Don’t Take Your Kids To Public Places

Is there anything more annoying than loud, unruly children in a restaurant when you are trying to enjoy a nice quiet meal? Why do their parents even take them out knowing how loud and disruptive they will be?! Just don’t take your kids out in public. It’s much easier for everybody concerned isn’t it? Stay at home, let them go on their computer games and eat candy whilst you sit on your phone having a quick flutter or something else that makes you feel like you still enjoy life once in a while, right?

Tonight my husband and I went out to a restaurant for dinner to a quaint, quiet place in the countryside. We were near two school age children for the entire meal. I still have indigestion now thinking about the evening. The two kids should have been in bed, it was a school night afterall, but instead their parents had taken them out.

The two children got louder as the evening went by, and I could see the aggravation rising in my husbands eyes. We came out to enjoy a quiet meal, but instead we were witnessing something from a Looney Tunes cartoon.

The children shouted, laughed loud, shook condiments over people, climbed under the table, squealed loudly, were rude at times, and kept standing on their chairs. The mother tried to reason with them but to no avail. One of the children ran off around the restaurant and was dragged back!

I looked on in utter disbelief.

The children, surprisingly, ate their food despite moaning about its impending arrival. It was obviously way past their usual meal time, but each parent to their own I guess. When the kids had finished their main course they demanded pudding like their parents were slaves. Manners were scarce!

After the kids had eaten their food the rampage continued. They started swiping at the grownups with them with their teddy bears. They climbed over chairs, they made patterns in the condensation on the restaurant windows, and they jumped on the back of their mother. At one point the mother was on lockdown with the one boy. He had her hair in a death grip and they were literally both lay across the bench style seat for a good 3 minutes. What the hell? I was shocked. I was disgusted.

The whole restaurant was aware of this family, and it felt a little uncomfortable to say the least!

Why do parents with children like these inflict them upon the public? Are they really this selfish?

Anddddd stop.

The kids in this post are mine. The teddy bears were Snoodle. The hair was also mine. And the sanity has well and truly gone. Would I take them back to a restaurant? Hell yeah! That’s the life of this momma, and as ‘abnormal’ and ‘crazy’ as it may have been, they were actually pretty well behaved on this occasion. Ha, for real!

Don’t ever be ashamed or embarrassed, ever. Those onlookers know nothing about your children, or your parenting skills.

There are additional needs in our family, invisible ones, SPD and ASD, but regardless, if a restaurant has a children’s menu the fact remains that children (in all forms) are welcome.

(For all the new people over on here who don’t know my origins, my story, my life…my children are normally in bed by 7pm, this meal was 5pm ’til 7.30pm, my children didn’t run into other diners – he ran off once, it was a family celebration – we don’t go out when it’s school the next day in everyday life, my kids had ‘things’ to keep them entertained, I said manners were scarce not non-existent, I also said the mother intervened, and BAM! There you have it! This post was written to make other parents feel less alone in their struggles, nothing more, nothing less)

The World Of Siblings

I am an only child. I’ve never experienced sibling love or rivalry. I didn’t have to share my loved ones or my toys. I didn’t wear hand-me-down clothing, and I didn’t have to share my room. I don’t know what it’s like to have a sibling, or what the ‘normal’ is in regards to your siblings.

I know nothing about sibling relationships.

My two boys are now 5yo and 6yo, and I often find myself asking my husband if this is normal behaviour for siblings. Are sibling relationships really meant to be like this? Should I be wanting to pull my hair out several times a day? My husband has both brothers, and sisters. He usually just laughs at me like I’m crazy for even asking, but I do question them in my mind, a lot.

Is it normal to sneakily punch your younger brother on the way past him?

Is it normal to ask your brother to smell your feet?

Is it normal to ask your brother to hold a bogey for you?

Is it normal to compare ‘toe fluff’ with that of your brothers toes?

Is it normal to randomly lick your older brother?

