exercise and sleep and she becomes ill and dirty if you forget about her. There are also some in-app mini games which are really fun and some are even developmentally positive too, so as long as your child’s Google Wallet is password-protected I’d still recommend this app. I must admit, I even sneak a go when Sausage isn’t looking..!

The Croods Movie Storybook – £1.96

We discovered this after going to the cinema to see The Croods and it’s pretty similar to the Dr. Seuss read-alongs. Another great aid to learning to read and some lovely graphics too.

Were’s My Perry? – £0.65

This is another physics-based puzzle game where you have to use water in its different forms (water, ice, steam etc.) to help you solve the puzzle and save Perry the Platypus. It’s a seriously fun game and manages to be educational without the kids even realising it!

Comments { 4 }

Learning is Fun: Animal Sizes

By Mum's the Word on April 13, 2013 in Closer to Nature, Education, Family

Since Sausage was old enough to hold her own head up, Husband has sat her on his lap at his desk and showed her pictures of animals on the computer. She’s always been fascinated by nature and as she grew we moved her learning on from visual-only stimulation to actually learning facts about animals and the natural world. The internet is an amazing resource and we love nothing more than when Sausage asks us about something and we’re able to sit and learn together using websites we love, such as Wikipedia and the National Geographic site.

One thing that can be quite hard to explain is the actual sizes of different animals. Most kids don’t have a concept of how big things are, so Husband and I started actually measuring things out with Sausage. It’s a fantastic learning opportunity as not only are you quantifying the knowledge you’re passing on about animals, you’re getting them involved with using numbers, tools such as tape measures and best of all, it fires the imagination like nobodies business!

Now that the weather is nicer, we’ve taken the game outdoors and have started marking things out in chalk, so whenever Sausage wants to know how tall or long something is, we mark it out on the patio. However, our patio is only so big, so we’re planning to take our tape measures to the park to measure out some of the larger creatures, like species of dinosaurs and whales!

What you’ll need.

All you need to do this at home is a patio, a tape measure, some chalk and the internet. Encourage your kids to think of different animals to look up, get them involved in measuring them out and drawing the lines. We’ve had hours of fun doing this and it’s free, educational and really fun if you get your imagination involved.

Starting left to right, the smallest line is Sausage’s height, for context. The next line is the wingspan of a golden eagle (Sausage was blown away that a bird could have wings wider than her height, which led to a conversation about other birds that are even bigger). The third line, in blue, is the average length of a bottle-nose dolphin and the longest line is the average length of a large species of crocodile!

This is a great activity for kids and you don’t even necessarily need good weather to play it (though it’s so nice to get some fresh air finally). We often measure the heights of things and I had fun standing on the arm of the sofa with Husband stopping me from falling off, to show Sausage how tall a particular species of pre-historic ape was! You can even get a stepladder involved to show the really tall things, just mind your head on the ceiling!

Another method of quantifying things for them is to weigh all of the members of the family and write them on a piece of paper (I recommend doing it in kilos as most animals weights are in kilos and it’ll save you having to do all of the conversions!). Using the “think of an animal…” starting point, get them to think of a creature, look up their weight and get the kids to work out how many times bigger than them the animal is, or how many times bigger than Mummy or Daddy, or Mummy plus Daddy, etc. It’ll get them exercising their maths skills and get the imaginations going even wilder!

Sunday

Comments { 3 }

Build-a-Bear Workshop Review

By Mum's the Word on April 5, 2013 in Family, Review

Yesterday we had the privilege of being invited to our local Build-a-Bear Workshop with Sausage so that she could build her very own bear and see what the overall experience is like. Our appointment was at 3pm and because nothing is ever simple in the Mum’s the Word house, right around 11am, it started snowing heavily. Not to be deterred, I phoned the shop and asked if we could put it back by an hour to give ourselves plenty of time to get there and off we went.

The front of the store is bright, open and welcoming and we were greeted by the store manager Jackie and our lovley bear-builder Sophie who took Sausage and got started right away.

First, she chose her bear

Then, she chose a heart and something that played a jingle

Then came the stuffing!

Then the bear was fluffed up and brushed

Then an outfit was chosen…and boy was there a lot to choose from!

Then she was named and a birth certificate was created

Then a decree was made to the whole of Lakeside that Sausage would love her bear and protect her forever

And so…Sofia was born!

I can honestly say that Sausage was treated like absolute royalty, the staff were attentive and engaging and guided her through the whole process. The lady who was helping us, Sophie, really made the whole experience magical for Sausage and for that we cannot thank her enough. Our daughter came away from the Build-a-Bear Workshop one seriously happy little girl!

For the sake of giving a fair review, I eavesdropped a little bit onto another little girl who was being served while we were in the store and can say that she was getting the same treatment of us, so I don’t think for one minute that the red carpets were rolled out because we were there for a review. All of the staff were happy and helpful.

