Making the most of Halloween in 2020

 I know it's been 2 weeks since Halloween ended but I thought that everything that I tried to make happen needs to be documented and that I tried to keep things as normal as possible in a pandemic.

Usually, on Halloween, we go around our neighbourhood and go trick-treating with friends which is the highlight of Halloween! The whole month of October, we go to various Halloween related events and get in the mood. We also do a lot of arts and crafts and decorate our home with it.

This year, we did the crafts and decoration but couldn't do much else. We did go Flip-Out for some scary jumping, The London Tombs again to be chased by psychos and on a Ghost bus Tour which was very informative and funny! But we couldn't trick-or-treat so I had to improvise. Thankfully, we now moved to a house with a lot fo space which means more hiding places. This gave me a wicked idea. What about a spooky sweet hunt around the house!!! I do this every Easter so I had clues to recycle and created more clues. As the days went by, my idea of a hunt became more and more bigger. 

Why not start the hunt with the kids beating a piñata which had some clues? So we made home-made pinatas, thanks to Pinterest for ideas and instructions, which were much more easier to make than I thought.

I'm also on this wonderful group on facebook called 'Housebound with Kids' where parents share a lot of thing including arts and crafts ideas. So with the help of this group, I made mystery box which basically was Amazon boxes with a square cut in the middle. In the mystery box, the clues where hidden in terrible things which the kids didn't know. I filled a bowl with orbeez, spaghetti loops and olives. The kids face was a delight!

We had to take our dinner in between as the hunt took longer than expected. We had dinner  by candlelight where we switched off all the lights. It was quite an experience! The final clues were in  a cream pie which the kids had to get to with using only their mouth! It was very messy but the shrieks of laughter from all of us was great!

The kids dressed up as Snappy from Goosebumps and a dead Indian bride. We also did introduction videos for each one of them! It was really spooky and innovative!

2.5hours later we were exhausted ad ready for bed but i was glad that the pandemic didn't affect our favourite time of the year. The kids even thanked me for delivering a fun Halloween night and how they can't wait for next year's halloween!

Traditions

 As Deepavali is upon us, I thought it'll be a great time to talk about our family traditions. This inspiration came from a fantastic book I read called 'The Happiness Project' by Gretchen Rubin which inspired me a lot to do a a number of things especially to collect memories. You'll see a lot of reference to this amazing book in my blog from now on.

What urged me to create blog is because I love writing but this is also my way of venting, sharing and basically being 'book' for my kids to look back on their memories, should I not be here for them to remember things (I know a bit morbid but in my line of work, there's not a day that goes by, where the fragility of life is reminded everyday).

Anyways, so while I was reading 'The Happiness Project' , I loved the passages about traditions personalised to our families. It made me think... what traditions do we have? To my shock, I couldn't remember much! I have failed as a parent was my first thought! What kind of loving, happy environment am i providing that all i can remember as family tradition is the deep cleaning every 1st of the month and watching a Tamil movie during the weekend. 

But then I remembered that I have 2 guinea pigs, which I'm trialling my parenting skills on, who I can ask those questions. To my utter surprise and pride, my kids rolled out a list of our uniques family traditions. How we celebrate all important religious dates as one, regardless of what religions. Our New Year Eve tradition of wearing new pyjamas, making home-made crafts for everything and decorating our home with these and much more (I can't reveal our family secrets).

This exercise was enough to make me confident as a parent and that I'm providing them with a warm environment where we are all creating happy memories and traditions! 

A lockdown too late!

 A 4 week lockdown has been announced in England over the weekend! I knew it was going to happen with all the covidiots roaming around and useless governments 'initiatives' but it came a little too late.

Just a warning that you may not agree with everything I have to say but would happily have a healthy discussion but no abuse please!

I knew a  lockdown was going to come when the 'Eat out to help out' scheme was announced when we still had the virus chasing us over summer! And the cherry on the top is when the PM accused the public for spreading the virus by using the scheme! Hahahaha! As I drove past restaurants from Monday to Wednesday, the queue were astonishing! But there were in nowhere longer than the ones I saw outside pubs at 5pm when the government announced that pubs need to close by 10pm. So not only have I had to weave through overcrowding on pavements, with most people in the queues with no masks or/and not socially-distancing, after work (not mentioning people getting drunk much more earlier), I've had people at 10pm still very drunk on the pavements and roads, disturbing the neighbourhood and helping spread the virus even more! But guess what, we still helped local businesses at the expense of our health! So it is a totally win-win situation for us.

We had a very expensive track and trace app developed and promoted as a big breakthrough to tackle the pandemic. However, it failed.... miserably. I still don't know what the point of it is to be honest. The biggest joke of it is that we are still paying towards it!!!!!!!! 

As someone working in the NHS, staff had to have weekly swabs. Although I personally hated being swabbed (bad gag-reflex), I did it for the safety of my patients and my family. But guess what, mid September came and staff testing couldn’t be done regularly anymore because there wasn’t enough testing kits! We are paying millions towards an app that doesn’t work but we don’t have enough money on buying more swabs! Ouch! 

Schools reopening. My kids and me were relieved when they went back to school. Not for the education but more for their overall wellbeing! When I said another lockdown was going to happen, my daughter said that she couldn’t deal with another 6months at home! Although as a working parent, I was half and half about them going back to school but I’ll do whatever to make my kids happy so I was happy that schools are remaining open. But parents making pick up/drop offs twice a day, how is that going to help with transmission rates? Also unis. Why are uni remaining open when all their lectures are mostly done online?? Isn’t it safer to send uni students at halls back home? Imagine students, unable to go home, stuck in their flat?! I’m thinking illegals rave parties and a great breeding ground for the virus! 