Is it normal to push your brother down the slide backwards?

Is it normal to chase your brother with ‘cheesy puff fingers’ and make him cry because he hates the smell?

Is it normal to wrestle like your arch enemies?

Is it normal to make your little bother ‘walk the plank’?

Is it normal to force your brother to have ‘fake medicine’ and be your patient?

Is it normal to nearly lightsaber your brother into oblivion?

Is it normal to push each other so often?

Is it normal that everything has to be a competition?

Is it normal to offer your brother a piece of candy only because it fell on the floor?

Is it normal to splash each other until tears occur in the bath?

Is it normal to pee over your brother in the bath?

Is it normal to constantly tell tales on one another?

Is this what brothers do?

My husband says yes, unreservedly yes! I have no choice but to believe him, and enjoy this crazy-chaotic-sibling relationship.

In the mean time I’ll stick to strong coffee, chocolate and rest in the fact that if I do end up pulling my hair out I can always turn to Advanced Tricho Pigmentation Treatment for a little help! ?

Here’s to a funfilled next few years with my little rascals!

 

 

To the Mother Trying to do Everything

To the Mother trying to do everything…

You cannot do everything, so choose wisely what you do.

Trying to do everything leaves you feeling like a failure, because it is physically impossible to do it all, and do it all well. I know there is always something that needs doing, always a place to be, always a phone call to make, always a load of laundry to be dried, always a grocery trip that needs going on, always a uniform to iron, always a meal to prepare, and always a bill to pay., but take it in your stride, and do not use it as the measurement of your motherhood. Loving your children makes you a very successful momma already!

With your last breath I can guarantee that you will not regret never reaching the end of your laundry basket, or leaving your shelves dusty and unorganised, but you will regret all those times you didn’t snuggle down for a story, or the time you were too busy for a cuddle, or the time you chose vacuuming over dancing to silly songs. Life is far too short to waste worrying about trivial things.  And in comparison to a child, the majority of everyday life is pretty trivial.

Your house can be clean and tidy without hours a day being used to scrub, polish, mop, and organise. There’ll be plenty of time for that when the kiddies have flown the nest. Being a sahm doesn’t mean you are expected to look after kids, be a cleaner, and also a chef. Looking after the kids is your primary role, and it s one of the hardest things I have ever had to do if I am totally honest. Being a working momma doesn’t mean when you arrive home you need to cram as many household chores in before bedtime, relax a little, read your babies a story, the dust can wait, the groceries can be ordered online.

Sometimes I get overwhelmed with everything that needs accomplishing, and I feel like my house is forever messy, but do any of those things matter in comparison to creating a childhood full of love, memories and precious time together? Not in the slightest, no.

It’s time to give yourself a break, and understand that you cannot do everything, so choose the most important things, your children. Dust is here today, cleaned today, and back tomorrow, but this day with your kids will never return. Make the most of it. Break your chores up into manageable twenty minute slots, you’ll feel less overwhelmed but still like you’re accomplishing something chores wise.

I know being a momma is chaotic, believe me I know, but it’s a precious chaos that one day we will sorely miss.

Plan a couple of cheap, quick activities for the week with your kids – homemade play dough is easy, bake some cakes, paint a picture, make a tent, have an indoor treasure hunt, play hide and seek, dance, look for birds, make bird food, go puddle jumping, anything, just do something. Your kids will love this time with you. Set aside 15 minutes two or three times a week to do something like this with them, and let them know, they’ll be so excited about these times.  You don’t have to be crafty, or arty, or super mum, you just have to be present in the moment – that’s good enough and all your children need.

Don’t feel guilty when you lose it, when you yell, when you cry, when you feel like a failure. Motherhood is hard, and it is a competitive world out there with perfect parenting thrown in your face everywhere you turn, but none of that matters. There are no perfect parents out there, we are all losing our shiz, it is just that some are better at hiding it than others. You don’t need to be all of these other mums you see, you are you, and as long as you try your best then that is the momma your kids need.

