Children & Education

Parenting

Making Family Life That Little Bit Easier

Ever feel like you’re trying to juggle too many balls, half of which are on fire? Here are a few ideas that might help…

Plan like a pro

If you have school-age children, you no doubt find yourself wishing they had their own personal assistant at times. (And a cook, cleaner and driver.) Between them, my two have drama, yoga, maths club, choir, piano, Taekwondo, dance, computer club, youth club and swimming lessons. And that’s before you factor in play dates, homework and school projects.

I find the easiest way to remember who needs what, where and on what day, is through a Google calendar that I share with my partner. It means we constantly have notifications pinging at us, but we can remind the kids to grab their piano book or swim stuff in the morning.

A wall planner is also handy, particularly a wipe-clean weekly planner hung next to the front door or on the fridge. Use it to keep track of clubs, play dates, homework deadlines, whether they’re on school dinners or packed lunches and so on. You can pick these up quite cheaply or make your own. Now I just need to get my kids to remember to check it…

Encouraging children to put things away

Fed up of the kids dumping their bags and coats on the floor when they walk through the door? Make it as easy as possible for them to hang things up by installing extra hooks in your hallway. If the hooks are low enough to reach easily, and only for your kids’ coats and bags, it’s more likely they’ll get used. Once you’ve reminded your children to go back and hang their things up a dozen or so times, it becomes habit.

Help babies to sleep outside your home

When you’re a parenting journalist, you get sent a lot of press releases. One product that really stood out from the crowd for me is the POD Travel Crib. In short, it’s a travel cot that folds up to become a changing bag. The bag can be used to carry nappies, wipes and spare clothes, and the cot mattress doubles up as a changing mat. Genius, right? It takes less than a minute to turn it from bag into cot (and we all know that every second counts when it comes to sleeping babies). And, unlike a lot of baby products, this one looks rather stylish. Think designer laptop bag, but on a larger scale.

I ordered one for my sister the day I received the press release and it now goes with her pretty much everywhere. My niece sleeps better in it than the car seat and it means my sister doesn’t have to lug the pram around. They start at £59 from www.bizzigrowin.com.

By Kate Duggan

The Diary of a Local Mum

That Don’t Impress Me Much

Is it just me, or is everything nowadays bigger and supposedly ‘better’ than it used to be? Is everyone doing more, and more, and more? We’re constantly watching other people taking even the most mundane things to the extreme … from cleaning their homes and organising their cupboards to cooking and fitness and everything else in between.

This relentless observation of other people’s lives inevitably leads you to draw comparisons with your own. You may be on holiday with your family having a lovely time, perfectly content playing board games in a caravan in wet and windy Wales, but a quick scroll online reveals that your friends are sunning themselves in the Bahamas. Hmmph. Suddenly your little break by the sea feels a little sub-par. Should you be doing life ‘better’, somehow?

This phenomenon first struck me on pancake day last year. I’ve always made pancakes for the kids and, over the years, I’ve become a pretty accomplished flipper, if I do say so myself. They had always been quite happy with a flip. Sometimes, we’d manage a double flip … or a flip out of the pan onto the plate. Now, that was a real wow! However, nowadays, that just doesn’t cut it. Don’t try what I’m about to suggest if you’re easily disillusioned but, if you feel you can stand it, just search ‘pancakes’ on TikTok or Instagram or whatever social platform the kids are into nowadays. If you do, you’ll soon see why they were suddenly entirely underwhelmed with the ‘bog standard’ pancakes that had previously kept them happy. All over the internet there are people doing pancake art in pancake stacks presented on hand-designed personalised pancake plates!

And this isn’t just limited to pancakes. Whatever it is you’re doing in life there’s always someone who takes it to another level and then shares it on the internet (presumably just to make the rest of us mere mortals feel inadequate). This constant comparison of everything we do puts unnecessary pressure on everyone – parents and kids alike – and breeds dissatisfaction. We were all quite happy with our little Pancake Day ritual until we saw what other people were doing, now we’re watching ‘easy pancake art’ tutorials on YouTube. Yes, you could argue that we’re learning a new skill but is it one we really want to learn? Will a pancake taste better if it looks like a minion? I sincerely doubt it. It’ll just take longer and add extra stress to the process.

We’re much happier if we just focus on our own lives and try not to be influenced by these ‘influencers’ but that’s easier said than done when we’re being constantly bombarded! You can try your hardest to not care, but it’s difficult not to be slightly affected. We’re not always striving to be the best at everything, far from it, but it can be a bit deflating when you’ve had a good time, done a good job, then someone comes along and rains on your parade. We’ve somehow created a crazy and very competitive world where we’re all judging ourselves against each other and it worries me that this is the future our kids will grow up in.

The key is to realise that yes, there will always be people doing bigger, better, more impressive things than you, but they’re not you. Celebrate and enjoy what you’re doing or what you’ve achieved. You’ve just climbed Mam Tor – that’s amazing! Yes, a friend may have climbed Snowdon and elsewhere in the world someone’s reached the summit of Everest, that’s great, but it doesn’t take away from what you’ve accomplished. From flipping pancakes to making cakes, swimming in the sea or growing huge sunflowers – just enjoy what you’re doing here and now. Smile and be gracious towards other people’s extraordinary efforts. Good for them. But good for you, too.

By Helen Young

Derbyshire Adult Community Education Service

• Learn with us to achieve your goals • Gain employment skills • Meet new people • Develop new interests Scan the QR code or visit www.derbyshire.gov.uk/adulteducation to see how we can help you Email: adult.education@derbyshire.gov.uk Phone:01629 535895

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