Being Mrs C

Set our children free!

You frequently hear people talking about how children of today don't play outside enough. Older generations often use the "in my day" phrases when telling of children only bothering to come home when they knew a meal would be on the table and then spending the rest of their time climbing trees and exploring for miles around where they lived.

The reality is that a lot has changed since "those days". Neary every home now has a TV set and many childrens have one in the bedroom too. There are also games consoles and handheld games which children like to spend time on too. More mothers now work whereas in previously the mother would often have a stay at home role which involved cooking nutritious homecooked meals too. The issue of "stranger danger" also didn't seem to exist in quite the same way as it does today. The press have spoken about how technology and junk food have led us to have more obese children than ever before, a couch-potato generation, yet I've not really seen many proper studies on how life is different for today's children compared to those of their grandparents' generation. That is until now.

In conjunction with the National Trust, naturalist, author and TV producer Stephen Moss has produced a report entitled Natural Childhood in which he looks at the changing relationship between children and the natural world around them. As many would expect, children are sadly spending less and less time outdoors. Some of the statistics are surprising. Three times as many children are taken to hospital each year from falling ot of bed than falling out of trees! Children in Britain also watch 17 hours of television a week - that's a staggering 2.5 hours a day and is up from 2007, despite the increase in internet usage since then. 11-15 years olds spend about half their waking lives in front of a screen - 7.5 hours a day.

That last figure in particular staggers me. That's the same as spending a typical working day infront of a computer. But these are children. Shouldn't they be running around, playing games, playing with toys, reading books, crafting, listening to music, or even just sitting and talking to other people for some of that time? I couldn't find a statistic for the average number of hours that a child spends outside in the fresh air, but I'm sadly guessing it may be very low.

Surely children need to understand and appreciate the natural world around them so that they can play their part in protecting it for future generations. If these children grow up having never seen flowers in the wild, having not spotted wild animals and birds in their natural habitats or having not apprecaited the vast array of plants and trees that we have here in the UK would they care about protecting them? Or would they instead be happy for green zones to be abolished and things to be allowed to become extinct? 

The National Trust is running a two month long inquiry to look at how we can reconnect today's children, and future generations, with the natural world. Parents, teachers and healthcare professionals all say that it should be done, but yet initiatives that are set up to do so have as yet been unsuccessful. I'm fascinated to hear their findings and to see if there is a way to turn things around. I sincerely hope so.

So, do you take your children out to play outdoors? Do you encourage them to build dens and climb trees? And if not, why not? What do you think should be done to help their generation to reconnect with the nature that is all around them? Is the modern day lure of technology too much or do we need to fight back as part of the current aim that many people have of simplifying their lives? I would love to hear your views.

Bekonscot Model Village and Railway

Mr C has chosen the most perfect week to have off work this week; day after day of unseasonably warm weather and extra long sunny days following the clock change last weekend. Days like these are designed for old fashioned family days out and that's exactly what we did today.

Bekonscot Model Village and Railway is in the lovely Buckinghamshire town of Beaconsfield, just off the M40; only about 40 minutes from St Albans. Originally started in 1929 the model village contains pretty much everything you can imagine - shops, houses, sports fields, boating lakes, harbours, a mine, a zoo, a hotel, church, castles and it's all linked together by an adorable model railway with frequent trains running around the site. There's a working windmill, cable cars and fountains and so many fine details that you could spend hours trying to take it all in. For the adults there were also some great comedy shop names to watch out for too!

The overwhelming thing is the wonderful old fashioned feel that everything has. It does feel like a bit of a time-warp as everything there just seems so perfect. Along the edge of the racecourse part of the village you do see a policeman chasing after a handbag snatcher, but it still seems so innocent compared to the crimes you read about in today's papers.

When you arrive at the village there's a one way system that guides you round the site past all the buildings and landscapes. Little Miss C was fascinated to see all the small buildings and particularly liked seeing all the zoo animals, but what kept her attention most was all the moving things around the village like the trains and other vehicles. There was also quite a bit of water and flowing water in particular that all kids of her age love.

The village also has a lovely childrens playground and tea room that is cleverly hidden away at the end of the one-way system round this site. The beauty of this is that children don't get distracted by it until they've gone round the rest of the site first. It's not a big playground, but seemed to have exactly the right amount of things in it to keep the children amused. All of the kids that we saw there were burning off plenty of energy before their journeys home.

There is also a ride on railway that runs throughout the main season for which there is a small extra charge for over 2s (just £1 each). This is a decent length round trip and runs on demand - today there was just three of us on the train we went on and again LMC completely loved it.

The old fashioned theme continues into the tea room where there was a good simple range of things available at very reasonable prices. For kids it was lovely to see some simple sandwiches like plain ham, cheese and strawberry jam. You can also bring picnics onto the site and eat them along with everyone else rather than having separate areas for people who have bought food on site and those who haven't. This is particularly great for when there with kids.