You were the one cut out for job at hand, nobody else. Remember this.

Please give yourself a break from being everything and doing everything, choose the most important things, after all that is all that will matter in your memories one day.

To The Mum Of The Child With SPD

I am not writing this post to plaster my private life all over the world wide web. I respect my children’s rights to privacy. I’m their biggest protector, believe me. I cannot, however, get rid of this message I feel compelled to share. It has taken all of my courage to write this, so if you read it please know it was hard to hit the publish button for so many reasons.

I have learnt to follow my gut instinct over the last five years and it’s never failed me yet. Over the last 15 months my gut has been telling me that my 4yo may not be as high maintenance as I thought, and that it runs a lot deeper than just being a sensitive soul. Maybe my gut has been telling me a lot longer than that, but I was in denial.

That’s the thing about the term ‘special needs’ – you are accepting of everybody else’s children under that definition,  as long as it’s not your own children. I guess you don’t want to accept that life is never going to be normal by society’s standards and normal milestones standards. It’s hard to embrace it.

Having a child with additional needs, with or without a diagnosis, is a hard pill to swallow. Not many people will admit that. But it’s true. You go through a grieving period. You think of everything that cannot be done, the places you can’t go, the milestones that may never be reached. You worry about bullies and stigma. You fret about the future. I’m not sure this grieving period has a time-scale either, so you’re stuck there as long as you allow yourself to be. We allow our thinking to pave the future in our subconscious. We make excuses in public. We feel awkward. We apologise, a lot.

I admit I struggled when I realised my child may have Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) and some autistic traits. My child? No, not my child; yet he ticked every box! Things started to make sense. He wasn’t just sensitive, he was overloaded and couldn’t cope. They weren’t tantrums 40 times a day, they were meltdowns from sensory overload. He wasn’t sniffing everything just because. He wasn’t repeating everything to be rude, it was echolalia. He wasn’t being awkward about his clothes being just right. He wasn’t being naughty when he had a screaming fit because plans changed. He wasn’t being silly about refusing his nails being cut. He wasn’t just sensitive when smells made him cry. He was overloaded. His senses are literally in control (or out of control) of his every thought. This breaks my heart. I cannot fix it. His momma cannot fix it.

How as a momma did I not know something was wrong? I’d have done things so differently. I would have been more patient. I wouldn’t have made him have time-out for every meltdown that occurred. I wouldn’t have yelled when he wouldn’t try a new recipe. I wouldn’t tell him he was rude when he wouldn’t acknowledge people or say goodbye.  I could kick myself now looking back. How did I not know?! But life is too short for regrets.

I was in denial for a long time. I was grieving the life I thought I’d lost, but I was wrong. Nothing has changed, except my knowledge and recognition. This is the life we have, my boy has. He’s not defined by a label. His brain may be wired a little differently to the average person, but that doesn’t make him weird or less of a person, and as soon as I excepted that we were able to approach things differently.

When I first began piecing things to together and understanding that my son most likely had SPD I used to cry in private, I used to sob.

I felt like my heart was being torn in two. I think it was part shock and part relief. Shock that my baby, my sweet innocent boy had something wrong, and relief that finally we didn’t have to plod along and struggle our way through each day alone anymore.

I think when our children are diagnosed with disorders we, as parents, are often so worried about the stigma attached to those disorders that we are the ones with the actual problem. We fret so much about what others think that we often do more harm than good. We have to except the circumstances ourselves, and once we do that nothing will hinder our perception of the disorders. We have a huge responsibility as a parent to ensure that our kids childhoods are not something they are going to have to spend the majority of their adulthood recovering from.

After researching SPD I understood more and more about the challenges my boy was facing, and I became prouder by the second for his accomplishments. Daily life is overwhelming for him sometimes, but he tries so hard. Even simple tasks such as getting dressed are a big accomplishment. I find myself begging the Sock God to be kind and not make the seams irritating today, I hold my breath when labels meet skin. The thought of asking to trim his nails sends shudders down my spine. I am constantly holding my breath waiting for the next reaction armed with calming words and cuddles.

