Author: Mum Scottish

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Review: Sports Socks that DON’T Fall Down

Little grippers are the sports socks that don’t fall down.  Thanks to a special material in the top, they stay up – all the time.

Little Grippers 1

I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve watched football matches with my kids and the kids seem to spend as much time pulling their socks up as they do running around.

They have a special elasticated ankle support with micro venting and an elasticated foot support.   The size is on the front of the sock which makes it easy to find a match in the never-ending single sock cycle that ends up with us trying madly to find a whole pair of anything.

Little Grippers 4

The special section at the top which keeps the socks up feels quite rubbery to the touch, yet manages to go on easily enough.

Little Grippers 5

I didn’t think they would have my boys size at first, as the name little grippers sounded like it was just for little children, but the size medium fits a youth shoe size 3-6, while a large fits an adults size 7-11, so they make little grippers to suit everyone.

Little Grippers 2

Little grippers come in White, Black, Navy, Red, and Royal Blue – so they fit almost any football or sports kit going.  They’ve been fabulous for my kids training sessions and I took red and black pairs as they match the kids of the teams my kids play for and are great for training sessions.

There are special orders for Amber and Bottle Green, and hopefully they’ll have more colours in the future.

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Giveaway: Battroborg Battle Arena – Ends 16th January 2014

Colonel Clubber vs Scaldor

Battroborg Arena

Tomy sent us the Battroborg Battle Arena to review and have also offered one as a giveaway.  I tried to persuade two of the kids to open ours and play with it, but they’re adamant that they want to give it to their brother for Christmas from them, so we sneakily took it out of it’s box very carefully to have a quick play before putting it away again for the 25th.

The Battroborgs are a new robot gaming technology.  That means they move by using remote controls and lets the kids control what happens in the ring.  It’s much more exciting than just pretending by using your hands to move the actual robots about.

There are three different game modes which allow for head to head battle, a programme where players can battle a self activated robot, or a tag mode where a robot chases other robots.   Kids can get their friends involved too and play up to 20 robots with the radio controlled technology.

The online preview for the Battroborg is here:

Mum had a wee try and although it took me a while to get used to the nunchaku controllers, it is really really good.  The robots mimic our moves and makes it really feel like we are part of the action.  The boys were undecided whether they really should keep it for Xmas of just set it all up fully to use now, but they were very disciplined and put it away again afterwards.

The Battroborg Arena pack up for the giveaway worth £69.99 consists of:

  •     2 Robots
  •     2 Nunchaku Motion Controllers
  •     Arena with ropes
  •     4 Training Drones
  •     2 Sticker Sheets
  •     2 Face Sheets
  •     Instruction Sheet

 THE GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Rules

  • Open to UK Mainland Entrants only.
  • 1 Winners will win a Battroborg Arena Pack worth £69.99.
  • The prize will be sent to your home address.
  • Winners will be notified within 3 days of giveaway end. If the winner does not respond within 7 days, new winner will be drawn.
  • The winners will be chosen by Rafflecopter random generator.
  • Tomy and the Scottish Mum Blog reserves the right to amend, add or withdraw this giveaway at any time.
  • Each entry method entitles you to one entry into the draw.
  • You may tweet daily. Each tweet counts as a rafflecopter entry, only if you enter it into the rafflecopter widget daily.
  • The prize will be for one person to receive one Battroborg Arena.
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Sponsored: Ten Most Important Family Values To Cherish At Christmas

Although there’s no denying that Christmas and presents are inextricably linked, there’s a lot more to the festive season than the simple giving of gifts.

Family reunions, houses full to bursting and the pressures of putting on a perfect Christmas celebration can become overwhelming, meaning that you need your family around you and working with you more than ever.

Christmas 570

So if you’re drowning under a sea of wrapping paper or panicking about your Christmas card list, here’s a reminder of what’s really important with a list of the ten most important family values to cherish this Christmas time.

