Helping Your Child Transition from Prep to Senior School

The change from prep school to senior school can feel daunting for a lot of children, but there are ways to manage their mood before the big day. Help your child feel more comfortable heading into the next stage of their studies with these top tips.

The Benefits of Holiday Camps for Children

Activity camps give children a unique way of working and building their skills in exciting ways that don’t have to just be taught at school. Not only are parents being given a chance to trust their child in something exciting, but children also develop their independence and flexibility in a safe and welcoming environment. Here are some ways holiday camps help children that this adventure kids camp in London details. 

Exploring Gratitude with Your Child

Gratitude is a key way of building a child’s understanding of the world, learning how to express empthy and guide them through being honest and humble to what life gives them. Being grateful for what they receive is part of how children can build a sense of honour and pride in their work and what they believe in, which is why it’s important to raise a grateful child as they grow. Here are some ways you can explore that from this independent school in Wales.

Creating a relaxing home environment

Life can be busy, demanding and stressful. Juggling various aspects of life can be challenging. Family life, socialising, hobbies, work, health care appointments, financial commitments and other obligations can be taxing on our time and emotions. 

Dealing with the hussle and bussle of life can leave us stressed out and emotionally tired. As many of us have to overcome long, busy and stressful days when we get home we want to relax and de-stress. 

A tranquil and stress-free environment is much more suitable for de-stressing from life than a hectic and chaotic environment. As our homes are our havens, they can be a sanctuary from stress.

Random Acts of Kindness – saying thank you with Tesco Flowers.

Whilst I do love birthdays and Christmas for gift giving, I am a big believer in showing thanks and love to people throughout the year. Showing someone gratitude, kindness and love is a lovely gesture and whether it is through gifts or kind actions being kind, thankful and loving is in my opinion a beautiful way to live your life.

Not only does the act of being kind and loving to family, friends and strangers who have touched your life make the recipient of the random act of kindness feel happy and appreciated but showing you care and are thankful also makes you feel happy and good too.

In the busy world we live in it can be easy to overlook showing gratitude or forget to make the effort to show loved ones and strangers we care. Whilst I do like to show my thanks and love to others on a regular basis through kind actions (helping, complimenting and supporting) and small surprise gifts or treats, I do welcome any excuse to show kindness and gratitude to others.

So when Tesco Flowers recently got in touch with me about their exciting Random Acts of Kindness campaign I just knew this was a campaign I had to get involved with.

Why I love my mum.

With mother’s day fast approaching my thoughts have inevitably turned to thinking about my mother and my late Mamgu (grandmother) who I thought of as my second mum. Whilst we do not really adopt the commercial aspect of mother’s day with gift giving, the day is a good reminder to appreciate, enjoy quality with and thank my mum, as well as remember my Mamgu.

As a number of my friends sadly no longer have their mums in their life, I find myself being extra grateful that I am fortunate enough to still have my mum.

And when I Wynsors World of Shoes got in contact about their Mother’s Day campaign to celebrate the relationship I have with my mum and how her and her style have inspired me I got thinking about how my mum has influenced both me as a person and my style. With that in mind I have been thinking about some of the many, many reasons why I love and appreciate my mum.

Style

I love my mum’s style and admire how she is comfortable and confident with how she looks. I often use her style as inspiration for outfits for myself and ask her opinion on what I should wear or whether a particular item looks good or not.

Wednesday Words - Struggle and Strength.

Wednesday Words - Child Joy.

Wednesday Words - Happiness.

Wednesday Words - Child's Smile.

Valentine's Day - what it means to me.

With Valentine’s Day fast approaching it can be hard to ignore the signs everywhere, from love inspired gifts and cards adorning shops to talk of Valentines on social media, hinting at the impending day of romance when love is in the air.

For some people the day can be one they dread, some people are passionately anti-valentines, others enjoy a Galentine night in with the girls, whilst many loved up couples enjoy the day to its fullest by sharing gifts with their loved ones and having romantic time together.

