The ones you really love and go to the absolute end of the world for!
School’s almost out, and the summer holidays are just around the corner. Already (I hear you scream). Yes….sorry!
Your child is probably looking forward to the weeks of freedom from learning (and homework!). It’s as if the lockdowns didn’t even happen this year. We all need a break and some fun, but summer learning loss in children is a reality!
“Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all”
Alfred Lord Tennyson
We think Alfred Lord Tennyson was onto something when he said it is okay to give love
a chance even though it has a potential to wreak havoc in your life. This thought is
especially true if you are a single mother and have more than your love life to consider
when it comes to choosing your partner.
Juggling work and homeschooling sounded straightforward enough. For years we have heard how our American counterparts actually opt for that lifestyle, many of them running businesses or side hustles alongside this.
But somehow, when the way that homeschooling is to be administered is dictated by schools, topped off with reams of worksheets and obvious knowledge gaps us parents have to fill, it just doesn’t seem quite as easy.
But one way to ease some of the pressure, and help salvage some semblance of a good relationship with our children is to encourage them to work independently.
It’s official, Christmas is over, and we have well and truly started 2021! Some of us have still got the Christmas tree out (with everything that’s going one, clinging on to a bit of cheer is not such a bad thing!).
But there are some things we really want to get rid of – those unwanted gifts we just didn’t have the heart to give back, or regift. With the country in a national lockdown, it’s not even possible to slip down the high street and swap the burden for a gift voucher. So now what?
Life can get pretty hectic at the worst of times, and the most effective and reliable way to let yourself relax and recalibrate is simply by turning your home into your very own safe haven. And now that there’s a growing influx of people transitioning into working from home, having a relaxing home environment is becoming more vital to maintaining a work-life balance too.
In 2005 (a full three years before the launch of the App Store), a brain training video game became an overnight sensation in a way that would not be seen again until 2016’s Pokemon Go. The game was everywhere. The premise was simple. You solve the puzzles in as short a time as possible and the game – which was ostensibly based on principles of neuroscience – would tell you your mental age. It was sort of a fun way for people who knew they were smart to show off, and for those who knew their cognitive abilities had been collecting dust since high school to share a laugh at their pre-teen mental age.
I speak with the award-winning black barrister and family law expert, Paula Rhone-Adrien about how we can teach children about racism and why we should. Paula is also a mum of four, and she shares some refreshing insight into the issue, which will be an eye-opener for parents and educators of all races!
The Geek School Online Creative Writing Crash Course has been developed for these reasons and more.
It’s easy to spend a lot of time scrolling through Pinterest and falling in love with all kinds of bedroom ideas for your little one. However, if you’re on a budget – like so many parents are these days – it’s not always easy to make your dream a reality.
But did you know that there are ways you can recreate a stunning bedroom for your little one without breaking the bank? It’s true! Read on for 7 ways you can update your child’s room on a budget.
“Mum!! Can we go swimming? Mum!! Can we go to the theme park? Farm Park? Cinema? Zoo? Can I have another ice cream? Can we get another bucket and spade for the beach?“
Sound familiar?
The summer holidays are ideal for spending time with your family. You get to make so many memories and not have to worry about getting up on time for school, making sure the kids haven’t forgotten their lunches or P.E kits…but if you’re on a budget this summer then the idea of spending six weeks trying to find activities that don’t cost the earth can be a little daunting!
Most mums and dads don’t begin their path to parenthood expecting to have twins. In the UK, however, Baby Centre reports that multiple births have increased in the last 30 years. These days, 1% of pregnancies for couples that conceive naturally turn out to be twins, “while 24% of births as a result of IVF treatment result in either twins or triplets.”
Story writing is a key part of the skills required at the primary school level, however, schools have so much to cover in the curriculum that some children just don’t get as much practice of writing as they should.
Like anything school related, if you want your child to do well, you have to put some work into it outside of the classroom. Here are some tips to help you get your child writing sparkling stories before school’s back in!
If you’re a Mothers Who Work regular, you’ll know that I also run a tuition business called Geek School. With more than 100 students attending different schools, and coming from different areas, keeping up with what the children are saying (slang, for ‘old ladies’ like us!) is a task, I tell you!
Here’s a breakdown of some of these terms, which I have had my 13-year old gloss over to avoid embarrassment!
Being a mum is a full time job in itself – and with many mums now also working to earn some cash too, there are a lot of demands on a new mother’s time. Some jobs at home can easily be left to slide: you can get away with not doing the ironing every day, for example, and the sofa covers can always wait until next week to be washed. But there’s one job that can’t be left for a long time, and that’s renovations. Nobody wants to live in an outdated home, and it can seriously affect the value of the property. Here are some top tips for even the busiest of mums on how to get a home renovation sorted in a quick and easy way.
Let’s face it – working mums do a lot! Between ferrying to and from school or childminder, to ferrying to and from the aforementioned to home, cooking, working, staying sane, and maintaining good relations at home and outside, we can be forgiven for not being a walking National Curriculum guru.
Here are some quick wins and some tips that will help you keep that toe in the water so you don’t fall completely out of sync with what your child is and isn’t learning.
I had an amazing conversation with one of my favourite cousins recently (you know who you are, Canada! Lol), and we spoke about what can happen to friendships when you start a business. The main focus of our conversation was the fact that when you start a business, priorities and interests can change or become more time consuming, affecting relationships.
If you’re anything like us this May Half Term will have you singing the same tune – “turn the lights off, turn the telly off, if you’re not watching it.” Young people and electricity usage awareness go together like water and oil, but you’ve got a week to get them thinking the right thoughts.
So, if you’re a regular Mothers Who Work reader, you’ll be accustomed with some of the self-help book reviews that we often share. It’s done with no commercial reasons behind it. Self-help is the way forward and without the time (and sometimes the money) to go to a life coach, counsellor or any empowerment expert, books and audiobooks are definitely the way forward.
One such book is the Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. I personally love this book because it’s so different. It covers offence, why we get offended, why other people offend us, and why it even exists in the world. It covers how to make sure you never take offence again and how to make sure you don’t. This may seem a little airy fairy when you read about it, but just think about it: how many people grate on us on an average day. Whether it’s that slow driver who just won’t go up a couple of miles an hour so you can get to your child’s school in the nick of time, or that irritating colleague who is always rubbing you up the wrong way…or your spouse, or your teenager, or the delivery guy, or… The truth is there are so many instances for someone to try to steal our joy.
