by jo

Bath Book Bed With Jo Frost

We’re BookTrust bloggers, and have some exciting news to share! Jo Frost of Supernanny fame has been revealed as their new celebrity ambassador and a new campaign Bath Book Bed has been launched.

Bath Book Bed BookTrust campaign logo

Bath Book Bed is a new campaign from the BookTrust which is designed to help us parents settle our children into routines at night time by keeping it simple – child has a bath, you read a book together, put child to bed and hopefully they’re settled and will drift off to sleep!

Jo Frost, who has starred in a variety of television shows including Supernanny, Family Matters, and her newest show, Jo Frost: Nanny on Tour, agreed to become an ambassador for BookTrust after following their work for many years and strongly believing in the charity’s mission to inspire every child to read confidently.

Bath Book Bed sleep deprived BookTrust

Jo said: “I have found during my 20 years in childcare that when children are read to it can have a wonderful calming effect on them. Reading doesn’t just give children a head-start in learning; the ritual of sharing a story and providing special time for parents and carers to build a strong and loving relationship with their child is vital.

Bath Book Bed info BookTrust

“I believe every childhood should be enriched by books – that’s why I’m looking forward to working with BookTrust to ensure all children get to experience the joy of a story.”

Diana Gerald, BookTrust Chief Executive said: “Reading changes lives. Books bring knowledge and reading develops empathy. It can help children who are going through difficulties – whether it’s by reading about people in similar circumstances, or simply escaping into another world. We want families everywhere to prioritise books and reading, even if they’re not confident readers themselves. It’s such an easy way to make huge difference to your child’s future. By working with Jo Frost we know we will be able to spread this message to even more families and support them to read with their children.”

Jo Frost is the most recognisable and trusted parental expert and family advocate worldwide. With over 20 years in childcare, beginning her career as a professional sole-charge nanny, she has honed her successful methods of child-rearing with hands-on, real-life experience.

For more information about Bath Book Bed, head over to the BookTrust site where there’s loads of information and you can sign up to take part!

Bath Book Bed BookTrust campaign

by jo

Real Parenting for Real Kids by Melissa Hood

We’ve been sent a copy of Real Parenting for Real Kids by Melissa Hood to review – and it’s a really interesting book.

Real Parenting for Real Kids by Melissa Hood

Real Parenting for Real Kids is the kind of book you dip in and out of. Feel like you know your child, but their behaviour can be odd from time to time? This book has lots of sections which make you feel like you’re less alone. It gives suggestions on how to deal with situations and things to look out for with your child.

Let’s face it, we’re all different. There isn’t one type of parenting which suits every child – and Real Parenting for Real Kids recognises this.

The author Melissa Hood is one of the creators of the Parent Practice – a website which enables parents to bring the best out of their children. They also run parenting classes – and don’t feel that things stop when your child reaches five. Melissa’s story is very interesting, and how she ended up creating the Parent Practice; she took parenting classes herself when she was having difficulty coping with one of her sons who was diagnosed with dyslexia and was in trouble at school with impulsive, aggressive and disruptive behaviour. The advice that she received worked so well that it transformed her family life and drove her to train as a family therapist so that she could help others.

And here’s the book – Real Parenting for Real Kids. I’ve found some useful hints and tips inside. Melissa’s approach is a positive and practical one, and allows you to work out what kind of solutions could work for you – it isn’t just about the child, it’s also about what works for you. There are several different strategies and ways of looking at things.

An example which we’ve already come across goes back to the phase when H refused to do anything we asked. So we’d ask her to do the opposite – and funnily enough she’d do exactly what we wanted. This is summing it up in a very shortened way, but does give you an idea of how the book works.

Other sections get you to identify things your child may have copied from you – identifying behaviour of your own that may contribute to your child’s poor behaviour. H is at the stage where she’s copying me a LOT. I hear a lot of what I say when she talks, and I know I’m terrible at discipline (because more often than not she’ll do just that and make me laugh), so I’m looking for techniques to be a firmer parent, but keep the fun.

Real Parenting for Real Kids is the kind of book you would dip in and out of – it isn’t a read cover to cover kind of thing. There are seven essential skills that every parent needs to understand their children and bring out the best in them, and this book covers them.

Knowing your child.

Encouraging cooperation and confidence with Descriptive Praise. 

Listening and Connecting.

Setting up for success.

Family values.

Positive discipline.

Keeping calm – the holy grail of parenting.