1. Patience

When you’re dealing with over excited children and imminently arriving guests, the quality that you’ll appreciate the most in your family is patience. Having them understand that they’ll have to wait a little while for Mum or Dad’s attention will help the day go a lot more smoothly.

2. Tolerance

Like patience, tolerance is one of the most invaluable qualities a family can display on big occasions. This can be especially important when dealing with relatives from different generations whose views and opinions may differ considerably from yours.

3. Generosity

Just like in Sainsbury’s Christmas in a Day film, the spirit of generosity is an integral part of a good Christmas day. Giving thoughtful gifts and even giving up your home for a few hours so that your friends and family can enjoy the festivities are what Christmas is all about.

Just watch the video to see exactly what we mean.

4. Helpfulness

Instilling helpfulness into your kids may not be easy, but if you succeed even a little it can make your life at Christmas, and throughout the year, a lot easier.

So before all of the guests arrive try to explain to your family that a little bit of help with the preparation and the tidying up will be much appreciated.

5. Cleanliness

Though it’s always difficult to keep things clean when you’ve got a house full of people, cleaning as you go will help you to fell more in control and a lot calmer.

To help make your life easier why not invest in some good quality cleaning products now so that you’ve got all of the tools you need when Christmas rolls around.

6. Appreciation

After all of the time and effort that you’ll put in to creating the perfect Christmas, a bit of appreciation will certainly go a long way. Even the smallest thank you will make it feel like all of you hard work has been worthwhile.

7. Table manners

Though table manners aren’t as important as they once were, if you’re going to be at a relative’s house this year, knowing that your brood are properly trained will be a load off of your mind.

If you’re hosting the festive feast, use it as an opportunity to teach your kids about the finer points of getting the table ready.

8. Good manners

Good manners are no less important away from the dining table, especially if you’re visiting long lost relatives. If your kids are lacking in the manners department, now’s the time for a quick refresher course.

9. Flexibility

With so much going on, plans will inevitably change and not everything will work out as it should. Having a family that understands that will make a huge difference to you and to the atmosphere on the day.

10. Fun

Last but by no means least, having a family with a well-developed sense of fun will make your Christmas go with a bang and ensure that everyone has a day to remember on the 25th December.

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How To Cook Turkey Safely at Christmas

Roast Turkey Chestnut Stuffing

 

A family full of retching green faced, doubled over misery is just what we don’t want after a slap up xmas day meal, so here are my tips for cooking turkey.

Turkey is just like poultry isn’t it?  Basing an opinion on that, we know that we need to handle how to cook turkey carefully.

Our single best friend when it comes to using Turkey has got to be our thermometers.  If we add stuffing to the bird, it becomes even more essential.

In the Scottish Mum house, we always use stuffing as it’s sort of a family tradition and we use regular stuffling with sausage meat.  It makes the turkey more dense and does mean it will take longer to cook.

To be perfectly safe, we should be cooking our stuffing separetely, but we just do it how my mother and grandmother before her cooked food.  We don’t use frozen turkeys, but if you do, make sure they are completely defrosted.  It is dangerous to cook a turkey that is still partly frozen.

Roasting

      • Treat turkey like chicken when you are preparing it.   Keep surfaces scrupulously clean and do not use the same utensils for other purposes before a thorough cleaning.
      • A pre-heated oven set at 325 degrees F is our favourite way to go.
      • We baste our turkey with some fat and bacon, encase it in tin foil and put our turkey breast side down to begin cooking.   Foil can add to the cooking time but we like to keep our turkey quite pale until the last half hour of cooking.  A tinfoil covering isn’t necessary, but it can help you choose the end colour of your bird at the table.
      • I’ll say it again, use your thermometer.  About half an hour before the end of cooking time, we remove our turkey, turn it the right way up and leave the foil open at the top to brown it the way we prefer it.  We also take the juices off at this point to make the gravy for our meal.

