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Barbie is well known for having a catalogue of careers, and this time around the blonde one hits cinema screens as the star of her very own movie, in the guise of a super spy.

The action begins when Barbie and her gymnast pals are recruited for their skills to apprehend a jewel thief, learning along the way the values of teamwork, friendship and that believing in yourself always brings you closer to success.

Attending a preview screening with an overexcited five year old – and life-long Barbie fan – I have to say my daughter’s attention was held from start to finish. And while I may have had to contend with the little one jumping across the sofa and rolling around the living room floor, I also caught her taking a deep breath and closing her eyes when she was having trouble with a task at home – just like Barbie does in the film to visualise herself completing a complicated jump.. These kids pick up so much more than we think!

And of course, as expected, there’s a range of undercover agent toys from Mattel to go with the film. One guess what she’ll be waiting for her birthday present this year…

I guess as a mother I should find it easy to judge if my daughter is enjoying a film or not, but during the screening of Sammy’s Great Escape, she certainly had me guessing…

She alternated between loudly naming all the creatures she could see; to jumping out of her skin once or twice; pointing at the screen to say ‘I don’t like it, I want to go home’ and at any pause in dialogue or musical interlude shouting ‘yeah! It’s finished now – can we go home?’

So on this basis, I’ll have to give the film, a sequel to A Turtle’s Tale: Sammy’s Adventures, a mixed review. This time around we follow two turtles who end up stuck in a giant aquarium in Dubai and their young grandchildren who are faced with the task of setting them free.

The bright colours made the movie very appealing, but for my daughter’s age group (she’s just about to turn 3!) I thought at times it was a little too intense with its loud noises and things going wrong, which was made clear by the atmospheric music, so a child of any age would know something scary was about to happen.

I’m glad we stayed to see the film through – as that night I had to contend with her quoting from the film, repeating the words of a crazy fish stuck in an aquarium, ‘They’re all looking at me! I can see them all looking at me!’ (Let’s just ignore the fact that my little one found some sort of affinity with the film’s crazy character…) – but to be honest, if we’d been in a local cinema and not just trekked into Leicester Square, we’d probably have left about 20 minutes in.

So, overall verdict? Sammy’s Great Escape is probably better suited to slightly older kids – maybe 4 upwards – but that’s obviously for individual parents to judge.

THIS week me and the boy have been testing out the Aveeno Baby Dermexa range, in particular the Good Night Emollient Balm and the Daily Emollient Cream.

And I’m not going to lie, the good night balm has been an absolute lifesaver for my little boy as the cold winter nights start to creep in, causing his skin to get drier than usual.

I’ve found the slightly thicker night balm perfect for helping to ease his itchy skin as he sleeps.

I’ve always been a fan of Aveeno for my little one’s skin, and talking to lots of other parents they too are full of praise for the brand – I mean it’s just one less thing to worry about right?

Parenting is hard enough, so it’s something to tick off the list and, the good news is there’s 1/3 off at Boots until November 6. #winning

IT’S ALWAYS difficult when your child doesn’t fit the stereotypical images of childhood peddled out on TV and in books.

The day your little one asks you why they can’t see themselves in these forms of entertainment – is quite simply heartbreaking.

And that’s why, whenever I hear of something which addresses this problem, my heart sings!

Lolade Coker found herself in this situation and decided to do something about it.

With a four-year-old who loved colouring but never saw kids like herself in colouring books, the search started for Lolade and culminated in the creation of My Colourful World: Best Friends.

She said: “My Colourful World is an educational tool that promotes fine motor skills whilst teaching children about diversity and inclusion.

“This colouring book will help to build a strong community for all kids who are often misrepresented by mainstream media.”

The book contains 30 pages and are single sided to prevent the dreaded bleed through as those little artists get to work.

They can also easily be removed from the book for easy access.

Available to buy from Amazon.