London Mums Blog

Unspoken parental roles

I seem to have an unspoken agreement with hubby that I watch the kids at all times. I say unspoken because I don't remember agreeing to be on a heightened sense of alert at all hours, in all places.  I tell the girls that I have eyes on the back of my head, so maybe that's where he got the idea.

On Sunday we decided last minute to drive down to Regatta. It was about 11 am, and the crowds were just starting to arrive.

I should have known when hubby stopped at the Telegraph stand and picked up a paper and an umbrella as a free gift.

Magic!

We had dinner in an Italian restaurant in the Worlds End, Chelsea, last week with my mother and stepfather. It was one of those sweltering evenings and we ate at a table on the pavement. An amazing musician came to our table. He was unnervingly good – and my mouth literally fell open as he performed his tricks. He changed a pack of cards that my husband was holding into a brick of glass without any of us knowing how he did it. Later Luke said he felt nothing untoward happening in his hand. He also got Luke to scribble his signature on a card, then shuffled it into the pack and it later appeared folded up under Luke’s watch strap. Catch him if you can before he becomes mega, Daniel Alexander. What  a man. He is a genius.  Mention the woman with her mouth open last Thursday at Frantoia. 

Best museum day for the under 5’s in central London ...

Hands down, the Science Museum is one of the best museums to take your toddler to in South Kensington. 

What makes the Science Museum such a favourite with parents and children alike, there are two areas that are specifically toddler focused as well as other parts of the museum that are fun for toddlers if they are tagging along with older children.

The toddler focused area include the Pattern Pod and The Garden.

The Pattern Pod is located at the very rear of the museum, on the ground floor and offers a wonderful experience for small children.  The exhibit is officially designated as being for 5 – 8 year olds, but there are many interesting, hands-on things for any young child to investigate.  There are dress up clothes for children to try on, tiles you insert into a special display that projects different patterns on the ceiling, giant foam pattern blocks and a pattern making art program plus much more.

Win a photo shoot with a celebrity photographer!

Surprise, surprise, spending time together during meal times is beneficial for your family!

Nutella knows this, and is holding a photo competition to celebrate their 45th anniversay. Just send in your favourite photograph of your family enjoying breakfast together and you could be eligible to win a family photo shoot with renowned family and celebrity photographer Ken Sharp or a family day-out in London. All submissions will also be included in a giant breakfast mural which will go live on the website in September.

Sample photos and additional information can be found here.

To enter the contest, visit nutella’s website.

Good luck!

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

A new breed of yummy daddies

A completely average Wednesday morning, around 9:30AM. Rushing around my local Sainsbury’s with little L screaming, juggling piles of grocery shopping on the pushchair. Queuing at one of the few tills that hasn’t been turned into a ‘self-checkout’, I dare to look up and count annoyed co-shopper’s looks against encouraging fellow mummy-smiles.

Result: one cashier who looks like wanting to kill me, a drunken dosser who just about manages a smile, two annoyed grannies disapproving my parenting abilities, four silently smiling mums and six dads. SIX DADS? Now, what is going on here?

Are you a coffee shop mummy?

I used to be a Starbucks chick, but I am now a Cafe Nero Mum. The reason for that was convenience to begin with. My local Starbucks is probably the only one in the whole of the UK so baby UNfriendly. It has very limited space on the ground floor and no lift, no wonder it alienates half of their most loyal customers: us, mummies and buggies! So I had to shift to Cafe Nero and its large comfortable sofas, wide space and chocolate panetones, I soon became addicted to this place.

My love for coffee goes way back to when I was a child. In my family like in most French households, coffee is the way to start the day, end lunch and dinner, share when friends come to visit and have any other time in between. In France when people turn up at your house, you switch on the cafetiere, not the kettle. I love nothing more than being greeted by the smell of fresh coffee in the morning.