Wednesday 27 February 2008
Tuesday 19 February 2008
Toxic Childhood
I am currently reading Toxic Childhood - How the Modern World is Damaging our Children and What We Can Do About It by Sue Palmer.
It is a great read and very very interesting. A lot of what she says goes along with my personal beliefs on child-rearing such as the importance of parent intereaction and time and love. I have not finished reading it yet and will give a full book review when I do but in the meantime I highly recommend this book to anyone who is or wishes to become a parent or grandparent or teacher.
The main premise is that a combination of many different factors such as TV, the electronic era we live in, hard working parents, junk food, junk culture, instant gratification, lack of outside play, too much testing and narrow curriculums at school etc are leading to our children being very unhappy, and badly behaved. This in turn leads to the problem we have now with feral teenage gangs and then anti-social or criminal adults. And the point she makes strongly is that even if you bring up your kids to become well rounded and happy individuals we need to make sure as a community and society as whole that we also do our best to help achieve this with other people's kids as well. Otherwise our children will end up living in a violent and nihilistic society.
I was just reading the chapter on nutrition and she makes an interesting point about how we give our children too many choices. That we think loving someone we should give them a choice. (I do this a lot as I think that it is part of the growing up process but maybe I am wrong!). And the choice issue is very important with food. We should decide what, when and where the child eats and they can decide how much. And thats it. If we give them choices they will always pick the unhealthy stuff as we all have a natural liking for sugar and salt etc. As children don't know about the importance of nutrition we have to make these choices for them. I must remember this next time we are eating out and not let Alex choose chocolate cake for his main course just because I feel like spoiling him! I do think a little treat now and again isnt bad but that I mustn't slip into a bad habit.
The other interesting fact was the importance of the family meal together on a daily basis. I have always thought this as it was an important part of my childhood and I really think it bonds a family together. But studies have also shown all sorts of other benefits such as high educational levels and well adjusted teen years as well as the obvious such as conversation skills, better table manners, the ability to share and be patient etc.
I am so enjoying reading this as I am not a great fan of parenting manuals. I can't wait to get stuck in to the rest of the book. Only on page 40 so far.........
It is a great read and very very interesting. A lot of what she says goes along with my personal beliefs on child-rearing such as the importance of parent intereaction and time and love. I have not finished reading it yet and will give a full book review when I do but in the meantime I highly recommend this book to anyone who is or wishes to become a parent or grandparent or teacher.
The main premise is that a combination of many different factors such as TV, the electronic era we live in, hard working parents, junk food, junk culture, instant gratification, lack of outside play, too much testing and narrow curriculums at school etc are leading to our children being very unhappy, and badly behaved. This in turn leads to the problem we have now with feral teenage gangs and then anti-social or criminal adults. And the point she makes strongly is that even if you bring up your kids to become well rounded and happy individuals we need to make sure as a community and society as whole that we also do our best to help achieve this with other people's kids as well. Otherwise our children will end up living in a violent and nihilistic society.
I was just reading the chapter on nutrition and she makes an interesting point about how we give our children too many choices. That we think loving someone we should give them a choice. (I do this a lot as I think that it is part of the growing up process but maybe I am wrong!). And the choice issue is very important with food. We should decide what, when and where the child eats and they can decide how much. And thats it. If we give them choices they will always pick the unhealthy stuff as we all have a natural liking for sugar and salt etc. As children don't know about the importance of nutrition we have to make these choices for them. I must remember this next time we are eating out and not let Alex choose chocolate cake for his main course just because I feel like spoiling him! I do think a little treat now and again isnt bad but that I mustn't slip into a bad habit.
The other interesting fact was the importance of the family meal together on a daily basis. I have always thought this as it was an important part of my childhood and I really think it bonds a family together. But studies have also shown all sorts of other benefits such as high educational levels and well adjusted teen years as well as the obvious such as conversation skills, better table manners, the ability to share and be patient etc.
I am so enjoying reading this as I am not a great fan of parenting manuals. I can't wait to get stuck in to the rest of the book. Only on page 40 so far.........
Show and Tell - my vintage Sasha Doll
So I was talking a while back about my old Sasha doll from the 1960s which I am going to put in LBS's room (that's little baby sister aas she is known around here - even though she is still a bump!). I love this doll as she was one of two I had as a kid. I was such a tomboy I really hated dolls and only this one and a ragdoll were tolerated. I think because she looks older and exotic I thought she was cool. And as she was from my very cool older swiss cousin that made her even better. She also came with her own suitcase of handmade clothes from the sixties which I still have today. Look at all these cute dresses!
In the spirit of not making gender based choices for my son I gave him the doll to play with but he is not interested in her at all. I guess she just doesn't do much! He likes things that go (cars, trains, planes), building blocks, the toy farm and animals, jigsaws and art such as drawing and glueing things. He does like domestic things like cooking, playing picnic, pretend ironing etc. I wonder if LBS will be the same?