Internal Temperature When Cooked

The internal temperature of a cooked turkey should be 165 degrees F.   It’s important to make sure the stuffing is also at this temperature.  While the legs or wings, or even the breast at the thickest part of the turkey have have reached 165, the stuffing might not have.  It means a little bit of extra care when you take the temperature of your bird and check the cavity with the stuffing as well as the thickest part of the bird.

If the stuffing doesn’t reach 165 degrees, there may still be bacteria that could be harmful to the eater.  I’d never buy a turkey that has been frozen and contains stuffing.  I know there would be cooking rules, but I’d not feel comfortable unless I know exactly the weight of the turkey without stuffing and the weight with it.

If you have to use stuffing in the bird and not cook it separately, try to follow these guidelines to keep you safe.

Use Quickly

Do not keep stuffing sitting around for days on end.  If you make fresh, use it as soon as you can.  Check the instructions on the pack of ingredients for the manufacturers recommendations.  If you do pre-prepare, store the mix in the fridge.

Stuff The Turkey Very Loosely

Stuffing should be moist and not bone dry.  In Scotland, we’d call the dry stuffing skirlie and it has a completely different texture to the stuffing we use in a turkey.  Don’t pack the cavity tightly with stuffing as it needs room for the heat to permeate and it works better with moist stuffing.  Don’t cook stuffing in a turkey if you plan to fry, grill or microwave it.  It’s a roast turkey deal only.

FOLLOW THE MANUFACTURERS INSTRUCTIONS WHEN COOKING TURKEY

Can I shout this loud enough…..  I’ll presume anyone reading this for guidance has bought their turkey from a retailer.  If someone has the skill, knowledge and availability of killing a turkey to cook, they’re going to know the rules to cook by.

DO NOT REMOVE stuffing from a turkey in the oven until it has reached the 165 degrees F temperature.

Rest, Rest, Rest

We rest our turkey for about 20 minutes, with tin foil covering it before we carve and remove the stuffing.  It adds to and improves the flavour.

Storing After Cooking

Don’t leave more than 2 hours between cooking and putting the leftovers in the fridge.  We use our turkey for up to 2 days after it has been cooked.  There is never any left after that, but if you have excess, you could leave it 3 or 4 days, though I’d not be comfortable personally at the 4 days afterwards.  There is also the option to freeze, but remember, that reheated leftovers also need to be cooked to the 165 degrees to make sure any bacteria are obliterated.

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An Old Fashioned Christmas with Board Games

Writing about my passion for children to not play games like Grand Theft Auto is something that I am likely to repeat over and over. There seems to be less time made for many children in a family capacity these days, but we’ve kept up a game tradition as we’ve taken caravan holidays with our kids which always involves a game around the table in the chilly evenings.

I have great memories of my Christmas mornings before the onslaught of electronic gadgets and I used to look forward to the new game each year.  It would be nice to spend a bit of time as a family to recreate the effect and feeling for more simple things that we do at the moment.

What would you rather do?  Is it a good idea to encourage our laziness in front of the telly after a slump inducing feast while the kids blip, zip and bop with bleep bleep bleeps on their gaming machines or mobile phones?   I know how easy it is to not find the time to spend quality time with our kids and I think we all suffer to some extent from it as our kids grow older.

I have heard my kids utter the “boring” word on occasion when we think about playing games, so we make up our own rules to make things more interesting.   No matter how our board games go, the aftermath of a sore loser pales into insignificance against an interrupted electronic gamer who throws a tantrum at the thought of having to stop playing to do anything else.

I enjoy spending the time with my kids on games.  I suspect more parents would enjoy them if they actually made time to play.   I really do like it when one of mine comes into the family room with a game in hand and chivvying his dad to get up off the couch and play a game with him.  The initial sigh is ear shattering, but after 5 – 10 minutes there is usually some laughing, talking and positive interaction.

We were asked if we’d like to try some new games as part of a return to traditional family life and we have to thank John Lewis for sending us some lovely board games to try out on a games night.  Our games sessions have been over several nights and have seen the kids learn some new things that they’d never played before.

