When people ask me what I do, I stumble to explain …
Well, I come from an early education background….. but now I am home with the children……I write a blog about early education and parenting and I’m trying to work out what to do next.
STOP!
What have I been doing for the past year since I started my blog? Writing.
What do I do during the evenings and when the children aren’t around? I write a blog.
When I am not writing my blog what do I do? I write articles for websites, write children’s stories, write poetry and write diaries.
What do you do when you are not writing? I research things to write about, read and take photographs of things of interest (oh yes and look after 3 kids).
So I don’t get paid for any of these things but it is what I do.
I am a writer.
I have been writing since I was 6 years old. I would absorb myself so much in story writing that the words couldn’t hit the page quickly enough and would move in a diagonal fashion away from the margin. I was always being told that I needed to improve my handwriting. As a teenager I wrote poetry and short stories and enjoyed writing essays. My English teacher called me her shining star. I always kept a diary and often wrote letters. I studied English Literature at University (I preferred English Language but there was no degree option for this) because I loved to read and write. On my honeymoon I wrote a journal of our trip and have kept a diary of pregnancies and the early years of my children’s lives. I had mostly A grades for my essays during my Masters Degree.
I am a writer.
A few years ago I read a book by Ken Robinson called The Element. The book talks about how finding your passion changes everything. Everyone has their ‘element’, some have more than 1 and some people never realise it. I wondered at the time what my ‘element’ was and now I know, it is and always has been writing.
I am a writer.
People tell me they like what I write, people tell me they like the way that I write, people even sometimes tell me that they are inspired by what I write.
I am a writer.
I may never get paid for my writing but that won’t stop me. If I keep writing and sending things to publishers and publications maybe one day I will become a professional writer. Even if I never make a penny as long as I keep writing and people keep reading .
This Christmas we decided to take a break from our traditional way of doing things. We visited Butlins Minehead Resort courtesy of the Butlins Mums Ambassador Programme. We usually spend Christmas at home, but I can thoroughly recommend a Christmas Butlins break for taking the hassle out of Christmas and spending quality time with your family. We did many things on the break that are not unique to Christmas, these will feature in a later post. This is our diary of the special things that are available on a Christmas Butlins break.
23rd December
We checked in at our Gold apartment and were immediately greeted by some lovely added touches. The dining table was laid with a Christmas cloth, wine glasses, crackers and a bottle of bubbly and when the children checked out their bedrooms they found a lovely little gift each on their bed.
(Not pictured on a Butlins bed)
We then headed to the Yacht Club for dinner. The children were given Christmas cookies on arrival while we were allocated our table (guests keep the same table for the duration of their break). The dining experience was a real highlight of the break. Not only did I not have to cook but the quality, quantity and choice of food was excellent. Food and drink were on a self-serve basis and the children enjoyed coming to make their own choice of food and using the machines to get drinks. The meals ranged from 3 -5 courses and included a bottle wine . Our meet and greet host Mark also deserves a special mention for his exuberance and energy and for going out of his way to make sure we were happy. The children loved his illuminated tickling stick.
Christmas Eve
Butlins had a special visit from 2 of Santa’s reindeer and we visited them in the morning.
The girls and I spent the afternoon in the Skyline Pavilion. We watched the puppet show and danced with Angelina Ballerina but the highlight was Bjorn the Polar Bear. This amazing animatronic polar bear was so responsive and lifelike that the children were captivated.
One girl was chosen to be the first to interact with Bjorn and when she called his name he turned and walked towards her. All the children had a chance to hold their hand out for Bjorn to move towards them to be stroked and as a finale he rose onto his hind legs when the audience clapped and made a noise like a seal.
The snow globe looked like great fun with its simulated snowstorm, character photo shoots were scheduled here during the day. Unfortunately, by the time we considered going in (on Tuesday) it had lost some of its juice and the snow wasn’t falling and blowing properly so we decided to give it a miss. Next time I’ll make sure we get in early.
During the afternoon the housekeeping staff visited with a bag each containing a carrot for the reindeer and a mince pie for Father Christmas.