If I have to have one complaint about Bekonscot it has to be one small thing in the tea room. I went in first to get something for myself and LMC and came back with some sandwiches for her and a Cornish pasty for me. After them being in the news so much recently it just seemed to jump out at me from the chalk board. When Mr C went in the same happen to him, although he came away disappointed because it seems that they only have one Cornish Pasty a day and of course a certain someone had just been in there and bought that day's! I know it's only a small visitor's attraction, but still - just one pasty a day???

Overall this was a fantastic day out. Beautiful and simple and not overpriced like many attractions for children seem to be these days. All the models were in first-class condition and also had that nice "homemade" feel to them. The facilities were excellent (as long as you overlook their pasty stinginess!) and LMC really enjoyed herself. I can definitely see us going back there and as she gets older I can see her noticing more and more details on each visit. 

Disclaimer: We paid our own admission to Bekonscot today and I have received no payment for this review.

Hands and Feet

Little Miss C is now at that development stage where she's starting to understand that you can actually draw things, rather than just scribble on a page. As well as coming up with lots of requests for Mr C and I to draw specific animals for her she's also drawing "things" and telling us that they're elephants or cats complete with head, body and legs.

One thing that she is loving at the moment is an idea that I found in a children's magazine recently - drawing round body parts. She spends ages asking me to help her draw round her hands and feet onto pieces of plain paper and then drawing around mine and comparing the size differences. The whole concept that a piece of paper can be transformed so that it has a foot or a hand (or a "glove" as she likes to call it) drawn on it amazes her. Again it's such a simple thing requiring hardly any equipment and no set-up, but has great results for a toddler.

If the weather holds tomorrow I may even try some hand and foot-prints outside. I'm not sure I'm brave enough to do so in the lounge as I fear for my sofa and its non-washable covers!

A toilet roll tube and a bit of imagination

That's all you need to have a bit of fun.

First thing this morning this was Little Miss C's trumpet. Yesterday two of them sellotaped together became a pair of binoculars. I'm fascinated to see what a toilet roll tube will become tomorrow!

Competition: Win a £50 Argos Gift Card

The lovely people at Argos are giving readers of Being Mrs C the opportunity to win a £50 Argos gift card. Gift cards are redeemable at any of their stores in the UK.

If you ever needed a shop that has everything under one roof then Argos is it. They have a great range of things for children from essential equipment to toys. Make sure you check out their range of fantastic-value pushchairs and also the adorable moses baskets range which contains ones for all tastes and budgets.

How to enter

All you need to do to enter this competition is leave a comment on this post and make sure that it includes a way for me to contact you if you are the lucky winner. The competition is open until 5pm (BST) on Wednesday 4 April 2012.

The winner will be selected at random from all correct entries received. The winner will be notified within 28 days of the closing date. The prize is as stated: no cash alternatives are available. This competition is open to UK entrants only.

This competition is now closed.

I am pleased to announce that the winner is Jane Willis.

Featured post: Some Classic Outdoor Games To Pass On

The weather is gorgeous at the moment, but even so on average children spend up to six hours watching TV. This is a shame, as some of my best memories are from spending time outside playing games with a group of friends. While there’s nothing wrong with your children watching some TV, there’s also nothing wrong with them playing some of the all-time classic outdoor games. The only problem is they may not know them. This is where you and this article come in. Pass down the torch of these great games, and teach your children the rules. 

Some of them they will love, others they may ignore, but it’s good to give them the option. Anything from 5 children upwards will work well for these, so you may want to invite some of the kids’ friends or the neighbours’ kids round for a bit. Make a day of it, and prepare some light snacks for a break. To ensure there’s no sneaking inside to play video games, have the play area in your garden shed. In the shed the kids can enjoy their snack and plot the next game. 

• Red Rover 

Red Rover is a great game to start with especially if you have a group of children who don’t know each other very well. To play, the children split into two teams and form a line by holding hands, and face each other. The gap between the teams should be wide enough to gain some speed when running. Each group takes turns in calling a member of the team over by calling “Red Rover, Red Rover let Child Come Over”. The challenged child must run at the other team and try to break through the joined hands. If the child succeeds they take a child with them to join their team. If they lose they join the opposing team.

• Wolf’s Dinner Time

One child is chosen as the wolf, and the others form a line a good distance away. The wolf has his back to the group. The group calls out “What’s the time, Mr Wolf?” The wolf turns and answers with a time. The time is the amount of steps the group may take. When the wolf thinks the group is close enough his answer changes to “Dinner Time”, and he chases the group. Whoever is “eaten” becomes the next wolf. The wolf, however, must be careful as if the group reaches him before Dinner he is captured and loses the game.

• Freeze Tag

This is a good game to finish the day with, as it will wear them out. One child is ‘It’ and chases the group around the garden. Whoever is caught is frozen to the spot and can only be freed by a team member. But the team member must be careful as if they are caught just after freeing someone then both children are frozen to the spot. 

It's all me, me, me... or not

If you read any parenting blogs then you can't fail to notice that we're in the middle of award season at the moment. Blogs are full of posts from people asking you to nominate them and many of them are indeed very worthy of your nominations.

I am not going to do the same. Last year at least one kind person nominated me in the craft section of The MADS which thrilled me to bits, but there are people out there far, far more worthy than me.