The bear itself would have cost around £45 if we’d not been receiveing Sofia for free and that covers the bear and all of the clothing and accessories. Now, this may seem like a lot but for a special occassion, this would make an amazing birthday or Christmas treat for any little girl or boy. They offer football kits, Star Wars characters and more, as well as the girlier options, so there’s something for all kids.

As a side note, I should also add that one of my friends had a Build-a-Bear made for me when I was about 15, a cow in a pink satin outfit and I STILL have her to this day, almost 15 years later and she is in pristine condition, so these bears really do last and are WELL worth the money.

We want to say an enormous thank you to everyone at Build-a-Bear Worshop for giving Sausage what she keeps describing as the ‘best day of my life’ and can say from Sausage, Husband and I that these shops have the full Mum’s the Word seal of approval and recommendation.

Comments { 3 }

Can Cook, Don’t Cook

By Mum's the Word on February 19, 2013 in Education, Family, Health

Food is something with which I have a complicated relationship but if I were to try and put it in a nutshell for you, it’d go something like this; I eat too much of it and I like all of the wrong things. That’s not to say that I don’t like healthy food, but I have this addiction to junk that probably goes way back into my childhood, when money wasn’t hugely abundant and things like KFC were a real, once-in-a-blue-moon treat. Now, the idea of takeaway still gives me a tiny, illicit spark which is ridiculous because a) I’m a grown up and b) I usually regret eating junk immediately after finishing the meal.

The thing is, I love to cook. I’m not saying I’m very good at it and I’ve probably had more disasters than successes in the kitchen, but for me, there’s nothing more satisfying than making something for my family which is nutritious and prepared with love. But, I do have a few problems in that area. See, while I consider myself a food-lover, I probably have a rather unsophisticated palette, which means that I don’t do much inventive or off-the-cuff cooking as I simply don’t know what goes with what. I lack the confidence to experiment and to be honest, a modest family food budget doesn’t really extend to celeriac-related accidents when I have hungry mouths to feed and a limited time in which to do it. Obviously, Husband cooks dinner too but we both work and it’s only fair that we share the load.

And there’s the other thing; that mother of all bitches – TIME. I now work until 5.30pm, which means on a good traffic day, I roll in between 5.45pm and 6pm. Sausage is on a medication for her asthma that can’t be taken until 2 hours after she’s eaten which means our window for dinner is relatively small if I want my 4-year-old to go to bed at a reasonable hour. This, again, limits me in terms of experimentation.

Despite all of this, something I heard on Food and Drink last night (does anyone else absolutely adore that show?) really resonated with me and that’s that involving kids in their meal preparations can really set them up to have a healthy relationship with food. If there’s one thing that I really don’t want Sausage to inherit from me, it’s my weight and food issues so, really, the crux of all of this is this:

Husband has bought me some beautiful cookery books recently and I plan to use them to learn how to cook with different ingredients and hone my skills in the kitchen, but I need to learn to cook healthy, well-balanced, time-moderate food which Sausage can get involved with and won’t break the bank, for our day-to-day lives.

I’m sticking a linky below. It’s just a one-off thing but if you have any recipes at all that you think fit the bill, I’d love it if you’d leave me the link. I need to make some serious lifestyle changes and if there’s one thing that the last few years has taught me about the blogging community, it’s that you’re a super helpful and supportive bunch.

Thanks.

Comments { 8 }

Jake and the Neverland Doormats

By Mum's the Word on February 12, 2013 in Family, Opinion, Parenting

As is the case with a lot of four-year-olds, Sausage is a big fan of Jake and the Neverland Pirates. It’s a pretty good show and there’s always a moral lesson in each episode, cleverly disguised as something that Jake and his swashbuckling buddies must do to help them earn ‘gold doubloons’ for their treasure chest.

I rarely have an issue with the shows that Sausage chooses to watch on TV and I’ve blogged before about how kids shows, these days anyway, are educational and fun. But today, I was listening to Jake while ironing my work clothes and something about it bothered me. Captain Hook was throwing some shit-fit about the fact that he had no treasure for Pirate Show and Tell and Mr. Smee asked Jake and his mates if they’d hide some treasure so that Captain Hook could think he’d found it all by himself and be happy again.

So far, so schmaltzy.

But my problem is this; Captain Hook treats Jake like shit in every. single. episode. Just off the top of my head, I can recall him stealing the Neverland Pirate’s football, tricking them out of Bucky, their ship, stealing Izzy’s puzzle box, also stealing her hula hoop and kidnapping Cubby’s goldfish. I get that there’s a strong theme of ‘taking the moral high ground’ in the show, but surely it all goes a bit too far? Why should Captain Hook get away with behaving this way and still deserve help? I’m afraid this level of tolerance is a step too far for me.