The girls filled out their letters to Santa included in the welcome pack. We intended to post them on our way to Father Christmas but by this point the post box had closed and we were too late. I believe had we been on time the girls would have received a personalised letter from Father Christmas.
We had a pre-booked time slot to visit Father Christmas in his Enchanted Forest. The children loved being met by the Gingerbread Man and a fairy as we entered the Forest and each had a good quality gift from Father Christmas (this incurred no extra charge).
On the way to dinner we caught the end of the firework display and my 3 year old who is afraid of fireworks was very brave.
After dinner we headed to Reds for a few drinks, and to catch the Take That tribute band. This was followed by an Adele tribute and Beatles tribute, but these were a little late for our kids.
When back in the apartment the girls hung their stockings on the tree ( we took a small table top Christmas tree with us) and put out the carrots and mince pies along with Santa’s magic key (Butlins apartments don’t have chimneys).
All of the Butlins staff went out of their way to help during our stay, this included the security man who helped carry presents to our chalet at 4am. As a minor suggestion if you are considering a Christmas break at Butlins, leave some of the presents at home. The time and space it took to load, unload and unwrap all the presents was a little overwhelming!
Christmas Day
The girls woke up very excited that Father Christmas had visited Butlins. Remarkably, we managed to get the girls to breakfast before opening any presents. On opening the door they found this note from the man himself.
The morning was taken up opening presents and we headed for Christmas dinner during the mid afternoon. Today the little table in the entrance was laden with chocolates, fruit and nuts and a glass of Bucks Fizz for the grown ups. Our places were adorned with crackers, chocolates, a box of party poppers, rocket balloons and streamers, a bottle of fizz (yay!) and a little wrapped present for the baby. We unwrapped it to find a Billy Bear bowl – very useful as I had been feeding her snacks from a china bowl in the apartment up until this point.
The meet and greet staff soon arrived with children’s crackers and Billy Bear cups for each of the children. A traditional 5 course Christmas Dinner left us all suitably satisfied, before heading back to the apartment for my Christmas Dr Who fix.
In addition to regular Christmas television, the Butlins television channel showed the Redcoats favourite Christmas movies, this helped to keep the children amused.
Boxing Day
Today was our pre-booked time slot for the pantomime Aladdin. This was great fun and the girls really enjoyed it. It wasn’t too long and included plenty of catchy songs.
We spent the afternoon at the funfair before coming into the warm for coffee and hot chocolate while the girls enjoyed softplay.
For the evening entertainment we made our way to Reds for a Robbie Williams and Girls Aloud tribute and a bit of a boogie. The girls had made friends with some of the children we met at the restaurant and stayed up late dancing and playing with them.
27th December
Time to check out and say goodbye. I can highly recommend a Christmas break at Butlins. It was great to focus on the children at Christmas rather than visiting and entertaining. I would love to do it again with a large family gathering …. I wonder if I can persuade my family to book for next year?
This Christmas break was in Gold Standard accommodation with the Premium Dining package (Dinner, Bed and Breakfast) at Minehead Resort.
At the time of visiting my children were aged 7,3 and 1.
Today I have been blogging at Right from the Start for a year. It has been an incredible year that has exceeded all expectations. I have featured on Netmums, had some wonderful products to review, became an ambassador for Butlins, attended Cybermummy,had my first short story published, met some wonderful people and been told by many people that they love what I write.
I have lots of plans for 2012 for the blog and other writing projects, which I am very excited about.
I have published 92 posts in my first year and to commemorate my first anniversary I thought I would share with you the 5 most read posts (excluding reviews and competitions).
Parenting the Most Difficult Job in the World – This was a very early post and was the first that made me realise the opportunities that blogging offers. It was featured as a guest post on Netmums and led to my being invited to become a part of the Netmums Review Team alongside well established, high profile bloggers. It is a post that I am very proud of and resonates with many people.
Real Parenting Through the Eyes of Tim Minchin – After a wonderful weekend in Edinburgh for my 40th Birthday, I posted this hilarious and accurate song about trying to get children to sleep, by the wonderfully talented Tim Minchin. For some reason I get a lot of searches on the blog for How Tall is Tim Minchin?
