Our favourite subscription boxes

Our favourite subscriptions

To extend my kids knowledge and their passion, I always signed up the kids to some sort of subscription. It's the perfect way to learn outside the box but also using a different perspective!

Our first ever subscription was First News, a newspaper aimed at kids. Laksha was in Year 1 but I think it's more aimed for children over 7. Although Lucky loved reading everything that was going around the world, I thought for a 6 year old, it was some heavy reading! However, it had some great articles and I enjoyed reading it too! So we'll definitely sign up again!

Mahi loves art and with my quest to find art classes nearby didn't bear any fruit, I looked for a subscription box. We tried mister maker since that where Mahi's passion for art started but it wasn't his cup of tea! It was a small box and not much to do! So the next one we tried was the toucan box which Mahi absolutely loved! He loves the colouring and the thing he had to do! This last box for example was making an old pirate map by crumpling paper and using tea bag to make it look old! This was a great way to relax and be stimulated after school instead of watching TV but we use this as son-and-mummy time! The first box is free and thereafter £5.95 depending on what box size you pick. There are 3 box sizes and I picked the middle one! It had a little activity book as well as 2 things to make and do! 

DeAgostini Dinosaurs and Friends is perfect for little dinosaur fans. It comes with a book and a free gift and reasonably priced! Mahi's face every time he receives his book is a delight to watch! The book is very colourful packed with lots of information and with a matching toy with it! You don't want to miss this!

As a busy family, we need time to just relax. I came across these 'Mindful Momsters' from Scope, a charity that support disabled people. For £7.50 a month, we receive a pack of cards with lots of things to do as a family! Each card has an activity from dancing crazy to meditating! We love these wonderful cards and it does wonder, especially after a long day at work/school!

Lucky's next subscription is Okido Magaizine! A magazine combining science and arts! We have just subscribed to it so can't wait to see what it holds!

The last but not the least is our favourite Mystery Time Box. This is to all little and big historians. Every time he box arrives, it's complete pandemonium with lots 'hoooos' and 'haaas'. There's a book about whatever era they are covering as wells booklet full of activities and something to make based on the era. The kid share the box as it's £15.95 per box so can't afford one for each. Lucky always refers back to the book when school covers the topic and the teachers always tells me that she's so knowledgeable when it comes to history! It definitely is our favourite subscription!

So yes, we love our subscriptions but it's the best way to learn for kids in a fun and interactive way! What are your favourite subscriptions?

Educating...my kids!

Education and schooling is a minefield and parents can get lost easily! How to cope and how to support your child best? I'm no expert but I here are stuff that I do that seems to work.

I print the curriculum from the government website for that year so I know what they are going to learn. For topics excepts Maths and English, I try to plan trips. When Lucky was learning about Sutton Hoo and their burial grounds,  I took her there to see it in person! When Mahi was learning about robots at his Lego class, I took him to the Imperial Festival, etc... I find that when kids can visualise what they've learnt, they learn it better!

For maths, I tend to print worksheets to help at home. Worksheets I use are K5learning,  mathworksheets.com. We also use lots of exercise books such as CGP, Bond papers for English and maths. For science, we do lots of experiments or visit museums where appropriate. Homework the school gives is not enough and I find that at parents evening, you always have to push the teacher to say what your child needs more work with! I started the worksheets when she's in year 

1 so now i know where she needs more help and more focus! Every morning before school,  they do some mental arithmetics work!  After school, they do the work I set however now that Lucky is in secondary school, she concentrates on her homework mainly and tells me the topics she struggles and we do more work together on those topics. This exercises I give them not only puts them ahead of what they are learning but it sets them up for the next year! 

When they were in nursery or reception, I  had a different set up! You really need to use your creativity to make learning fun! So it was using  arts and crafts, cooking  along with lots of reading!

I know it looks like hard work but i find that school education is not enough for our kids. As someone who has been to schools in different countries, I can tell you that UK ranks last! If we want our kids to succeed in the future, we need to support them at home. For me and the kids, these are the thing that work! It's hard work but nobody said parenting was easy!