Kindness is a hugely important lesson to teach children and I’m proud to say that Sausage is the kindest person I know, but at the same time, I’d never expect her to be kind if it was consistently being thrown back in her face. Are Disney trying to teach kindness, or simply make doormats of our children?

What do you think? Have you seen the show and thought the same or do you think kindness is something that should be unconditional and I’m a hard-hearted cow?!

Comments { 2 }

The Same As Everyone Else

By Mum's the Word on January 29, 2013 in Family, Parenting

I got a bit of a bollocking last night. I got home from work and a rather grumpy-faced Sausage said “Mummy, I still have a white t-shirt in my P.E. kit”. Her kit got sent home for the Christmas hols and I dutifully washed it, ready to go back. Only, on the Tuesday of her first week back, P.E. day, I realised that I’d not gathered all of the items up and put them in her bag and said-items were now spread far and wide throughout my chaotic house. I managed to locate her shorts, drummed up a pair of white socks and dug her plimsols out from under a pile of new toys, but the yellow, logo-embroidered t-shirt was nowhere to be found. In desperation I shoved a plain white v-neck into the bag, knowing that this was just as acceptable under the school’s uniform code, with promises to Sausage to replace it with the yellow one later that week.

Obviously, I forgot. Skip forward to today and Sausage has had to endure four whole sessions of Physical Education in a white t-shirt and, apparently, this just isn’t good enough.

Having been previously oblivious to the importance of the yellow t-shirt, I enquired as to whether she’d been told off for wearing a white t-shirt instead.

“No” was her reply.

Hmm. So, I asked, does anyone else wear a white top?

“Yes, the twins do”

Right, so if you’re the same as the twins, what’s the problem?

“Because everyone else wears yellow and I want to be the same as everyone else” she said.

And suddenly, it all became clear and my childhood came flooding back to me. I think, as an adult, we get so caught up in defining ourselves as one thing or another that we forget that, for the kids, it’s mostly about fitting in. Conformity is key and anything different will have you singled out. It’s like an innate survival instinct.

As an adult, and even as a teen to an extent, being ‘a bit different’ can be a great thing. But to a child, it’s the worst thing in the world and it’s suddenly become clear that it’s our jobs, as parents, to do what we can to facilitate that conformity.

When I was a youth (around 11 or 12), the Adidas track suit was king and if your trainers weren’t Reebok or Nike, you were a total loser. I got bought a black Adidas track suit with white stripes and I lived in that bloody thing until it was swinging around my ankles. But, it was a uniform and it fitted in with what everyone else was doing. That track suit got me through some tough times.

So, tonight after work, I’ll be going home, searching through the ironing pile and getting the yellow t-shirt ready for tomorrow, when I’ll extract the offending white garment from Sausage’s satchel and make the world, her world, right again. Because, while conformity might not be my cup of tea, for the moment it’s everything to Sausage and that’s just fine.

Comments { 8 }

Living For The Weekend

By Mum's the Word on January 28, 2013 in Family, Work

If you read this post, you’ll know that I went back to full-time work a couple of weeks ago for the first time in Sausage’s life. It’s not been entirely without event but that’s a different post for a different day. I’ve been trying to make the most of the evenings with my little family but once I’ve battled my way home through rush hour traffic, got changed, had dinner and watched an episode of The Simpsons, that’s basically it.

Up until now, and especially since we got our car, we’ve very much been able to please ourselves. Obviously, once Sausage started school we had to follow a routine to an extent, but with Husband working from home and me being unemployed since April, my time has been my own. I could go to the supermarket when everyone else was at work, I could run any errands I needed to run or I could simply sit on my arse and watch Jeremy Kyle and eat crisps if I so desired. Boy, how things have changed!

This weekend, we’ve had shopping, a kids party, family stuff and various other things to do, all on top of trying to catch up with a week’s worth of washing, tidying a house that looks like several small bombs have gone off in it and keeping a dog and a 4-year-old stimulated enough that we don’t end up with a riot on our hands. Usually, I wouldn’t sweat it, I’d think “It’s okay. I can do stuff while Sausage is at school next week” but now I simply can’t.

It’s been a real eye-opener, if I’m honest. I think I’d forgotten how busy places can be on a Saturday and even a Sunday. We made a trip to Ikea and Lakeside on Saturday and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a busier shop than the Swedish furniture place. And don’t even get me started on how rude everyone was. It’s like they get to the weekend and forget their manners (if they ever had any in the first place!).

We enjoyed our dinner, at a restaurant called Strada, which is a chain of Italian eateries. The food was absolutely lovely, I had the lamb shank which was served with a rich tomato sauce and fell off the bone. Husband and Sausage had pasta and pizza, both of which were freshly made and delicious.