I try and be as patient as possible. That is a key factor with SPD. Anxiety levels are already on the edge daily, and an impatient momma will not help. I’d like to say I have perfected this, but that would be lying. Some days I yell. Some days I cry. Some days I feel mentally exhausted. Some days I am a crap mom.

There is not a second goes by that I am not planning the next moves around the sensory needs of my child. It is a never-ending job and my mission is to avoid meltdowns at all costs. Sometimes that means staying home all day, or spending days speaking about upcoming plans, or swapping housework for an afternoon of cuddles. I am never ever too busy for cuddles, ever. Sometimes it even means joining him under the table to eat at a party where he is overwhelmed with all the people.

I fret about going to the mall, to parties, to peoples houses, to new places, but it never stops me going. I do not want my boy growing up feeling ashamed or lonely. I want him to know it’s OK to feel how he does, and that people understand. I want to teach him healthy strategies to cope with his issues.

I want the best for him. And the best is not me denying there is an issue. The best is not me wallowing in self-pity and feeling sorry for him and his future. The best is instilling self worth into him every single day.

I need to remember that he is highly sensitive to the world around him, and that even on calm days he probably feels like a tornado has just buzzed around him.

There are some things that I cannot stand, one of those being veins. Even the word makes me cringe. If I see veins or hear someone talking about them I feel sick, and weird. My boy sees and hears veins every minute of his life, except it’s not veins it is smells, noises, textures, crowds, bright lights. The whirring of the wind, drills, and unfamiliar music are all veins to him. This keeps things in perspective.

SPD wares you out as a momma, but imagine how much more it wears out the child who has it? Momma, your tears won’t change the future, but your perception of SPD will. More patience, more cuddles, less apologies to the public will help. You do not have to justify anything to anybody, and if people question the diagnosis let them. Some disabilities are unseen. Momma knows best.

I hope that me sharing a little of our world with you has helped in some way? It is a lonely road, but I am right there cheering you on!

Keep going, tougher days are most likely ahead, but plod on through the tears, the meltdowns, the aggression, the misconceptions, the brick walls – your kid needs you!

Top 10 Tips for Potty Training

Potty training scares the living daylights out of a lot of parents, and rightly so to be quite honest with you!

There is not one single book that can help you potty train your child, despite what you are led to believe.

I have learnt this the hard way!! Every child is different, and has different needs. They all develop according to their own genetic make-up, and nothing you do can rush that development.

Potty training happens at all sorts of ages, but generally speaking you are made to feel guilty as a parent if you do not potty train your child as soon as they turn two! Two!? I mean my 2yo’s couldn’t even choose between Sponge Bob shaped pasta or Peppa Pig shaped pasta if their life depended on it, let alone control their own bowel movements!

When D1 turned 2 I contemplated potty training after reading a few books, but then I put it off and put it off, and put it off some more, ignored it a while longer, and put it off again. I mean who in their right mind wants to mess with poop?! Not me! Life with a 2yo is hard enough without having to be on poop alert all day long.I had decided to wait until I thought he was ready, like, really ready!

At age 3 I thought he was ready. Day one we explained it all to him and purchased a fabulous Thomas the Tank Engine potty. He was excited. We had a sticker chart ready for him, and off we went! After sixty minutes I had reached breaking point, he was literally squeezing the pee out of his winkle just to have clean pants on! We had one pee accident every 5 minutes, and got through 13 pairs of pants within the first 60 minutes.

I continued with the potty training the rest of the day and we did not have a single pee or poop in the potty!! We had pee on the rug, the sofa, the window sill, 48 pairs of pants, 48 pairs of socks, the stairs, the kitchen floor, the bathroom floor, mommas leg, mommas shoe, mommas lap, in the toy box, and on the cat! Everywhere except the flaming potty. I was cross, I was tired, I was fed up. I even cried. I cried about my child potty training. I was a failure!