Once you’ve read these chapters, Real Parenting for Real Kids breaks down into other sections – all of which are relevant. As the book says, even if your child is 44 it isn’t too late! There is even a chapter on being safe and kind online – given my job deals with a lot of people online, I’m going to be getting into that chapter soon enough!! (some people can be so nasty and mean.. good job I don’t take it to heart)

Real Parenting for Real Kids is a wonderfully positive book, and one which I feel a lot of people will get a lot from. It covers so many angles it seems kind of crazy a book this big could cover everything – but I feel like it’s a really good starting place.

Real Parenting for Real Kids is published by Practical Inspiration publishing and has a RRP of £14.99.  It is available from Amazon here.

We were sent this book for the purpose of review. All opinions are our own!

by jo

A DisneyLife Update

It has been a while since I’ve mentioned DisneyLife – and I have to be honest, we have been so busy we haven’t watched it as much as I thought I would. With it being so mild this year we’ve gone out more and had less time when we’d sit and watch a film, so I already feel like this is something that would work for me if I could dip in and out of it.

DisneyLife questions, DisneyLife six month subscription

BUT! We have Disney plans afoot. I’ve just booked us into Disneyland Paris for H’s 7th birthday, something I have to keep really quiet about now for the next three months (anyone who knows me knows this will be extremely difficult). We’re in the Rio Grande hotel, which is themed like the Pixar movie Cars. This means H needs to watch it properly – we’ve caught the end of tv screenings of the films but never watched them in full. Amazon Prime doesn’t offer them, nor Netflix, a quick check on DisneyLife and it has all the films plus offshoots – exactly what we need!

Our biggest problem up to now has been the streaming. At home we have fibre optic internet and found some films would pause and buffer – to the point the film was unwatchable. At the start of the year it was less annoying to buy High School Musical 2 on DVD for £1 than put up with the buffering. Since then there have been several updates to the app, which (touch wood) seem to have fixed these issues. We watched Cars, and there were no pauses at all which was a huge reassurance.

The other problem we’ve had is using the additional content. H’s tablet is an Amazon Fire Tablet, and the DisneyLife app isn’t available as an option, just Amazon Kids. So a lot of the content she could have accessed wasn’t possible. I don’t know whether it’s a conflict of businesses, and hope it’s just an oversight. I couldn’t work out a way around it to install it either, so for us, DisneyLife has been about the movies they offer and not the other content.

Having said that, there is a LOT of content – just look at what you get when you search for Cars!

Cars related content at Disney Life

Right now I feel like DisneyLife is something I would sign up for a few months if we had several Disney films to watch – and there’s plenty of them you’re not likely to run out. The most recent releases (Inside Out, The Good Dinosaur kind of era) aren’t on DisneyLife yet, but with there being so much to get through that hasn’t been a problem – and we ended up buying Inside Out on DVD anyway!

More updates soon…

by jo

Disney Art Therapy Colouring Books

As Parragon Book Buddies we receive books to review, and our latest set are two Disney Art Therapy Colouring Books; Disney Princess and Frozen.

Disney Art Therapy Colouring Books are designed for kids and adults to colour in – I often like to switch off and colour, and even better, it’s big enough to do with H.

A photo posted by Jo Brooks (@mumfriendlyjo) on

H says “these are interesting. I like the patterns and how each page is different, you could colour in every day and you would still have loads left to do”

I would agree – with over 100 designs in the Disney Art Therapy Colouring books there’s plenty to keep you occupied. Given H currently seems to dislike Frozen, I’ve claimed that one! I like how the patterns and pictures are geared towards older children and young adults – and they’re not obvious Disney patterns either, yet within the pages you’ll find things you’re familiar with.

Disney Art Therapy Colouring Books Disney Princess and Frozen

The book for Frozen is still a hit with H. While she can pick out some of the Frozen things in there, she said “some of them don’t look like they’re in the film. They look a bit complicated but there are also some which look easy and fun to do. The castle picture looks quite tricky – there’s quite a lot to colour in on it, and lots of small bits. I like the patterns a lot!”

Disney Art Therapy Colouring Books

With no shortage of pens and felt tips for colouring in, I know these books will last us a while – there’s plenty to do in there. I’d recommend these Disney Art Therapy Colouring Books for children aged 7 and up – though if your child is patient and younger it would definitely be suitable!

Ultimately, the books are a hit in this house!

The Disney Art Therapy Colouring Books are available now, with a rrp of £9.99.

We were sent the books for the purpose of review. All opinions are our own! 

by jo

BookTrust – Learning about What they Do.

Book Trust Logo

We recently visited the BookTrust offices to learn about them, and what they do.

