Silent Sunday – 28 July 2013
Author: Mum Scottish
Help For Holiday Hair Horrors
collaborative post
I have thick and wavy hair, even though I straighten it to within an inch of its life daily, and sometimes several times daily.
I’ve often been tempted to have a try at the hair extensions the young kids use nowadays, and my boys elder sister does a great job of creating fabulous hairstyles from her clip in extensions.
They look so real that I had no idea that it wasn’t her own hair until I saw her one afternoon without them and asked if she’d had her hair cut.
Going on holiday is always the time when my hair just goes all to pot. It starts to frizz in the heat and if its humid, it slowly starts to wave and cul outwards which I hate with a passion.
That’s even before I even start with the chlorine in the pool or the hot sun.
I was thinking about how I was going to control my hair this year abroad when I was contacted by Hair accessories from Pauls Hair World with a sponsored opportunity for a blog post which suited me just fine.
I’d wondered a few times where the boys sister had got her hair extensions from and these look very similar.
It was too late for me to get any for my holiday, but I’d certainly give gorgeous hair pieces a go for the next wedding or big event that I’m invited to (and can attend).
There are some things that I do on holiday to keep my hair from frizzing up too much, and I’ve learned these over time.
1 – Coconut Oil
On one of my earliest holidays, I remember using a certain spray stuff that bleached our hair while we sat in the sun. That was fine until the 4th or 5th day when my hair started to feel like chewing gum when it was wet and an old greek woman told me to use coconut oil on my hair every night and sleep with it on. It worked to keep my hair reasonable until the damaged lengths were cut off and I still use coconut oil regularly on my hair when the sun has been on it.
2 – Heat Protection Spray
I use straighteners – a LOT. Sometimes twice a day if I am going out in the evening or my hair has been frizzed by humidity or sea haar / mist up our way in Scotland. Pauls Hair World recommends letting our hair dry naturally and then using curling tongs or straighteners afterwards. I know that would be the ideal thing to do, but it just takes sooo long for thick hair to dry that I usually give up trying and blast away with the dryer. I do often use a heat protection spray to help stop the split ends from over processing and I seem to have hit a good balance with that now.
3 – Conditioner
If I’m going swimming regularly abroad, I often just smear some conditioner or cream that can be left in to give it that little bit of protection while the sun is on it.
4 – Go Natural
When it’s just too hot to process, I have no option but to go au naturel. My hair is very thick so it takes a fairly long time to blow dry and straighten. When I am somewhere really humid, I just take some mousse with me so that I can leave it to dry on it’s own. Naturally, my hair dries quite wavy and a little fly away frizzy, so the mouse allows it to have some weight and stop the fly away frizz. I do prefer my hair straight when it’s blonde but find it easier to live with wavy when it’s darker. I have no idea why.
5 – A Good Brush
Good brushes are great for smoother hair. When you look for a hair styling brush, try and find one that suits you and your lifestyle. Brushes are not only good for detangling but can also help with the condition, shape, style and shine for crowning glory. With the right brush, you can create curls, smooth and straighten, and also end up with romantic waves.
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This post was sponsored. I will not benefit if you click the links contained within, but they will take you to a sponsors website.
Sponsored: Sleeping Comfortably
Sleeping is one thing that my boys really struggle with. For middler, I have no idea whether it is because of his special needs or whether he is just a light sleeper who really doesn’t need to sleep much at all. I like my sleep, although I never seen to quite get enough of it, but I have learned that for us, sprung bed bases just don’t last long enough to have to replace constantly as he is far too hard on his bed (often by jumping on it).
I know for my own bed, I had one that was really uncomfortable for a long time and sagged badly in the middle. I’d have to get up several times in the night and heading back into bed either had the little one settled into the dip for me to roll into him, or I felt the springs through the mattress.
It was one of those things that really stopped me getting the little sleep that I should have had, but I just never seemed to be able to justify the extra cost to buy a new mattress for our bed. We have one of those beds that sits on a frame and only needs a mattress on top, so the mattress needs to be a good one with decent springs for my comfort.
