We love it when our kids want to hang out and be social. We don't love it when they have to spend ridiculous amounts of money to have fun with friends. Every now and then it's great to go to a water park, shopping, laser tag, eating fast food or seeing a movie, but...
My youngest is starting high school in February, so I thought we'd gather some tips for Year 7 kids from older friends. It actually physically hurts me to write such a ridiculous sentence. How can all three of my babies be in actual big school? That makes me very......
A storyline on UK TV soap Hollyoaks in late 2017 was praised as a “masterpiece of television” after focusing on the issue of self harm in young people. Article by Chris Nicholson, University of Essex The show, which worked with charities Samaritans and Mind on the...
Is there anything more frustrating than other kids' parents? I mean, we are each others' biggest support, but so often our biggest hurdle too. It makes my blood boil when other kids' parents let them do really stupid things. Because then my kid wants to do them too. I...
TVs, gaming consoles, tablets, phones and the screen time issues they throw up in our families would have to be the Achilles heel of modern parenting. I'd hazard a guess that various screen time issues are the biggest reasons for fights between parents and teens and...
We recently did a survey of our Mumlyfers and one thing was immediately clear: we are all looking for ways to build our relationship with teens and tweens. Adolescents are not the easiest creatures to feel close to. Actually, they are sensitive, prickly,...
This review of Malamander is part of our ongoing quest to encourage reluctant readers to find their 'key' book. Maybe this is the book that will unlock their love of reading? Malamander is a quirky adventure tale about friendship, being brave, optimistic and, most of...
My son is the master of the teen meltdown. To be honest, he was also a master of the toddler meltdown, the preschooler meltdown and the beware-of-the-10-year-old-boy meltdown. You could say he's been building up to teen meltdown form for years and he's #nailedit....
Most kids and teens love listening to stories and as they get older the urge to tell their own stories grows too. For some kids (often those we call ‘born writers’) this is an easy thing to do - no list of creative writing ideas for kids needed. They grab a piece of...
Critical thinking skills for kids are considered crucial for problem solving and effective decision making. In fact, critical thinking may be the most important skill our kids can develop. It's not enough to know things. We need to be able to independently make sense...
Many of us are (rightfully) focused on taking care of our health, eating nourishing whole foods and trying to be active … while meditating and flossing and taking some time of disconnection, away from devices. These are each a wonderful act of self-care, and they...
My middle child is a shy one. She's full of beans and very outgoing when she is comfortable, but struggles when she doesn't know people well. In fact, I'd go so far to say that being asked to be more assertive with people she doesn't know is the very, very worst thing...
Here’s a treat – the Mars Bar slice. Take a Mars Bar and add butter to it then stir in some puffed rice and then coat the lot in chocolate. Oh lordy, it’s like taking a murmur and turning it into a heart attack, but in a totally fine way. This is quite simply the...
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