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How to Raise An Optimistic Child | AD

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Disclosure - This is a paid post

boy holding two trophies

Optimism is key for a confident and happy life. It gives us the power to be positive and take on challenges with an assured sense of self, even if there are hurdles in the way. Parents should help their children become more optimistic so that they are better equipped to manage any of the inevitable setbacks throughout their education and personal life. Without an optimistic approach, your child will be more likely to struggle in school, especially when it comes to exams. I have teamed up with an independent school near Wellingborough to offer parents the following advice when it comes to raising an optimistic child.

The best thing you can do when helping your child develop a particular mindset or skill is to lead by example. In other words, if you want your child to have a positive and optimistic approach to life, be optimistic and positive yourself. For instance, if you say things like “I hated school when I was your age”, your child will probably start to develop a similar outlook. Alternatively, if you talk about all of the valuable benefits of school, such as the talents that are explored and the relationships that are formed, your child will feel the same. When things go wrong for your child, like they don’t get the grades they were hoping for, don’t be too hard on them. Instead, remind them that they can learn from their mistakes and that you a proud of them for trying their best.

Essentially, the idea is to teach your child that life is full of ups and downs but we shouldn’t let them hold us back. Everyone makes mistakes and if they can learn that from a young age, they will be able to overcome obstacles with confidence. Encourage your child to talk about what they’re grateful for on a regular basis, even if it’s something that seems minor, like hugging a relative or having food on the table. The aim here is to help your child see life from a positive standpoint so that they can feel excited about the future.

Remember that your child won’t be optimistic all the time; there will be points in their life when they’re feeling anxious or disappointed. It’s up to you, as a parent, to remind them that they have your full support no matter what and that the way they’re feeling is only temporary.

Michelle
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Ways To Make An Adults Birthday Special

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Disclosure - We received gifts from Moonpig to help us celebrate John's birthday. The idea for this post, thoughts, opinions and photographs are our own.

Moonpig Happy Birthday Balloon

This month we celebrated the last of our four birthdays, the rest of our birthdays were in lockdown with little J's being right at the beginning and mine and big J's a few months ago. We had huge plans to celebrate this year with an 18th, 40th and 10 years married but unfortunately there were no huge celebrations as we were in lockdown. As John's birthday is in July we are usually on holiday however this year is the first year we haven't celebrated it abroad so we wanted to make John's birthday as special as possible. Birthdays are not just for kids, there are lots of ways to make an adult birthday special.

personalised birthday card


Decorate The House
No matter how old you are it's nice to see birthday banners and balloons around the house on your birthday.

Start The Day With Their Favourite Breakfast
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and on your birthday it's even more important. Give the birthday boy or girl their favourite breakfast to help kick off their birthday celebrations.

Personalised Cards
I am a huge fan of personalised and unique cards. You can create a card for the birthday boy or girl with a unique message or you can even upload photographs to make the card more personalised. As we celebrated 3 of our birthdays during lockdown we had to order cards online and I was so happy with how much choice was available on Moonpig we used them again for Johns birthday.



Choose The Perfect Gifts
Find out what your birthday boy or girl likes or enjoys and find the perfect gift for them. It's not about giving the most expensive or biggest gift it's the most thoughtful gift that is usually the most appreciated. We found so many suitable gifts on Moonpig. They have lots to choose from and can be personalised too.

Hunt The Presents
Treasure hunts are not just for the kids, adults love them too. Hide all the birthday presents and give clues to help the birthday boy or girl hunt down their presents. It's also fun for the kids to join in too and help find the presents.

Party Time
Parties come in all sizes. Some people like huge parties with their family and friends whilst others prefer to spend their birthdays at home with just their immediate family. Plan a party to help celebrate their special day whether its a party for 40 or just for 4 it can still be as special as the other.

Plan A Special Day
If a party isn't on the menu then plan a special day just for them. Think about what they enjoy and how you think they would like to spend their day. Maybe a trip to the spa, a round of golf or afternoon tea.