For nearly 5 years now, I've been wondering how I would, hell, how my kids would have made better decision/policy-makers than the cloys we currently have in the circus that we call a government. They could have prevented this lockdown by being proactive. They could have prevented this lockdown by using their brains. They could have prevented this if they cared about us. Ours did things for the sake of doing it! The government doesn’t give a hoot about us and who’s going to pay for it??!! 

Brighton

 This year, we didn't have a shortage of beautiful hot summer days. We only went for a day trip with a friend. The trains were surprisingly quiet (we did go midweek so that could explain why). 

We had planned a heavy day to fit it all in in a day. Our first stop what the Sea Life Centre. I thought it was smaller than the London ones but it had everything the kids wanted to see. It was a beautiful setting too located in an old building. Some exhibitions were closed due to covid but it was still great.

When it got to midday, we jumped in the waters. Well the kids did and I took a break from swimming. We spent a good 2 hours on the seaside before we got lunch from a local chippies on the seafront.  

To burn off all those calories from lunch, we walked to the Toy museum, located below Brighton station. It was a cute little museum with entry prices in the single-digits. they had a trail going on which made it more exciting. Our favourite part was the puppet section which was beautifully set. They also had a nice section with model  trains. It was a nice walk down memory lane too recognising toys i used to play with as a child. 

We then headed back to the pier via the iconic Royal Pavillion. Unfortunately it was under construction so didn't see it in all its glory but your can still admire the building. Back at the seafront, we splashed around to cool ourselves down after the good touristy walk. 

We ended the day by going on the rides on the pier. I bought advance tickets online a couple fo days before as it was cheaper and it was an all access ticket. we did most of rides twice and some where really cool especially the rollercoasters right at the end of the pier as it felt like we were going to fall in the water. We did some rides twice too as it wasn't busy at all. 

We had an exhausting but fun day in Brighton! A perfect day trip!

Fruit Picking

A perfect playdate opportunity during the summer without being closed off within 4 walls. With friends, we spent a great afternoon chasing kids through sweetcorn crops and trying to stop the kids from eating all the fruits. We went fruit picking at Parkside Farm in Enfield. Due to the coronavirus, we had to pre-book online but the slots only open  days before and they were flying like hot cakes. The entrance fees are not expensive and the cost of it will be taken off your final bill after you picked your fruits.

A whole afternoon wasn't enough to be honest but due to restrictions, we couldn't spend a whole day there. The time we went, most of the crops were ready to be picked and boy, did we pick a lot. I didn't buy any fruits or vegetables for about 2 weeks from the supermarket. There were a wide range of fruits and vegetables to pick from. We had 4 excited kids running and playing across the crops including cheekily hiding and putting fruits right in their mouths instead of in the basket!!! They loved picking crops with lots of instructions on how to pick different fruits/vegetables best. 

The prices were so cheap compared to the supermarket prices.

We rounded the day with having ice cream from the shop and relaxing after a heavy day of being a fruit picker!

Hobbledown Farm

 I came across this adventure park/farm in Epsom randomly through browsing a website. Looked like some much needed active fun we wanted to shake off the lockdown blues. 

Not far away from London, the farm wasn't busy which was good to know. We first headed to the mini farm/zoo to see the various animals including meerkats, peacocks, wallabies, etc.... The farm lead us to the massive adventure playgroup with lots of wood houses and big slides. I couldn't resist the kids having all the fun so i joined in and god wha a work it was. I'm glad that despite me putting some kilos on, i still fit i those small tunnels and holes. It was so much fun running after the kids chasing them up and down those gigantic wooden houses. 

To catch our breath, we then headed for the bouncy mat which was fun. My kids have decided that there weren't done chasing me around so hey chased me around the bunny mat too which again was excellent exercise ti get rid off my belly fat. 

There was another play area where kids got to dig for gold and another play area with dragons and what looked like fairy houses which I couldn't climb into, much to my dismay.

There was a maze which was fun to run around in and the kids had a dizzying time in the zorbs!

We ended the day by doing a Go-ape obstacle course. While Mahi completed the course like a pro he is, i fell, much to my kids amusement, half way through and had to be rescued. It's ok, i still zip lined like a superhero!

A day trip to Margate

 On an extremely hot day in August, we decided to travel down to a beach. We wanted to go somewhere we never been before and not too far from London. We therefore picked Margate. I know, the news kept saying how busy it was however we went there bright and early around 11am and there was no-one so we picked the best place and made our territory so we could socially distance! Unfortunately, Dreamland wasn't open so not ride for us this time.

I didn't know there was a swimming pond right next to the sea which was very convenient for when I just wanted to read a book. Once we settled in, we went to dip our toes. It was full of seaweed and algae which rather put me off swimming in the water but that didn't deter the kids. Once the kids pulled me through the algae and seated, the water was so refreshing and clean in the hot weather. 

We needed  a break from the sea so we headed for lunch and the seashell grotto. The grotto was small but stunning. The grotto was made entirely of shells with a bit of history to it too. It was reasonably priced and not too far away from the seafront. The gift shop wasn't like any other gift shops with quite nice and rare gifts.

We then returned back to our place which became quite full however since we had our borders, nobody was close to us. We spent the rest of the afternoon in and out of the water and before we knew it, it was time to go home.

