A parenting post...

 I am a lover of old fashioned family values. I pride myself on bringing up my children with good manners and morals based on these old fashioned views.

 There is something very special about the way we were, and how we were brought up. Children were children. They played boardgames, read books, baked,  had adventures in the garden. Its frightening how dependant the children of today are on televisions, computers and the Internet!.

 Which brings me to this;

 My husband came home the night before Christmas eve with a flat screen TV, built in DVD player in fuchsia pink. It was for our daughter. Shes three!.

 I must have been caught up in the Christmas spirit because against my better knowledge I agreed for him to let Poppy have it in her bedroom. How harmful could it be?, I thought.

 Well, ITS BEEN HELL!. She has been staying up late, is unsettled, not sleeping well. We haven't read a proper book since she's had it. I've even found myself letting her watch it until she falls asleep!. ( I am so ashamed by this).

 So its gone, Ive boxed it up and I'm even toying with returning it to the shop. Poppy is three years old. There is no way she should be allowed a television in her bedroom.
 Shes devastated.

 Don't get me wrong, I let my children watch TV all the time, probably too much sometimes, but I think there need to be boundaries. It seems we found out the hard way, we now have a very upset, grumpy girl but I'm sure once we are tucked up in bed tonight with a good book she will forget all about it. We have just started Coraline, which she has seen on DVD, and she loves it!.

 What are your views on this matter?. Am I being too hard?. Or am I right?. I'd love to know what you all think.

 Lauren x

A very vintage christmas; Boardgames and babies.

I am a huge believer in the value of family time. Gone are the days when the family would spend the weekend playing board games and listening to the wireless.

The children of yesteryear had a beautiful innocence about them. And children of today seem to be lacking this. Probably due to constant exposure to computers, mobile phones and television.
Gone are the times when children where children. It is so very important to me to keep my babies 'babies' for as long as possible. They have years and years to be grown up but once those childhood years are gone we cannot get them back.
I read this quote, from a wartime child,

'We all used to make carts from sets of old pram wheels, We sawed up old planks and nailed them across and raced down the streets. Everyone did it. There was no traffic and you could whizz along. And we made kites out of brown paper and sticks. And there were always camps to build or bombsites to explore'. Philip Fancour;Readers digest yesterday's Britain.

I'm not saying we should all go out make a cart and let the kids scoot off down the road but what I am saying is maybe we need to get some of this childhood innocence back. Spending time as a family and playing traditional games, turning the television off and talking and most of all making sure the children have some 'proper' mum/dad/nan/grandad/brother/sister interaction. It doesn't matter if your a family of 10 or a family of 2.

Now, if christmas isn't the time to get some of this 'good old fashioned fun' back, when is?.

On christmas day we shall be attending mass in the morning, and once all the presents are opened and food eaten we shall be gathering for board games and family frolics!.

Instead of sitting infront of the tv this year why not turn it off and turn to some of these games instead. Not only will the children love it but so will the adults. (It's always the dad's that reveal their competitive streak over snakes and ladders!).

This was one of my favourites when I was a kid. I can remember sitting at my nan and grandad's old ercol table with my cousin and my brother. The only difference was the game we played was one of the original games and the beetle was made from square peices of card. Almost like a puzzle. Wonderful memories.

So dust off those old games hidden at the back of the cupboard, rally the family together and have a very vintage christmas.

Lauren x