Give Them The Gift Of Time
Spending time with the birthday boy or girl shows you care. Maybe sit down together and watch that movie that they are desperate to see, cook them their favourite meal and enjoy it together or spend time doing something they really enjoy but you wouldn't usually be interested in such as gaming.

There are so many ways to make a birthday special for adults and these are just a few of our favourites.

If you would like to receive a free card from Moonpig all you need to do is download the app, purchase any gift and enter the code APPFREEWGIFT.

John had a lovely birthday at home and even though we were not in Greece as planned he had a very special day.

Michelle
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Teaching Your Child How To Ride A Bike

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boy riding a bike

You may have seen in our earlier post that Little J has learnt to ride his bike during lockdown. During the time teaching him I have noted down the most useful things  I learnt while teaching him. Here are my nine tips to help teach your child
how to ride a bike.

Start As Early As You Can
The younger you start teaching, the better.  We started quite late with little J and he was scared of falling off.  If we had have started earlier then the fear of injury isn't there as much and can help progress quicker.

Be Prepared To Be Patient
You need to set time aside every day to practice, practice and practice some more.  Praise after every try, even if no progress was made that day as this will make the next days practice easier.

Set Small Goals
Make use of safe spaces to start with. We started in the garden, on artificial grass. Although its harder to pedal on than road, Little J felt safer knowing he would land on the soft floor if he fell.

Start With Balance and Basic Control
We started with stabilisers on to get used to getting on and off the bike,  and general control, steering and pedal movement.  Even stabilisers can be hard to balance so make sure you explain this and don't expect too much on the first go!

Continue With Balance
Take the stabilisers off as soon as they have mastered the basics.  Then focus on helping them get the balance of the bike.  No need to use pedals (and maybe take them off - we did this to help Little J) Make sure they can push themselves off and then glide along with feet off the floor as much as possible.

Re - Attach The Pedals
Begin by holding your child, not the handlebars, or the bike. Hold onto then from the side and help them start off. Keep hold of them while they get used to the pedals and combining with balance.  This is the part that took the longest for us, maybe as the space we used wasn't big.  Keep going forward and back, and start to let go of them for seconds at a time so they start to get used to riding alone.

Move outside
We moved to the road outside next.  Here there is much more space, the road is easier to ride on than the grass, and here is where you will make the most progress. Continue to hold on to your child to get them started and then follow the same pattern as before. Stay alongside them, not in front or behind and when you hold on, hold on to the child only.

Let Go
As you repeat this, let go for longer periods of time, encourage turning, be prepared to start running alongside if your child is still scared of falling.

On Their Own
As confidence grows you will be able to stop running alongside and let them go. Well done - they have now learned a skill they will never forget.

I hope this short guide will help you with the challenge fo helping your child learn to ride their bike. Remember to be patient, as not all children will learn at the same pace, and it times you will think they will never get it, but they will and they will be over the moon when they do.

John
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Swinging In To The Half Term Break

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boy on a swing
We've made it through the first half term of 2020. We were definitely ready for a break from work and school, especially little J who has been working hard practising for his end of term assembly and also for his SATS in May.

This weekend we headed to the beach during Storm Dennis which wasn't the best idea however we did get a few hours on the sand and play area before the wind, rain and hail started.

The play area was really modern and there was a roundabout that was suitable for wheelchair users which I have not seen before. There was a large slide although there was a huge puddle at the bottom, a big climbing frame and a few sets of swings. Little J loved the swings. I am usually quite anxious around swings with the fear he may tumble off backwards but the swing reminded me of a plastic car seat which a nice high back. Little J must have felt safe and secure on them as he wanted to be pushed higher and higher and I felt okay watching him and didn't feel like he was going to fly off.

We have quite a few plans for half term and looking forward to lots of fun times outside and also some PJ days in front of the TV.

How are you spending your half term?