#RememberingCharityWeek

#Rememberacharityweek

I'm an active volunteer/campaigner. I always volunteered since I was 14. Ta satisfaction you get from helping each other without expecting nothing in return is priceless. Whether it's translation or writing articles for the local community, I've always loved volunteering. However, my full on campaigning stared just 3 years ago! It seems like a long time ago but it has just been 3 years. In those 3 years, I've worked with some amazing charities. Here are the amazing charities I worked with:

1. Young Women's Trust - I know I go on and on about this charity but I won't stop praising it because it has opened so many doors for me and I was able to change the way my local community is shaped! YWT is here to help young women and mum who have been NEET ( not in education, employment or training). They offer some amazing services such as Working Out where you get a dedicated coach to help you on journey to work, education or training. More info here: https://www.youngwomenstrust.org. They've also got an advisory panel, was the best thing I've done! Not only did I meet other inspiring young women and mums on they bi-yearly residentials (all costs covered and children are always welcome), you get to help shape the charity's various campaigns! Yes! They want to hear our stories to guide them towards their next campaigns! Not only that, you get to attend important events such as going to Parliament and even the Queen's Garden Party and influence police-makers. It is them who encouraged me to talk to my local MP about how lives of young mums can be improved in Harrow touching on maternity and pregnancy discrimination too! My local MP not only put us in touch with the council to see how we can help the young mums to achieve their goals, he also introduced the subject of pregnancy and maternity discrimination to parliament and debated it! Which leads to my next charity....
2. EHRC (Equality and human rights committee) - through YWT, I attended EHRC's first meeting about maternity discrimination! I worked closely with them by raising my voice about my experience. I was also involved with the development of resources about this topic. One thing led to another and now I'm 1/5 of Young Mums Collectiv which is geared towards young mums to help them not only battle discrimination but provide them with support through online workshops which you can find here: http://www.youngmumscollective.com.Our group was unities by Joeli who runs Pregnant then Screwed, kicking maternity and pregnancy discrimination in its face ( http://www.PregnantThenScrewed.com). Because of all our combined campaigning, the government has now extended the time for new parents to take their employers to courts over pregnancy/maternity discrimination from 3months to 6months!!!
3. 4Children - now gone into administration, the charity gave me the voice to campaign about childcare costs! The first time I stepped into Parliament was because of this charity! I spoke in front of ministers, BBC and done a few radio interviews because of this charity. 2 years ago, i campaigned for increasing free childcare hours especially for working parents and from this year onwards, children aged 3-4 are entitled to 30hrs free childcare! 
4. Young Mum Support Network  (http://ymsn.co.uk) - this is the charity that really had me wanting to change what Harrow offers to young mums. The phenomenal lady behind this charity is Fiona Small. Based in South London, she does so much for young mums. There are so much to list but to name a few: internships with lloyds, lunch club, etc.... we are working together to deliver the similar things in Harrow! And Fiona is not done with all her exciting projects! 
5. Best Beginnings - this is a charity dedicated to support parents who have experienced mental illness before, during and after pregnancy! I joined the parent panel and contribute to various things such as reviewing videos, attending events (met the young Royals at their home for the launch of the Heads Together campaign) but also help promote and review the wonderful Baby BuddyApp which is an App developed to tackle mental illness by concentrating on guiding through the first few months of your baby's life! Seriously check it out even if you are not pregnant https://www.bestbeginnings.org.uk/baby-buddy
6. Mind - mental illness is such a huge taboo in the Tamil community. But I wanted to show that it's ok to talk openly about it! I met another inspirational lady, Rani Aunty from there Tamil Community Centre in Harrow. She guided me to Mind in Harrow who were looking for Tamil- speaking volunteers to deliver workshops! So with the help of the lead of the programme, we delivered workshops across Harrow mostly on Weekends during language schools! It was emotional to see the response and seeing people opening up about their issues! Its so good to see more people accepting mental illnesses!
7. Hope Harrow - a local charity which is very close to my heart as I was a trustee and then the Chair. This is a charity just for parents and provides courses on issues that will help parenting. It does wonderful work and training parents from all backgrounds to support parents from the same background! Can't wait to be trained as one too! http://www.hopeharrow.org.uk

These are my favourite charities who have helped me bring a better future for my children and future generations. Let's show them some love by keep supporting them. Donate or volunteer!

Kidtropolis

Advertised as the UK's best children's event, Kidtropolis is garnering a lot of attention! This is their 2nd year running and during the half-term. We were there last year and here's everything you need to know!

1. Timings - there's a morning and afternoon session lasting 4h30 which looks like enough time. But alas, it's not! Last time, we had to queue 1h for just 1 attraction. Thankfully they kept the kids entertained during the wait but that leaves you with just 3h30 for the rest which, let me tell you, isn't enough!
2. Attractions - I thought they was going to be a hall full of attractions but it wasn't. Although the few they had was good, my kids expectations or mine were not met! It was more of a toy fair then full-on kids events. Some of the attractions started to close early so I'll recommend going to the morning session if you can.
3. Tickets - the tickets are reasonably priced. I won our tickets through a twitter competition and if you follow their page, I'm sure you can be lucky too. And you'll get prizes too! 
4. Stage show - we wanted to see a few show but by the time we finished queuing for some of the stuff, the people we wanted to see were gone! However, they have a great line-up of stage shows.

