Out and About with Bea

On Monday I had a little pop-up on Instagram about a new play and stay that had opened up in Kings Lynn called Hello Friends, I usually ignore most of the pop-ups, but with this one I couldn't, as It looked lovely!

I headed over to their Instagram and was blown away by how lovely it looked, So I made sure to book Bea a slot.

They offer two slots daily, a morning session and an afternoon session.

I booked us a morning session, thinking getting to Lynn for half 9 would be no problem, in my head we still live in Heacham I didn't factor in the journey from our new place, so we were a little late but still had plenty of time to play.

We were greeted by one of the owners and their youngest at the door, they showed us upstairs.

It was just like stepping into someone's home.

It was beautifully laid out with beautiful montessori toys for role play, climbing, counting pretty much everything your little babe could ask for.

They have 3 rooms, one for chilling and reading in, one for tiny babies to relax and play in, and then the main room for the older babies and toddlers to play in and their grown ups to play along or sit and chill with a hot drink.

We stayed in the main room, Jon sat down and ordered us coffees, whilst Bea and I got stuck right in.

Bea made a few friends and enjoyed exploring all the toys that were on offer.

The owners were lovely and really made us feel right at home, even Jon who hates baby places was relaxed and even said he'd be happy to return when Bea and I go again.

Bea had a yummy breakfast plate half way through our session as she had hardly eaten any of her breakfast that morning.

She munched up most of it. 

Most play and stays dont offer up food as nice as this, so it was another reason for us to go back.

Bea found a stroller and instantly took a shining too it, and she ran around the room pushing it along, she loved it so much we have decided to buy her one for her first birthday.

We have been struggling with trying to find the right present for her, so it was perfect seeing her enjoying it so much.

I can't wait to see her little face when she sees it!

The main room gave us some inspiration for Bea's home play area, as we are in the middle of rearranging the lounge ready for her to have half of it for a mini playroom.

Her birthday is coming up and she'll be getting a teepee and a ball pit and that'll take up some room, but the rest will be a little bit like Hello Friends set up, so im hoping she'll love it!

If you're in the Kings Lynn area and have a baby I definitely recommend booking a slot and going along.

The slots are 1hour 45 minutes long and are priced at £8.50, which I know is slighter higher than your average stay and play but it is definitely worth it.

We can't wait to go again,

*I wasnt asked to share this post, we just enjoyed it so much that I wanted to share with other local mums who may be looking for somewhere to take their little ones.

How to Raise a Compassionate Child

 

Compassion not only makes the world a brighter place but can also have tremendous health benefits and help you to make long-lasting friendships too. 

By definition, it is the ability to empathise and the desire to go out of your way to help others. We have teamed up with a private school in Cambridgeshire to share 5 ways that you can raise a compassionate child.

 

Being Understanding and Empathetic

Lesson one for teaching compassion is developing emotional intelligence. This involves building your child’s understanding of emotions and body language which can help them to identify when others are sad or distressed in order to help them. You can do this by creating your own flipbook of emotions or pointing to characters in TV shows.

 

Avoid Arguing Infront of Your Child

Conflict resolution is a key skill for being compassionate. It’s not until we’re aggravated or are faced with confrontation that we often say things that we regret. Knowing how to do so calmly can help your child to avoid landing in similar situations, avoid trouble and gain the respect of others.

 To do this, it’s important to not argue in the presence of your child and teach them how to manage stress and difficult emotions correctly using tools such as mindfulness.

 

Teach Self-Care and Compassion

Showing self-love is just as important and can help your child to maintain good health and mental wellbeing. 

There are many ways that you can explore this with your child with one being role play by demonstrating how you take care and look after yourself.

 

Speak Kindly to Yourself

Self-talk looks at how we talk to ourselves and often this can be in a more critical light than the way that we talk to others.

 Not only can this lead to poor mental health but doing so in front of your child can result in them developing similar behaviours too.

*Sponsored post

Is My Child Ready for Nursery?

 

This is a question asked by many working parents as they approach the end of their maternity/paternity leave. 

While the age to receive free government, funded childcare is 3 to 4 years old, many nurseries in the UK cater to children as young as 3 months old. 

