Posts filed under 'children'
The summer season appears to be upon us with the UK experiencing some fantastic weather at the moment.
Over the past week many parts of the UK have hit their highest temperatures of the year with 22c (72F). Many seaside resorts have been swamped with people making the most of the heat.
It is also the time of year when people are getting ready for their holidays or trying to secure a late deal. The Times have revealed their 20 top British summer holidays. Some include:
The Observer has a great article on the top 10 places to stay in the UK if you have reduced mobility. It ranges from a coastal spa hotel to a five bed barn conversion.
June 3rd, 2009
Demanding workloads and longer commutes are eating away at our free time more than ever before, leaving the average Briton tired and stressed, and cutting the time they spend with their families, according to research by swiftcover.com, the UK’s only fully online car insurer.
swiftcover.com’s ‘Get a Life’ survey found that 46% of people say they have a lot less free time than they did three years ago, with almost half of those surveyed (49%) saying that their working day now stretches to between 9 and 11 hours including commuting time.
It isn’t just the employed that work long hours. According to an article in The Telegraph a mother’s working day is 15 hours long!
As a result people are trying to be more efficient with their time by carrying out some mundane chores on the internet. More people are doing their weekly food shopping, present buying and sale shopping online. According to an article on The BBC, books are sold on the internet more than any other product.
With the increased lack of time and the current credit crunch, now is a great time to get online and save some money. If you are currently looking for car insurance visit swiftcover.com, they are consistently voted as a cheap car insurer.
March 5th, 2009
It is the end of August and very nearly the end of the summer holidays and time to think about the children going back to school or, in my case, starting school.
A page on the BBC website lists 8 reasons why going back to school is cool. For some children it will be a time they look forward to. They often feel more confident in a new school uniform, with a new bag and new stationery and it is a time when they can catch up with old friends.
For others who don’t enjoy being at school, whether it’s because they aren’t confident with their abilities and struggle or due to being picked on and bullied, this is the time when parents should sit down and talk to their children. If your child is anxious about going back to school then talking things through with them may help. Issues like bullying may not have been apparent before but as the first day of school draws near you may notice your child becoming more withdrawn and feigning illness. If you are concerned that you child is being bullied that you can speak to their teacher and ask them to monitor the situation for you and ensure that your child isn’t being excluded or picked on in any way.
If you are a child that has been bullied and is worried about returning to school then there are people who can help you. If you feel you can’t speak with your parents or teachers then you can speak to ChildLine on 0800 1111. It is totally confidential.
Hopefully starting school or returning to school will be problem free but there are some things that parents can do to help ease the transition. The Times website has published their top 8 tips for returning to school. Some of the top tips include:
Start finding your routine again - often during the school holidays the normal daytime routines go out of the window. In the week leading up to the start of school ensure that you get your child back into their normal daytime and nighttime routine. This will help to ensure that they don’t get too tired at school.
Try to prepare in advance- don’t leave buying school uniform and stationery until the last minute. Start shopping in advance and you can hunt out all the best deals, and
Tell your child you are proud of them- this will give your child a boost and make them feel more confidnet, especially if they are starting an important school year.
August 28th, 2008
It is that time of the year again when people set off on their family holidays and with the credit crunch hitting us hard, more and more people are staying in the UK.
The BBC are reporting that the camping industry is enjoying an unprecedented surge in popularity as people look for cheaper holiday alternatives. People have less disposable income due to the increase in the costs of basic foods, petrol and the increase in interest rates. The weak pound is also putting people off travelling abroad as it is worth 20% less than a year ago.
Our seaside resorts are also seeing a big rise in bookings with Brighton up 70%, Bournemouth 20% and Eastbourne 66%, according to The Guardian.
So with more people setting off on long drives to their UK holiday destination, how do you keep the children entertained and arrive as relaxed as possible. Well stress-free car insurance company swiftcover.comhave come up with some car games that should keep the whole family entertained:
The Name Game - The first player names a town in the UK and the following player names a town beginning with the last letter of that name, e.g. London -> Norwich.
Guessing Game - Players pick a famous person and other contestants have to find out who the person is by asking a series of yes/no questions.
Description Game - You need to divide into two teams. Each person writes down a couple of names/objects on small pieces of paper, folds them up and places them in a hat/container where they are all mixed up. Players then pick out a paper and have 30 seconds to describe, without using proper nouns, the object/person.