I know we’ll get used to having to do things at the same time as everyone else, but at the moment it feels totally alien and a complete chore I’m honest. Any tips on how I can learn to cope with it all would be gratefully received!

For discounts at Italian restaurants check out this netvouchercode

Comments { 3 }

Going Public

By Mum's the Word on January 19, 2013 in Blogging, Family, School

A couple of things have happened this week that have made me think about the way I feel about my blog. Firstly, a new work colleague suggested that I add her on Facebook. I post all of my new posts onto both my personal timeline and my blogs page, so if I were to add her on there, she’d become aware of Mum’s the Word fairly quickly. Secondly, I was talking to one of the mums of a girl in Edith’s class and she mentioned that she was friends on Facebook with some of the other mums. Although I was already friends with two other school mums on there, I realised that I was cagey about who I added because of them seeing my blog.

The thing with blogging is, although I’ve now met several other bloggers in real life and consider a few of them to be very good friends, I mostly forget that real people read what I write!

I had a message the other day from some who was in my class at school. She got in touch to let me know that she really enjoys reading my posts and that she felt like she knew me even though we’d not spoken in over ten years. I was so touched that she took the time to make contact and it really made me think about the fact that, even though I’ve been pouring my heart onto a computer screen for the last two and a half years, the thought of people reading your thoughts is quite an abstract concept – until they tell you!

I like to think that this blog is a pretty good representation of me. I’m brutally honest about my thoughts and feelings, probably to my detriment at times, but I find it hard to censor myself for the most part. What’s the point of writing if you’re not being honest? If my writing wasn’t authentic I’d be better off writing fiction, surely? But, when you put your heart on a page, you leave yourself open to a lot of stick.

I think it’s mostly paranoia. I reckon other bloggers would agree that writing a blog is brilliant when people comment on your posts or engage you via social media about something you’ve written. I’ve had debates in my comments that I’ve been thrilled about, even when people are being negative about my opinion on something, but by contrast I have this overwhelming fear that I’ll write a post and then walk into the playground or my office and see people whispering about me or judging me in some way. The stupid thing is, they probably do that anyway, everyone gets judged by their peers, but it’s one thing being judged and it’s quite another to serve up a WEALTH of material for people to judge you on.

I asked in my fave parent blogging group on Facebook whether I should say “screw it” and go public and I had a mixed response. Some said that they have hundreds of co-workers who read their blog and they love it, others blog completely anonymously and wouldn’t have it any other way. Someone also made the VERY cogent point that basically anyone who knows how to Google could find my blog anyway, without very much effort at all.

Basically, I’m in blogging limbo.

Am I right to be scared? What would you do? Perhaps I’m missing a trick and I should be littering my every path with my blogging business cards?! Who knows.

Comments { 22 }

So, You’ve Eaten a Horse Burger?

By Mum's the Word on January 16, 2013 in Family, Humour, Life

If you read the news/go on Twitter/listen to the radio, you’ll no doubt be aware by now that several major supermarkets have cleared their shelves amidst findings from an independent report which showed beef burgers to contain up to 29% horse meat. The chances are, if you’ve eaten a burger from Tesco, you’ve probably eaten horse. Are you horrified?

I’m not.

Don’t get me wrong, the fact that they’ve sold cheap horse meat under the guise of beef is wrong for MANY reasons. The cultural implications are mind boggling, especially as 85% of the burgers also contained pig DNA, so many a kosher Jew are probably feeling rather upset right now. Also, just for the plain old fact that if you PAY for beef and you get horse, that’s morally and financially wrong. It’d be called fraud in any other circumstance, surely?

But.

What I don’t get is this; people are up in arms simply about the fact that they’ve eaten a horse and I just don’t get that mentality.

Why is a horse more sacred than a chicken, a cow or a turkey? With Christmas just gone by, are we not upset about the TEN MILLION turkeys eaten in the UK alone? I understand that people keep horses as pets and we’re all quite precious about not eating animals that are cute or handsome, but if it were a choice between my family needing food and Joey running free in the paddock, it’d be horse casserole for tea, I’m afraid.

I’m not hugely worldly when it comes to food I’ve tried but I’ve eaten kangaroo, deer and veal (though I will admit I wasn’t properly aware of what veal was before I ate it) and I just don’t get this thing that humans have about prioritising one type of animal over another when it comes to meat. Most people probably now know that pigs are as intelligent as dogs and while that’s led to a rise in the number of people keeping pigs as pets, I bet it’s barely affected the number of bacon sandwiches eaten by us Brits.

Perhaps someone could enlighten me as to why a horse is more important than a cow?

Until then, I’m going to be avoiding beef burgers; not because I don’t want to eat horse, but because if I’m buying beef it’s because I want to eat a cow!