Having experienced the dread of valentines whilst single as well as having enjoyed the excitement of the love-filled day when in the first sparks of a relationship, I have experienced both sides to the day – the tear-filled, single and lonely side of dread and the romantic, loved-up side.

Now that I am in a relationship I thankfully no longer experience the feeling of being single and lonely on Valentine’s Day when it feels as if the whole world around you is loved-up. But whilst I have enjoyed special and romantic Valentine’s days with Lee after years together and a child the day for us has changed from a day of being in a romantic bubble together, going out to celebrate the day and giving each other trinkets of love and Valentine’s cards to a day where we simply appreciate each and are thankfully that we have each other.

Thoughts unshared.

Whilst having a blog may be a contradiction, I have always been a private sort of person.

I have always struggled to share my true feelings and talk to people about my thoughts, worries and concerns.

I tend to bottle it all up.

From the days of my dark depression I have TRIED to be better at getting things off my chest and not bottle up all my emotions until I break down completely.

This is easier said than done for someone who instinctively paints a smile on her face and keeps her worries to herself.

I have found writing helps.

Since starting this blog I have written many posts on my thoughts and worries.

Most posts written about my inner most thoughts have been thoughts unshared.

But the simple act of putting pen to paper – or fingers to keyboard – and letting out my inner most thoughts and worries has helped keep me sane and keep the darkness at bay.

Writing helps me and even if my thoughts remain unshared forever it is a positive release for me and a step towards being a more open person that no longer keeps her worries and thoughts bottled up or has to paint a fake smile on her face when she is crumbling inside.

This year I hope to focus on the positive and open up more.

Wednesday Words - Strong for too long.

Wednesday Words - Pain.

Thursday Thoughts - Charming Gardeners.

 

Wednesday Words - After the Storm.

My Shining Light.

Goodnight my love, my shining light

Sleep well, sleep tight

Have sweet dreams tonight

As the stars above twinkle bright

I dim the lights and kiss you goodnight

Leaving your night light to shine on you tonight

Guarding you from the darkness so you don’t have a fright

Your beautiful face lit by the soft light

In my darkest days you a bright shining light

Glowing and twinkling with all your might

Your love and happiness making everything right

Goodnight my love, my shining light

* This is my entry into the Lighting Majestic blogger competition *

Spiritual guidance with Kooma.

I considered myself to be a spiritual person with an interest in all things natural, holistic and mystic. I love communing with nature, believe in the power of crystals and gemstones, use alternative medicines such as homeopathy and acupuncture, practice the art of using aromatherapy to enhance psychological and physical wellbeing, have faith in the ancient practice of tarot card reading and pendulum dowsing for divine guidance, and am curious about clairvoyance.

My interest in most things natural, holistic, mystic and spiritual springs from my childhood. During my childhood I became enchanted by the beauty and power of the crystals and gemstones my mum had around our home and I smelt the delightful aroma of essential oils every day in our house. I have also experienced the benefit of using alternative medicine over the years, including taking homeopathic medicine and visiting an osteopath for treatment.

I also have sentimental connotations attached to my holistic and mystic interests. I have a number of gemstones that have a special attachment to loved ones, the smell of particular essential oils evoke memories of loved ones and special memories, and one of my own personal pack of tarot cards were given to me from a close family friend who is sadly no longer with us.

Pet Therapy - Sunrise Senior Living.

I've mentioned before that we have two dogs, Sassy and Trixie, and how our fluffy friends are part of the family.

Trixie the eldest of our fluffy family is 9 and has been a loving part of my life since she was an adorable little puppy.  When I was suffering from depression a few years ago my mum and sister bought Trixie for me after they read about the benefits of pet therapy.  They hoped that having a pet to care and be responsible for would give me a positive focus and the routine of caring for my new fluffy friend would help keep me busy and active.  They also hoped that having a dog that needed walking would help encourage me to leave the house which I hated doing at the time with the extra physical activity of taking my dog for walks being good for my physical and mental health.