Then I got a grip! Right, this kiddo was definitely NOT ready for this potty training even at aged 3, and despite only persevering for 24 hours I decided to put it on hold for a few more months. And it was the best thing I ever did!!

During the next few months we prepared him physically and emotionally for potty training, and we tried again aged 3 years 4 months. He cracked it within 48 hours and was dry through the night straight away!(Lucky I know!) Woop!

Potty training is hard work, and if it’s not done at the right time for your child on an individual basis, it will not happen or will take weeks of painstaking frustration.

I learnt some really useful lessons trying before my child was ready and then trying again when he was ready, so I thought I would share them with you!

I am no toileting guru and I am currently potty training my other child (which is proving hardwork) but I know how lonely it can feel when you’re struggling with it. Just yesterday I had to retrieve a big poop from under the train table in my kiddies room!!

So, here’s my top tips for potty training:

Wait until they are absolutely ready. You cannot force a child to potty train until they are physically, developmentally, and emotionally ready, but there’s nothing wrong with trying if you think they are. Then if they aren’t showing any interest after 48 hours I’d leave it a few months and try again. You’ll be surprised! The worst advice people can give you is to be persistent and to never go back. That will only prolong your agony, and the pee on your carpets! It’s ok to try and fail, but in my case, I gave a deadline of 48 hours, not to be trained, but for at least one pee in the potty. Set your own goals. You know your kids the best.

Make sure they can pull up their underwear and trousers independently! Spend 2 weeks prior top potty training making sure they can put on their own underwear and pull up their own trousers. This will help them in such a massive way. It never crossed my mind at our first attempt, but once we did this it gave D1 a massive sense of independence.

Let them create their own sticker chart. Shop bought ones are great, but making their own chart will give them a sense of pride, and it will boost their self esteem seeing their own creation up around the home, and will be their own visual reminder of the potty.

Buy their own box of special wipes. We purchased a small box designed to fit children’s toileting wipes. This gives them something special to take ownership of and it teaches them self-hygiene very early on.

Buy two potties. Potties and kids toilet seats are very cheap to buy, so we found having one downstairs and one upstairs was a very useful thing. We used a potty downstairs for during the day and a child toilet seat for when we were upstairs. We also had a soft little travel toilet seat that I took out with us. This was a big help!

Give them sticker rewards. Rewards are a fab way to reinforce correct behaviour in children, and most children love stickers, if not use whatever they do like. D1 was given 1 sticker for a pee, and 2 stickers for a poop. At the end of each day we counted them all up, which he loved. Praise is so important during this process.

Do not shout or discipline them for accidents! Praise Praise Praise the pees and the poops!! Whatever you do never lose your patience with your child if they pee or poop in their pants. Make potty training a positive experience for them, even when you are on your hands and knees mopping up pee for the tenth time that hour. Keep your cool, even when you have poop under your nails, and that WILL happen!

Don’t use pull-ups during the day. Try and stick to pants, pull-ups are very similar to nappies/diapers, and will only confuse them more. They are not underwear.

Don’t worry about being dry through the night. Dry nights will not usually happen at the same time as being potty trained during the day, and that is ok. Take the pressure off your child and yourself for this one. The recommended age for being dry through the night is around 5 years old. This is when they will developmentally be ready, but you will know yourself once you have a few weeks of dry nappies in the morning. Every child is different though.

Don’t take pee personal! It’s not you, it’s them! They’re little, they’re learning. Peed in pants do not a failure make!

And there you have it, my own tips for potty training, but essentially only YOU know what is best for your child – no book, no blog, no family member, just YOU. So, ease yourself in, and make it a relaxing experience, well as much as you can, after all you are training a miniature monster to pee and poop somewhere unfamiliar!