Littlest is a Cluedo expert as he’d played it many times at a club he goes to, but we managed to lose the doggie and spent the first half hour tracking it down.  We did have a go at some semblance of the rules, but we ended up just playing littlests rules which kept him happy, and I suspect a bit of cheating made it in there too.

Cluedo 1

We received the Hasbro Vintage Cluedo The box is lovely and won’t get dog-eared over time like the regular cardboard games.  It’s a lovely game for 2 – 6 players and is modelled on the 1949 version of the game.

Cluedo 2

Spending lots of time playing dominos in the caravan, we missed the set that got lost in transit.  I suspect we left it in the van when we traded it in and I hadn’t got round to replacing the set as it was the set that belonged to my grandfather.  It was nice to revisit some of our old favourites from the van when it’s raining and miserable outside and it does play better with the bigger table in the kitchen.  I don’t know why we’d never played it at home before, but the set just lived in the caravan.

Dominoes

My kids are big fans of The Cube, so a game based on the games has given them hours of entertainment already.  They can manage this alone and just love it.

The Cube 1

Backgammon is a game that I had never played and we’ve had a go at trying to play properly.  I think we need to sit and read the rules better, but we did get the general gist of it.

Backgammon

Playing cards just never go amiss and it makes a change from the usual UNO that we’ve played a lot recently.  My boys have taken an interest in poker recently as the man plays once a week in a local league and although I was keen to keep that out of the scottish mum house, they really do enjoy playing it round the table, so who am I to complain?

Pack of Cards

We’re all having a lovely time with the games and when they do play board games, they’re interacting, talking, laughing, sometimes sulking if they lose, but it’s a great break from the gaming and online world that so many of our kids seem to slip into at very young ages.

Board Games

 

 

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Giveaway: Castle MacLellan Hamper – Ends 13th December 2013

pate4

We’ve been sent some lovely pates to try.  They are unusual, tasty and the kids just seem to enjoy them.  Castle MacLellan is a Scottish company based in Dumfries and Galloway. It has recently undergone a brand refresh to emphasise its strong connections with local suppliers and has updated the website and launched a new range of recipes and new packaging for the pates.

We tried our pates, and I have to admit to my favourite being the Chicken Liver with Scottish Heather Honey.  Two of my boys are working through the Smoked Salmon with Lemon Juice and Horseradish.  We like pate here, so it’s been a popular trial.

Pate3

Castle MacLellan is different from the regular food supplier as it is owned by the Kavli Trust and supports good causes in the UK and abroad.

The Kavli Trust was set up by the Kavli family in 1962 to carry forward the philanthropic work of the founders. The Kavli Trust has donated funds to many worthwhile causes. The Kavli Trust owns the Kavli Group, which provides the funds for its humanitarian work.  Part of the profits from the Kavli group is reinvested in strengthening and developing the groups operations, while the remainder is donated to good causes in research, culture and humanitarian work.

Grants from the trust have been risen substantially in recent years. NOK 25 million (about £2.5 million) was distributed in 2012 for humanitarian, research and culture projects.

The Kavli Trust also helps support research in important social areas which can benefit humanity by helping prevent and combat serious illnesses and damage caused by modern lifestyles.

I think we can all agree that Castle MacLellan and the Kavli Trust are very unusual in what they do with their profits.

I have some fabulous Castle MacLellan Pates that will come in a hamper just for you.

