Splishy Splashy things kids say !

You know what its like when it rains there is puddles, oodles of puddles and children are drawn to them they compel them to jump into them. This situation is fine during class time when they can go to the welly shed in small numbers and put on their wellies,

It however is not so practical at lunchtime with 120 four & five year olds ....

One small girl was splishy splashing in a puddle ideal  if you are wearing wellies and not the latest Mary Jane style shoes with white socks.... So I approached the little girl..


"Hello can you not splash  in the puddles please" I said kindly.

"Wh...............y?" shrilled the little one.

"Its So much fun " She piped splishy splashing away.

" Because you'll shrink !" I said with a cunning smile.

The girl with this information twirling through her mind...



"Really ?" she enquired...

"Really" I said most honestly.

"And you are quite small already so I wouldn't want you to disappear " I added.


"Oooo Ooooh Ok " she stuttered and skipped off avoiding the puddles but slyly eyeing up someone who was small to gently push into a puddle to see if they would shrink.


Awwh C'est la vie!

Playing in the puddles.

(Disclosure this is a copyright free image form Clare Bloomfield)

Caption Saturday 22/09/2012

Home Alone: What age can you leave your kids ?

I remember being sent to my local corner shop it was around 5o yards from my terraced Victorian house for a bottle of washing liquid or what ever item my mother deemed necessary. All I know that it invariably included a packet of cheese snaps  and then there was the rainbow drops they still do those rights ?

But before I start on a retro time travel I will get back to the task in hand,  would I let my son go to the shop now before the age of 13 , would I leave him on his own :No. There is the fear if you leave them you are going to walk back into some sort of post-Apocalyptic nightmare.

We live in a world where we are consumed by parental paranoia, the nagging the fear that you are going to find your youngest locked in the washing machine all be it on the delicates cycle. So you can't leave your children on their own can you ? Well it seems that you can. It transpires there is no law that states at what age you're legally allowed to leave your children home alone. The only stipulation is that you don't leave them in a position that puts them at risk.

"Home Alone"

It seems that there are around 2.6 million accidents in British households each year ( 1.6 million seem to happen in this household) so every time I leave my son  he is in great peril.

We started leaving J around around 13 when my hand was forced by work in work past 3.30 gutting as I would be sitting there knitting as he walked through the door usually. I have to confess I haven't knitted since I was 7 and my teddy bear is still very much traumatised by my knitting faux paux. No for me it was the sadness of not communicating about his school day.

"What did you learn at school today " I asked longingly.

"Dunno" he replied as he fuddled around in the snack cupboard.

"Surely you must have learnt something ?" I despaired.

"Stuff, I learned stuff " retrieving a packet of cheese and onion crisps from a packet of 22 cheese onion crisps ( choice of flavour not an issue in this household) and retreating to his bat cave.

So there we have it , when I come home now I don't find the charred remains of the cat smoking in the corner of the room, my son cowering in the cupboard under the stairs Harry Potter style. I find him in his batcave doing his homework .

The trouble is whiles it's right to show parental concern , we do as parents I amfraid sometimes  underestimate just how responsible kids can be when they're given the opportunity. So little by little I have started giving him more freedom and even this summer he went out on his own. He went out on his own to go fetch some lunch from the local supermarket ( Oh what does that say about the state of my cupboards * taps weevils out of bread*

My son is revelling in his new found freedom and by the time is 14 1/2 I reckon he'll have his own flat, child befit will no longer exist and he'll have more than served his purpose anyway ...

Apple & Ginger loaf recipe

Ingredients

1. 150g unsalted butter, plus extra to grease
2. 150g soft dark brown sugar
3. 150g golden syrup
4. 250ml milk
5. 250g plain flour
6. 1 tsp ground cinnamon
7. 1 tsp ground ginger
8. 1½ tsp baking powder
9. 2 large free-range eggs, beaten
10. 3 pieces of stem ginger, chopped
11. 2 crisp eating apples or cooking apples ,  peeled, cored and grated

Method

1. 1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan160°C/gas 4. Grease and line a 2 litre loaf tin. Melt the butter, sugar and syrup in a small saucepan. Once melted, stir through the milk and set aside to cool.
2. 2. Sift the flour with the dry spices and baking powder into a bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the cooled sugar mixture. With a wooden spoon, slowly incorporate the flour mixture using a circular motion. Fold through the beaten eggs,stem ginger and apples.
3. 3. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and bake in the oven for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes away clean. Cool for 5 minutes in the tin, then remove to a wire rack. 
4. 
   

Apple & Ginger loaf.

The Apple & Ginger loaf fell into the custard!

"I don't want to go to bed!" by Julie Sykes

"I don't want to go to bed" by Julie Sykes how familiar is that phrase to us parents ! 


This is  the story of a baby tiger who doesn't want to go to sleep. So mummy tiger loses her cool calm exterior ! one night at bed time and says,"  fine stay up all night - see if I care". So baby tiger goes off to play in the dark forest, finding on his way that all his friends have gone to bed... Then he goes home and falls asleep.

"I don't want to go to Bed by Julie Sykes"

This book is incredibly and full of repetition which some parents may find frustrating but really I don't see a problem in this at all. As for young one it helps them with structure and can easily be adapted in activities that they might do at school or even at home.

One such activity that my son did at school can easily be done at home with a little patience and the most basic of drawing skills ! Honest ! Such activities as this will work in harmony with what they are doing at school, What I going to show you is typical of what a year one child might do.  This activity helps children with their writing skills and how to order a story.

"I don't want to go to bed" Writing activity incorporating ordering skills.

When my son did this he was in the lowest ability group I did this work all the time with him at Infant School and Junior school and he is now int the top set in year 9 and predicted an A *. So never despair with the right love, support and understanding anyone can make it.

You could also make your own story sack around this book :

• I Don't Want To Go To Bed Story and CD
• Jungle Animal Puppets
• Materials to Sew Own Pillows - material and stuffing (Use sewing machine)
• Pillowcases, fabric paint and stampers for decorating
• Felt jungle animals for sewing onto pillow
• Lullaby CD
• Plastic Jungle Animals
• Paper bags, scissors, construction paper, glue, wool, googly eyes, and pompoms to create paper bag jungle puppets
• Paper and animal stamps.
• For the daytime why not use a potato with the animal carved into it ( obviously do this for the child )

Extended Activities:
You can turn it into pyjama party.
You can make your own little play up!

I was inspired by the story sack ideas from here when don't you try some of the others out.

There are so many possibilities to what activities you can do with this story and what you can  put in your story sack you are only limited by your imagination.At the moment this book is super cheap on Amazon at only £3.74 !.


(Disclosure I haven't been ask to write about this as I work in a school I though it would be nice to share my ideas and experiences !)