There’s a Spider on the Floor – Fun with Rhyme A short post sharing a song that I share with my children. I have a huge repertoire of children’s songs and will be sharing more in the next year.
Thank you to all those who have read and commented on my blog in the first year it has been wonderful to watch my readership grow and read the lovely comments that you take the time to make. I’m looking forward to an exciting 2nd year.
It is a rare treat to see all my 3 girls playing together with the same toy. When my 3 year old chose to play with Stickle Bricks, my 1 year old and 7 year old joined in, each getting very different things from it and adapting it to their own interests and developmental stage. For me this is the mark of a good toy.
My 7 year old launched into making a full-scale model of a roller coaster. She got a little frustrated when it fell apart a few times but with persistence completed it.
My one year old was happy with just 2 Stickle Bricks, handing it to me to push together and then concentrating hard on pulling it apart. A repetitive game that kept her occupied for a good 10 minutes.
Later she found the board and enjoyed discovering the texture with her bare feet, stepping on and off and laughing.
My 3 year old created a piece of modern art adding things to it as she went along.
Adding a sock to make a bridge for the Billy Goats Gruff.
No Pepper isn’t the Troll. I’m not having a Troll and there aren’t any goats.
pepper and stickle bricks
No it isn’t finished yet.
As she gathered random objects from around the room Now it’s finished.
It isn’t often that we find a toy that the girls can play with without worrying that the baby will ruin their play or put something small in her mouth. It was an added bonus that the baby enjoyed playing with the Stickle Bricks in her own way. We have had the Stickle Bricks since my 7 year old was a toddler and they still get lots of use. It’s just a shame we don’t have a greater quantity now that we have 3 girls playing with them.
The Happy Feet 2 game is a family game aimed at children from 3 years old. As I haven’t personally played this game I asked my 7 year old if she would like to review it. Here are her thoughts.
The object of this game is a mixture of things,for instance collecting penguins and when you have done that you have to do a few things to get to the exit.On some levels you don’t have to collect penguins, you have to do things like races.
I think this is a really good game and is very good for education,because it can help small children recognise where and what the buttons/controls mean. I have enjoyed going through the levels (so far I have got to stage 11)some levels can be very hard but others are quite easy .
I like doing the challenges,especially on levels 5 and 13 where all you have to do is do what you would do in a challenge,on some levels you have a timer .In challenges you have to press a different button when a red ball hits the button.
On some levels you have to race another penguin/character,these levels are the hardest for me.
By E McClary.Age 7
Clear as mud? Clearly she has enjoyed playing it and is progressing nicely through the levels.
Personally I think this game is a missed opportunity. When I heard that we were getting a Happy Feet 2 game to review I expected it to be a Kinect game with lots of funky dance moves. I’m really not sure why a game about a dancing penguin would not involve real dancing when the technology is out there to support it. As it stands I think it would be a fun game on a hand held console but am a little disappointed that there isn’t more to it for the bigger consoles.
A preview copy of the game was received for the purpose of this review. No payment was received.
As an Early Years teacher I have always capitalised on opportunities for literacy in everyday life. Making children aware and involving them in these things is often key to children viewing reading and writing as fun. Traditionally these would have been things like writing shopping lists, reading road and shop signs, mark making in diaries and calendars or following recipes.
However literacy in the real world is changing. Children these days are just as likely to see you read or write on your phone or laptop as they are to see you write a list or note.
This really hit home with me when I watched my 3 year old playing on my iPad a few weeks ago. She asked if she could download an app called Dad book, designed for dads to record stories for their children.
But mummy it’s not doing anything
she said once it was downloaded.
No, someone has to tell the story and record it.
I replied.
I asked her 7 year old sister to record the story for her, they sat together as my 7 year old narrated the story. When she was finished my 3 year old listened and then repeated the words as she had seen done with another app Pat the Cat .
What a great opportunity for playing with literacy for both children. This made me think about all the other literacy activities my children tap into on the iPad.