It was a day well spent!

Post summer holidays blues

As we say goodbye to the last summer day and the family has got back to the school routine, it is a great time to look back but at our summer holidays.

Lucky went back to school just the last week before school broke up. This was her year 6 graduation and sending off week and me or her wanted to save whatever we could from her last week in primary school before she goes to big school! I have to say that since there wasn't many students, my fears of sending Lucky back to school were calmed down. It was easy to socially distance and with different entries and exits for the other 2 year groups. Anyways, Lucky had a wonderful last week. They had a socially distance class party and a more socially-distanced graduation party. I wasn't too pleased about the people who received the awards but very proud of how much my little 11year old achieved in her primary school years including being a rights ranger, campaigning about anti-bullying, being a sports captain, always being called for different sporting events, many concerts and more importantly being there for everyone! She won the best friend award and how true is the?1 i'm so proud of the human i created. It was quite an emotional farewell saying goodbye to all my mummy friends. 7 years of supporting each other through all our different issues.... What a journey it has been.

The summer also meant we moved out to a bigger property at another borough meaning the kids needed to change school. That bought on  a whole kind of nightmare i wasn't ready for but we have finally settled in.  Literally, if you decide to move to a whole other area, make sure you do it before you kids start any schools!!! Settling in is so tough. I hate moving and everything that comes with it.

We also went away for short trips in August which I will detail in separate blog posts.

My school shop was so expensive this year what with Lucky starting school and buying several types of uniform since the turnaround for the schools was so high! However, the kids are so happy to go back to school and be social butterflies again. I was a bit apprehensive as I didn't want to deal with school runs, bedtime routines and classes. I also was still undecided about  whether to send kids back to school or not with being unsure whether it was safe or not knowing the'll be a surge in cases. However, the kids wanted to go back to school to see friends and interacting again with their age group kids. Both have now started new schools nearby. Lucky hates hers (for the moment) and today was Mahi's first day so I won't know how his day went for another hour or so. 

Fingers crossed for the new term and a mess-free academic year!

Start to Mid June 2020

I have no idea where time goes but here we are in the middle of June. Lucky's Year 6 group is going back next week and I'm still not sending her in.

So what has happened in our lives now?

Our entertainment involved the following:

1. Building an outdoor den which is used as a chillout one for the kids to read and draw.

2. We made an adventure play area inside. We made a big inside den and made a maze out of ribbon so the kids had to go through ribbons to escape the horrors of a jungle. This kept the kids busy and active the whole afternoon/evening and I didn't even see the time pass. I was the danger creator so was making their stay in 'the jungle' more dangerous by throwing water, having snakes roaming around and throwing obstacles at them. It was a tough journey to survive for the kids.

3. The kids had their first playdate with her neighbour where they went to the park. Thye were overjoyed by this.

4. More dance battles which I obviously won.

5. We also made lots of animation videos using Lucky's animation kit. Since it was D-DAY.  the kids animated their own version of D-DAY by using Disney Princesses dolls we had.  Lucky was the doctor while me and Mahi were the actors. 

6. We also made squishies and stress balls. All we needed was cornflour, balloons and water.

7. We visited the maternal grandparents for the first time since the lockdown.
8. We tried pendulum painting but it has failed miserably. We tried with a cardboard and the flow of the paint wasn’t enough to create a painting. We’ll be trying again with LEGO. Wish ya luck!

In our homeschooling curriculum, we made it very topical with everything going on:

1. D-Day - we learnt about the important of the date and like i said above we made an animation video. We used this day to also learn about Winston Churchill and France as a country and it's features.

2.  UK - I thought this will be a pretty good time to learn all about the UK and its countries. The kids were also asked to write  list of places they wanted to visit when we travel to the countries.

6. #BlackLivesMatter - With the murder of George Floyd and all the protests happening, we learnt about systematic racism and police brutality including the Stephen Lawrence, Sarah Reed amd Shukri Abdi cases. We are also learning about important  black activists that stood against anti-racism. We are reacting speeches from Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. The kids had a lot of questions which lead to an hour discussion about how they be better human beings and how to deal with these issues if they come across such a situation. This is why I love homeschooling. Because you can teach things that schools won't teach but it is vital to our growth and thinking.

I hope you are keeping well and safe.

To send or not to send them back to school?

It was announced that kids is reception, year 1 and year 6 will go back to school this week.

Our school was meant to reopen on Tuesday but there were not ready so they are opening next week. Mahi doesn't fall in the year groups but Lucky is. Her start date is 22.6.2020 with half of the year group in the class for a week only.  I have come to the conclusion, as the situation stands, not to see Lucky in.

With the lockdown eased off now, I'm worried about a second wave especially with the number of deaths still so high compared to the rest of Europe. I also don't know how they are going to teach social distancing with reception and year 1. It is Lucky's last year in primary school and she is desperate to see her teachers and friends but for just a week and half of her class, is this worth it? They definetely won't be learning anything but it'll do good for Lucky to get out and see her friends. The other thing will be that drop in times will be 10am which is inconvenient for us to drop her.

I'm still in 2 minds. I'll see how the situation gets in 3 weeks time and decide. She won't get a graduation, activity week and trips or a final year party and this is not the way I wanted her to finish her primary school. Given the circumstances, will letting her go even for a week to say goodbye, be bad?

Confusion all around.

Week number???? (Mid May to June)

I've lost count of week numbers so I have decided to just name the month.  