I hummed and heyed for a while, and when my blog had enough money left in the account I use for it, I decided it was time for a new mattress. I tried several different ones until I settled for one of the Silentnight Mattresses. I didn’t know about www.tjhughes.co.uk at the time, or I could have saved myself a fortune, but I’ll know for the future.
I have to say that I am happy with my back at the moment and I’m not sure I would change brand for me from now on, and just replacing the future mattresses for my boys will be a much cheaper option than it used to be. The man is pretty nifty with a drill and a saw, so any slats that get “accidentally” broken are easily and cheaply replaced.
For me, that’s a sensible way to go.
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This post was sponsored by TJ Hughes. It has not been influenced in any way by TJ Hughes. I will not benefit if you click the links contained within, but they will take you to a sponsors website.
Guest Post: Is your child’s digital knowledge streets ahead?
This is a guest post by Alexandra from Know The Net, an organisation that provides information, tips and advice on how to stay safe online.
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Having grown up in a world in which computers are all pervasive, it is little wonder that children often know more about using technology than their parents. To many, it would seem as though kids just “know” how to surf the net, play a games console, operate a mobile phone, and interact with technology in general.
When faced with an apparent digital divide between the generations, it becomes difficult to gauge just how far ahead your offspring are. Nominet recently completed some research to try and define and quantify the difference, by questioning parents and teenagers regarding common internet phrases and how well both parties understood them.
A musical muddle
For the most part, the research suggests that parents are relatively well informed when it comes to the proper use of computers. “Mature” internet concepts, such as downloading songs from iTunes or streaming tracks from Spotify, were generally understood by adults, and therefore viewed as being harmless. The good news is that accessing media through these mediums is perfectly safe.
However, less legitimate activities, such as torrenting songs and videos, were much less understood. According to Nominet’s research, 42% of parents questioned had no idea what torrenting is, nor whether they should be concerned. Just 23% of respondents thought torrenting was an issue. In case you don’t know yourself, torrenting almost always involves downloading copyright-protected content illegally from other Internet users – so, as a parent, you should be worried about the prospect of your children doing this.
Social networking nightmares
With 1 billion users worldwide, there is a high probability that parents and children alike have their own accounts on the social network Facebook. However, different generations often use the network in completely different ways.
Take the concept of “fraping”, for instance. Nearly half of parents (49%) had no idea that updating another person’s Facebook status without their knowledge even had a proper name. However, 58% believed that engaging in such activities would almost certainly get their kids in trouble.
Many of the problems parents face are actually based around language and abbreviations, rather than technical challenges. Netspeak words, such as LMIRL (let’s meet in real life), YOLO (you only live once) and ASL (age, sex, location), were poorly understood by adults.
A common problem
Although the Nominet poll seems to confirm that there is a definite generation gap when it comes to using and understanding technology, parents can take some comfort from the knowledge that they are not alone. In every region of the UK, parents showed similar levels of ignorance when it came to the darker side of the internet.
Parents should also know that even if their kids are streets ahead, the gap in knowledge can be closed. For example, you can often quickly pick up new words and their meaning simply by showing an interest in what your children are doing. Resources such as Knowthenet also provide beginner guides, which cover many topics such as jargon, social networking, and common online scams and pitfalls for children.
Staying aware
A 2010 survey by Nielsen found that 75% of parents add their children as friends on Facebook in order to try and understand what they getting up to. In 41% of households, having a parent as a friend is a prerequisite of being allowed to use the network. Despite teenagers often being less than happy about this arrangement, many experts agree that parents do need to keep an eye on what is happening online.
For parents concerned that the hands-off approach is not working as well as hoped, parental control systems can offer an automated way to keep kids safe online. This could involve blocking ‘adult’ material, preventing torrent apps from being installed or running, and restricting the hours that the computer can be used. Parental control software is particularly useful for keeping pre-teens protected online, and helps create an audit trail of how they have used the computer, so you can ensure all is above aboard.