Go forth and potty train! 😉

 

Edit: My second child is now potty trained. It took 6 days. He pooped in various places, and I’ve had poop on my hand more than I care to write about, but he got it. Six days and he got it, aged 3 years 2 months.

Jelly Play

We love messy activities in this house.

Here’s a quick photo blog post of our jelly play today.

We went on a bug and sea creature hunt! My two boys really enjoyed themselves! We used a mini beast hunting set, and some measuring scoops too.

We filled some cups and jugs with jelly mix and added our bugs and sea creatures. We set them overnight in the refrigerator. Once they were set we rinsed the outer cup with hot water and poured the contents into a large storage box.

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My two boys loved rescuing the bugs and discovering sea creatures. We used scoops, magnifying glasses, tweezers, and bug catchers.

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This jelly play activity is great for exploring textures and smells, and is also great for strengthening fine motor skills too. It’s a fun activity, and doesn’t cost very much at all. Why not give it a go?

How to Make a Fairy Garden

Over the last 12 months I’ve noticed that Fairy Gardens have become increasingly popular, from tiny fairy doors on trees, to extravagant forests dedicated to our fairy friends.

We’ve visited several places that have had some sort of fairy garden, and it’s always proved a magical experience for my boys.

With all of this in mind I decided to make our own Fairy Garden with them.

Here’s how we made our own Fairy Garden.

We used a large black flower pot for the base, and filled it with heavy stones, and the soil. We visited several cheap, local shops and chose items we thought would look ‘fairy’. We brought wooden border roll, a stone mushroom, a stone mini-log burner, a wooden bird house (which we didn’t end up using), artificial flowers, large stones, small flat pebbles, glitter, scattering gems, a solar light, mini windmills, blue gravel, stone gravel, decorative pegs, a mini gnome, and a tiny wooden flower.

Fairy Garden Kit Fairy Garden Kit

We filled the black flower pot with heavy stones to about halfway and then filled the rest with soil. I used the wooden border roll to create a sloped pathway by filling it in with soil on a gradient. We added artificial flowers at the back and used some blue grass samples to create a ‘magical gem filled pond’. We used blue gravel, blue plastic ice cubes, and scatter gems for our pond. We used some wooden sticks to create a dam at one end of the pond, as requested by my four year old! We also used a green grass sample to place at the bottom of the pathway. I used permanent markers to draw doors and windows onto our mini burner and our mushroom, and added spots for a toadstool effect. We put these at the top of our sloped pathway. We also purchased a fantastic plant marker that we wrote ‘Fairy Garden’ on.

How to make a Fairy Garden Fairy Garden Ornaments

We used our smaller flat pebbles to mark the pathway to the fairy houses, and we placed our solar light in the centre of the houses. We decorated the area with flower pegs, windmills, and a mini wooden flower. We added a gnome and a pot of scattering gems too which my four year old called ‘the fairy treasure’. We filled in the blank pieces of soil with gravel, and then we sprinkled fairy dust over it all (glitter).

Fairy Garden Ornament Ideas DIY Fairy Garden

Here is our finished Fairy Garden below. My boys absolutely love it, and they keep checking for fairy friends! It was a great addition to our garden, and was a lot of fun making it. You can use anything to make your Fairy Garden, thats the great thing about DIY projects! The only limit is your imagination.

Fairy Garden Ideas
Have a go at your own Fairy Garden and share your pictures with me on Facebook or Twitter, I’d love to see them!

Finished Fairy Garden

 

Happy Fairy Garden making!

This post was due to go live on 21st March 2015, but I postponed it after a family emergency. My nan sadly passed away the next day. I’ve decided to dedicate this project to her, and keep this Fairy Garden in her memory. RIP Nanny B xx

Dinosaur Activity – DIY Fossils

My two boys love playing with dinosaurs, and they love making dinosaur lands with volcanoes, and hidden dinosaur bones. They have fantastic imaginations, so I thought I’d make their dinosaur adventures even more exciting today by making their very own dinosaur fossils. This dinosaur activity was a huge hit with them!