Since, I last wrote, there was another birthday in lockdown and we are trying to create a new normal with all these government announcements.

We have upgraded to to long walks and during the bank holiday weekend, did such big walks ending up a few towns away and my son nearly disowning me but I love those walks! It helps us discover the area but gives us so much time to talk about everything and anything. The weather has been lush and discovered some hidden gems in our area and neighbouring areas.

We've had our first McDonald's a few days ago. Yes, it deserves a special place in my blog and a dedicated paragraph. The smell and texture. Oh God, it was such a beautiful moment where we spent a few seconds just admiring our burgers. It was so delicious too after so many months.

In terms of studying, our special topics were to learn about the North Sri Lankan history and learning about key freedom fighters and our national heroes. It was quite nice to see how much my kids have taught me about events and people I didn't know. Don't you love when your kids teach you things? They even wrote in Tamil or tried to. It was so sweet! Mahi has started his art class over zoom too which is missed enormously. The school has also made arrangements for children to see their teachers. Mahi had his tongue tied as it has been so  long since he's seen his teacher but it was so nice to see his teacher and just touch base.

On the entertainment side, we are trying to learn to ride a bike without stabilisers. We had our own adventure land including a laser beam maze. Lucky had her birthday party which was a nice day actually. I invited all her friends over zoom and did plenty of games over it such as dumb charades with books and movies and pictionary. This took place over a whole afternoon but it was such a sweet moment to know that her friends made the effort to also make Lucky's day special. The kids are killing their plants through lack of care. We are still building our library.It is so intricate. We made Lego Ninjago viewfinders and did a story with it. It only works in the dark. All we need to make a viewfinder was cling film, toilet paper roll, a torchlight and drawing characters. 

In therms of me, I started to document all the books I wrote which is a nice little project and see how much I read. I also made more earrings. That's all I had time to do over the last few weeks.

Stay safe

Quarantine diary week 4- week 7

The last couple of weeks have just been a blur and not knowing how the time flies. I've been working 6 days a week now therefore trying to fit it all in 1 day. When I mean all, I mean cleaning the house top to bottom, correcting the kids work and sitting with them to go over things they didn't understand and spending time with them.


The kids have been quite upset they can't see me as much but they are being rockstars. They pull their weight around the house and can do house chores for me so I don't have to spend much time on cleaning. I do some basic cleaning during the week like dusting, vacuuming and laundry. Cooking seems to be nonstop. In the morning, before work, i cook lunch for everyone and once I come home from work, after my shower, I'm going straight in the kitchen to cook dinner because if I ever sit without doing the necessary, I'm not getting up from that sofa because I'll be too exhausted to get up.

Anyways, after work, on warm days, we go out for our long walks and we love finding out hidden paths and corners of our borough. The kids have been baking and cooking more which has become a favourite past time of theirs. We've done colouring and have been followinghttps://www.redtedart.com to do more arts and crafts. We came across a super cool pokemon evolution kaleidoscope which Mahi can't get enough. I had to involve my colleague though for the origami part as i'm so bad with it.  Lucky has found a new interest in testing my dancing skills and so battling with her has been exhausting but at least I'm keeping myself active.

For my wellbeing, I've been heavily invested in both Money Heist (what the hell was that last season's ending?!!!) and now Breaking Bad. This means I had no time for my other hobbies such as jewellery making. I'm also reading non-stop and finished 3 books in 3 weeks.  After work, me and the kids have been spending time together by building our mini library. It is coming along nicely, i have to say.

On the studying side and with a few key celebrities happening, the kids have been learning about other cultures. It was Vaisakhi so the kids learnt about Sikhism and came up with a extremely good rap about the Gudwara and had fun recreating Punjabi dancing (i've given up after a few minutes!). Since it is Ramadan, the kids have been learning about Islam and are observing 21 days of kindness too which is one of the key elements of Ramadan. It was also VE day so the kids baked VE day cupcakes and decorated the house with bunting. All thanks to Twinkl for providing me with plenty of resources for the kids to expand their knowledge.

Keep up the good work everyone!

Where's the time going?

When they announced the lockdown, I panicked thinking that staying at home for 4 days will drive me mad. But I also forgot that I am a mum and therefore whether it's lockdown or not, I'm still going to be busy. But I didn't expect the time to go so quickly!!!!!!

The days I go to work, I wake up at 6, cook, set the timetable for the kids for the day and leave by 7.30am. I usually come back by 5.30-6. By the time, I have a shower and cook, it's nearly 7. Then i spend 30mins with the kids to play or do whatever they want, do our pe with Joe Wicks and then dinner. Kids then watch TV while I go to bed.

On the days I'm home, I was up at 8-9am make breakfast for everyone, settle the kids in for their studying and work until I cook for lunch around 12.30/1pm.  After we have lunch, we do our cleaning chores and tidying up and until its time to cook dinner, we play games, do our individual activities or arts and crafts. During individual activities, I usually set myself some tasks like boring tidying up under beds, wardrobes, ironing, etc... Or, I have been doing  more painting, sewing, reading, designing my earrings, etc... We also manage to fit in movies in between everything and a walk outside if the weather is good. So as you see, the time flies. For us, mums time never stops unfortunately, There's always something to do even in a lockdown!!!