So who are the BookTrust? Chances are you’ll have come across them at some point. For me, my first time was getting H’s first bag from our Health Visitor, which had an Elmer book in it. It was read constantly – we’d seen Elmer but didn’t have any of the books, and this led to more purchases. The idea of getting a bag with free books and activities was amazing to me. Up until then, the only thing I’d come across which was free were the bags you get when you’re about to give birth.

Finding out that you could get more free books as my child grew up was INCREDIBLE. We knew she loved reading and being read to, and discovering new authors or ones we hadn’t yet read opened up a world of adventures, stories, great things. Needless to say, when anyone who had a child of a similar age said they had a new BookTrust bag, we all made a point of getting them. Once H was at school she got her Booktime pack in reception.

Book Trust BookBuzz

And that, I thought, was that. But no – you see, BookTrust have loads of different schemes, and on the 1st April we headed to their offices and met with them to learn about what they do.

The Letterbox Club is a fantastic service for children aged 5-13 that provides books to children who are in care. Often it can be the first thing they receive which is theirs. The packs are tailored and have books, maths games, stationery and more.

They’re designed to encourage reading and learning at home. There are five levels – Letterbox Orange (5-7 year olds), Letterbox Yellow (7-9 year olds), Letterbox Blue (7-9 year olds), Letterbox Red (9-11 year olds) and Letterbox Green (11-13 year olds).

The books are carefully selected, each child gets a new book every six months. This will build up to their own collection of things that is truly theirs to use and keep. I think it’s a fantastic scheme.

For more information head here.

Book Trust Letterbox example

At BookTrust they believe in a society where nobody misses out on the life-changing benefits that reading can bring. They want to get children and families reading. I know we’re extremely lucky with H and how much she loves and enjoys it.

The Letterbox Club isn’t the only service for older children. BookTrust also have a service for schools to sign up, as well as a new service launching later this year, Story Hunters – and while it says which children these packages are targeted towards, it’s open to everyone.

Book Trust Story Hunters Book Trust Story Hunters

There’s a lot on the BookTrust website too. You can search for books based on ability and age; something which has always confused me with H as she’s such an advanced reader; what exactly would make a book suitable for an 8 year old, when she’s only 4? I’m going to be using this section a lot!

I love the Bookbuzz scheme too – a fantastic choice of books, and for students in years 7 & 8 at school!

At the networking event on April 1st, a lot of bloggers were also authors – and it was great to chat to them. We met the author Sita Brahmachari and received a copy of two of her books. See, this is the other fantastic thing about the BookTrust; they’re working with authors all the time, reviewing books and encouraging children to read. It’s wonderful – and, in case you didn’t realise, they’re a charity.

I knew this, but didn’t realise we could raise money for them – so we’re now thinking of a way to do something. Maybe have H see how many Harry Potter books she can read without sleeping or something! You can also buy Christmas Cards at Waterstones which help raise money, something we’ll be doing this year.

I came away from our meeting knowing that working with the BookTrust was a really positive thing. They’re really making a difference for many children. I have so much more I could write about, but I’ll save that for a follow-up post – and instead direct you over here, where you’ll find so many things.

We are delighted to be BookTrust bloggers!

by jo

Computer Woes!

I have a few posts almost finished, so my computer decided to stop working… I thought I had lost everything, to find that actually, no – I still have everything, just computer woes! It’s either a hard drive ribbon failure or a failed logic board…

A photo posted by Jo Brooks (@mumfriendlyjo) on

So right now I’m slowly getting back into action with everything and am now the queen of all things that involve backups, having realised I could have lost EVERYTHING.

A photo posted by Jo Brooks (@mumfriendlyjo) on

Coming soon, posts on The Jungle Book, all about The Book Trust, a review of some Disney colouring books, and our excitement at the return of The Powerpuff Girls!

But today we’re heading out to the Tower of London for their exciting sounding Tudors at the Tower event! (which I’m sure I’ll be mentioning on here)

by jo

Girls’ Football Week 2016

Girls’ Football Week 2016 is back – starting next week, Monday 25th April to Sunday 1st May.

Girls Football Week, H in goal, girls' football week

Girls’ Football Week 2016 comes from the FA, and is set up to encourage girls to get involved with the beautiful game. There was a similar event last year which we covered here.

We’ve had a quiet start to the year, our Saturdays no longer at Carshalton – not because we’re stopping but because H has been exhausted with school. But soon we’ll be back for her Saturday morning kickabouts. Even though we haven’t been for a while, we’re still watching games on tv. It’s an exciting time to be a football supporter at the moment – from us as Tottenham supporters (what on EARTH is going on? Fantastic season), to York supporters (hanging on by a thread to the Football League) – and of course all the Women’s games that are on at the moment – which can be watched on BT Sport so are accessible to loads of people.