My 3 year old is learning about the alphabet and phonic sounds using the wonderful Elmo loves ABC’s app. This has loads of different levels of games all based around learning letter names and sounds and includes lots of memorable Sesame Street clips.
Another favourite is Me Books a children’s picture book reader for classic Ladybird books. Both my children enjoy following the stories and adding in their own sound effects. This is simple for the children to do and another great way of getting different aged siblings to share reading.
The Ladybird Touch and Say books are also a great way for my 2 year old to learn to read simple words and even my one year old loves the Baby Touch app.
My 7 year old loves creating her own stories and animations using Toontastic or Puppetpals and these are also simple for pre-schoolers to use with adult guidance.
We have even discovered new songs and rhymes through English Songs and Chants. My 3 year old loves this one and can be heard walking around the house reciting the chants and singing the songs. The chants are excellent for teaching rhythm and steady beat, a concept I usually teach using Ros Bayley’s Beat Baby. I wonder whether Ros has considered creating a Beat Baby app?
There are a number of things that I really appreciate about the way my children use technology to play and learn about literacy.
The children freely choose the literacy apps and never feel like they are learning literacy skills. Everything they choose to play is fun and interactive.
The apps are an added dimension to their experience of literacy. They still love books and choose to read traditional books more often than e-books, still love to write, tell and listen to stories.
Current touch screen technology is still a little small to offer good mark making experiences for the youngest children but the drawing apps are good fun for when they get a bit older and are able to work on a smaller scale. I look forward to a time when I can roll out a big screen onto the floor and let the youngest children explore markmaking on a large scale.
I also think Kinect holds great possibilities for literacy. My children talk to their dad via video Kinect when he is not at home. There would be great potential for speaking and listening activities if they connected with other children from around the world and shared experiences about their life and culture.
My girls are avid readers, I’m not afraid that new technology will distract them from traditional literacy, but that it adds a richness to their lives and new possibilities for exciting literacy experiences.
A few weeks ago I responded to a request to contribute to a children’s story book entitled ‘Once Upon a Time’ to raise money for Save the Children.
I have always wanted to write for children but have struggled with the inspiration. This was my perfect chance to have a go and raise money for a fabulous cause. Myself and 16 other bloggers have written short stories for young children. The only rules were that the story should begin with ‘Once Upon a Time’ and should be written in 350 words. I was lucky to already have an idea in mind. This was based on a story I told to my 7 year old when she was afraid of going to bed because she thought she might have bad dreams. It was incredibly difficult to condense this into 350 words . After multiple edits I got it down to under 400 but not quite to the 350 . It made me realise that writing for young children isn’t as easy as it looks.
The illustrations in the book are all provided by our own children – this is my 7 year olds picture that appears with my story.
All the writers have given their services for free so that we can raise as much money as possible. The book looks really beautiful and would be a very special present for a child who loves stories.
I hope this won’t be my last attempt at writing for children, I have ideas for a few more projects so watch this space.
To order a copy and view a preview click on the picture on the top right hand sidebar or here .
A few weeks ago, I picked up a tube of Magic Snow. I have never seen this before but I thought it might be a nice Christmas play idea. It comes as a powder in a test tube shaped container and when you add water to it, it expands to 100 times its original size to look like snow.
It feels really soft and just a little bit cold
You get all the fun of playing with ice and snow but it doesn’t melt or feel too cold on little fingers.
We tried to mould a snowman and make models with the snow.
The snow was a big hit but was gradually creeping onto the floor and getting a bit slippery, so I suggested we put the snow in a tray.
We found some snow animals and the penguins slid around on the ice.
We went out and left the snow in the tray for a few hours, it showed no signs of drying up during this time so I am hoping that we will get a few days play from this batch. Magic snow is a big hit with my 3 year old who loves messy, tactile things and I’m sure it is an activity she will return to regularly in the lead up to Christmas.
Ahead of the Government publishing its own report on the state of the nation’s happiness next year, family holiday firm Butlins has launched its own barometer of harmony at home with a study of more than 3000 parents and children.