To further narrow the knowledge gap between you and your children, you might also consider trying to think like them, particularly with regards to circumventing house rules and parental control. A quick Google search for “parental control bypass” throws up hundreds of pages and articles dedicated to getting around rules designed to protect kids. If you can understand for yourself how kids try and bend the rules, you can also prepare for the hard conversations if they do.
Ultimately, your child may well be streets ahead when it comes to digital knowledge, but there is no reason why you cannot at least start to catch them up. The Internet has thousands of free guides available, designed to help you get the best from technology. You could even learn with your kids, having them teach you, making the process more of a family affair and helping you gain greater insights into their abilities.
The “Packed Lunch” Debate. Pro-Choice.
I saw and read some of the comments and opinions on packed lunches, and those who are both for and against. I have to say that there is a world of difference between the quality and content of packed lunches from school to school and I’ve heard of really good ones and some really awful ones.
With the price of a dinner ticket increasing to £2.20 per child a day, it’s not an option every parent can afford. A friend of mine has 6 children and the costs for her for packed lunches every day would be £66 a week, or £264 a month. Not everyone can afford to pay that out every month when they could fill a lunch box with food from the fridge every day with a little planning.
I am lucky enough that if I wanted to, I could send my kids for a school dinner every day, but the big point is that they don’t always want a school dinner. Some school dinners are ok and they are happy to eat them, but others they find awful, without taste, and complain about how disgusting they are.
I imagine it’s a bit like an NHS hospital versus a Private one, or actually, even in Aberdeen, the quality of food in the main hospital always seems to be lacking in comparison to the food at an offshoot site.
I know my kids sometimes ask for a packed lunch at Primary and sometimes ask for a school lunch. It’s very dependent on what is on offer and what they think of how it’s cooked.
- My kids love fish, but won’t eat the Primary school version which they complain has hardly any fish in it and looks like a sliver of grey backed dingy stuff. I’ve not seen it so I can’t comment personally.
- The puddings are “fine,” says my youngest.
- Working with some children at the school, they said that most of their friends take packed lunches as the school ones are often disgusting.
If a school banned packed lunches, I think they will have overstepped the mark into parenting and choice of food for their children.
Yes, I agree that some parents might put things into school lunches that others don’t agree with, but in a few short years, they’ll head to secondary school and then just eat chips from the nearest bakery or junk food store anyway.
I don’t see the point in meeting nutritional guidelines for food that is served up if the food is poor quality and kids don’t want to eat it. I really would grudge spending £2.20 a day for my child to eat a piece of bread and a pudding as there wasn’t anything else they wanted on that day.
I’m against school lunches being mandatory and I am for pro-parental choice.
I have no problem with guidelines and help for parents to make better packed lunch choices than some people make, but if I had a child who would only eat rice krispies and simply put their school lunch in the bin, I’d rather they ate rice krispies from a packed lunch than ate nothing at all. Most parents can make up the difference with an evening meal and headteachers being given the option of helicoptering the parents decisions is just plain wrong.
We don’t live in a nanny state that takes decisions away from the parents in other aspects of school life, so why for food? Why is food important to tackle, but behaviour left to the parents to cope with? I know which one I’d rather the school took responsibility for. Blaming all poor behaviour on diet is just plain wrong.
If our local school made school lunches mandatory, I’d move my kids to one where it wasn’t. I have children who don’t wait in line well, and there are some days that my child just knows he can’t cope with losing 10 minutes of his lunch break standing queuing for his dinner, as it takes too much time away from getting outside and running around for exercise.
Mars Bar Chocolate Crispies Recipe
We made these for our local school fundraiser. Kids take in things we’ve made and they sell them to each other to reduce the price of a big trip away with their year group. I did worry at first about how these would turn out and they did end up chewy and more for a child’s taste buds than mine, but none came home again which must tell it’s own tale.
We used larger quantites as they were for selling, but I’ve cut them down for this post. We decorated with smarties, but you could use any sweeties, or equally not add any in at all.
Mars Bar Chocolate Crispies
Ingredients
Method
- Melt the chocolate in the microwave or over a bain marie (bowl laid on top of a pan of simmering water). If you're using a microwave, do it in short bursts or depending on the chocolate you use, it could separate or burn.