Add to that the Women’s FA Cup final (Arsenal v Chelsea) is happening next month at Wembley. Children under 18 can go for free, and it’s a fantastic time to be involved. I love that women’s games are super-affordable and we can take H along, and she enjoys it.

Now we have Girls’ Football Week 2016, which starts next week. It aims to increase the participation of girls within the game – and you can sign up here.  There was a week of events last October, which didn’t filter down to Carshalton Athletic. I’ll be sending them the link to make sure they get involved. I’ll be making sure WE get involved again!

There’s a great ticket initiative, on a strict first come first served basis, if your school or club signs up, then you can apply for some free tickets for women’s games – for more information head here.

Football Mum of the Year, girls' football week

I love that we can watch the women’s game and not have the same feelings towards the teams as we do with the men’s. Her favourite player is still Fran Kirby. She has her England shirt with Casey Stoney’s name on the back – still going strong.

I’ve always loved football, and my love of the game has been passed on to H. She’s a lucky girl getting to see the England Men’s team next month. We’re hoping Harry Kane gets to play, then we can all watch him at a game rather than on tv!

If you have a love of football, help spread the word! Girls’ Football Week 2016 starts next week, so you don’t have long!

by jo

School Choice Day

I hope everyone got the schools they wanted. We got our results today too.

See, we’re in this slightly odd scenario of H being at the local Infants School, and having to apply for the Junior school that most of the kids go on to. They even keep them in the same classes (which is a relief, I’ve only just memorised the names of the children in her class) – so it was a fairly safe bet we would get a place there.

Except, of course, we don’t know what’s happening with our house. As I posted about way back when I was still a bit in shock of it all, we had the leaky flue in the loft. I haven’t felt sick once since our heating was turned off, and our landlady is mulling over whether to get central heating installed or replace the flue. If the latter happens we’re never switching the heating on again, so will leave this house. If the former happens, we’ll stay. So having to think about moving house and getting the school place has happened at a confusing time. We don’t know what’s happening and probably won’t for another week or two. We’re great tenants, but unfortunately great tenants who have been exposed to carbon monoxide does not equate to wanting to keep us in the house. But that’s another rant for another place.

Because now we know H’s Junior School! Yet strangely I didn’t feel as stressed, probably because I don’t know what’s going to happen these coming months. The result came through at 5pm when I was at Rainbows, so had to irresponsibly hide under a table to check the text from Shaun, then let H know everything is fine and she has the school she wants.

The Junior School choice was a bit weird anyway. There only seemed to be religious schools who *might* offer places – her current school isn’t a church-affiliated one. That or they were over the other side of Sutton. So really, anywhere else wasn’t happening. Slowly word is coming in and most of the class are all confirming they’re moving over the road too.

Now if only all decisions could be like this, it would save us a lot of stress! So that’s two half terms left to go at this school, and making sure I replace any uniform with things that will be worn at the new one – who of course, being an academy have a completely different colour for their uniform, and you can only wear official school jumpers or cardigans – not cheaper shop ones. Whatever happens we’ve got our Bandino Cup Bands and our Stamptastic stampers both still going strong and labelling clothes and drink cups perfectly.

That’s one less thing to think about anyway.

by jo

When Your Gas Boiler Leaks.

Anyone who knows me knows how I’ll often blog about most things, but I’ve struggled with this one – mainly because everything is still processing in my head. This is what happens when your gas boiler leaks.

Gas boiler leaks aren’t something that ever crossed our minds. We have a Carbon Monoxide detector next to the boiler, that’s enough, right?

We rent, and in doing so receive an annual Gas Safety Check, to make sure everything is safe. Ours was the Saturday morning – the man came really early, earlier than he’d planned and yet again I got up to deal with it, feeling groggy and a bit dizzy as the virus I’ve had since January didn’t seem to want to shift.

He asked to have a look in the loft. Shaun let him up there, and he came back down pretty quickly. This got placed on our boiler.

When your gas boiler is switched off for safety reasons, Leaky Flue Safety Warning Gas Boiler, Gas boiler leaks

Apparently the flue which links the boiler pipes from inside the house to outside have come away – rusted or rotted or something, but away. Fumes have been living in our loft, being inhaled by Shaun, H and I.

This is what happens when your gas boiler leaks.