And while the majority of families in the UK describe themselves as happy and not allowing economic gloom to get in the way of their fun, both parents and kids just wish they could spend more time together. Parents say the need to work longer hours is getting in the way but children would rather forgo extra pocket money to get an extra hour with mum and dad. Interestingly the survey found that the biggest barrier to children’s happiness is spending enough time with their parents. This reflects my daughter’s comments in a piece of work she wrote about herself. When asked what made her happy, she wrote
Spending time on my own with mum or dad.
Parents admit that on average they spend just 68 minutes a day with their children, adding up to just 44 weeks in total before a child reaches adulthood.
This doesn’t reflect my own family situation, as a stay at home mum I probably spend too much time with my children for my own sanity. My husband on the other hand works long hours and at some considerable distance from home so our time as a whole family is very precious.
Now Butlins has appointed its first Director of Happiness to help families overcome obstacles to “together time”. ‘Director of Happiness’ for Butlins, now that has to be added to my list of dream jobs. Mark Hunter – one of the UK’s only Positive Psychologists – will advise the company on initiatives to help add extra sparkle to family life, starting with a new online resource for parents.
I checked out the happiness resource. It is made up of 3 main sections:
The Key is about spending quality time as a family and Emma has some useful tools to help you reflect on the quality of your family time and some suggestions to make it more fulfilling below are a small sample.
Gain perspective: Make a list of the things that are important to you – everything from your children or partner to your car or phone. Then next to each thing write M for material or R for relationship. Then consider losing something from each list; how do you feel? Would losing things from the M list be a real inconvenience? But what about list R? How does losing these things feel? Make a plan to invest your best self in the relationships that are important to you.
Make a time capsule: Create a memory record for all the family to treasure in years to come. Your capsule might include family pictures and introductions to you all – perhaps filmed and saved onto a CD; a newspaper from the day you put your treasure together; biographies of each family member with inside information on your favourite hobbies and TV programmes.
Agree to open it up at regular intervals, i.e. every 7 years and then add to it. This could become your own family tradition for years to come which grows into a unique and very modern family tree.
Reflect and wind down: At the end of each day find a moment to re-connect with each other. It might be finding out what your child did in one of their lessons or planning an evening out with your husband or partner.
Make a wish list: At the start of a new school term, get together as a family and make a list of things you all want to do. Good planning means that anything is possible!
A Happy Days game providing you with the chance to win a Butlins break is also featured.
My 7 Year old is steadily working her way through the Harry Potter books, so this game has arrived at an opportune moment. Lego Harry Potter 5-7 years covers the last 3 books of the series and as my daughter is currently reading the 6th book she was able to explain some of the characters to me (I only ever read to book 4). We have a Star Wars Lego game for the Nintendo DS which is a firm favourite so my expectations for this game were high.
My daughter played it alone and with a friend. They took it in turns to complete and solve different problems, helping each other out along the way. You can play the game with 2 controllers each player taking the part of a different character. This feature works really well and stimulates lots of discussion. It also makes me realise how much better children are at these things than me.
It is a very long time since I spent any time playing video games. This weekend I had a cold and decided to sit for 3 hours and play Harrry Potter 5-7 Years snuggled up in my quilt. It was compelling and addictive and suitably challenging to keep me engaged. I could have used my daughters help at some points as I wandered aimlessly in the dark trying to find a tap. We discovered the following day that she had turned the brightness down and it wasn’t supposed to be a night-time game at all! I managed to complete the first level and played a little of the next level with my daughter the next day. I am suitably hooked.
The animations that tell the story in between each level are compelling and new characters appear as the game unfolds. Each character has a special skill such as rebuilding blue Lego structures or using an invisibility cloak.
What was my 7 year olds opinion?
It is excellent because some characters can do some things which other characters can’t do and you can perform different spells just by pressing the spell-wheel button.
She has even drawn an image of how the controls work for the XBox 360 version.
The game lived up to my high expectations, my daughter is coming home from school and asking if she can switch it on and I am looking forward to playing it with her and on my own. Good credit all round.
This review is based on the XBox 360 game, it isalso available on other consoles.
A preview copy of the game was received for the purpose of the review. No payment was received for writing this review.
Right from the Start 