The importance of play for children: Everyday freedoms everyday adventures

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Play for children is so important. Everyday freedoms everyday adventures is the theme for this year’s Playday, the national day for play in the UK, which highlights the importance for children and teenagers to enjoy freedom and have adventure in their play.

Since having my son sixteen months ago, encouraging him to play and explore the different environments around him has suddenly become one of the main focuses of my daily life.

Playday 2020

Why is play important?

  • Playing is fun and is central to children’s happiness
  • Playing helps children’s physical, mental and emotional health and well-being
  • Playing boosts children’s resilience, enabling them to cope with stress, anxiety and challenges
  • Playing supports children to develop confidence, creativity and problem-solving skills
  • Playing contributes to children’s learning and development. –Playday.org
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The Mum-to-be Reading List: What Books I Read When I was Expecting

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Hey Sweeties,

As a mum-to-be, during my pregnancy I wanted to ensure I was as informed as possible to prepare for having a baby. I spent several months avidly consuming books, podcasts, articles and attending the NCT Signature Antenatal Course and Baby & Child first aid course.

I had a very relaxed pregnancy, in fact, people said they had never known me to be so chilled out as I am such a stress head normally. Asides from the standard pregnancy nerves about wanting to be sure my baby was growing happy and healthy, I otherwise just knew to let my body do its thing.

mum-to-be reading list
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Reusable nappies & wipes: building my stash & why I use them

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While I was preparing for baby, I was keen to research and learn about reusable nappies and wipes with a view that once comfortable, I would make the switch from disposables to reduce my impact on the planet.

My mum and nan kept mentioning Terry nappies and the process they both used back in the day. But during my research, I learnt that the world of reusables (also known as cloth nappies) had come on significantly.

(For the purpose of this blog post, I will just mention that I am not an expert. At the time of writing I have been using reusable nappies for six or seven months, and I wanted to share my experience. I have pointed to expert resources throughout the coming post if you need them).

Reusable Nappies
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The Night Feed Watch List

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Hey Sweeties,

As any new parent will know, the night feed(s) can be long and tiring… but on the plus side it’s a great opportunity (along with those sleepy cuddles during the day) to catch up on all those box sets you’ve been waiting for the opportunity to watch. Once I had got the hang of things, I quite enjoyed the night feeds and typically I would be up for about an hour.

Before going to bed I would make sure I had a couple of snacks ready in the nursery and a full water bottle of squash- breastfeeding is thirsty work!

Upon being woken up, I would scoop Austin up from his crib at the end of my bed and take him into the nursery. Once his nappy was changed, we would settle in the rocking chair, I would get the iPad set up and then we would begin feeding.

Night feed watch list
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Baby-led Weaning: My Experience of Introducing Food to my Son

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Hey Sweeties,

Weaning, either with purees or going down the baby-led weaning method, is one of those stages of motherhood that you know is coming but regardless of how much preparation you have done, it arrives and you feel quite unprepared. Not to mention a sudden yearning for the simpler days of just milk.

Baby-led weaning
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