We made our fossils by using a basic salt dough recipe that we always use; 1 cup of salt, 1 cup of plain flour, and 3 quarters of a cup of cold water mixed in gradually.

dinosaur activity diy fossils

We divided the dough into golf ball size pieces and flattened them out to around 0.5cms in thickness.

My boys then used their plastic dinosaurs to imprint onto the flattened pieces of salt dough. They used the dinosaur tails, feet, bodies, and heads. They also used plastic forks to give the fossils a bone texture too.

dinosaur activity diy fossils dinosaur activity diy fossils

We popped the salt dough into the microwave for 4 minutes, and then checked them, they were still a little bit wet so we popped them back in for 30 second bursts until they hardened. We let them cool and then we dabbed a little white and brown paint on them to give them an authentic look.

dinosaur activity diy fossils dinosaur activity diy fossils

My boys were so excited to bury the fossils and rediscover them in their self-made dinosaur land in my lounge.

dinosaur activity diy fossils

This dinosaur activity is so easy, and very cheap, give it a go!

Real Bedtime Stories for Children

My children love reading books; pop-up books, lift up flap books, fairy tales, magazines, picture books, cook books, and encyclopedia type books.

My two boys also love bedtime stories, apparently.

Books keep them quiet and calm, and also help them to focus their attention, unless they’re bedtime stories, and then they often have the opposite effect. Well, they do in this house.

Bedtime stories in our house are, more often than not, interrupted constantly with wrestling, crying, burping, pooping, throwing, screaming, and little rascals getting in and out of their beds! Sorry if you envisioned our bedtime stories to be quiet, relaxing, and magical.

I am about to give you an insight into a bedtime story at my house, read by momma.

One of my boys most favourite books is the well known story The Three Little Pigs. If you haven’t read this book then you are really missing out so go and buy it! Your kids will love it.

Here is the story from beginning to end according to bedtime in our house with two loveable little rogues I call my children. The extra words that aren’t in the book will be made bold for ease of reading! These extra words are from momma, but courtesy of my little darlings!

Once upon a time, there were three little pigs who went off to build their own houses. Please stop licking your brother, he does not like it!

The first little pig built his house out of straw, do not wipe your nose on my arm! which was not very strong. Let me get a tissue!

One day, the big bad wolf came and said, get your hands out of your nappy! “Little pig, little pig, let me sit still and listen please come in.”

“Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin,” said the first do not get out of bed! little pig.

Get back into bed or we will not finish the story! “Then I’ll huff and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house down.”

And he did. Don’t pull your brother’s hair! And the little pig ran away as fast as he could!

The second little pig built his house out of sticks, which were not very strong. Let go of him!

One day, the big bad wolf came and said, “Little pig, little pig, let me come in.”

“Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin,” said the keep your hands to yourself please boys! second little pig.

“Then I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down.”

And he did. Put the pillow back on the bed!  And the little pig ran away as fast as he could!

The third little pig built his house out of bricks, which were very strong. The first, and second little pig ran all the way to the house of bricks and hid inside with their brother.

One day, the big bad wolf came and said, don’t call your brother stupid, it’s not kind! “Little pigs, little pigs, let me come in.”

“Not by the hairs of our chinny chin chins,” said the all the little pigs.

“Then I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down.” You are not the wolf, do not blow on your brother!

But no matter how I said do not blow on your brother you are making him cry! much the wolf huffed and puffed, the house did not blow down. Get up, you did not get blown down, get back into bed!

So the big bad wolf said, no he did not say roarrr! “I’ll come down the chimney and eat you all up.” It’s ok it’s just a story, the wolf won’t come down our chimney, he is not real, you’re not a pig, and we don’t have a chimney!

