Family Time
How reading aloud helps foster a lifelong love ...
Of all the wonderful things my mum has done for me, reading to me has got to be near the top of the list. A love of reading has enabled me to live many lives, time-travel, explore the world and believe in the impossible. From board books as a baby, to carefully chosen library books, to chapter books, my mum always read to us, sometimes accompanied by a cup of tea to soothe her throat, as a mammoth reading session was inevitable because my brother and I insisted on ‘just one more chapter’. Eventually, as we grew, our reading sessions progressed to sitting in comfortable, companionable silence as we each read our own books side by side. Now whenever I see my mum I ask her what she is reading. It’s usually a murder mystery, whilst I’ll normally have my head, not to mention my heart, stuck in some kind...
How reading aloud helps foster a lifelong love of books
Of all the wonderful things my mum has done for me, reading to me has got to be near the top of the list. A love of reading has enabled...
Simple family games to bring joy and connection...
Children enjoy playing games. Laughter, communication and fun are important ingredients for a happy family. At present, around the world, we are spending more time together at home. The following games are free and use items that are readily available around the house. After dinner is a good time for a family game. I recently received a message from a dad: “I had no idea how much I needed a good laugh after dinner! I was in stitches by the time we played ‘charades with a difference’”. These games suit children of all ages. I’ve even known teenagers to enjoy them. Changes – it’s the best game! How do you play ‘changes’? A family member is chosen to go first. The chosen person turns around three times, whilst everyone else has a good look at their appearance and clothing. The person then leaves the room and changes something about their...
Simple family games to bring joy and connection at home
Children enjoy playing games. Laughter, communication and fun are important ingredients for a happy family. At present, around the world, we are spending more time together at home. The following...
Welcoming a new life with humanist naming cerem...
Lucy Dulieu describes the personalised celebration that welcomes a child into the world... What is a humanist naming ceremony? A humanist naming ceremony marks the arrival of a new child to a family in a nonreligious way. They are often held for babies and toddlers, but ceremonies can also welcome older adopted children to a family, or step-children to a blended family. Each ceremony is personalised and allows parents to celebrate their child as a unique individual, to reflect on the wonder and responsibility of being a parent, and to share in front of family and friends a commitment to their child on their journey to independence. Warm and welcoming, humanist naming ceremonies are child-centred and inclusive. They can be held anywhere: a garden, a village hall, or in a woodland surrounded by nature. Led by an experienced humanist celebrant, they often happen at the start of a larger celebratory...
Welcoming a new life with humanist naming ceremonies
Lucy Dulieu describes the personalised celebration that welcomes a child into the world... What is a humanist naming ceremony? A humanist naming ceremony marks the arrival of a new child...
Voice of a Grandparent: Anita
I’m Anita and I have four granddaughters of school age. Only one goes to a school establishment, while the other three are home educated. Being a lady of a certain age, the news that my eldest daughter wanted to home school her children at first horrified me. I knew of no one whose children did not go to school. School is part of life, isn’t it? That first day when you leave your mother at the school door and enter the world of ‘standing on your own two feet’. It is where you discover how to be independent for a few hours a day while learning the basics of the three R’s. It is where you make friends for life. Or is it? I went to school in the 1960s and 70s when corporal punishment was rife, although I was never a victim of it. There wasn’t a national curriculum,...
Voice of a Grandparent: Anita
I’m Anita and I have four granddaughters of school age. Only one goes to a school establishment, while the other three are home educated. Being a lady of a certain...
How to have a plastic-free party that doesn't c...
Following a recent run of family celebrations, two things struck me. One was how toxic the balloons tasted when I was blowing them up, and the other was how much plastic rubbish there was after each of the parties. This got me thinking about what alternatives I could use to the usual plastic paraphernalia that surrounds parties, without becoming a plastic-obsessed party pooper. Anyone with children knows the drill following a party. They come home high on sugar, clutching a plastic party bag full of plastic-wrapped sweets and a variety of plastic tat that gets discarded as soon as the sweets have been consumed. I have been a part of this trend and have sent more than my fair share of children home with such things before spending an hour scooping up all of the party rubbish into several black bin bags and heading home grateful to have survived. However,...
How to have a plastic-free party that doesn't cost the earth
Following a recent run of family celebrations, two things struck me. One was how toxic the balloons tasted when I was blowing them up, and the other was how much...
