Wednesday Wisdom
Tooled Up tips for loving parents around the world.
Reflect
Motivate
Support
13/03/2024
The Magic Pill
Here in the UK, it’s National Sleep Awareness Week. Recently, I went to a timely two-day conference organised by The Sleep Charity, a UK organisation which campaigns to improve sleep support and raise awareness of the value of a good night’s sleep.
06/03/2024
Sporty Saturdays
Last weekend, I decided to do what I rarely do, and spend it watching school hockey matches. I realised that both of my children would be playing on adjacent pitches for the first time ever, in an away game, so decided to hop in the car to go and see them play.
28/02/2024
Every Bite is a Battle
It’s Eating Disorders Awareness Week in the UK; a week dedicated to raising knowledge and understanding about a group of conditions that seem to be getting more and more common. Sadly, since the Covid pandemic, there has been a dramatic rise in referrals for eating disorders of all kinds.
21/02/2024
Across the Generations
Over the half term holiday my family and I experienced a clash of cultures. Not the sort you might encounter on a trip abroad, caused by a foreign language, unfamiliar food or Mediterranean driving techniques. This was the culture clash of a family of four moving in for a week with a 70-year-old grandparent who lives alone.
14/02/2024
Up in Smoke
Cherry cola. Banana ice. Watermelon. Apple peach. Pink lemonade. You might think I’m talking about a range of soft drinks? Ice pops? Penny sweets, even? Something designed with the young in mind? Well, actually, these are just a few of numerous flavours of vapes (otherwise known as e-cigarettes) that are available in UK shops.
07/02/2024
Anxiety Literacy
So here we are, it is Children’s Mental Health Week in the UK. I could write about so many different aspects of this theme, but I have chosen to write about anxiety. Why? Well, it is the largest mental health disorder affecting children and young people and it is also often misunderstood. Is it really the enemy per se?
31/01/2024
Role Reversal
So, there I was, last weekend, on the floor of the gym, complaining that everything was sore, moaning that I had endured enough and begging not to have to do more stomach crunches. My instructor, however, had other ideas. He looked irritated and used every trick in the motivational book to keep me going, talking into my ear, praising my effort, and reminding me of how I would feel at the end of the session once I had accomplished it.
24/01/2024
Strong Foundations
Being a parent isn’t just a learning process, it’s a re-learning process. So much of what we do every day without even thinking – walking, talking, using a knife and fork, kicking a football – must be painstakingly learnt from scratch by children. And of course, in seeing them try and fail and try again until they succeed, we recognise just how tricky all this business of getting through the day really is. And nowhere is that more apparent than in the process of learning to read and write.