Quarantine Cooking – The Easy Peasy Baking Campaign

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

I’m still recovering from celebrating my boy’s 2nd birthday over the weekend, but so glad we were able to treat him to a gala screening of the new Paw Patrol film, Mighty Pups on Sunday.

Like many other two year olds, he’s a huge fan and thoroughly enjoyed it – to be fair, even my nine year old admitted to enjoying it!

The screening in Leicester Square was full of excited children, as well as a few celebrities with their little Paw Patrol fans – most of whom couldn’t wait to pose with the life-sized pups!

 

Unfortunately, I have no pictures of my boy with any of the characters from the film, as he refused to let me put him down when we arrived – isn’t it weird how kids get freaked out when they see cartoon characters in real life?

The film follows the usual format of the regular episodes, ie, ending with the pups saving the day, but facing bigger and more problems when some certain residents of Adventure Bay end up with super powers. And at just under an hour in length, it’s not too long for our fidgety kids.

Paw Patrol, Mighty Pups is out today (May 17), for all you dedicated parents!

How do you deal with getting your kids to eat vegetables?

An easy life or forever a struggle?

Mine is the latter, so I was intrigued when we got an invitation to the Bird’s Eye First Plates Restaurant.

Here little ones were encouraged to #eatinfullcolour with a range of veg based dishes which included pea cake (yep, and it was actually quite nice!).

It was interesting to see the dynamic as all the kids sat together happily – mostly – trying out lots of different vegetables.

Us parents were lucky enough to get tips on how to get more veg in their tummies from TV child psychologist, Dr Elizabeth Kilbey, as seen on Channel 4’s The Secret Life of 4, 5 and 6 Year Olds.

She told me: ‘Don’t be deterred by them saying ‘I don’t like that’.

‘If they like particular colours try pairing them up, association helps.’

And even, gasp, making eating veggies fun!

For example, Dr Kilbey added: ‘Can we have a snack of every single colour today? Can we build a rainbow of the food we eat today?’

Research by Bird’s Eye to mark their Eat in Full Colour campaign shows that children are actually becoming more adventurous with their food, with 4-9 year olds naming sprouts and spinach as their favourite vegetables.

Almost a third (32 per cent) of parents say their children would eat just about ANY type of vegetable served – and only 29 per cent struggle to get their kids to eat their greens. Unfortunately I’m in that 29 percent!

But I was given some hope to keep trying after the event, adding more colour to ALL of our plates and trying new vegetables.

Click to see footage from the event (my daughter even has a speaking part!).

HAVE you ever tried to talk to your children about the dangers of oversharing online?

Well, Vodafone UK and Andersen Press have joined forces to publish a lively retelling of the classic story of Goldilocks, this time giving it the title #Goldilocks A Hashtag Cautionary Tale.

And they haven’t cut any corners, getting among the best in the business to write and illustrate the tale – children’s author Jeanne Willis and celebrated illustrator Tony Willis (Gangsta Granny, Horrid Henry).

The book makes it soo much easier to explain the downfalls of sharing too much on social media and in a totally light-hearted manner.

We were treated to a reading of the story by Jeanne herself at the launch in London at Foyles bookstore. Plus, the children had a chance to take part in a drawing masterclass by Tony which my daughter loved.

My kids are still young and are nowhere close to having their own social media accounts but my eight year old daughter is very aware of things like Facebook and Instagram so it doesn’t hurt to educate her on the dangers.

Research shows nearly half (48%) of children are aware of social media by age seven, according to their parents. Plus a third (33%) say they have used or looked at social media by this age.

Best of all the book is available to download FOR FREE at  www.vodafone.co.uk/digitalparenting. The book also marks the launch of Vodafone’s new Digital Parenting website, which is simply billed as a go-to-guide for parents on the latest digital safety and wellbeing issues – something useful to have close to hand in this day and age.