Quarantine diary - Easter week (week 3)

Happy Easter Guys!!!! God, it came and went so quickly though. It is also week 3 of lockdown and it has just been announced that the lockdown is going to be extended for another 3 weeks so Lucky's broody will be sent indoors. Any birthday ideas indoors will be greatly appreciated ('I'm thinking of doing a zoom party with her friends and playing party games).

Anyway, I've still got time to think and plan it accordingly. So what have we been doing the last week  on top of the usual studying (I love twinkle so much) and working.

Since it was Easter, I downloaded lots of resources on Easter and put on a final play of the Easter story and how it is celebrated around the world. On top of that, we did the following:

•  Easter Egg Hunt- i used some great riddles from Frugal Fun for boys and girls so the kids can find their eggs. A good 45minutes was spent
• We built and decorated a pirate ship and castle from cardboard so the kids have been using them as their reading space and playing too
• I invested in some seed bombs from Aamazon. Kids have planted them and now looking after them
• Lucky has been doing some knitting while Mahi took part in more online art competitions
• During the weekend, we watched a musical on the Youtube Channel 'The Show Must Go on'. They were streaming Jesus Christ, Superstar. To be honest with you we got quite bored of it.  But every Friday, they release a new musical which will be available to watch for the rest of the weekend therefore we will be revisiting the channel every friday to see what's on.
• I also bought some glowsticks from Amazon and did some dancing with them. We practised the whole day to put on a show in the night time. It was so much fun.
• Baking- more baking was done. This time it was a red velvet cake from the kids.
• We had animal guests visiting our homes. You can google animals and press 3d view for them to appear at your home and take pictures with them. Again a few hours of fun! I had a great time too.
• We have written some letters to our local cafe homes and drew them colourful pictures to give them some company in these tough times. Hopefully they’ll reply and become our own pals.
• We have been doing online cooking classes - we are following the Kids's Kitchen on Saturday mornings. Nicole will email us the ingredients we need the week before so we are all prepared.
• Captain Fantastic on Facebook is also very good in keeping un entertained if I need a helping hand.

I hope you are all staying safe.

Quarantine diary - week 1 and 2

2 weeks under lockdown has gone. The toll on they kids can be seen. They miss going outside (the balcony doesn't count!). I don't take them out at all because it's too risky. With both me and husband being key workers, I'm worried that they are already exposed as they are and don't want to take any risks. 

But we are managing. Kids are following through the timetable and juggling both work and homeschooling seems to be going fine (touchwood). Except from studying, the kids have been cooking proper dinners (sometimes dinner is ready when I come home work), they are becoming responsible around the house by tidying after them more than before ( although we still have a long way to go) and we are spending more time together. There's no rush to be anywhere. There's no pressure to do certain things on certain days. Time has slowed and we are enjoying our time as a family more. 

What have we been doing except studying?:

• Food survey - the kids raided the kitchen and worked together to come up with the types of food we have and made a very impressive presentation including tally and pie charts, bar graphs and pictures. This tied up with what they were learning at school in science. It also involved ICT and maths skills
• Museum project - I'm quite excited about this one and see what the kids come up. This is a long term project. They have to design and build their own museum. They are so involved  in it, its amazing to hear the facts being thrown at you. i can't wait to see the end product.
• We made our own sand using 8 cups of plain flour and 1 cup of baby oil so Mahi was more excited to play with sand
• Chalk art - we coloured our brick wall with chalk and left positive messages
• British Science Week - since it was British science week last week, we did an experiment. It was very easy and simple. A test to see who was a super taster (i.e detect bitter tastes better). You have to coat 1/3 of your tongue with food colouring and using a hole-punched paper, put it on your tongue and count how many taste buds you can see in the hole. For the results, go to british science week website to download activity packs! Lucky has been research about Tamil women who achieved something in their STEM jobs.
• Since Easter is upon us, we have been putting up some play of the events leading up to Easter. Its great to see their creativity coming through. We also made easter chicks made up of eggs cartoons. The idea is to fill some with chocolate and use it for my easter egg hunt.
• Advertisements - Mahi came with a brilliant idea to make ads. So he came up with a product and along with this sister made a very funny ad to promote his 'Godzilla Energy Drink'.
• We had movie nights inside our home-made tent.
• I taught them how to basic stitching and seeing buttons.
• Mahi has trouble tying his shoelaces and so I taught him. Laksha has trouble braiding her own hair so I've been helping her with that
• Art - i mean ignoring the fact that Mahi draws every single second he is free, they also do paint by numbers. Noel Fielding does #noelsartclub on twitter every saturday between 3-5 asking everyone to draw based on a theme he picks. Mahi was so thrilled to see his drawing on twitter and people liking, retweeting and commenting on it!

For my entertainment because if Mummy is not looked after then the world will fall apart :

• Learning new hairstyles. When Lucky was younger, I loved doing her hair. But then since school run and weekend has become so hectic with 2 kids, i've never had time to try out new hairstyles.
• Watching more movies and series
• Talking with friends and families
• Repairing earrings that I needed some love and saying a very hard goodbye to others

I hope you are surviving and used to the new 'normal'.

Homeschooling while working

The first week of homeschooling is nearly coming to an end. How did it all go for me?  I am a key worker but allowed to work 2 days a week from home so I'm currently writing this blog from home supervising the kids doing their 'walking to school' routine before their start their 'school' day. My husband is also a key worker but works at nights.

But how did I manage both homeschooling and working? How am I coping? Is it actually working?