- Add the butter and stir it into the chocolate until it is melted. Then add the golden syrup.
- Add the rice krispies and stir them on gently enough so as not to damage or break the krispies.
- Fold in the tiny pieces of mars bar. They will semi melt into the mix as it will still be hot at this stage.
- Pour into 20 cake cases and top with sweeties to decorate, leave to cool and then just eat.
Silent Sunday – 14 July 2013
Cake In A Cup Recipe, with Flaked Almonds
I’m not really a cake hand though my kids and the man love their cakes. I’d rather have a bar of Dairy Milk personally, or maybe a Green & Blacks if I feel flush.
Finding simple and easy ways to give the kids a cake led me to trying a cake in a cup a while back. I couldn’t say I liked it, but the kids did and that’s all that matters.
Ingredients
Method
- Crack the egg and put it into the bottom of your cup.
- Add in the sugar, softened butter and flour.
- Mix it all together with a fork until it gets to the consistency you expect for cake mix.
- Fold in the flaked almonds.
- Microwave for 2 + minutes (until the centre is fully cooked - a skewer is good to test the centre)
- Top with icing and sprinkles of your choice.
Swimming Lesson Torture
If there’s one thing that has driven me mad over the last few years, it’s been the constant competition for places on the council run swimming lessons. You sign up, are allocated a pool which might be a fair distance away at inconvenient times, and then take little cherubs there for years on end while they learn to swim the prescribed way. My neighbours experience filled me with dread. After 2 years of lessons her boys still couldn’t swim and she hired a private tutor.
Standard step by step lessons doesn’t take into account the differences in children and how they learn.
I saved myself the weekly race to the allocated swimming pool and booked us into a private club for swimming lessons at a time that suited us. We got disability living allowance for middler and reasoned that it was worth trying to get them to swim properly so that if they fell in a river, they’d at least have a fighting chance of getting back out again.
I sat regularly fuming while the parents from previous lessons took up 5 – 10 minutes of our lesson chatting about their little precious darlings, completely oblivious to the rest of us whose minutes they were nicking. At £30 for 5 lessons at the time and only lasting 30 minutes, those 10 minutes was taking up £2 each and I had 3 kids in the lessons, so about £6 a day. I did complain but got nowhere, so eventually gave up with it. In total, my kids had a small fortune worth of lessons and not one of them could keep their heads up above water.
I resigned myself to trying to get them to swim myself and persuaded my water averse mother to come into the water with me and take one child while I tried to work with the other two. I did have to splash out on some swimming caps from Zoggs for her as she wouldn’t go in the water and risk getting her hair wet. That’s another thing – You see so many alpha women who parade the poolside and daintily coast up and down the lanes, yet never get their hair wet. Those women are a mystery to me.
“I nearly died,” the 7-year-old dramatically exclaimed when a little water went up his nose.
“My eyes sting.” chimed in another.
So off I popped to get some eye goggles and lastly some swimming ear plugs and a nose clip each for them.
Happy that we could all safely go in the water, we spent the next year unsuccessfully trying to get them to swim. Two of the boys managed to learn to swim pretty well underwater without taking a breath, but neither of them could master the knack of getting their heads up to take in some air.
On a wee holiday to the campsite in Huntly, Scotland, I decided to book them into the local swimming pool for summer lessons. It was the best thing I could have done. Rather than make the kids do it all one way, they looked at the individual children and took on board that I don’t care if they can swim properly. I have no ambition for them to be little Tom Daly’s or Hannah Mileys, all I want is for them to be able to tread water and lift their heads for a breath.
After a few lessons at Huntly, we had the beginnings of breathing. I also breathed with relief.
Going swimming isn’t such a chore now as I’m not trying to keep my eye on three kids who can swim underwater and think they’re invincible.
2 down, 1 to go….
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This post was sponsored by Zoggs. It is a story from my life and has not been influenced in any way by Zoggs. I will not benefit if you click the links, but they will take you to a sponsors website.
Gifts For Teachers – Do or Don’t?