Out there on the web there are blogs which inspire, blogs which move me to tears and ones which make me laugh out loud. There are blogs where people discuss some of the weighty political issues of the day, some where parents focus on the simple things in life that make their family's lives complete, and others where there are crafty projects galore. Some bloggers share amazing photographs which range from beautifully arty ones through to snapshots of those precious moments of family life that they want to share. I've read blog posts where the pain of the author pours off the page and can't fail to move everyone who reads it to tears. People going through unbelieveable pain who either blog through as they need to share with someone, or go through the added pain of sharing things because they know that doing so will help others going through similar situations.

The range of parenting blogs here in the UK is astonishing and all these people combine writing them with bringing up their families and in some cases holding down full time jobs. I think the world is a richer place for all these writers and I'm sure you do too.

Make sure you go and support those blogs that you enjoy reading. At the moment you can vote in the Brit Mums Brilliance in Blogging 2012 awards and can also nominate blogs for The MADS - make your vote (or nomination) count! I'm off to do mine right now.

Recharging the batteries

There are times that we all need a bit of down time and an opportuity to recharge our batteries and that's exactly what the C family have been doing for the last few days. A holiday with a toddler is never going to be completely relaxing, but this one had a pretty good stab at it.

We booked a weekend break at Centre Parcs Sherwood Forest, somewhere that Mr C and I visited years ago before LMC was on the scene. That visit we spent our time doing things like clay pigeon shooting and 4x4 driving - things were a bit different this time, but actually just as much fun.

One of the big benefits of Centre Parcs is that everything is set up for kids. The villa we booked came with a highchair and travel cot (although we had to take our own cot bedding) and you are never far from baby changing facilties or a play ground. That in itself just takes some of the stress out of things. All the restaurants on site have highchairs available as well as comprehensive children's menus. When ordering meals the children's options were brought incredibly quickly and restaurants also had either play areas or gave out colouring sets when you sat down at your table.

For LIttle Miss C one of the biggest attractions had to be the Tropical Swimming Paridise. This place is huge and contains a bar, Starbucks and plenty of seating around the pool too. In addition to the main pool and slides there is also a toddler pool and a couple of children's slides too.

One excellent idea (that I only actually found out about by googling the name when I saw it in the pool timetable) is something called "Baby Dolphins". The pool normally opens at 10am, but on certain days of the week (in particular the Saturday and Tuesdays that are the first mornings of most people's stay), the pool opens half an hour early for under threes and their parents only. This gives you the opportunity to introduce children to the pool environment whilst it is quiet. Part of the main pool is opened and various inflatables are put out for the children to play with. A member of staff also gets in the water and runs through some nursery rhymes and actions which introduce an increased level of splashing as things go on. For children like LMC who don't go swimming that often I thought this was an excellent idea and there were quite a few parents there taking advantage of this (free) session. At 10am the pool did become increasingly busy and I can see how some small children may be completely overwhelmed if their first experience of the pool was with it filled with people. It was just a shame that it wasn't better advertised or explained.

It wasn't just the big things that LMC enjoyed whilst we were away though. The onsite supermarket had little trolleys and she had a ball pushing one of those round whilst we got in some essentials. A display of creme eggs did come into some danger though in the process!

To get around the site we hired bikes and also a child seat to go on the back of one of them for LMC. She sees her Daddy cycle off to the station most mornings, but this opportunity to go on Daddy's bike with him blew her mind. The addition of a cycle helmet that was like Daddy's, but even better as it was pink, just enhanced the experience further for her.

We took a bag of toys with us for Little MIss C to play with whilst we were in our villa, but in the end this proved to be completely unnecessary. As soon as we enetered villa LMC headed straight to the floor to ceiling blackboard that was in the kitchen/dining area. This genius idea was accompanied by a (plastic) bowl full of coloured chalks and an eraser. From first thing in a morning until last thing at night LMC spent ages drawing on the blackboard or getting us to draw things for her. She completely loved it and it was a brilliant way of keeping her occupied whilst we unpacked and packed bags.

We were blessed with good weather whilst we were there and exploring outdoors was a perfect activity for us all. The amount of nature on the site was amazing. There were ducks, rabbits and squirrels all over the place and Mr C also got some great pictures of toads and tree creepers that I'm sure will be appearing on UK Nature Blog soon. LMC did repeatedly call the whole site our "garden" and at one point got quite upset when she realised that other people were in "her garden"! Taking her into the outside part of the swimming pool blew her mind and the whole time she kept saying that we were "swimming in the garden". You can see her logic can't you.

The weekend was a fantastic get away and it really did make us feel like we'd been somewhere a million miles away from home. My relaxed feeling was greatly helped by the mum-to-be pampering session that I had at the spa, but even without that I'm pretty sure that I would have still come home feeling recharged. Of course, as with any trips, there were a few moments where we had a screaming toddler to deal with, but they are easily overlooked when you look at how fantastic things were overall. I'm sure we'll be going back!

Disclaimer: This weekend was paid for by ourselves and I received no financial incentive for writing this review.

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