London Mums Blog

Please, don't send your sick kids to school!

First, check out the Best of the British Mummy Bloggers. It's up over at Potty's and is a nice collection of cries tales from the trenches of motherhood.

Second, I want to plead with my fellow mums -- PLEASE, if your child threw up last night’s dinner or had the loo permanently stuck to their bottom, DO NOT SEND HIM TO SCHOOL.

I don’t care if you asked him if he wanted to stay home and he said no. I would want to get out of the house too if I was faced with the choice of helping a grumpy, tired mummy with the growing mountain of laundry the size of Everest or playing with my friends.

The thing is, when you send your sick child to school, they spread their germs. They don’t do it intentionally – they cough or sneeze and the virus suspends itself in mid air, non discriminate on where, or on whom, it lands.

Hey Mums, do you wear your baby as a fashion statement?

Mums in the US are up in arms about a recent Motrin ad, the J&J brand of Ibuprofen in the US.

The ad implies that wearing your baby in a sling hurts your back, buy hey, you do it because it is fashionable and "supposedly" good for your child.

Twitter Moms especially did not like this one bit. And in my opinion you shouldn't piss off a group of about 14,000 mothers that are active in microblogging. 

Credit Crunch Sundays -- Try a FREE family art workshop at the National Gallery

I’m going to share a secret. The National Gallery in London does FREE art workshops every Sunday aimed at the entire family to enjoy and learn about art together.

The workshops, run by professional artists, focus on an area in the gallery. After a short discussion, you are given insider tips and high quality art supplies and then set loose to create your own masterpiece.

It’s FABULOUS.

Did I mention it was FREE?

If you live near London, or are visiting with kids, you have to check it out.

Free parenting classes -- what more could a wife of a Scotsman want?!

You can tell I've been married to a Scotsman for too long -- I get excited about anything that's free.

So when I found a memo from the school crumpled up on the bottom of Alexandra's book bag advertising a parenting class aimed at parents with reception children dealing with transition, I signed up.

And I'm VERY glad I did.

It had been ages since I'd read anything on emotional support for five-year-olds. When my first was born, I devoured every available book. After having three children in quick succession, the parenting books are replaced by Dr. Seuss (the former are in a box in the attic gathering dust.)

Another missed party!

I just missed another birthday party. More accurately, my 4 1/2-year-old missed the party and I missed two hours of a child at a party time. I think I took it harder.

I have a vague recollection that when the festive invitation was handed to me my daughter took it gleefully out of my hands. Apparently it also went out of my conscientiousness as well never to be thought about again.

I hate when that happens.

There were indicators that something was amiss when she came home from school Monday and cheerfully mentioned that she had missed a party the previous day.

The Best of the British Mummy Bloggers Carnival

Mummy blogging, a phenomenon in the US, is just in its infancy in the UK.

A study last year by Blogher reported that more than 36 million women participate in "blogosphere" every week, and 15 million women have their own blogs.

That's a lot of blogs, and a growing portion is written by British mums. The Best of the British Mummy Bloggers is an event that highlights mummy bloggers that have a UK connection -- some live here, some were born here, but all love blogging and put their British mark on it.

This carnival covers a variety of topics. So grab a cup of tea, have a read, and discover the best of the British mummy bloggers... 

Of buses, buggies and Olympic sport

Outrageous story in the papers this summer: a woman has been given a criminal record for not swiping her Oyster card as she boarded a bus with her two-week-old baby. She reportedly offered to pay the £20 fine once she realised her mistake, but was not allowed to, and was forced to attend court, where some less-than-sympathetic magistrates found her guilty.

Do these people have any concept of what it’s like to travel on a London bus with children? I think not. Having endured several bus journeys recently with the Littleboys plus double buggy, perhaps I can helpfully inform them.

Chuggington -- the next Thomas the Tank?!

I’m not a big fan of television. There’s not much worth watching. When it comes to a mediocre television drama or sleep – I’ll pick sleep every time.

Children’s television is different. Though parents don’t want to admit it, we often use TV as a type of babysitter, a way to keep the kids quiet while we steal away a few minutes to cook dinner, make an important phone call, or in my case, write a blog post.

The people who make kid’s programmes are very clever and have figured out that if they create something entertaining that will keep a child's attention, but also make it educational, parents won't feel so guilty about letting them watch it.