Memory Game - Player 1 starts a sentence including a noun beginning with the first letter of the alphabet. Player 2 then has to extend that sentence and include a noun beginning with the second letter of the alphabet, etc. The game can be made simpler by being put in list form e.g. ‘Yesterday at the beach I saw a sea anemone, a banana boat, a single cloud’ etc.
Spot the Car Game - The children pick a colour/brand of car or type of vehicle and have to spot a given number of that object.
Who’s Next Door? - When stuck in a traffic jam make up stories about the person/people in the car stuck next to you. Give them names, professions, ages, destinations etc.
Number Plate Maths - Children add/divide/multiply/subtract the numbers on number plates.
Map Reading - Give children the road map so they can follow the journey, or make up a trip and let them plan it for you.
Car Cricket - Make a list of different car brands and accord them all different scores depending on how common/rare they are. Children then add up the points of all the cars they see, and the child with the highest score wins.
Bizz Buzz - Players count from 1-100 (or whatever number they choose), naming numbers alternately. Whenever a number comes up that is divisible by two numbers of your choice (e.g. 3 and 5) the player must say ‘Bizz’ or ‘Buzz’. E.g. 1,2,Bizz,4,Buzz,Bizz,7,8,Bizz,Buzz.
And of course for the younger children there is also eye spy. What other car games would you recommend?
August 20th, 2008
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read an article in The Telegraph reporting that ‘Toddlers who turn their noses up at spicy food from overseas could be branded racists’.
If that is the case then I am very ashamed to say that I was racist up until I was about 18 years old when I became more open to foreign foods. Before then I would be put off by the smell of certain foods and would only ever like very mild tastes. Now it is a different story.
The revelation has come from The National Children’s Bureau which received £12 million a year from mainly Government funded organisations. Play leaders and nursery teachers have been issued with documents advising them to ‘be alert for racist incidents among youngsters in their care’. This could include something simple like a toddler saying ‘yuk’ when being served an unfamiliar food.
Presumably each nursery teacher or play leader that hears a comment like this would need to document this in order to report back to their local council. What the council will do with this information is anyone’s guess. Children’s eating habits are largely down to their home environment and the food that they have been given at home. If a child hasn’t had certain foreign foods before then they are likely to turn their nose up at it as it will be unfamiliar. It’s what children do. It is good to introduce children to new foods and tastes but surely it is more important that the child has a good balanced diet and parents don’t feel pressurised into introducing new foods all the time.
Personally I would rather that teachers were left to concentrate on more important aspects of a child’s development like their reading, writing and arithmetic and not be bogged down in yet more unnecessary form filling.
July 16th, 2008
Did you know that this week is Child Safety Week?
This is the Child Accident Prevention Trust’s flagship community education campaign and the aim is to raise awareness about child safety issues. It highlights the importance of making sure that your home and car are as safe as possible. It suggests that we should all make some time to have a look around our homes and see if we can spot anything that may be a danger to our children. For example;
* Ensure that any unused plug sockets are covered to stop little fingers from exploring them
* Make sure that cords for blinds/curtains are not at a height that a child could get caught up in them
* Keep all sharp objects, e.g. knives, scissors, skewers, out of reach
* When using the hob make sure that saucepan handles are turned away so that they can’t be grabbed
* If you are chopping food move the knife out of reach when not being used
* Use stair gates at the top and bottom of the stairs to reduce the risk of a fall
* If your child can reach the front door handle, make sure that it is locked so that they can’t wander out (you will need to keep the key handy incase of an emergency)
As well as the home, your car also needs to be a safe haven for your children. New regulations came into effect on the 18th September 2006 relating to the use of child car seats. There are now strict guidelines in place as to the type of car seat your child should be using depending on their age and height. These guidelines exist to make sure that our children are as safe as possible in the event of an accident. The insurance industry is also trying to help with many car insurers offering to replace childrens car seats if they are in the car at the time of an accident. It makes me really cross when I see people driving around with children in their car that aren’t restrained in any way. Do these people not understand the importance of car seats and seat belts? I don’t think that these people understand the danger that they are putting their children in.
Unfortunately I don’t think that Child Safety Week has had the recognition it deserves in the news, hopefully this blog will go some way to help.
June 27th, 2008
There has been great concern of late as to the content of some websites that are targetting children and young adults. It is becoming increasingly more difficult for parents to monitor exactly what their children are accessing on the web.
New guidelines introduced in February 2008 now requires content providers to ’signpost’ material that may be deemed as unsuitable for children, i.e. using a pop up warning box. The guidelines have been endorsed by the BBC, Channel 4, Bebo, Google and Yahoo, but personally I’m not sure how effective this will be. Parents can’t supervise their children 100% of the time they are on the internet and surely children will just ignore the pop up box.