So what did the kids think? They were disappointed to say the least as they wanted to do more fun stuff but we couldn't go to all because we only had 4h30 and the queues were terrible. They also expected a full-on kids oriented activities and less stalls! My tips: take another adult with you- it was just me and my kids so I had to queue and the kids couldn't go to any neighbouring stalls as they needed parents to supervise!  If I had someone else, the kids would have done more I think while I queue! Don't raise your kids expectations! Try and enjoy the moment! My time was spent stressing and running around to make sure the kids made the most of it! 

I hope this helps to make an informed decision! It was an experience but we wouldn't be going again! 

The world of Lego

With a new TV show especially dedicated to lego creations (Lego Masters on Chanel 4 every Thursday at 8pm),  Mahi's craziness about lego has gone 1 notch higher! With his birthday coming up, I think we'll have a mini lego store! That's how many legos he has asked for his birthday! So if your little one is crazy about Legos, here's where you could take them to see or do amazing Lego creations!

1. Bricklive - this is a huge annual exhibition that tours around the country where there's just lego! Lego creations, Lego play stations, Lego games, Lego everything!! My kids had such a blast and literally one of the best exhibitions we had! We spent the whole day there as there was so much to do and see! Go for it! A best parent reward is definitely awaiting you!
2. Art of the Brick - this is one is located in London and is closing soon. It is dedicated to the DC comic characters and it is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!! Although small, your kids will be in awe. Once you finish it, there's a play station for your kids to get their creative gear on! Seriously, go to it!
3. Lego stores- I know it seems obvious but Lego stores have events going on too! You can sign up for newsletters to see what's going on! The right environment to get their Lego creative hats on! And the staff are so lovely and knowledgable!
4. My local library runs Lego sessions too but these are from 8 years upwards so you might want to check your local library. If your child is younger but has a passion for Lego classes, there are private Lego sessions which Mahi goes to and loves! It's called E2 engineers where they use legos to teach the principles of physics and engineering! Mahi's creations at this class have been exceptional! I get so excited when picking him up to see what he has created at that session! It is expensive but if your child has a love for it then it's completely worth it!

That's what we've been doing but always on the lookout for new lego events so will keep updating this blog as we come across it!

Have fun creating!

Adventures in wonderland

We have been trying to go to this show for 3months and finally went last Sunday morning! The kids, especially Mahi loves Alice (well, the Mad Hatter more precisely) and this performance promised to be weird, just like the story so I've booked in through littlebird who had a deal! It costs all 3 of us £60. The performance are seperated into age: children (5-12), teen (13+) and adults!

The show didn't disappoint the kids or me! It was very weird and enchanting! A huge well done to the set designers! Each room was magical and each character was well played! 

It was extremely interactive and funny! The tea party was the highlight for me and I have no idea how the 1hr just flew by! We even had the Queen of Hearts jam tarts and didn't lose our head! 

After the show, we were able to play croquet and get our own personalised gifs made in the photo booth! The place also serves food. Take a look at our gifs here: 

http://smplbth.co/8GnePKM 

http://smplbth.co/39MNr6Y 

http://smplbth.co/FMeLHUa 

We loved it so much and if you like strange and wonderful stuff, go see it!

Cassiobury Farm

Cassiobury Farm

On a beautiful sunny Saturday, we thought we'll go visit this farm on their open days in one our favourite parks! Situated at one end of cassiobury park in Watford, Hertfordshire, I was amazed by this farm! It's a gem! It says farm but you could also call it a mini zoo! For just £12 for the 3 of us (we'll under 5s were free so Didn't buy any tickets for Mahi), there was so much to do and see. 

The mini zoo itself had lots of exotic animals from flamingos to wallabies! The kids wouldn't stop ash-ing and ooh-ing!Not only that but if you follow the path form the beginning, the animals are well spaced out meaning you are not missing  any animals and take in the beautiful little lakes and sceneries! We even discovered new animals!

There were some added activities such as bouncy castle (free), face painting (£4) and fishing (£2.50). The kids wanted to try fishing and the lake has plenty of them. We saw a few being caught but as we were approaching the evening, the kids didn't catch any but there were patient and ticked it off their bucket list. We had a coach who taught the kids the equipment and how to catch fishes. The kids couldn't wait to touch the wriggling maggots! If you want to go fishing, go in the morning as that's when things are quieter! So it was a fun experience but don't think the kids want to do fishing!

There were little tractors and diggers spaces around so for a while the kids just rode them! There's also food which smelt delicious and priced reasonably. We didn't eat anything though!

As there's lots of open water areas, so do take care of the children! Take cash with you! Unfortunately, they only open in the summer and are now closed so keep your eyes peeled on their website to see when their open days are. But seriously worth your money! Found it better than the London zoo!

