“Can we make cakes today, mummy?” I love when she asks this, and have rose tinted visions of how our little baking session will go (despite having enough experience by now to know that it never quite goes that way!). I find it really difficult to let go, and be child led, when it comes […]
Our local activity farm is one of our favourite days out. The very nature of a farm means that there is always something new or different to see, which means it’s always an interesting trip. Yesterday, we were lucky enough to be able to see a brand new litter of piglets. They were less than […]
We’re about to brave our first family festival. By “we”, I mean my friend and I and our three kids (2,3 & 4). Excited? Yes. Nervous? A little! My only other festival experience was Reading 2005 and I have a feeling this time round will be very different. I’m clearly not going to be dancing […]
Suffering from a touch of post court malaise, spending an evening with my succulents seemed like the best kind of therapy. This is a hobby of mine that I’ve been cultivating for about the past six months, and I find it both incredibly rewarding, and grounding. Tonight is a landmark as I’m moving my first […]
Apparently children process grief very differently to adults. And to be honest, I envy them this innate ability, that we seem to grow out of. A good friend of mine told me that children do not take on more than they can handle in terms of emotional trauma. They manage it, take on what they […]
Thirty eight seconds. Just over half a minute. That’s how long this piece of wood, washed up on the beach, held her attention for. What I’m learning though, is that 38 seconds is enough. I know my daughter and I just know that she’ll drop what she learned in that 38 seconds into a conversation […]
My daughter asked me last night why she doesn’t have any make up. I said that make up was something that you use when you’re older. She said she is three now and not a baby any more and so she wants to wear make up. I asked her if I was wearing make up. […]
Recently my daughter has stopped calling me mummy, preferring instead to shorten it to mum. My sentimental pangs aside, to me this is another way in which she is asserting her independence and her ownership of the world. She’s assigning the names she feels fit, and thus making things her own, rather than parroting names […]
Unconditional Unschooling 