Things to do before you’re 11 and 3 quarters…..

When I was 11 and three quarters, I was well adversed in climbing trees and outdoorsy type activities, and could often be found swinging upside down from one.

Which is why it’s such a shame that children nowadays just don’t seem to get the opportunity like we did and there is the need to bring out lists of 50 Things you Need to Do by the time you’re 11 and 3 quarters,” which is what the National Trust have brought out in the past couple of weeks.

I was lucky though, in the fact that I was brought up in a village and countryside surrounding (even though if you’d have asked me back then I’d have told you it was crap and boring and I’d rather watch paint dry than live there.)

By the age of 11 and 3 quarters I regularly:

- climbed trees

- built a den in the farmers fields

- went on cycle rides round the village and tractor fields

- made daisy chains

- and played conkers.

- I also used to regularly go blackberry picking , which is another thing on the list.

We had our own Enid Blyton Secret Seven type club that needed a password to get into the shed – if you didn’t know the password then you weren’t allowed in…..

We live in a big town now, and there’s not as much chance of doing this type of thing now. My two are lucky in the fact that all their relatives still live in the countryside and villages, so they’ve ticked off things on the list there.

Tree climbing? Yes, the 9 year old has done that on Grandma’s farm when he’s shimmied up to the top of one of the trees there.

Fishing? Not yet. Although with Grandad being a keen fisherman if I bribe them to stay quiet long enough (you have to be QUIET, when fishing something my two know nothing about ) then he might take them one day. Albeit separately  as they’re little so and so’s together.)

Hill rolling? Yes, they’ve been to the top of a very large hill and rolled to the bottom to the tune of “3, 2, 1, GO!”

Now, what else can we tick off the list, and how many have your little one’s done?!

Let me know in the comments box…

50 things to do before you’re 11 and 3 quarters list

making wine charms this afternoon…

As I’m not exactly a crafty person, it’s rare I make nice, sparkly pretty things.

Or indeed, anything at all really, glitzy or otherwise.

Last time I tried to make something I was 14 years old and made a wooden box in CDT lesson (that’s craft, design and technology to normal people) and I was dead chuffed with it.

Until the sides all fell off when I picked it up.

Doh.

So I’m proud to find out I haven’t missed out on some important gene that you’re supposed to have before you can make anything pretty.

I might have dropped a couple of beads on the floor at some point, but I have actually managed to make some lovely wine charms this afternoon.

If you’re anything like me, the minute you put your wine glass down when in company, you promptly forget which glass is yours and start slurping from your neighbour’s wine glass.

Well, I’m not going to be doing that any more as I’ve got ‘bling’ wine glasses now to differentiate between glasses.

I’m going to make lots more, it was great fun… so what do you think?!

 

set of all three

 

heart charm

 

flower charm

pineapple charm

 

What is a good time for your children to go to bed?!

If you asked my 9 year old what time he should go to bed, his answer would probably be somewhere around 9pm.

When in reality, if he does stay up until that time, he’s a living nightmare the next day – argumentative, over silly, hyperactive coupled with mood swings.

Oh, it’s fun and games.

So as he’s had a few late nights (that’s 8pm!) we’ve had one of THOSE days today.

He’s gone to bed at 7pm tonight, much to his disgust but if it means he wakes up in a better mood tomorrow and functions better then I don’t mind.

A week of 7 o’ clock bedtimes and let’s see if his mood improves.

What time do your kids of a similar age go to bed?

If they stay up late, do they do a good impression of a bear with a sore head the next morning?!

I’ve told him he can stay up later more when he can cope with them better!

Here’s hoping tomorrow sees peace, calm and serenity…. she wishes

Life’s A Journey… nostalgia link up and staying in hospital as a child

This week’s theme on the weekly Nostalgia Link up at the Save Every Step website is old memories of staying in hospital as a child.

As someone who spent quite a lot of time in and out of hospital growing up (nothing exciting, ‘just’ eczema) I’ve got quite a few old memories swilling about to record for posterity.

- The joy of the ‘elimination diet.’ Basically being allowed to eat fruit, vegetables, plain crisps (?!) erm, and that’s about your lot. That was fun. (Not.)

-wet wrap bandages which basically made you look like something that’s escaped from one of the Egyptian tombs.

There’s some more interesting memories though.

In Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool,  being half dragged out of a Maths class (yes, they had a little school classroom so you didn’t miss out on your schoolwork) by an overly giddy nurse and careering us down the corridor.

The reason? Shakin’ Steven’s was here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgoDYK3IlGg

I didn’t have a clue who the bloke in the long grey swishy coat was, surrounded by squealing people thrusting paper at him to sign.

I just knew I wasn’t half glad to get out of that Maths lesson as I hated long division!

I’d be doing a jig now as a lover of all things cheesy and 80′s.

Or there’s the time Ken Dodd came round to tickle us all with a tickling stick and make us laugh,and a little baby in his pram he pulled faces at burst into tears.

I think I would too if he’d have stuck his head in my pram…

Or there was playing Space Invaders on those big arcade type games in another hospital when I was about 5. I used to love that, and got to huge levels on it. You can’t beat the good old fashioned computer games.

The metal hostess dinner trolleys that used to get wheeled onto the ward at mealtimes, and the breakfasts which, regardless of how many times you told them sugar on cereal was RANK, they still (Every. Flaming. Time) threw what seemed like half a bag of sugar over your cornflakes or rice crispies.

Bleuch.

Then, when a bit older and in my teens, had friends come over to visit sometimes.