In the giveaway, there will be:

Castle MacLellan Christmas range:

Pate 1

  • Chicken Pâté  with Brandy
  • Duck Pâté with Port
  • Smoked Salmon Terrine

Castle MacLellan core range:

  • Chicken Liver Pâté with Scottish heather honey
  • Oven Roasted Mushroom Pâté  with garlic and thyme
  • Rannoch Smoked Duck Pâté  with Bramley apple jelly
  • Luxury Orkney Crab Terrine with lemon juice and Galloway mustard
  • Scottish Smoked Salmon Pâté with lemon juice and horseradish

The Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Rules

  1. Open to UK Mainland Entrants only.
  2. The prize will be delivered to you and you must give us your address to send it to you.
  3. Winners will be notified within 3 days of giveaway end. If the winner does not respond within 7 days, a new winner will be drawn.
  4. The winner will be chosen by Rafflecopter random generator.
  5. Castle MacLellan reserves the right to amend, add or withdraw this giveaway at any time.
  6. Each entry method entitles you to one entry into the draw.
  7. You may tweet daily.  Each tweet counts as a rafflecopter entry, only if you enter it into the rafflecopter widget daily.
  8. The prize will be for one Castle MacLellan Pate Hamper.
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Where Do You Hide Your Christmas Presents?

Tesco Hudl

Tots 100 are hosting a competition that asks “Where do you hide your Christmas Presents?

“This post is my entry into the Hudl Christmas cheer competition on the Tots100”.

My boys are growing older with each passing year and they have begun the hunt for presents around the house.  I used to keep them in the loft until Xmas eve, but I can no longer do that as they stay awake all night and would hear us taking them down.

Last year, we stored them in our caravan which meant that the boys couldn’t see where our presents were, but it was a bit of a logistical nightmare getting them retrieved from storage and home for xmas day.  This year, with the kids being finished school on the 20th, it means that the presents have to stay in the house as there would be no way I would have alone time when storage is open to get them home.

At the moment, I have some stashed under the stairs and others I have had to make a list in my phone to say what I have stashed where.  Some are in the computer room, with a few others in a box under the gerbils cage.  I had to remove a few from my wardrobe as the kids found those and I went in to see wrapped pressies with ends torn off 🙁  They get more resourceful in their searching year by year.  Two of my boys are getting new phones so they are in the kitchen cupboard inside cereal packets on the highest shelves.  I’m running out of ideas for where to put them, so will watch the entries with interest.

The winner will receive. 

  • £150 blinkbox vouchers
  • £65 Google Play vouchers
  • Philips Bluetooth stereo headphones
  • Hudl micro USB power charger
  • Hudl 2m micro-HDMI to HDMI cable
  • Hudl 7” leather case and stand
  • Samsung smart Blu-Ray/DVD player

Four lucky runners up will win a Samsung smart Blu-Ray/DVD player, a £30 blinkbox voucher and a £25 Google Play voucher.

You can also tweet your entry using the hashtag #hudlxmascheer

Sadly, the Hudl is out of stock at the time of my writing this post, but as I am looking to buy one for a present, I am hoping they come back online very soon.

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Review: Ben 10 Omniverse 2 X-Box Game

My boys really are x-box fanatics.  If they could get away with it, they’d probably spend more time on the x-box than they would doing absolutely anything else at all in their lives.

The Ben 10 Omniverse 2 X-box game is the latest instalment of the franchise that sees Ben and his Omnitrix alien forms battle new galactic threats.   In this version, Azmuth and Omnitrix enter the Incursean’s Intergalactic warship to try and stop Emperor Mileous.

Littlest has had a few plays with the game after being sent a review copy, and it seems to be hiding in amongst the favourite game pile to go back to over the school holidays.

Ben 10 x-box

The general consensus here is that this game is slightly easier than the last one we had.  That’s a welcome finding as they found Alien Destruction quite difficult.  Middler is getting an x-box for his Christmas so this will go perfectly for him to enjoy and potter with while he learns how to use it.

It’s a classic version of kids using Ben’s powers to run around and fight aliens and with some lovely puzzles in the  middle.