They announced school closures last Wednesday. I initially was relieved that finally they have announced the school closing. However, the school said it could be until the next school term, my heart fell. I had to homeschool them and can't take them out!!!!!!!! Poor me and poor kids! After, silently raging at another hurdle that life has thrown at me (why can't my life be easy.) I'm a big girl so I wiped my tears and went to full on action mode. I went through the curriculum again and correlated it with what the kids were learning at school to design my own curriculum. This includes learning life skills and other things that school don't teach much but are relevant to life. 

How did I create our curriculum? I used the national curriculum framework on the government website and the learning resources uploaded on the kids's school website to draw a new curriculum from scratch.  I already have workbooks so drew inspiration from them. Thanks to twitter, I then came upon lots of free resources to make it more fun for the kids. The resources I used where:

• twinkl (use UKTWINKLHELPS to get 1 month free)
• K5 learning
• Primary resources
• Scholastic
• PuffinSchool
• Khan Academy
• Tynker
• British Science Week
• Literary Trust
• Outschool.com

The workbooks which I find extremely useful and very good are:

• CGP
• Bond papers
• Letts

I then made a timetable. It's not a strict timetable with times but a general one. The mornings are reserved to maths and english and the work is usually carried out on workbooks and worksheets which they can do independently without much input so don't need an adult input. After lunch, it is more interactive activities such as cooking, building things, PE, RE, etc....

On the days I work from home, I help them with their work, go through corrections and teach them subjects.

 I have found some amazing resources on social media:

• Captain Fantastic Entertainment on Facebook
• Cosmic Yoga Kids on Youtube
• PE with Joe Wicks on Youtue
• Free book resources both on Twitter and Facebook
• Some authors or popular artists also share their talents on their social media pages
• Housebound with Kids is a great group made up of parents/carers on Facebook sharing ideas

 It takes lot of time and patience to put all of this in practice.  What is coming ahead is going to be difficult on all of us but I hope it works this will help us keep all sane.

May the force be with you!!!!!!!

Tulley's Farm

Tulle's Farm in Crawley hosts lots of different events and we visited during Halloween. It is voted as the no.1 Halloween Family Event. It was reasonably priced and had a spooky time.

There was everything the kids asked for. It is suitable for all ages and therefore quite busy.  Scary mazes, rides, a quiz trail in a corn maze full of scarecrows and where we picked actually corns. There was a 4d cinema which was entertaining. After queuing for 45minutes, we finally got on the the famous tractor ride which was so good. The whole ride was full of spooky and weird surprises with characters hopping on and off our tractors scaring us. 

We tried our hand at a new game called corn blaster which involved shooting corns at targets. There was also archery.

We then headed to a spooky house which the kids got scared at every turn. With dead skeletons and a feeling  of rodents running around, wouldn't you be scared either? 

There were nice little food stalls with good choices to eat from. And while you ate, the stage could provide entertaining or you, yourself, can provide the entertainment by singing on stage. We also during our break, looked around the gifts shops. If you like to go all out for halloween you need to visit these gifts shops because some of these decorations were mind blowingly scary.

To round our trip off, we headed to our final maze with ghosts princesses and clowns. The kids actually run out of the maze thinking the clown was chasing them!

I would definitely recommend if you like to spend Halloween the traditional way minus the pumpkin carving!

Polar Express!

Last Christmas, we went aboard the Polar Express train ride. This is the official Polar Express hence quite popular so book in advance. I booked in October and the pries depend on the days i.e more expensive the week before Christmas but cheaper after or in late November. The prices were reasonable. We had to travel to Norfolk which took forever but it was worth it.

We received our golden tickets and headed to the ride. You had an option to come in your PJ  but since we traveled from London, we couldn't.  We were welcomed to a warm atmosphere of lots of character  from the movie walking  around and snippets of the movie playing on the screen. Once the time was closer to hop aboard, we saw a funny performance to get us into the festive mood.

Before we knew it, it was time to board the steam train to see Santa. The whole train ride lasted about 1hour and we were entertained throughout with  live performances from the Conductor and chest, singing songs. We were given a small lyric book so we could sing along. We were offered hot chocolate and a cookie before we continued laughing at the performers and singing some more. We came across Santa and Santa even came on the train. He gave a noisy present and spent gave time to all kids!

When we arrived back, we headed to the gift shop which had all the official merchandise of the movie. The kids had a jolly good time!

Isle of Wight

4 days in Isle of Wight was all that we needed to discover the whole Island. I mainly picked Isle of Wight become Mahi's love for dinosaurs. So what did we do once we arrived on the Isle? Yep - straight to a dinosaur museum . Dinosaur Isle is located in Sundown which was easily reachable by bus. We took a 3-day bus pass to get us around and hopped on a bus that landed us right at the doorstep of the museum. Dinosaur Isle was great. On top of all like the life sized dinosaurs, they were plenty of of activities to do. They were the usual fossil huntings but also colouring activities, puzzles and  an interactive way to learn the prehistoric times.  Approximately 2-3 hours was spent there as Mahi kept running back and forth reading everything and making sure of all the information he read was correct. The gift shop was extensive, and my kids who can't decide anything in a small shop, were truly confused as to what to buy. So that took another 30mins to get them out. The museum was on the beach so despite it being windy, the kids wanted to 'dip their toes' in the sea but yes, they were properly swimming in that freezing sea. Once they were satisfied that they were completely frozen, we headed to our airbnb not far away from the seaside. We needed our rest after an eventful 1st day on the island.

