London Mums Blog

Is there an elephant in that zoo?

When my 4 1/2 year old daughter asked me if she had ever seen an elephant in real life, I flashed back zoo visits over the past four years.

None. 

We've taken the older three to the zoo, but not the youngest. As a matter of fact, we have probably not come within 50 miles of an elephant in quite a long time.  

Now I was on a mission.  Luckily, we were already planning a trip into London and it presented a great opportunity to show my daughter a "real life" elephant at the London Zoo.

Or so I thought. 

Mummy is not very clever

HM, my almost four year old, is a clever girl. I’ve always known that.

For the past few weeks, she has refused to go to preschool. (BTW--if you haven’t read my biog, HM stands for high maintenance or her majesty, both are relevant). 

This has been going on since Scottish Grandma’s visit, which ended last Thursday. Scottish Grandma, whom is nearly 80, is a saint and spends hours with HM -- drawing pictures of butterflies, reading "Princess Poppy" on repeat, or re-arranging the doll house furniture for the hundredth time.

Healthy suggestions for packed lunches

It’s easy to get into a rut when preparing packed lunches.

My five-year-old brought this to my attention this week when she said (with hands on hips):

"PLEASE stop giving me ham sandwiches for lunch!"

Er, OK.

My usual lunch box repertoire includes a ham sandwich, an apple or grapes, and a Frube.

Poor girl.

To remedy this, I went in search of some ideas for healthy alternatives, and here are some of the things I found to put variety (and vitamins!) into your child's lunchbox.

Nip boredom in the bud! Top 50 activities for children this half term

I used to measure the success of school breaks based on the number of trips made to A&E. One year I had to deal with a 2-year-old who lost her fingernail in a slammed door AND a 3-year-old who broke her arm whilst climbing out of her cot.

We've moved on since then, and so has the economy.

The credit crunch means that many people may opt to stay local this half term, rather than the usual trip to France and Euro Disney.

Here are some ideas in preparation for when you wake up on Monday morning and the children ask "what are we doing today mummy?"

And if none of these ideas appeal ... you can always hire a babysitter and get a massage!

Mummy, it's my wedding too!

Ella, my five year old, led a Q&A session with J and me in the car last week. Subject: our upcoming wedding. Objective: to glean as much detail as possible. Result: she realised she won't be staying with us on our wedding night.

"But why do I have to stay with Daddy after? Why can't I stay with you?" (Tense pause whilst my stomach knots and I prepare myself to deal with a tantrum).

"Well, it's traditional for the people getting married, the husband and wife, to be alone on their wedding night, darling."

"But that's not fair, mummy. It's my wedding too!"

The string bag and octopus guide to parenthood

A friend gave me a copy of this before my children were born – it still makes me cry with laughter four years on – here’s a bit of it:

Preparing for a child to come into your home is not just a matter of reading Sheila Kitzinger and decorating the nursery.  Here are some simple tests for expectant parents to take to prepare themselves for the real life experience:

1. To discover how nights feel, walk around the living room from 5pm to 10pm carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 lbs. (For twins carry two bags).  At 10pm put the bag down, set the alarm for 12am and go to sleep.  Get up at 12 and walk the living room floor with the bag until 1am.  Put the alarm on for 3am.  As you can’t get back to sleep, get up at 2am and get a drink.  Go to bed at 2.45am.  Get up at 3am when the alarm goes off.  Sing songs in the dark until 4am.  Put the alarm on for 5am.  Get up, make breakfast.  Keep this up for 5 years.  Look cheerful.

Calling all creative parents ...

To celebrate the introduction of its new storytelling character 'Munch the Cow' Munch Bunch is offering SIX creative parents the chance to become the storytellers of the future and win an amazing prize in the first ever Munch Time Storytelling Competition.

All you need to do is write an original children’s story between 600 and 800 words, beginning with the line:
"Once upon a Munchtime, there was a cow called Munch..."

You can win an all expenses paid day-trip to Lapland for you and your family to visit Father Christmas and take a magical husky-led sleigh ride by a frozen lake; an overnight stay in a central London hotel for two and the chance to meet celebrity mum Gail Porter

So what are you waiting for. Check it out and get writing.

This post was written by Susanna, a London Mums Blog founding contributor. You can read more at her blog A Modern Mother.

Cake sale blues? Try these "BEST EVER" apple and carrot muffins (recipe included)

You can tell when it is cake sale day at school -- there is a rugby scrum of mums fighting around a table of homemade goodies.  There are some darned good bakers at our school, and every mum has their speciality.

I’ve just found mine: THE BEST EVER apple and carrot muffins. My five-year-old,  who scrunches up her nose at anything that originated in a garden, LOVES these muffins. In her words: they are “the best ever!"

They are economical too, Scottish grandma is visiting and after downing a plateful of muffins, she pointed out all the money I saved by not offering her a box of Waitrose cupcakes.

Top reason for not having a home office: "mummy's having a poo!"

I’m lucky in that ever since my children were at nursery, I have been able to work on a part time, self employed basis - fitting the marketing projects I take on around their schedule and needs.

I planned my return to work carefully. I would work from home of course, my laptop on the kitchen table; it made sense - low overheads, an ability to keep abreast of the household chores.

In my mind I would be happily typing a presentation that advised a multi-national company on what strategic direction it should be taking whilst rustling up nutritionally-balanced meals that Annabel Karmel would be proud of.

It worked perfectly for two months; OK, fish fingers and baked beans featured on the menu more than usual (and even ended up splattered on my reports more than once) but we were muddling through.

Cycle Show

Cycle 2008 is back in London on 10 - 12 October at Earls Court.

I always imagined I would be that cycle riding mum with flowing hair and a child on the back, and maybe one on the front as well.  I soon realised I am not Dutch and it doesn’t work like that here.

I went to the Cycle Show last year in hopes of getting a little bit closer to my dream.  What I didn’t expect was that it would be me and a bunch of 50-year-old men at the show.  It was foolish of me not to, considering the amount of titanium and carbon located in one place with expensive price tags.

Still, there were a few exhibitors with family-aimed products such as various child seats and tag alongs as well as some cool three-wheeled bikes with clever ways to transport children.

I will try to go again this year to see what’s on offer for the mother with children. Less titanium, more seats, I hope.

This was written by Charlene, a London Mums Blog founding contributor.

Photo Credit:  bvandrew

Nits again!

We’ve only just been back at school.  The standard school lice letter hasn’t even been sent home. Yet, we have nits again.

The days of being a smug “never had nits” family is sadly long past.  It was so much easier when we just had a boy with very short hair.  It's those girls with the flowing locks that ruined added to my long list of qualifications on my parent CV. 

I don’t recall nits being part of my school life ... and neither does my mother.  I have no idea what has changed since then but they are here and it's best to keep a fine tooth comb handy.

The scenario is played out as follows:  my eight-year-old daughter is itching her head at breakfast and suddenly alarm bells go off. 

“Why are you itching your head?”  A quick morning inspection reveals a few nits.