Snack bags to encourage the fruit and veg

Quick tip from Granny T: While Abigail was on her hols she came back with snack bags like these baco ones filled with grapes and carrot sticks. Although fruits are fine, salad veg have been a bit harder to convince Abigail to eat. However, she ate a bag of carrot sticks out of the bag on her first day back! I use these alot now when out and about and they seem to help encourage more eating of raw vegetables. They're also very practical, and reusable, so economical. I bought mine from Morrisons but I'm sure you can get them in most supermarkets.

That holiday feeling

Yey! I'm back from holiday. I spent a week away in San Francisco with my husband while our daughter spent her own holiday down in the Westcountry with her grandparents, aunties and cousins. I feel revived and refreshed. It was a bit daunting preparing for the trip and wondering if Abigail would be OK but it all worked out really well and I'd really recommend it if you can! I've realised how important the break is for all of us and will try to make sure we get away at least once a year, doesn't really matter where as it's the time off that's so good.

Free Range Kids

I recently came back from a week in California. My husband and I had dinner at a colleagues' family home. We, and I think they, enjoyed the exchange of chat about parenting, education, life etc. We were handed a copy of "Free Range Kids" by Lenore Skenazy. I heard stories about knee pads being available in the US to help "ease the transition from crawling on carpeted to hardwood floors"; about some families providing their toddlers with helmets to wear around the house to prevent bumps and bruises... Although these are extreme cases, they are indicative of the growing hesitancy and fears that are taking hold on many parents as they risk-assess day-to-day children's activities. 

Oh my, a GOOD parenting magazine. Gurgle.

Maybe I'm a bit too opinionated, or have created very high expectations based on my personal experience of parenting over the last few years, but I don't generally think that highly of the writing and messages of the parenting magazines out there. I thought I was too cynical and have been pleasantly surprised to have just read a few issues of a new magazine, Gurgle... and liked it! 

Fascinating insights into the developmental consequences of the first 1000 days of life

There've been a number of radio and television programmes that I've learnt alot from lately. First was BBC Two's Horizon, "The nine months that made you", next BBC Radio Four's "The first 1000 days: a legacy for life", and finally, BBC R4 again, Women's Hour and "Babies and salt". Altogether, they provide a very interesting collection of research into the consequences of behaviour in pregnancy, but also lifestyles of Mum and Dad around conception. I certainly learned alot and recommend a listen/watch if you can catch them in time. (I'm being a bit lazy, but may summarize the findings for you in another blog if I'm feeling generous!)

Nervous twitch

Of all the aspirations I may hold for whatever we're doing in our parenting of Abigail, there's one flaw that I'd like her to be free from: Nervousness.

Exploring the world together: Buggies, slings and carriers

Providing babies with the confidence to explore the wider world starts with providing them with a loving and secure base*.  The pushchair direction and the direction with which your child faces when being carried in a baby carrier is an element of that opportunity to explore through the reassurance of seeing the Mother/Father/Carer whilst out and about, as highlighted by a recent article in the press.

Recent comments regarding the negative consequences of forward-facing buggies, and outward-facing carriers, have been made by Professor Cathrine Fowler, from University of Technology, Sydney, and backed up by a 2008 study at Dundee University by Dr Suzanne Zeedyk (Daily Mail article - please ignore sensationalist title - and see also the Dundee 2008 press release):

‘Imagine if you were strapped to someone’s chest with your legs and arms flailing, heading with no control into a busy shopping centre – it would be terrifying...Outward-facing baby carriers and prams give babies a bombardment of stimulus, creating a very stressful situation... In not considering our baby’s perspective, we are inadvertently quite cruel to children’  - Cathrine Fowler