How to teach young children about consent
If you are the parent of a baby, the topic of consent is probably not high on your agenda. And even as your baby grows into a vocal toddler, it’s still hard to imagine how you would begin to have a conversation about consent. It feels like a very serious topic, perhaps something that you would want to discuss when they get older, maybe when they reach school age.
But actually, we can start to lay the groundwork for understanding consent from the very first year of a baby’s life and continue to develop that understanding as they grow.
My First Five Years changed how I think about child development
I'll be honest, I write for My First Five Years as a freelancer and have also been an early tester of the app because I have a three-year-old son myself. So, you won’t be surprised to know that I recommend this app to everyone I meet with young children. However, for a while, as a busy working mum, I wondered whether I’d prefer the app to just contain lists of simple-to-set-up activities that I could search for and randomly try when I had a spare ten minutes to play.
Crying – your newborn baby's early communication
How to play with toys that don’t do anything
We are having a clear-out and, to my horror, my husband has put the beautiful wooden stacking rainbow (you know the type) in the ‘give away’ pile.
“That can’t go,” I practically shriek. “Aside from the fact it was pretty expensive AND looks beautiful on the shelf, he plays with that quite a lot,” I continue. I’m talking about our three-year-old.
The power of poetry to develop your child's brain
Does poetry make you think of stuffy, overwrought passages written in times gone by, largely by men? If so, you might not be thrilled by World Poetry Day this week. Perhaps poetry was your least favourite part of English at school. But in recent years, poetry has grown in popularity and we can understand why.
Poets such as Hollie McNish and Rupi Kaur have made poetry more accessible, writing about topics that resonate with modern-day readers, such as mental health and motherhood. Instagram has allowed people to share their poetry more easily and these words are full of feeling. Poetry is a way to connect with others, feel less alone and express things that are difficult to express. And for parents, tired and with limited time, poetry can be a gentle alternative to reading a longer book.
Top tips for parental happiness
This International Day of Happiness, we’re thinking about parental happiness and how to prioritise finding it.
Created by the UN to recognise the importance of happiness in the lives of people all over the world, this year the International Day of Happiness is celebrated on March 20th.
Permission to ask for the Mother’s Day you want
Is it ok to say that for Mother’s Day all I want is a full day off from parenting? Or to spend two hours in a hot bath in complete silence while I read a book? Or to eat a family-sized Dairy Milk on the sofa while we all watch back-to-back films?
We say yes, yes and yes.
It’s not all bad – why we need to balance the narrative around pregnancy and new parenthood
Becoming a parent is a truly life-changing experience.
There are very few people who would deny this fact. That the world, as you know it, is turned completely upside down.
Perhaps because of this, that it is something for which you can’t prepare or possibly even imagine (even if you have been around a lot of children), some people like to pass on their wisdom once they reach the other side. You say that you’re potty training - they tell you a horror story of a wee in a department store. You mention that you’re a bit tired in your second trimester - they chuckle about how the third is FAR worse. Leaking breast pads, attempts to avoid glue and glitter, swollen ankles, the tales of pregnancy and parenting trials come thick and fast. They (we) can’t help it. We want to share every single detail, the good, the bad and the totally unbelievable.
Babies are amazing – our favourite facts about newborns
As your due date approaches the idea of welcoming your baby to the world might be starting to feel less of a distant event and more of a rapidly approaching reality. You might be hearing more about how your new arrival will change your life and wondering about what kind of parent you want to be.
We know that understanding your baby’s development can help you to feel calm and confident as you navigate your parenting journey, and our app will support you as your baby grows. We will give you information about your baby’s development as well as tips and ideas that will support you during your baby’s first five years.
The best toys are the ones you don’t think of as toys!
You spent hours searching for that perfect toy and then on Christmas morning the only thing your child was interested in was the box. Or the wrapping paper. And, despite your attempts to make this toy more appealing (“How about if I talk about it in this funny, high-pitched voice?”), they still haven’t shown a jot of interest.
But you can’t get them to leave the hoover alone. They will scale the kitchen side to have a touch of the fruit bowl. A spatula is apparently the most interesting thing in the house.