The next day we headed to Newquay, where we are going to stay for the rest of our trip. Everything was easy to reach from Newquay. Heres what we packed in less than  week:

1. Blackgang Chine - a wonderful amusement park not too far from Vintner, in the South of the Isle! It was a beautiful day too and there were so many zones to visit including a fairy, sea and dinosaur zones. It was truly a beautiful place that I can't put into words how amazing the place was for me and the kids. There were lots of cafes dotted around to relax too and the views were stunning.

2. Robin Hill -  this is the twin park of Blackgang Chine but in Newport. You can buy combined tickets. This one is also an amusement park more suited for older kids as it has more fun stuff like a suspended nets, huge slides, roaming animals and rides.
3. The Needles - the most popular tourist attraction in all of Isle of Wight. The weather wasn't great so we didn't do a boat ride or took the chair lift next to the Needles but the kids did paddle in the water. My kids are demented to have swam in these cold waters. The Needles looked more beautiful in person than in photos.
4. Dinosaur Expedition CIC - what better way for a future palaeontologist to shadow an actual palaeontologist while they work. So that's what I did. I contacted the manager who kindly agreed to my plan, picked us up from Newquay and drive us down to first, a fossil hunt. They run family guided tours on the seaside hunting fossils.  The whole morning, we were out there looking at actual cast of dinosaur footprints and some gems. We didn't come across any fossils but Mahi was totally engrossed and fascinated but what we were discovering that he didn't want to leave. We then headed to the little museum where actual fossils found during the hunts are placed. There were more activities. Mahi was just in his element. it was a tiny museum but the amount of knowledge Mahi absorbed, made him more determined to become a palaeontologist.
5. West Wight Alpacas - who would have thought that I, me who doesn't like animals, would actually walk an alpaca around for 1hr without being scared?!!! And that's exactly what I did. I didn't freak out and my alpaca was very well behaved. Mahi's one was the naughty one but he managed him well! We had such a great fun learning about alpacas and llamas.

This is how we spent our time in Isle of Wight.

How to deal with "I'm bored mummy"?

Every parent's worst nightmare is to hear "I'm bored Mummy!" Despite you arranging play dates, having millions of toys, organising fun days out, etc, kids always want more. There was time when I arranged days out every weekend to avoid those dreaded words but now I've cut all that down (I was spoiling them too much by taking them out every week). So now those words make an appearance very weekend without fail. Hence, I had to come up with a plan and quick.

I made a "I'm bored" jar. The jar includes things to do when they run out of ideas such as arts and crafts,  build a den, perform a story, etc. It does keep the kids entertained... sometimes. I also subscribed them to subscription boxes which they loved and made great family time.  I wrote a blogspot here: https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4124083420943040106#editor/target=post;postID=6166131026687296463;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=1;src=postname.  However, they could become quite expensive.

We do lots of arts and crafts too at home. Here are some of our favourite ones, which can be messy too:
1. Homemade play dough - all you need is oil, 1 cup of flour, 0.5 cup of salt, 1 cup of water, 2 tbsp of cream of tartar. You need to put all these ingredients in a pan and stir on the hob. It will get harder and harder to stir so you need to use a lot of muscle power. Once you got a nice lump, take it out and let it cool. Once cool, separate the dough into how many colour doughs you want and make a hole in the middle. Fill the hole with the colouring of your choice and knead it until the colour has covered the dough. No mess and the kids will love it.
2. Volcano - this never gets old. What we do is create a prehistoric land and build a volcano. The volcano include bicarbonate of soda and vinegar. And what you get is an exploding volcano.
3. Shaving foam fun - do you know how fun shaving form is? When the kids used to take bath together, to keep them entertained and busy, while I clean the house, i came across the foam art. It literally involved shaving foam coloured with food colouring and a paintbrush. The kids would paint themselves with this and the walls of the bath. It's so simple but it kept the kids busy and happy! Shaving foam can be used as finger paint too. Puffy dough with foam and cornstarch.
4.  Fake snow - again easy but so much fun. Cornstarch and conditioner.


We also do the standard things such as board games, cooking, baking, watching movies, going to park, cycling and so on. But I also love teaching them childhood games such as the lava game, elastic game, skipping rope games.

And yet, kids always need more! We can never win! But I hope this helps you!

Explaining sensitive subjects to kids

It seems that the world is going mad. I don't recall my parents talking to me about sensitive subjects as often  as I'm talking with my kids. The only sensitive subjects I recall was the Sri Lankan civil war, the horse meat issue in France and Princess Diana dying. However, with my kids, it seems I'm talking about sensitive subjects every month. If its not terrorists attacks, political disasters, gun/knife violence, it's viruses!!!! So how do I approach sensitive subjects with my kids:

1. I gather all the facts - I always make it a conscious effort to know everything about the incident instead of throwing false information at them. It's easy to be biased but with kids, we need to be careful. I don't want to influence my kids with my opinions.

2. Knowing how much information to give- From the incident, what will directly affect kids? How much do they need to know? I just give them what they actually need to know and not too much detail.

3. Being patient - When you say something sensitive, kids have lots of questions Some may be silly and some very intelligent. Don't laugh at any questions and give them honest answers to all their questions bearing in mind the amount of details you need to disclose to kids. They are going to hear different versions and new information from different sources and you need to be patient and consistent with your kids. 

4.  Being proactive -  Laksha gets anxious very quickly. I know that even if I answered her questions, underneath she's still bubbling a little. So I do share plans with them if I can make one. So with he manic panic that the coronavirus is causing, I told the kids how we are going to deal with it as a family and are more relaxed about it.