A report by the National Consumer Council reviewed 40 websites that are popular with children and found that users were being exposed to more than 200 ads. It covered activity across sites like CBeebies, Neopets, YouTube, Bebo, MySpace, eBay and Lime Wire. Many of the ads were advertising dating and gambling and other products or services prohibited to children under 16. However, many of the sites are not specifically aimed at children so it is very hard to regulate this activity.
On the back of this The Telegraph have listed their top 20 websites for children and families. Some of the sites like CBeebies, Mr Men, and Nickelodeon are aimed at younger children whilst other sites like How Stuff Works, Guinness World Records, Cool Reads and Funology are aimed at older children and are educational and fun.
One really useful website for parents is Travelling with Children which has some great tips on where to holiday, how to travel and some very useful products.
June 4th, 2008
As a member of the public, I was really pleased to read that The RSPCA has announced that at their Society summer conference they will be examining the challenge of managing dogs within our communities.
There have been many reports over the past couple of years where children have been unexpectedly and uncharacteristically attacked by family pets in their own homes, some leading to them sadly dying. It is certainly something that I am more aware of nowadays and more nervous about when I see a stray dog in the street.
Miranda Luck, RSPCA Strategic Campaigner said : “There is a concern amongst the public at the moment about dogs, whether it be high-profile attacks on children, organised dog fighting, or young people with tough-looking dogs on street corners. The RSPCA wants to bring people together to discuss these issues, and hopefully we’ll come up with effective solutions.”
Speakers at the one day conference will include Richard Brunstrom, North Wales Chief Constable and Neil Davies, the head of the Dog Unit for Merseyside Police. Following the death of Ellie Lawrenson in 2007, Neil Davies introduced the ‘pitbull amnesty’.
The RSPCA have also launched a new scheme in Brixton to try and address the problem of anti-social behaviour and the intimidation of dogs on London’s streets. The scheme brings together Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, The Blue Cross and the RSPCA and has the backing of the Mayor of London.
An educational pack was put together with a video exploring issues of dog ownership. It addresses topics like irresponsible dog breeding, inappropriate exercise areas and organized dog fighting.
With so many high profile attacks it brings to the fore the need to have some level of pet insurance. Make sure that you are covered if your pet injures or kills someone or damages someone’s property. It can happen so easily and can cost you thousands of pounds. Also, with pet’s rating so highly in our affections it is good to know that your pet will also be looked after if they are ever hurt or attacked by another animal.
April 10th, 2008
The BBC is looking for UK schools students to create a 60 second interpretation of Shakespeare.
I don’t know about you but I could never get to grips with Shakespeare at school and found it very difficult to be enthusiastic, so the idea of being able to watch individual interpretations is great.
The BBC says that you can interpret an act, a scene, or a theme or even a complete play (which would be a huge challenge) but it can’t be longer than 60 seconds.
For more information on the challenge and tips on how to produce a great film visit the BBC website .
It’s will be amazing to see what can be done in 60 seconds.
March 25th, 2008
As a parent I am all to aware of the problem parents have in helping their children to be happy with who they are and how they look. The perfect image portrayed in magazines, newspapers and online of the Celebrity often makes children feel very insecure about themselves. I was shocked to read over the weekend that a new ‘virtual fashion game’ had been launched targeting girls between the ages of 9 and 16 called Miss Bimbo. The aim of the website is for girls to create a Bimbo that is ‘the coolest, richest and most famous bimbo in the world’.
Players can choose where to live, what job to do, shop for the latest fashions, become a socialite, date a famous hottie and even resort to plastic surgery and diet pills. It is free to register but apparently you buy ‘dollars’ to spend on your character by texting at £1.50 a text.
It amazes me that such a website can be launched. It clearly plays on the desire of young girls to be famous and encourages them to take diet pills and have plastic surgery in order to be the best. As adults we can differentiate between what’s online and the real world but children can’t do this so easily. Dee Dawson, the medical director of Rhodes Farm Clinic, treats girls from the tender age of 8 who are suffering from eating disorders. He was commented in The Times Online as saying “This is as lethal as pro-anorexia websites. A lot of children will get caught up with the extremely damaging and appalling messages.”
Mr Dawson isn’t the only one to be outraged. Many of the national newspapers has picked up on this new website and I am sure that there will be lots of debates on this over the next couple of weeks but in the meantime, this is definitely one of those websites that I will be blocking on my home PC. Will you?
March 25th, 2008
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