I bet your feelings regarding screen time were the same as mine before you had kids. You were probably disgusted by those parents at the restaurant who would readily hand over tablets and mobile phones. When you went to your friend’s house who already had kids you would secretly cringe at the child seated in front of the telly.
On Saturday afternoon, after we celebrated my mum’s 60th birthday (Happy birthday mum!) papa had some business to tend to so Georgie and I made our way to the beach. Not a good idea. It was so windy I could barely hear my own thoughts and I actually felt quite cold, literally regretting taking out all those cardigans I had in the car. So there I was expecting it to rain at any moment when my son came running towards me for the millionth time, telling me how much fun he was having. Kids+water+sand=Quiet time for you and me. But to make the most of this time, read through this list of easy beach activities and games, show, teach and demonstrate and then RELAX.
After I pick up Georgie from school, I like to surprise him with a small gift. Sometimes he gets a cookie or a muffin, other times a toy or a t-shirt. It could be anything! New or used, with sugar or not, he looks forward to that specific moment. On Monday, I gave him a bubble bottle. Always a winner with kids, received with claps and giggles by my little dude he couldn’t wait to get home and give it a go. Five bubbles later he’s dropped the bottle and is demanding a refill. As most of you probably know, plain water and plain washing up liquid will not work. And that’s why bubble bottles are almost never received with claps and giggles on my behalf.
When I worked as a feature writer for a newspaper, interviewing people was part of the job and I loved it. I found the task and liberty of asking people anything absolutely exhilarating. Every interview, I felt, opened my mind up to unchartered territories and new information despite experiencing my fair share of wonderfully weird and profoundly boring moments.
Georgie loves books. Basically he loves when I read to him. Every evening before we head upstairs he makes me promise to read him a ‘big book, mummy, not a little one’. Once we’re nestled in his bed and I begin to read I always notice the way he stares at me, my mouth and the expressions I make while reading as if my face can tell a better story than the pictures. I read to him every day which means we go through an impressive amount of used, borrowed and new books. Recently, in a bid to mix things up I stocked his bookshelf with storybooks I had when I was little. Big and chunky with bare pages and packed with various stories from Tom Thumb to The Snow Queen, they seem worlds away from the versions published today. I have had to explain what ‘shan’t’ means on more than one occasion! Man, I feel old sometimes.