I did get slightly confused as our version has a 7 on the front, yet inside it carries a PG and a 12 + rating.   The review copies perhaps go to lots of different countries and perhaps that’s the reason for what looks like several ratings, though the version on Amazon is rated a 12.

photo

The game is fast moving and has kept littlest amused over the last couple of wet, windy and miserable days.  I can see it being used a lot over winter with 3 boys to all work through it.  Would I have bought this.  I suspect the answer is yes for middler who is just entering the world of console gaming at the age of 12.  I’d prefer it to be a little cheaper, but we do get good value with three children to share the games around.

 

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Review: Hotel Chocolat Signature Christmas Collection

Hotel Chocolat sent us a box of their Signature Christmas Collection to try.

The box is gorgeous and my boys eyes were all agog when they saw it.  It’s a classy box with a lovely texture and looks reassuringly expensive.

There are a mixture of white, dark and milk chocolate with a focus mostly on soft centres which was right up my eldest child’s street.

Hotel Chocolat 2

The selection consists of : Rum & Raisin Truffle, White Caramel Praline, Pistachio Praline Crunch, Hacienda Iara Salted Caramel 90%, Hacienda Iara 63% Ganache Milk , Christmas Mess – Dark, Mulled Port, Nutmeg & Almond Praline, Cranberry Cup, Christmas Stars, Caramel Supernova.

Hotel Chocolat 6

 

Hotel Chocolat 4

 

Hotel Chocolat 3

 

Hotel Chocolat 5

 

Hotel Chocolat 1

At £25 a box, for most people this really is a luxurious Christmas present to giveaway but I found myself wishing I liked dark chocolate so I could enjoy more of the ones in the box.  The boys however finished them all off pretty quickly.  I do however, know one very particular chocolate lover who is going to appreciate a box of these on Christmas day.

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Soup Maker: Broccoli, Cauliflower and Carrot Soup Recipe

Looking for quick ways to make soup is easy with a soup maker.  After my review, I’ve decided to keep making different soups to see how they work out.

In the co-op, I found these small bags of washed and prepared broccoli, cauliflower and carrots.   It was really easy to make these into a fast and delicious soup which is perfect for a lunch, starter or even just a light snack.

Cauliflower Broccoli and Carrots

Lesley S Smith

Soup Maker: Broccoli, Cauliflower and Carrot Soup 1.3 Litres

Print Recipe
Prep Time 2 minutes
Cook Time 21 minutes
Total Time 23 minutes
Servings: 4
Course: Soup
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 500 g Carrot Cauliflower and Broccoli
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Stock Cube
  • Hot Water
  • Bay Leaves

Method
 

  1. Put vegetables into the soup maker.
  2. Add salt and pepper to taste & sprinkle on the stock cube.
  3. Fill the soupmaker up to the 1.3 litre level and switch on to the smooth setting.
  4. Serve with a 2 bay leaves for decoration.

 

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Sponsored: Saving Money on Energy Costs with Eon

The one thing that is never far from the minds of most of us in winter is just how much it’s going to cost us in energy to keep our homes nice and toasty.  Last year, we had a spell where our heating broke down and it was a very cold winter that we found quite hard to cope with minus our heating.  We found it difficult to keep tabs on how much energy we were using and as a home that budgets, we find it disconcerting not to know how much our bills will be at the end of the year.

The costs for energy are high in comparison to our month outgoings for other essentials and any help to make those costs more obvious and help reduce those costs is very much welcomed by us.

E.ON has launched a special online tool to help you work out how you could make savings and there is a wealth of energy saving information on their website for customers who manage their account online, to help you see how you use energy and where you could make positive changes.

You can even compare your own figures with those of similar homes to see how you stack up.

The tool helps us to take control of our energy use and help us to understand that reducing energy in our homes need to help us stay warm and comfortable while making a difference to the pennies in our pockets.  It’s about helping us to waste less energy now and in the future and allows us to compare our energy use with similar homes in our own area.

Customers will need to register to be able to use the new tool and from then on, they can take greater responsibility over the energy use in their own homes.

As a family, we had got into a very bad habit of leaving many appliances on standby at bedtime, and even when just going out.  We now know what over 30% of us could leave a dozen or more appliances turned on.  It wasn’t something that we even thought about, we had just got into such a bad habit.