I’ve missed the Scottish school holiday time, but there’s always those of you in England who will be looking for some gift ideas for your teachers. I think there are probably a lot of things that we can and can’t give to teachers to just say a little thanks for all they’ve done all year for our kiddies.
I’m not the best one at remembering to buy a gift for a teacher, but there seems to be a huge competition in some places over who can give the biggest, best, or most expensive gift. We’ve even had requests on occasion for a £5 per child to go to a gift and in principle I don’t have a problem with that, but I do have a problem with the kids who’s parents can’t or won’t add to the kitty being left off the card and the gifts being sent.
When I have contributed to these things in the past, I believed it was for the teacher, not as some kind of mythical brownie point for parents who do contribute, so I pulled out of them a few years ago. I asked a couple of times for the card to be from all the children, and not just those of us who’d contributed and met a deafeningly silent stony wall. From that point I just gave up with it.
I think collections do have their place, but only if all the children are treated equally. I have the kind of children who really struggle to get on with their teachers, so buying them a gift seems terribly uncool to them, but I have bought little trinkets in the past for them to hand over. Whether they are appreciated or not I have no idea, but it means more to my kids to choose something little.
I got to thinking about teachers gifts due to a couple of things in the post which although weren’t really intended as gifts, they’ve ended up being little gems I can squirrel away for Christmas time.
Sally from mrsmuggs.com asked if I’d like to receive a personalised mug. I didn’t know what I was getting, and she sent out a lovely one from her teachers gifts range. I actually would probably not buy a teachers mug, but I am very tempted to buy some of the ones from the other ranges.
Personalised ones stand out for me, and getting one with my twitter name sounds like something I would like a fair bit (xmas pressies if anyone from my family is reading today.)
I wasn’t expecting a box from Border Biscuits, but as I’ve done some review work for them before, they must have decided to send me a box of their new shortbreads to try. We got strawberry, glace cherry and cranberry & orange. I’ve only tried the glace cherry so far but I’m sure the kids will devour some quickly enough.
If I’d had these biscuits a few weeks ago, I suspect I’d have wrapped up a packet or two to give to teachers from middler as he seems to get on with his teachers better than my other two.
It’s quite a hard call to make. What on earth do we give to teachers really though? They can’t take money, and we’re not allowed to take in home baking up here, so there really is only little trinkets or things that the kids have made themselves.
I know that few parents would agree to crediting all children when only some of their parents contributed to a communal gift, so if we’re not money or kudos driven, what else can we give?
I’m not into expensive gifts so it has to be little things that just show some appreciation and nothing more. I’ve heard of parents spending £20 on a present which I think is ridiculous, so for me, it’s all about the thought and not the price.
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Our mug and shortcake biscuits were given free of charge. I was not obliged to write about them, and all opinions are my own. Mclaggan Smith Mugs is a Scottish based, family run company established in 1974. All mugs are manufactured to a high quality and are screen printed and fired in Scotland. Contact Sally Simmers at Mclaggan Smith Mugs on sally@msmugs.com or T: 01389 755 655
Cinder Toffee, Smothered in Chocolate
Cinder toffee is similar to the Crunchie bar we have in the UK, but also quite different in texture. It’s quite messy to make and you really have to be quick with it or it solidifies so quickly that you can’t get it out of the pan. Be prepared to work quickly.
There is a lot of science involved in cinder toffee, or honeycomb toffee as it is also sometimes known. Sugar can be the ultimate comfort food with zero calories that are good for us, but still we enjoy eating it while our teeth suffer with the potential for future cavities.
Making cinder toffee is a little like the experiments we did at school, or the ones we buy our kids to show the volcano erupting when bicarbonate of soda is added to the mix. This is made using high heat, so it’s not good for children to make it, but they can have lots of fun watching it being made.
I adapted this from a Nigella recipe that I found online, but added a little butter to make it slightly easier to work with.
Nigella calls it hokey pokey, but I guess we can all call it what we like. There are hundreds of variations of the same recipe for cinder toffee, honeycomb and fizz in the mouth candy.
We know it more as the type of sweet that is like a Cadbury Crunchie.