But when the wolf came down the chimney,  do not tell your brother the wolf will eat him, you’ve made him cry he fell into a pot of hot soup, No I don’t know what flavour it was and he got up and ran away as fast as he could and they never saw him again!

And the no! It was not bottom flavour! three little pigs lived happily ever after excuse me, what do you need to say after you burp please? in the house of bricks.

The end.

So there you have it, my uncensored version of The Three Little Pigs! What are your kids favourites?

Sensory Stepping Stones

Here’s our homemade sensory stepping stones activity…

My 4yo is all about textures, he adores soft textures, but cannot stand rough textures, so an activity based around textures is highly beneficial for him. My 2yo just loves making a mess and standing on things he thinks he shouldn’t, so a sensory stepping stones activity sounded right up his street.

I carefully thought about all of the possibilities for the stepping stones, and they were endless. I wanted to use both everyday items, and items that were readily available. I collected together various items and made sure they were safe to step on with bare feet. I wanted my boys to get the most they could out of this experience, and bare footedness would most definitely accomplish this.

Sensory Stepping Stones Setup

I set up two strips of blue coloured material. On one strip I placed A4 squares of fake green grass, two coloured acrylic tiles, two pieces of wood, two ceramic tiles with a 3D patterned metallic finish, porridge oats, and two A6 pieces of brightly coloured fake grass.

Sensory Stepping Stones activity for children

On the second strip of blue material I placed two ceramic tiles finished with different 3D metallic patterns, A5 brightly coloured fake grass, A4 green fake grass, A5 piece of oak, several sticks we collected at the park the previous day, an orange acrylic tile, a mirror, cotton wool balls, a silicone Lego mould, silver plastic  wrapping, clear plastic packaging, and a large present bow.

Sensory Stepping Stones StepsI told my boys the blue strip of material was a river and they had to make their way safely across using all of the items as stepping stones. They loved this idea, and took their socks off straight away! It was such a good way to incorporate imaginative play into our activity.

Child walking over Sensory Stepping Stones

We spoke about the textures of the sensory stepping stones along the way, and  asked my boys what each one felt like. They walked along, ran along, tiptoed along, and crawled along. They used their feet and their hands to explore the textures.

Child walking in oats during Sensory Stepping Stones activity

The porridge oats stepping stone was a big hit. Both of my boys loved stepping into this, and wriggling their toes around. It soon turned to a game of ‘lets see how far we can kick these oats’! Boys will be boys!

Children creating Sensory Stepping Stones

After walking down the first strip several times my 4yo decided to rearrange the sensory stepping stones himself, and they both then walked up and down the arrangement several times, and then they crawled up and down it! This let them both practise their balancing skills too – they didn’t want to fall into the ‘water’!

Children walking on Sensory Stepping Stones

Children playing with Sensory Stepping Stones

My boys then moved onto the next strip of blue material. They loved stepping into the sticks, and they were even more delighted about them being the sticks they had collected at the park the day before. My 2yo loved standing on the plastic packaging and hearing it crunch under his feet – he loves anything that seems mischievous, and this certainly sounded it!

Ribbon on grass for Sensory Stepping Stones activity

The present bow sensory stepping stone was also very popular with my 2yo. He loved the feel of it on his feet and the crunching noise it made.

Cotton balls for Sensory Stepping Stones activity

As they made their way through the sensory stepping stones they then went back to explore each one. The cotton wool turned into ‘snow’, and then we had a snowball fight – initiated by my 4yo of course! A huge plastic T-Rex was placed onto the sticks sensory stepping stone, the pieces of wood were piled high, and the mirror was used to pull faces into!

We loved this activity, and would recommend sensory stepping stones to everybody with children. It is such a versatile activity in terms of setup too. It is also good for their senses, their balance, their agility, and their imaginative play – the possibilities are endless. And the best thing about this activity is that you can use anything you want for your sensory stepping stones – next time we are going to try an edible sensory stepping stones activity!

Give it a go!