Back to school!

The kids are back to school/nursery tomorrow! Well Mahi doesn't start big school until the 18th so he'll still be going to nursery until then. Nevertheless, back to school means back to school.

The kids are always ready but I never am! Another year goes by meaning they are growing up! I have no idea what this new school year is going to bring but I'm physically ready, emotionally not yet!

So how to prep kids and yourself for back to school. Tips coming your way:

1. Get uniform and bags ready the day before. It means less running around  and panicking on the morning looking for things or lack of!
2. Doing homework a couple of days beforehand and NOT the night before. That way it is less stressful for your child and you. Plus, it also preparing your child with better organisational skills.
3. Even during holidays my kids were studying. For just 3 days so their brain doesn't go all mushy and don't struggle back to school! Continue that throughout the school year! Sunday is our only day where we have no studying. Since they are still young and don't get much homework, the kids have 30-45mins studying sessions in evening. 10mins for Mahi since he's preschool!
4. I always print the curriculum for whatever year they go into so I know what to expect and prepare them accordingly. I print any free worksheets that could help them as school curriculum is not enough to get them ready for the future. And with Laksha, we want her to take 11+ exams so we can't rely on the school prepping her for it at all!
5. Printing the curriculum is also handy when you plan any dad out. With Laksha, the days out I plan depends on what she covers at school. Las year she covered the Great Fire of London and so planned a trip to the museum of London just for that! She wa learning about Henry the 8th and so off we went to Hampton Court Palace. Small trips like this enforces the learning and is a fun way to learn for the kids!
6. Talk to your children after school. How was it? What did they learn? What did they play with their friends? Don't ask them the same questions every day because the answer is going to be 'fine'. With Laksha, she loves to write on a whiteboard about her day. So I tell her to teach me what she learned and it works.

I know time is of essence especially when you are a working parent and these tips look time-consuming! But these are your kids! The time you spend with them is essential! Parenting not easy and time-consuming but investing time is crucial for them! 

Good luck and may the force be with you!

England's Medieval Festival

As you know if you read some of previous blogs and tweets, Lucky loves history so when I came across the England's Medieval Festival on the internet, I had to go! It is a 3 day festival in the middle of East Sussex in a castle called Hertsmonceux Castle. Built in the 15th century, it apparently 'embodies the medieval age.' You can also visit for the day there or stay for 2/3nights. If you are staying overnight, you can camp, stay at a local inn or even reside at the castle! We went just for the day and for me and Lucky (under 5's were free so Mahi had no tickets) it was £25 altogether. It's cheaper when you book in advance and you can go any day! The train was from London Victoria and cost us £35 with return. The nearest station is Polegate and then there's a special shuttle bus (you need to buy tickets) that goes straight to the castle! The train journey took us 1h30 and the bus ride 20mins. However, there's plenty of parking so if you prefer to drive, it's easier!

The castle is situated on a beautiful scenic village! I loved to see all the green around me with just land around me. The castle itself is small with a nice little garden. The castle used to joke the Royal Observatory. 

The festival itself was really good! I think you can fit it it all in a day but if you don't want to rush, then 2 days will be more than enough. We didn't rush but as we forgot to bring cash, we didn't do a lot of activities unfortunately so finished quite early but there was still a lot to do and see for free. 

The atmosphere was great. Traders, who were there for the whole 3 days, actually dressed and lived like in medieval times! It was so eye opening to se Ethan carrying out their day-to-day living medieval style. Laksha now thinks the current century we live in is so uncool! She 'likes the simpler times' 😂 

We first settled on relaxing from our long journey and seeing the knights in training. From jousting to sword fighting, Mahi was in his element. We then saw workshops on how they used to do jewellery, sword fight training, games they used to play, arrow making,  flower crown making, calligraphy, medicines and potions. We also made our own spear and necklace out of wood! We were dancing to the beautiful music ( well I danced to be more precise and embarrassed the kids, it was reported)! 

There's a demonstration of a castle siege both in the morning and in the afternoon. He kids loved to see first hand how sieges happen. We real trebuchers and canons firing and knights fighting, I was really enjoying this too!

And least but not least, we saw a small play but not performed on a stage! Oh no, it was performed in the mud and it got very, very muddy!!! With lots of interactions with the crowd, I think seeing plays on a stage will become boring! There was flying mud too so if you don't want to become dirty sit at the back! But we like to get very involved so we sat right at the front and got splashed of mud! But Lucky  got the muddiest since she hugged one of the performers who was covered in mud! Whatever made her happy! 

We were exhausted by the end of it but loved every moment of it. The kids learned new things while having fun and I had a great time too. Next time, I'll take lots of dosh and pack us a nice picnic and have a bigger blast!