Michelle

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Park Life

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Boy climbing a tree
A much needed trip to the park this weekend to get a little bit of fresh air while it was dry. We headed in to the woods where little J tried to climb every tree possible. We love visiting the park and it's so nice to get away from the 'screens' for an afternoon.

Whilst little J was climbing I loved watching him work out how he was going to get where he wanted to go and also how to get back down. He always challenges himself physically and never gives up. I don't have any balance or co-ordination skills so he must get that from his dad. 

Although it was cold we wrapped up warm and kept moving so we didn't feel it as much. 

Boy on scooter
Little J also brought his scooter.

woods
It's lovely watching little J explore the woods with such enthusiasm. I hope he will always want to put on his wellies and wrap up warm and go on an adventure. He walked, he ran, he scooted and climbed. We spotted rabbits, collected sticks, played pooh sticks in the stream and finished off with an ice cream.

A perfect afternoon.

Michelle

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The View From The Shard

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A few months ago we received a Buyagift Smartbox. If you have heard of Buyagift you will know that they offer 100's of experiences throughout the UK. The Smartbox which is perfect for couples had over 500 experiences to choose from but after a lot of thought we decided to use our voucher on our recent visit to London.
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Our Morning At Mattel Play Liverpool

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A few weeks ago we popped along to Mattel Play Liverpool for the first time. I'm not sure who was more excited about visiting, Little J or Me. I had read lots about the new interactive play centre and it was all positive. I was a little unsure about visiting at the weekend as I was worried it would be overcrowded so we headed down to the Albert Dock quite early on a Saturday morning.

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Drumond Park LOGO Prize Bundle Giveaway

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 You all know that I am a big fan of board games. It's a great way to spend time together and have lots of fun. We have a huge collection of games and I am always on the lookout for new ones. You can never have too many. 

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Little J Loses His Favourite Bing Bunny

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Went we went to Cyprus last Summer little J took a handful of toys. His Winnie the Pooh taggy which he has had since he was born, some cars, his doctors kit and his Bing Bunny. Now if you read my blog you will know that Bing Bunny hadn't been with us very long but he instantly became a favourite and became little J's bedtime buddy along with taggy. When little J was helping to pack his suitcase both Bing and taggy were the first things in the Trunki.

boy asleep in his pram
It's hard when you go away because I instantly think 'what if we lose one of his toys?' he would be devastated. Well it happened to us in Cyprus and it was awful. On the Tuesday before we came home little J had been for his lunch and he would always take taggy and Bing. He knew after lunch he would fall asleep so he had to have his two pals with him. On the walk from the restaurant to the pool area he dozed off holding them both and on the way he must have dropped Bing. 

bing bunny
We noticed as we parked up the pram and he was only holding taggy. Being the caring older brother big J dashed out and retraced our steps to find Bing. He was gone. In the brief moments someone must have picked him up. Daddy went to reception and lost and found but no-one had handed him in. We checked every day for the remainder of our holiday but he had been taken.

Little J was so upset when he realised Bing was missing. We felt so sorry for him, it was awful. The first few nights were the hardest he kept shouting 'Bing' in the night. It's was so sad. We actually told little J that Bing was really hot in Cyprus so he had flew home and would be waiting for us when we got back.

When we got home a new Bing was waiting for us. Grandad had picked a new Bing up for us and even though it was past 5am in the morning after a long day and night little J was so excited to see him.

I'm really not sure what happened to Bing but I was shocked that no-one handed him in. If we found anything that didn't belong to us, we wouldn't even think of keeping something that wasn't ours. With it being a teddy you would think that the person would know it belonged to a child. Even if a child picked it up surely the parents would make sure they reported it to lost and found.

Has your little one ever lost their favourite toy? What did you do?

Michelle
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Disney On Ice Silver Anniversary Celebration

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A few months ago we were lucky enough to see Disney On Ice. As soon as the show started we were all mesmerised and I knew then that we would have to see another show soon. I am so excited to reveal that Disney On Ice Silver Anniversary is touring next year and its making a stop in Liverpool.

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