Month: February 2016

Helping Kids to Make Healthy Friendships

Healthy Friendships

I’ll never forget the year my best friend send me to Coventry. There were six of us in our group, and I was completely oblivious of our status of ‘top dogs’ in the classroom, though I can see it now. We occupied the centre of the room, three double desks set together, making everyone else satellites to our clique around the edges. We’d been together right from the start, though Kaye and I were best friends. Both strong personalities, we probably vied for position, although conveniently, I remember her being the most confident. I’m the classic boiled egg – what …

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Travel: Keeping Kids Safe and Happy on a Family Ski Holiday

Tips for keeping children safe on a ski holiday The girl sharing my lesson must have been around eight years old. “So, we’re in this together then?” I tried to make conversation. “Absolute beginners, you’ll probably do way better than me!”  “Oh no,” our instructor shook his head. “She’s a really good skier. But she broke her arm last season when some idiot lost control and careered into her. She just needs to get her confidence back.” I was 21, having my first ever ski lesson, and the eight year old girl with a broken arm was already a much better skier than I was. Fast forward a …

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Perfect Low Carb Pizza Recipe

Low carb fathead pizza

A low carb pizza has been the holy grail of my Saturday night menu planning for a long time now. Takeaway pizza (and even the shop-bought variety) has a tendency to wreak havoc with blood glucose levels when you’re acting as your own pancreas and injecting insulin. (In fact, I have a strong suspicion that the insulin resistance of type 2 diabetes may have more to do with high fat, savoury junk food than with cans of Coke, but that’s a rant for another day). So our Saturday night fix in front of the TV has suffered since type 1 …

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3 Things to do with Kids at Half Term in London

As the half-term holidays loom, frazzled parents know that unless they keep children busy and having fun, a week off can easily turn into a struggle to get through till term starts again. But it doesn’t have to be like that, provided you have a few plans to keep them active and engaged. Here are our tips for things to do with kids at half term in London. Scroll down for a list of ideas from elsewhere around the UK. Things to do with Kids at Half Term Try a Freaky Rivet day out Freaky Rivet is an organisation dedicated to …

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Safer Internet Day: Should children have social media accounts?

The average age of a cyber criminal is 17 One in ten 16-19 year olds know someone who has engaged in a criminal activity online A third would be impressed if a friend hacked a bank website and replaced the logo with a cartoon One in ten would be impressed if a friend hacked an air traffic control system. (Research findings from internet security software provider Kapersky Lab). I once had an argument with a secondary school teacher about children and social media. She was unequivocal: children of any age have no place in social media. It’s too dangerous, they’re …

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Up All Night

  You know when people joke about how, when you have a baby, you’re not going to get much sleep? You’ll be up all night, they say, and you laugh. Then your newborn arrives, and you realise it’s true. You never knew you could survive on so little sleep. You’re amazing. Up All Night After a couple of weeks though, the excitement settles, the adrenalin wears off, and you’re tired to your bones. You ache all over, you eat badly, propping yourself up with sugar, caffeine and stimulants. You don’t know how you will carry on. You do though, because …

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Teen Fiction: Possessed

Teen fiction - Possessed

Teen Fiction Rising out of bed, as if in a trance, Poppy slowly staggered over to the door; slowly, but purposefully. Reaching out for the doorknob, she turned it and proceeded down the stairs. Not acknowledging the frantic shouts from her parents’ bedroom, she unlocked the front door and stepped outside into the frosty night. The darkness wrapped around her while she trudged down the icy pavement. Suddenly, her soot black eyes focused on a curved dagger resting against a wall. With her eyes sparkling with danger, she stretched out an arm to retrieve it, while the bitter winds swirled …

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Fennel and Bean Soup recipe with an added something!

This fennel and bean soup recipe will give you two of your five-a-day with an added extra special treat

I’m not always the healthiest eater. As a busy mum, who works, and whose nights are frequently interrupted, I’m prone to reaching for coffee and muffins in the mornings, followed up by a lunch of crumpets and cheese. And who doesn’t like that stuff? It’s a quick fix, it acts as comfort after an exhausting night, and an even longer day. And we all know what calls at five o’clock. But there comes a point when the body craves more than just comfort; it needs vitamins, fibre, good protein, and a little bit less of the quick fixes. I may …

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