It’s easy to make, though you might find some trouble in cleaning your pan afterwards, but soaking in water and washing up liquid should help with that. Make sure you grease the cooking pan for your cinder toffee very very well, or it will stick like glue and you might need to cut it out.
Have your bicarb out and ready to be used. There’s no time for weighing once your hot sugary mess is ready to use.
Ingredients
Method
- Weigh out your bicarb of soda and keep it separate. Make sure your tray is greased before you start to cook. Use a fairly large pan as when the mixture swells up, you could be surprised just how far it comes up the side of your pan.
- Put butter, caster sugar and syrup into a very thick bottomed pan and heat it gently until the sugar dissolves completely. Turn up the heat at this point and boil it without stirring for a quick boil so that the mix goes darker while it simmers and just for a few minutes. Don't let the mixture go too dark or it will begin to burn. Don't take your eyes off the pan, or let children come near it as it is boiling sugar and sugar hurts if it comes into contact with any living thing.
- Now for the science bit. Take it off the heat, put the bicarbonate of soda in and quickly but calmly stir the mixture. Don't be too vigorous or you might end up with a few sugar burns, and those hurt, believe me. The mix will swell up as the chemical reaction takes place. At this point, you'll be glad you didn't use a small pan. Keep children at a safe distance.
- Pour the mixture into your pre-greased tin and leave it to set for a few hours. Depending on the size of tin you use, your cinder toffee could be ready to eat in minutes. If the layer in your tin is thick, it will take a fair while to cool.
- Once it's cool, melt your chocolate in a microwave or double pan method (or just put a heat proof plate on the top of simmering water in a pan, and put the chocolate in the plate). Dip your cut up pieces of cinder toffee into the chocolate and leave to cool.
Win a 1stFone or OwnFone – Closes 25th July 2013 – Perfect for young children, elderly and disabled.
In conjunction with 1stFone, I am giving a phone on my blog. It’s a fabulous peace of mind gadget for a young child or an elderly person who struggles with regular phones.
I wrote about the 1stFone we received a few weeks ago and how great it has been for my special needs boy who can’t read or write, yet can still use this phone.
I don’t have any problems with young children having a means of getting themselves help rather than approaching a stranger if they are in trouble.
I’ve always told my boys that if they get lost, they are to go to the nearest person who looks like a mother with kids. While it’s not 100% foolproof, I do feel like the path of least danger is in the harassed mother whose heartstrings will be pulled and will remain at the scene until someone the boys trusts gets to them.
Very young children could have one of these phones tucked into a t-shirt or jumper and give them the confidence that if they find themselves alone, the first port of call is the phone stashed safely away for emergencies. Not that it is just a phone for emergencies as my boy is loving being able to just have a phone of his own, even if it can only dial out the pre-set numbers that we installed on it. They can only call the numbers you approve on the phone and it doesn’t use the Internet, nor can t text.
Our one is such a fabulous success that I’ve partnered with 1stFone to offer one lucky person a free handset with the first month of 50 minutes free. If the winner wishes to continue with the phone, they will need to agree to a monthly contract, or can choose to go pay as you go. The winner will be able to keep the phone, and will be able to choose from a 1stFone or OwnFone for seniors. Either phone could be used for special needs children and adults who can’t manage regular phones.
The giveaway deadling is the 25th July at midnight so get your entries in.
The Rules
- Open to UK Mainland Entrants only.
- The prize will be delivered and you must give us your address to send it to you.
- 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.
- The winner will be chosen by Rafflecopter random generator.
- OwnFone / 1stFone 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 1stFone or OwnFone with one month of 50 inclusive minutes. After the month is up, you will need to buy airtime, or continue a contract to enable it to continue working. You will be required to set up a direct debit as part of the process of ordering and designing your winning phone and it will be used if you plan to continue using the 1stFone or OwnFone after your trial period, or first 50 minutes are used up.
Delicious! I have made this recipe many, many times. Always perfect.
Yep it works perfectly. Get a good crumbly stilton though.
My old machine said hot or cold water. No way cold water cooks the veggies in my old machine. Actually…