Riding up and down in the lifts stopping at random floors just for the fun of it.

Seeing how fast you could run up and down the stairs.

Having about seven people try and squish on the end of your bed without falling off onto their bum.

Oh, those were the days, and I’ve enjoyed reminiscing. Which seems a bit of a strange thing to say when it’s supposed to be about hospital stays…..

Do you remember any hospital stays? If so, link up to the Nostalgia linky

101 things to do in England – here’s what I’d have added to the list…

It’s St George’s Day today here in the UK, and to celebrate, the Visit England website have compiled a list of 101 things to do In England before you go abroad.

It’s no great surprise to me that Yorkshire features heavily on the list, with several attractions making the grade for places worth visiting.

Although I have to say afternoon tea at Betty’s in York on the list is still one thing I have to do, as I’ve always been far too impatient to queue!

There’s some glaring omissions in the list, though – where’s Whitby for starters?!

Never mind fish and chips anywhere else, The Magpie Cafe in Whitby is the place to go for gorgeous fish and chips.

There’s Filey down the road for an old fashioned, tranquil coastline, or Scarborough if you want something a bit more lively.

What would you have put on the list of things to do in England? Which of the things on the original list have you done?!

Let me know in the comments box below……

Things To Do In England List

 

Disclaimer – I don’t do sponsored posts, so any links in this post I have added is not for any financial gain, I’ve just added them as I personally think they’re ace and deserve a mention.

 

 

 

Primary school memories v primary school….. homework?!

I remember a lot of things from primary school, but the one thing I don’t seem to remember is the sheer volume of homework that the 9 year old is bringing home lately.

Why would that be? It might have something to do with the fact that we didn’t actually HAVE any homework in primary school.

That particular pleasure (ahem) was saved up for secondary school in which we got daily homework.

Now I don’t usually moan about homework, I think it’s good they get some as it gets them prepared for high school.

The Easter holidays (that’s two weeks) has seen him bring four maths exam papers home to do over the holidays, and several sheets of A4 of various sums.

You what?!

The poor little sod’s been slaving away most of the holidays, but it has all duly been handed in.

To be given another two exam papers to hand in for next week.

Sheesh. These SAT’s exams they have nowadays in the last year of primary school have a lot to answer for.

I’m sure he’ll have some memories of fun times at school tucked up in his head somewhere as well, though.

My memories of primary school go something like this:

- Having outdoor toilets.

Oh, they were fun to dash across the playground to on a frosty day. Brrr. (Don’t even MENTION that horrible shiny tracing paper type bog roll they used to make us use. Shudder.)

Although we did have fun trying to climb over the doors and dangling upside down from them…

They’re pampered, nowadays though. They have indoor toilets. (Don’t know they’re born.) I remember them being built in the last year or so I was there. We had a lesson where we had to do a time capsule pod thing and then put the time capsule down into the foundations.

So deep under the swanky pants toilets floor, there’ll be a little box full of letters.

One saying something like  “Hello, my name’s Wendy and I love Kylie, Jason and reading books.”

That’ll flummox all those space age type people in a few thousand years time, wondering what or who the heck a Kylie and a Jason is.

- A mad as a box of frogs headteacher

No, she was lovely really. Although when someone did well or whatever and they had to stand up in assembly to be praised, she used to pat us on the head and sing a song about us all eating our shredded wheat or something that morning to make us strong.

*Sings* “Shredded wheat, shredded wheat, pat them on the head….” patting us on the head all the time.

If I remember correctly (I’m old now, it was a long time ago) we used to get the birthday ‘bumps’ too. Can you imagine that nowadays? The teacher’s would be too scared to allow that in case someone sued for their arm falling off or being wrenched out of place.

 - school dinners

Oh, that chocolate crunch school dinner dessert thing with some green chocolate minty sauce stuff over the top. Yummmm.

I think it was sometimes pink as well with a strawberry taste.

Whatever happened to that stuff?!

Naughtiness

setting off the school bell as a dare (well, they would leave it in a daft tempting place such as the corridor wall.) Then having to spend the morning in disgrace outside the head’s office. Oopsie.

(Mother, if you’re reading this, I was good at primary school really… honest… )

So let’s hope the two small people of the household now have more good memories than homework memories.

Maybe not so much of the setting the school bell off type though…. I’ll be having words if so.

Why on earth would you buy Twitter followers?!

I’m usually the first person to rave about how great Twitter is, but when it comes to what I’ve seen today I’m floundering a little bit.

It still has its great points, but it has a flaw.

The fact you can actually BUY followers.

Seriously, if you’re a business, or just wanting to get noticed on Twitter, then what is the actual point of buying followers?!

Surely, if you’re wanting to grow your business, and promote your goods/tweets/whatever, you want to do it by making yourself available to like minded people, who are interested in what you have to say, what you are promoting, and people who are likely to buy off you, or follow what you are saying.

Not a million dormant or spam accounts that artificially inflate your status. As they’re not likely to give a flying monkey about what you’re writing about are they?!

You’re not going to get any new business. You’re not going to get any new customers.

You’re not even going to get any interaction to your little tweets getting sent out into the Twitterverse.

You’ll just be talking to yourself in cyberspace.

Which surely defeats the whole point of SOCIAL media.  You want to bring new business your way? You want to pull in more customers?

TALK to people. Interact. By following like minded people you’re likely to get like minded people interested in what you’re saying.

Interested in what you have to offer, what you’re promoting.

You’re not going to find that by buying followers or doing those inane ‘ team I’ll follow you’ hashtags….