I have teamed up with a day nursery in Kew to help you decide whether or not your child is ready for nursery. 

 

Sending Babies to Nursery

In recent years women have been returning to work earlier than before following childbirth which many nurseries have been accommodating too. 

For most the care that they provide starts from 3 months of age. To ensure the safety and wellbeing of each child there is a ratio that is used to ensure that each nursery is equipped with the right number of practitioners. 

For babies under 24 months old, this is 1 adult for every 3 babies.

 

Toddlers Between the Ages of 1 and 2

The number of parents sending their toddlers to nursery at this age has grown threefold since 1981 with ¾ of parents now sending their toddlers to nursery after giving birth. 

This movement was investigated by Cambridge University which found that the stress hormone cortisol was double in toddlers of this age 9 days after starting nursery. 

The study found that these levels stayed the same after 5 months despite the toddlers showing no physical signs of stress. 

 

3 Years of Age

This is the age where your child will be able to receive 10 free hours of childcare from the government and has proven to be the best age to send your child to nursery. 

Studies have found that sending children to nursery either before or after this point can hinder development with those that start at 3 showing the best performance at school.

*Sponsored post

Teaching Your Child to Use the Internet Safely

 

The dawn of the internet has brought about many great opportunities for children but also comes with lurking threats to be aware of. Internet safety is important to teach children and has several lessons, all of which a private school in Bristol shares more on below.

Screen Time

Screens can be awful for the eyes and prolonged time on social media platforms can result in worsened mental health as studies report. The cut-off time that they suggest is 3.5 hours which going beyond can result in serious consequences. 

This can be hard to actually implement in the real world but can be made possible through apps and device restrictions. These can all force-shut applications, rendering them useless and helping your child to stay away.

 

Trolling

The internet can be a nasty place with anyone able to share their thoughts and opinions regardless of what they are online. In recent years social media has gotten better to allow for censoring of comments containing certain words and increased privacy. 

This is something that you can teach your child about through promoting self-love, acceptance, and how to use these tools.

 

Blocking Inappropriate Content

Blocking pop-ups and inappropriate websites can help you to keep a careful eye on what your child views online without having to watch their every move. 

This can also be done by placing adult restrictions on the internet via their phone network or your internet provider. 

 

Revealing Personal Information

Sharing information online unfortunately comes at the risk of falling into the wrong hands. It can be used for identity theft to trick other people by “catfishing” or for other more sinister reasons. 

To protect your child’s information, encourage them to opt for a private account and to not add strangers or others claiming to go to a nearby school. 

*sponsored post

Exploring Gratitude with Your Child

Letting others know that you’re appreciative of them can help you to develop and maintain strong relationships and improve overall life satisfaction.

 It is thought that this can help to boost academic achievement in children by helping them to feel connected to the world around them and be more confident. 

I have teamed up with a boy's school in London to share a few ways that you can explore gratitude with your child.

A Gratitude Jar

This is a jar that your child can use to reflect on all of the things that they have to be thankful for by writing them down and storing them in the jar. 

This will help to make exercising gratitude a part of their daily routine, allowing them to feel calmer, happier, and more content. 

This can be a visual reminder for your child during difficult times that they’re not alone and have so many loving people around them.

 

The Act of Saying Thank You 

The simplest way to demonstrate gratitude and thankfulness is through saying thank you. 

Getting your child in the habit of saying thank you will not only help them to reflect on the kind actions of others but will also help them to become polite and respectful.

 

Making Handmade Gifts

A handmade gift is a lovely way to give back to those that have shown support and care. 

Especially as they are handmade and from the heart. 

This is a fun and engaging way to teach your child about gratitude which doesn't need to involve many resources as gifts can include thank you cards and drawings.

 

Return the Favour

Lastly, you can teach your child about giving back and helping others out in times of need. 

This might be to offer a similar favour like lending stationery or helping a friend to find something that they have lost.

*Sponsored post

AD // Sensory Fun with Jaques Of London

I've teamed up with the guys over at Jaques of London to bring you a couple more gorgeous wooden toys, that would make great Toys for 3-year-olds.

Jaques of London has been creating quality toys and games since 1795.

