parenting

Last year the children painted Easter eggs with food colouring using a paintbrush, it was fun but made the candy coating very sticky and wet.  Today we did the project again, this time the children drew patterns on the eggs with toothpicks which was much neater and less messy.  I then made a tiny mix of water icing using 2 …

9 times out of 10 when I love a restaurant it is because it has an outdoor eating area.  On a beautiful day it seems sacrilegious to be cooped up indoors.   Malls and restaurants which overlook a parking lot do nothing for me.   My children are always with me which makes a good play area very appealing.  Last week while …

This picture is a notice which my 6-year-old son Fjord created and hung on his door before closing himself off from me.  What did I do to provoke his ire and rejection?  Well I stopped him from spending his own money, accumulated monetary gifts and pocket-money, kept in the safe.  You may think I’m mean too. He had a dream …

Here in South Africa Halloween is not a big deal and I have never given it much thought other than it being my childhood friend’s birthday and her always having a fancy dress party to celebrate.  Last year Cliff decided that it would be fun for the children if we bought a pumpkin to carve and have a bit of …

Since 2011 we seem to have developed a habit of making an annual trip to the Planetarium at Wits University in Johannesburg. Fjord (age 6) loves the kids show and he currently has to do a school project on the solar system. The planetarium’s very special star projector reminds me a bit of one of those alien things on the …

  Last year my son Fjord attended St Raphael’s Pre-Primary school in Boksburg.  The school is run by the Boksburg Anglican Church and it was through church that I heard of the school.  Cliff and I take the education of our children very seriously and therefore visited 5 pre-primary schools in Boksburg before making a decision.  We took Fjord along …

We do not have a swimming pool at home but a top priority for us was to get our children water safe and able to swim.  When Fjord was 2 we took him to swimming lessons in Boksburg but after enjoying the 1st class it was all downhill from there.  The swim school which we attended teach according to the …

I love finding something different for the children to do in terms of craft.  We bake a lot together but I run out of ideas for things to make.  When Fjord was a baby I bought painted wooden letters to spell his name on his bedroom door.  I have been looking around for some for Acacia without much luck.  Last …

At 45 I’m not having any more children, these are lessons which I sometimes forgot when birthday time came.  As parents we want to do everything possible to make our children’s lives special, we are driven to create perfect memories for them.  Parents can be guilty of going over the top when birthdays are celebrated.  The cost of outside venues …

The Children splash and play in the bath.  Suddenly they stop, ears pricked, listening with their whole bodies.  Outside the window, Tinkerbell (a.k.a. Grampa) rings a silver bell.  The children are rapt.  “Did the fairies find the house that we built for them?”  “Will the fairies drink the juice which we left for them?”  Their imaginations dance like fireflies Later …