Voice of a Grandparent: Lucy
I’m Lucy and I have three grandchildren, Polly, Adam and Arabella. Polly and Adam are my daughter’s children and they’re 4 years old and 15 months old; Arabella is my son’s daughter and she’s 3 months old. I’m often asked what my grandchildren call me. We wanted to choose our own nicknames: I’m Goose. I had my children quite young (I was 23 when Oscar was born) and my daughter Violet did the same, so I’m very lucky to be a ‘younger’ grandparent (I’m 55). I’m also extremely fortunate that they all live a mile away, so we see them often. I changed my working hours to have a ‘day off ’ a week to help with childcare. I get a glorious day with them to fill as we please. Grandparenthood is so very different from parenting. It’s not that you can give them back; it’s that you can devote...
Voice of a Grandparent: Lucy
I’m Lucy and I have three grandchildren, Polly, Adam and Arabella. Polly and Adam are my daughter’s children and they’re 4 years old and 15 months old; Arabella is my...
Make your own elderflower cordial
Elderflower is a forager’s favourite pick between May and June. The trees are found throughout the UK in woods, along roadsides and among hedgerows. The heads are ripe for the picking when there are lots of tiny white flowers, which have a sweet, summery scent. The flowers are edible once cooked, but mildly toxic if eaten raw. Pick the flower heads on a dry, warm and sunny day, and give them a good shake to remove any bugs or beasties. To bottle both the taste and smell of summer, you will need a good basketful of the flower heads. This is the number one ingredient to make cordial and many other sweet treats. Lolly’s N19 Elderflower Cordial My niece Lolly is a creative genius in the kitchen. From a young age she has been making and creating and the results are delicious. Her garden in north London is a special...
Make your own elderflower cordial
Elderflower is a forager’s favourite pick between May and June. The trees are found throughout the UK in woods, along roadsides and among hedgerows. The heads are ripe for the...
Ways of practising mindful awareness with children
The benefits of mindfulness for adults are well publicised and include reduced stress, improved immunity and better pain management. There is also now a growing body of evidence suggesting that mindfulness can also be beneficial for children, with studies showing that it can help them to regulate their emotions and improve their concentration and sleep. A really important part of mindfulness is learning how to appreciate what is going on in the present moment. Often we are preoccupied with thinking about the past or the future. Mindfulness teaches us to calm our minds so that we can be fully present in each moment. When our minds and bodies are calm, we are able to be in touch with the many small miracles before us, such as the pleasure of feeling our feet on the earth, or a small hand in our own. Children have a natural ability to live in...
Ways of practising mindful awareness with children
The benefits of mindfulness for adults are well publicised and include reduced stress, improved immunity and better pain management. There is also now a growing body of evidence suggesting that...
Voice of a Grandparent: Anita
I’m Anita, 67, and I’ve been a grandma for 13 years! I have three adult children and four granddaughters, as well as an honorary grandson. I was born when my parents were in their 40s and I had my first two children in my 20s. With two children, I found myself caring for my parents, especially my mother, who for the whole of my children’s lifetime was not able to be the grandmother she was to her other grandchildren. On the day my third child was born, my mother died, so all three of them grew up virtually without their maternal grandmother. I didn’t have a grandmother either and really had no role model to gain tips from. When my first grandchild was born, I felt overwhelming love for her and wanted to be part of her life. We lived at different ends of the country, but I tried to...
Voice of a Grandparent: Anita
I’m Anita, 67, and I’ve been a grandma for 13 years! I have three adult children and four granddaughters, as well as an honorary grandson. I was born when my...
Spring mindfulness inspiration for families
Mindfulness can be described as the ability to be present in the moment, without judgement. The practice has become increasingly popular over the years, with both science-based and spiritual techniques supporting stressed-out individuals to feel calmer and less anxious, and to reduce symptoms of low mood and depression. I spent many years of my adult life being anywhere but the present moment. When I became a mother, so much of my time was divided between the demands of my tiny human, alongside those of a household and a demanding job, and my brain only wanted to focus on the to-do list ahead or ruminate anxiously over the past. At 12 months postpartum, I finally received a diagnosis of postnatal depression and birth trauma (PTSD) and discovered the magic of mindfulness on my recovery journey. Without sounding too clichéd, it completely changed my life for the better. So much so that...
Spring mindfulness inspiration for families
Mindfulness can be described as the ability to be present in the moment, without judgement. The practice has become increasingly popular over the years, with both science-based and spiritual techniques...