I worked with them previously just before Christmas on gift ideas for Bea and I fell in love with how great their products are so was more than happy to do another review for them.

I love how the toys are all gift wrapped ready to be gifted and inside each box, there is a little card telling you who packed your gift. 

These little touches make it more personal when shopping online, showing that it's not just a robot aimlessly chucking out products without a care in sight.

The products are made to last and the designs are beautifully bright, just ready to capture the child's eyes and imagination.

 

The Discovery blocks are one of Jaques of London's most popular sensory toy for 3-year-olds, there are 12 sensory blocks that will calm your child and develop their sense of sight, sound, and touch. 

This set is manufactured using 100% FSC approved wood. 

The bright colours are created using water-based paint for hours of safe play. 

Sensory play helps with cognitive development, which helps develop motor skills, encourages problem-solving, stimulates the senses, and provides plenty of opportunities for investigation, exploration, creativity, and play.

Bea loves her discovery blocks and spent most of this morning playing with them, her favourite is definitely the mirror, she loves looking at herself.

Even Ru enjoyed playing with them, he's a big sensory seeker so instantly took to them with all their different patterns and different sounds they made.

I'd say this was a big win in the mini beast house.

We love music, we have Alexa playing most of the day with a range of different music that we can all enjoy.

 Bea often bops along to anything with a good beat, so I knew she'd love making her own.

Musical toys have multiple sensory benefits, such as helping your little one with those fine motor skills.

This kid's Xylophone is a perfect Montessori toy.

Montessori toys are ones that stimulate learning by encouraging kids to play.

The Xylophone comes with two musical sheets that your child can use to help them play a selection of well-loved nursery rhymes. 

The keys are all well labelled with musical notes as letters to help your child play along which correspond with those on the musical sheets.

Then in time, they will be able to match the right notes to the right colour, making them play it more easily.

Bea had great fun making her own music, and again I can see this being a very well-loved toy when she's a bit older.

*All products were gifted but the thoughts are my own.

Steam Trains, Pretty Dresses and Woodland walks.

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2022, lets hope this year beats 2021 and life and can start getting back to normal.

I thought I'd share a few pictures from over the Christmas holiday, as I didn't blog much in December as we were just so busy.

We took the kids to the North Norfolk railway to go on the Santa express.

The boys all loved being on a proper steam train and having lunch onboard. 

Even Bea loved it. She sat at the window waving to everything and anything as we sped past.

The day was really set out well, and all the staff and entertainers were amazing.

Definitely one of our best Santa visits.

Can't beat a Christmas Pyjama photo in front of the tree, and this year we had a new addition! Now we have Bea, I think I'll be able to get away with doing this for even longer. Noah didn't even moan when he saw he had matching PJs with his brothers and was quite happy to get in on the photo, as long as he was holding Bea.

Our yearly Christmas PJ photo in front of the tree.

Bea wore some gorgeous dresses over the festive period, I still get over-excited when I go shopping for her. Girl clothes shopping is so much more exciting than boy clothes shopping and I'm sure I'll never get tired of it.

Christmas Day dress from Little Bird by Jools Oliver

This lovely Boden dress was a Christmas present.

I am really loving Boden's selection of girl clothes at the moment, and I managed to snap a few things up in the boxing day sale. I went with the next size up so they'll be perfect for the summer.

One of the dresses I bought has tractors on the pockets! Just perfect for country living.

Last but not least this was from Monsoon.

We went on a lot of walks, thanks to living right beside a beautiful common where there are wild ponies and cattle.

The boys all love running around in the woods and finding sticks.

Then searching the common for the ponies.

The ponies may be wild but they are super friendly, and we love going to say hello.

On New Years Day we decided to plant a brand new tree in the garden to bring in the new year. 

I had recently bought a weeping Cherry blossom tree which is already about 7ft tall and I only paid £20 for it, a proper little bargain!

I cant wait to see it full of blossom.

Being a tree! 

Whilst in the garden I decided to cut back the roses and have a bit of a tidy up and I also found the first signs of life from the spring bulbs I planted back in September.

I am turning the garden into a cut flower garden and I can't wait to share it with you.

Also this week we should find out if we have an allotment.

I really hope we do as I have plans for new chickens and even a beehive!