E.ON’s website also features a number of handy tips to help you become more fuel efficient, like not leaving your television on standby quite so often. If you’re an E.ON customer you can also use the comparison tool which allows you to see how your home is performing in relation to those in your area – giving you greater motivation to save energy. You won’t need to be a qualified expert to put these into practice, just a dash of common sense will do!

We used to leave many appliances on standby or by leaving them on charge when they had reached fully charged status:

  • 4 TV’s
  • Sky Box
  • Microwave
  • Inside and Outside Lights
  • Internet Hub
  • 4 Phone Chargers
  • Printer
  • Tablet Computer
  • Oven Clock

34% of us admit we leave up to 15 gadgets and appliances turned on at once.  This was an easy area for us to make changes in. We’ve long replaced lightbulbs with energy saving versions, but with 15 spotlights in one room, there was room for improvement. We’ve learned to go round the house every evening and switch off every appliance at the wall. We do make exceptions for the Internet Hub and for 2 mobile phones, but after seeing just how much our meter was still spinning, we turned everything else off, including the cooker clock.

We have a cat and he uses a cat flap.  I don’t particularly like the idea of my animal having to wait outside in the cold to get in, but I did realise that the old seal was causing the flap to blow open in the wind.  Contacting the supplier meant we could replace the seal on the cat flap and stop it opening with every gust of wind.

Our front door was an energy stripper as it has never seem to stop any drafts from coming through it.  It’s quite difficult to keep a home warm if the cold air is constantly coming in and the heat heading out the door, so we identified that something had to be done. With no time nor budget at the time to replace the door, we simply hung a heavy curtain behind the door which slides open when nobody is at home.  We remove it in the warmer months and as the colour blends in with our decor, few people ever even notice that it’s there.  Blocking the draughty door also allows us to keep our heating a degree or two lower to keep the house warm.  That’s a win win situation all round.

Thinking smart about our energy at home could reap rewards for us all.

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Why Kids Should Get Down and Dirty

“I’m going round to Jacks to play tonight,” my eldest enthuses before school.  I listen and then tell him I’ll still pick him up at the usual time after school and if he is still going over to play, I’ll drop him off.

“We’re not allowed to play anymore,” comes the sad face when I picked him up from school.

“Why, what’s happened?”

“Well, you know mum, he’s grounded and has to do chores.”

“Aww, that’s a shame, what happened?”

While secretly glad I didn’t just assume he would be going off to play at Jacks and went to make sure, I was a little gobsmacked and slightly shocked at the response.

“He got pushed over on the hill at school, and his clothes are muddy so he’s got to do chores for going home dirty.”

Whether that is true or not is neither here nor there, but the child believes he’s being punished for coming home mucky.

Muddy Kids

I really can’t understand the mentality of any parent who grudges their kids a little muck here and there.  Ok, it might be a bit boring and cumbersome to have to wash clothes and yes, it might be a bit annoying if you were heading out and about, but this isn’t the first time I’ve heard of kids being punished for coming home with some dirt on them.

Before someone says it, I can understand where someone is so skint that the price of hot water is a challenge, but come on, for most of us, it isn’t really an issue.

For the kids I am talking about, they are mostly middle class comfortably off families with often several holidays a year and gourmet fast food outlets on speed dial, so it’s not as if they can’t afford a cycle in the washing machine or they have to slave over a sink with a washing board and a bar of soap.

I don’t understand the “must be clean at all costs” school of parenting and I suspect I never will.

Kids should be allowed to get dirty, mucky, muddy and downright filthy with black gunge under fingernails.  Those are memories they’ll remember and a quick soak in a tub washes it all away.

Why are so many parents against their kids getting mucky if paying for electricity and hot water to wash the clothes isn’t a problem?

Don’t they understand that for most kids, getting mucky means they have usually had fun?

I guess I’ll never understand it.