A Late Happy Valentines Day
We do things simply round here for Valentines Day. A couple of cards with heartfelt messages, some tulips and a meal cooked with love. I thanked Chris for giving me two children and for working so hard to provide for our little family and then dotted capers in a heart shape round his supper. It made him laugh which is what was intended!
We went to Southwold at the weekend. It was gloriously sunny but bitterly cold with an easterly wind making it sub-zero with windchill! Alex loves the seaside and had requested it so off we went. First things first we headed to the sand so Alex could make some castles with his bucket and spade. Then when we had had enough we pottered around the town - Alex drew some oohs and aahs as he looked so cute holding onto his bucket and spade and grinning happily. And we weren't the only people there - we even had to queue at the little fish shop for lunch. It is such a pretty town and full of little cafes and galleries etc. The architecture is so quaint and lovely and unspoilt - I do love it so. It is just a shame it takes us a good 2 hours to get there.
Tuesday 12 February 2008
Thrifting Treasures and Going Girly
I have been having a good week thrifting this week and have noticed a decidedly girly influence coming through. I found some really nice fabrics and noticed when I got them home how pink they all were - not my normal preference at all. So I am planning a cot quilt as my first ever quilt for my baby girl-to-be. (All fabrics below are thrifted except the yellow one - not bad eh?)
I have also decided that when she is born our current office come guest room will be turned into her room come guest room - even though she will be sleeping with us for at least 6 months - as I really want to create a space that is for her. This means I will have to put all the computer stuff into storage at least until I have to start working again. I work from home so I have a company PC (giant thing and very ugly) and a lot of client files currently taking up a whole wardrobe. If I am very lucky I might be able to get a laptop sometime as we really have no room anywhere else in the house for a whole computer desk and printer and hard drive and office files. And I do plan to keep blogging, reading blogs and putting photos on flickr in the meantime.
I have started collecting a few thrifted bits here and there and got out my gorgeous old Sasha doll from the sixties. I had two dolls when I was a child - one ragdoll a friend made for me and my Sasha doll that was a hand-me-down from my Swiss cousins. She is beautiful with dark brown honey skin and white blonde hair and a wonderful handmade-by-my-aunty retro wardrobe. I also have some nice girly vintagey pictures. The girl in the heart is actually a printout from Emily Martin at the Black Apple - go take a look at her wonderful creations. I love her gothic and vintage style - she is a very clever lady.
I have also collected some old favourite books such asBeatrix Potter and Enid Blyton - the ones I remember well from childhood. I am going for a vintage feel depending on my luck thrifting and my skill crafting.
I also scored a book on crochet and one on patchwork which will be gifts to my friend who likes crafting and whose birthday is coming up soon in March. I am very lucky to have a friend in my village who likes crafting, thrifting, cooking, camping, gardening and just hanging out with the kids. We like exactly the same things which is almost spooky and she bought the house in the village that Chris and I had had our hearts set on. (|Yes I have forgiven her because I wouldn't have her friendship if she hadn't moved here!) She even drives a vintage seventies camper van - my dream car!
I have also decided that when she is born our current office come guest room will be turned into her room come guest room - even though she will be sleeping with us for at least 6 months - as I really want to create a space that is for her. This means I will have to put all the computer stuff into storage at least until I have to start working again. I work from home so I have a company PC (giant thing and very ugly) and a lot of client files currently taking up a whole wardrobe. If I am very lucky I might be able to get a laptop sometime as we really have no room anywhere else in the house for a whole computer desk and printer and hard drive and office files. And I do plan to keep blogging, reading blogs and putting photos on flickr in the meantime.I have started collecting a few thrifted bits here and there and got out my gorgeous old Sasha doll from the sixties. I had two dolls when I was a child - one ragdoll a friend made for me and my Sasha doll that was a hand-me-down from my Swiss cousins. She is beautiful with dark brown honey skin and white blonde hair and a wonderful handmade-by-my-aunty retro wardrobe. I also have some nice girly vintagey pictures. The girl in the heart is actually a printout from Emily Martin at the Black Apple - go take a look at her wonderful creations. I love her gothic and vintage style - she is a very clever lady.
I have also collected some old favourite books such asBeatrix Potter and Enid Blyton - the ones I remember well from childhood. I am going for a vintage feel depending on my luck thrifting and my skill crafting.
I also scored a book on crochet and one on patchwork which will be gifts to my friend who likes crafting and whose birthday is coming up soon in March. I am very lucky to have a friend in my village who likes crafting, thrifting, cooking, camping, gardening and just hanging out with the kids. We like exactly the same things which is almost spooky and she bought the house in the village that Chris and I had had our hearts set on. (|Yes I have forgiven her because I wouldn't have her friendship if she hadn't moved here!) She even drives a vintage seventies camper van - my dream car!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