Which explains a lot about my dizziness I’ve felt every single morning. Some mornings I’d stagger to the train feeling like I was drunk, not understanding why the virus wasn’t shifting as I’d definitely had nothing to drink so couldn’t blame that. The idea that it could be carbon monoxide didn’t even occur to me. I had no idea that such a thing was in the loft anyway.  You know when you’re ignorant to things, not because you choose to be, but because it’s not the kind of thing you’d think about. That’s me. I mean, it makes perfect sense the fumes have to leave the house somewhere. But it’s not the kind of thing I’d think about.

Because I was too busy, too dizzy with work and life to go to the doctor to get checked out. H kept saying she felt sick without actually being sick. Because Shaun was tired a lot. It was “the virus that wouldn’t shift”. Right?

Now, I don’t think things were at a critical level, but I do believe we’ve been affected by it. Fortunately we get out of the house and open the windows, and with this winter being so mild, there has been plenty of air circulating around the house. (I even had washing out on the line in January)

Had it been colder, it doesn’t bear thinking what could have happened. I’m trying not to think what could have happened – but the reality is in that Sliding Doors other universe it really could have happened and we didn’t realise.

We have a Carbon Monoxide detector downstairs next to the heater (and it’s an awful hot air style heater – with air vents upstairs and downstairs) which didn’t react – obviously because it’s all going on up in the loft. So we’re lucky in that respect. We’re getting another Carbon Monoxide detector in the loft as a matter of priority.

But yet again, I hadn’t thought about it and just assumed you’d need a detector near the boiler, which makes sense.

Since our gas got turned off I haven’t felt dizzy once. H hasn’t felt sick, although Shaun is still sleepy – then again, he’s always been a bit sleepy! Which is when the penny dropped really, that and thanks to Facebook friends pointing it out.

So now we have to wait for our landlady to decide what she’s going to do. After our £230 monthly increase last year, I’m pretty sure we’ll get another whopping great big rise this year to pay for this; the joys of renting privately.

I have the clearest head I’ve had in a long time (I started feeling ill in January), and I’m not sure what to do next. Thank goodness we don’t spend a lot of time at home and get out quite a lot. That the weather was good. Thank goodness it was in the loft and not in the house. Thank goodness we had a Carbon Monoxide detector downstairs.

I am relieved we get an annual Gas Safety Check. If you’re reading please make sure you do. Please don’t put it off. My friends who own their place pay for British Gas to check theirs – and I’m sure plenty of other companies offer this service.

by jo

Our Easter Weekend

Good Friday was a trip to Emmett’s Gardens and Chartwell, Winston Churchill’s home.  We did the National Trust Easter Egg hunt at Emmett’s Gardens, somewhere we haven’t been before. It was a gloriously sunny day too, and the perfect weather for being outside and relaxing. I felt like my break had started! We’ve been to Chartwell before, so just wandered around the grounds. H was three when we last went so didn’t remember anything about it, whereas I remembered a lot more than Shaun!

Emmetts Gardens and Chartwell

I did stare at the house, wondering how people with so much money could justify living in such gigantic houses, but reading the Chartwell Wikipedia page, Winston Churchill couldn’t afford to live there as it was too big, so a friend bought it, he lived there for a nominal rent until his death when it was given to the National Trust. It’s a huge house…

Ebb and Flow Sutton Afternoon Tea

Saturday was a trip to the cinema to see the excellent Zootropolis in 3D – and it didn’t disappoint. Shaun spotted the Breaking Bad reference (these things always go over my head), and we all enjoyed it a lot. H enjoyed it so much she went to see it again today with Holiday Club! We popped to Ebb and Flow in Sutton afterwards for Afternoon Tea – at £10 each (and we only needed two for the three of us) it was a bargain, although I was high on sugar for ages afterwards!

H Easter Eggs 2016

Easter Sunday came, and H got WAY too many Easter Eggs – the lucky girl won one at school, and got two from her childminders! The day itself was a bit wet, and in fact, there were hailstones, so what better an idea than to go to Legoland? It’s just over an hour for us to get there, and we always seem to time it on a rainy day that brightens up, making the most of the short queues. We did loads! H got on rides she wouldn’t have dared go on a year ago – and we ended up on Mia’s Riding Adventure three times (I couldn’t do it any more after that – it is amazing though!). When we’d parked up and got into the park the sun came out – and we got a decent day of sun, with some rainy patches. We were dressed for a cold, wet day so ended up having plenty of fun!

Legoland Easter 2016

Easter Monday was a horrible weather day. H decided she was going to be sick (she wasn’t), and it was so rotten, and we had been so busy that we stayed at home and had a lazy day. I think we deserve it!