The 2020 Guide For Parents Whose Kids Are Learning To Drive

*This post contains affiliate links  We love road trips and when we travel we always opt for alternatives to flying (although this cannot always be avoided). Driving can be a real pleasure and a lovely slow way to explore and discover a new place and it's a skill I want my kids to have in the future. Despite my eldest only being 9 I am all to aware of how quickly the years are flying by and I know in the blink of an eye one day your children will grow old enough to drive. This will be their first true challenge in life. Before they start paying bills, taxes and start working for a living, they will need to learn how to drive. This gives them a lot of personal freedom. They can go to work by themselves, live an independent life, and never be too far away from any location in the world. As long as they have a driver’s license the world is their oyster. But, cars have dramatically changed. Technology in the automotive sector is in the midst of a rapid shift and that brings a......

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What socialising may look like post-lockdown

As the UK slowly starts to ease the lockdown measures that have been in place for the past 2 months, I know many of us are keen to start seeing friends and family so it may be time to start looking ahead at what that may mean for safely socialising in the future post-lockdown. I personally will remain cautious until there is proven to be less of a risk or either an effective treatment or vaccine has been discovered to combat Covid-19 by adhering to the social distancing advice of keeping a 2m distance with those outside of your household at all times.  Saying that we all know how important spending time with friends and family is for our mental wellbeing and personal support system. The same can be said for new connections and blossoming friendships and it's a fact that humans are social creatures and we crave the company of others.  At the moment in Wales we can only visit members of one other household within 5miles of our home and has to be in an outdoor setting at a 2m di......

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My life-long battle with allergies

*Advertisement feature As long as I can remember I have had to deal with, at times, debilitating allergies and hayfever, despite being a fit, active and very out-going. My mother has pictures of me, around 5yrs old with puffy swollen eyes after being stung by a mosquito and memories of me sneezing for days on end due to hayfever and going back and forth to the Doctor to work out what I was allergic too and how best to deal with it. I've tried everything from traditional medicine to homoeopathy, acupuncture and Chinese medicine and after years of slowly working out what my triggers are and what I'm allergic to and how best to avoid them, I finally feel like I have some kind of grasp on it. For me avoiding my triggers is key although it's something's that isn't always possible, I have a terrible dust allergy so anytime I spring clean the home within minutes my eyes start to itch and I know taking antihistamines at the first signs of my allergies flaring up i......

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Essential Items to Bring on Your Local Outings

*This post contains affiliate links  While we are still on lockdown here in Wales, the restrictions have slowly started to ease, one being able to enjoy the outdoors again, safety of course. Unlike England, in Wales, we cannot drive to beauty spots and our outdoor time has to be taken from our front door, saying that a lot of Wales is rural or semi-rural and even our cities have plenty of green spaces so most have access to quiet outdoor spaces. Just because you are heading off somewhere local it's still important to be prepared. I have some mountain and woodland paths near my home and on one outing two weeks ago we came across a couple where the woman had fallen and broken her ankle coming down a steep path - certainly not the ideal thing to do during lockdown (or at anytime). The best way to prepare for an enjoyable, comfortable, and safe outing is to do a little planning in advance. Planning an outing with your family or members of your household is not onl......

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Gratitude during lockdown

Every 3 months or so I like to put together a Gratitude list, a simple reflection on things that we are grateful for and now seems like the most appropriate time as the world has pretty much turned upside down over this year.  The lockdown in Wales has been extended for another 3 weeks which brings it to over 2 months and the boys and I have been trying to ride this wave as best we can. I don't for a second realise how lucky we are to have a home that is warm and safe, to have a small garden to relax in, to have each other and our health.  At the same time, food is put on the table by my freelance self-employed income and nothing else and while I've managed to keep work going around having the kids at home all day my income has still been impacted a lot as many of my clients review their budgets and workflow has been less.  This is the reality of most people right now, there are struggles but there are also quite a few positives and that's what I want t......

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The Importance of Using a Professional

Situations Where You Really Need a Pro Throughout life, we are told over and over that we should handle our business ourselves. Yet, there are always situations that are better left relegated to the professionals. For instance, if your looking to sell or move home or need to do some equity stripping , this is one of the many real estate tasks that are better left to the pros. In today’s world, it is necessary to remind people of the vital importance a working professional plays in our lives. Many aspects of the modern world depend on these people and their dedicated work. Not to mention that in some situations, you do not want to go through them without the guidance of a paid professional. They will be the steady hand that guides you through some of life’s rough patches. Top Situations When You Should Always Hire a Pro There are four main areas in life that you will always want to keep a professional on standby. The first and most common is medical. There are plenty of illnesse......

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Being resourceful with what you have during lockdown

*This post contains affiliate links  For many of us, lockdown and the pandemic, in general, has been a story of two halves. On the one hand (and most pressingly,) we’ve faced changes to our daily routines, disruptions to schooling, and worries for our loved ones. As if that weren’t enough, though, many of us have also had to deal with the problematic reality of panic buying and supply issues entirely unravelling our weekly shops. In the grand scheme of things, this latter point isn’t such a big issue. If we have our health, it really shouldn’t matter if we can’t do a big shop during lockdown . But, when you consider how much we’ve got going on already, a lack of supplies does still deserve a look-in. Luckily, supply chains are mostly back up to pre-pandemic levels, and bulk buying has undoubtedly calmed down at least a little. Still, shoppers are finding that essential items like flour and cleaning supplies are still in high demand. That’s why we’re going to look at a few thi......

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Screen Free learning with TIMIO

*AD I was kindly sent a TIMIO to review With children being at home, the days feeling that little bit longer than normal and parents searching for ideas and ways to encourage learning that doesn't involve staring at a screen or frees up a little bit of time so they can catch up on other things is a struggle. My youngest recently turned 5, he hasn't attended school, instead, he has been doing a few mornings at a nature-based Kindergarten which doesn't do "formal" learning (although plenty of intrinsic learning) at his age so I've been using this lockdown to introduce him slowly and gently to things like the alphabet, written numbers, telling the time and basic musical notes. I always try and avoid screens as much as possible especially with young children so when TIMIO got in touch to review their screen-free educational audio and music player for kids, I knew this was something of genuine interest and could be useful for our daily routine at the mom......

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