Keeping an open conversation with kids in these mad times, it's essential. I  want my kid to know the true situation but also know when not to panic. Trying to raise intelligent and sensible kids in a dumb world is so difficult!

Works Book Day Costumes!

I love this time of year and getting creative. However our school, only does it every o3 years so nothing is happening for us this year! In all those years, I didn’t buy any costumes as they are extortionately expensive for them to wear it for just a day. So I make them yourself. Here’s some easy to make and award-winning (!) costumes.

1.Pennywise (Lucky won best costume last year)- I had a long shirt and stitched some pompons for buttons. We just brought white tights, lace gloves. We had a tutu skirt that was used as a neck thingy that clowns wear.   Plenty of facepaint for the clown face and a red wig we had lying around and ta-dahhh. We had Pennywise! Money spent -£5

2. Harry Potter (Mahi eon best costume at nursery) - we had a Dracula cape,old shirt, waistcoat and sweater. All I had to do was make the tie and logo, draw glasses, scar on his face and we had our own Harry Potter. Money spent: £0

3. Harry and the Dinosaurs - my easiest costume with no effort. All I had to do was put him in shorts and a bucket full of dinosaurs. Money spent: £0

4. The Singing Mermaid (Lucky won best costume in year 1) - this was the first ever costume I made and found it so stressful but I wanted to make it memorable. I brought some green and blue cloth and kind of stitched a top and a skirt looking like a mermaid tail. We bought a blue wig and 4days of stressful evenings/nights were all worth it. Money Spent: £15

5. Where’s Wally - Brought a red sweater and a inflatable walking stick from Poundland. We already had a white/red hat, black trousers. Stuck some masking tape on the red sweater into stripes. Drew glasses on Mahi’s face and he was so hard to find amongst the crowd!!! Money Spent: £2

See, you don’t have to spend a lot for your kids to remember their awesome costumes. What are your easy-make and cheapest costumes?

Theme Parks

UK is filled with theme parks. So here's my short review of theme parks that we visited so far. This blogpost will be updated as we come across more!


1. Alton Towers - Alton Towers will forever hold a special place in my hear as it was our first weekend trip away from home to celebrate Lucky's birthday. It's also the first time that both my kids went on proper big rollercoasters. Yes, even Mahi at the age of 4. We stayed at the resort, which with it's massive water park ,great restaurant and evening entertainment was spectacular. You do need 2 days if you are going to enjoy what the park offers to its fullest. The downside was how far it was from the station which I didn't expect


2. Chessington - Another theme park where we stayed over but this time it was our 1st time glamping. Again, nothing to fault here. Much closer to London and easy to get to, this was similar to Alton Towers but I thought better suited for children above 8 as some of the rides, wouldn't let us ride as the kids were tiny. The food places are expensive so bring in your packed lunches. I loved how it is separated into different continents!

3. Gullivers - More suited for children under 12, we had a blast where kids could go on any ride without worrying about height! We went during Halloween time, where they have put on a  great display and a few themed events. Food prices were better other them parks we've been to. Next to it, there is a dinosaur park too which was good as well as a water park!


4. TwinLakes -  This was a disappointment. We travelled from London to near Leicester and we were done in half-a day. This is more suited for young kids I'll say. There weren't many ride and even those rides weren't great except the one where we had to lie down. There was a huge softplay, a circus and a pumpkin patch (we went during the Halloween period) where we could pick our own pumpkin and carve it. It was well decorated but when it came to the fun factor, I was as disappointed as the kids.

6. DreamLand - Located in Margate, overlooking the beach, this funfair is great for a quick day out in the afternoon. Not far from London, it has huge rides and one of them was one of the oldest rolLercoatsers in Britain. It has a big arcade. I went there with friends for Halloween where there had scary mazes spotted around the park where we had a spooky time. I don't know how it is during normal hour days or during holidays but I won't be taking the kids especially for this only. I'll want to fit other things to make the trip from London worthwhile.

7. Legoland - Can you ever go wrong with Legoland? We went to Legoland here and the original one in Denmark and we can't get bored of the bricks. The fascinating miniature villages, the fun rides, the water park, the shows. No, you can never go wrong with Legoland.

8. Robin Hill Country Park - If Isle of Wight is on your list then this Park should be on your list. It's a famous one for the right reasons as it has something for everyone and it covers a vast area! With peacocks walking around, to fun rides and beautiful instagrammable places, you can't go wrong. It has a huge suspended net play area where both adults and kids are able to have fun. It has a great falconry display. It has lush green areas for picnics and much more. We happily spent a good 6-7hrs there, soaking up the place.

9. Paulton's Park - I  wrote a whole blog post here: https://mummylife0912.blogspot.com/2022/03/peppa-pigs-world-and-paultons-park.html

Paradise Wildlife Park

On a very hot summer day, we decided to head to our nearest wildlife park, Paradise Wildlife Park in Broxborne.  It was a train ride and then a minibus picked us up from a London train station to the park itself. The number to call the minibus was at the station itself and all it took us was therefore a phone call. We had to wait a while for the minibus though.

As soon as we arrived, we headed to the small pool for kids only. It  wasn't as busy as I'd expected for a hot day but it was a tad crowded. There were no dressing rooms to change so had to hide the kids behind huge towels or benches. There was a slide in the pool and the water wasn't deep. The kids had a great time running and splashing around for about an hour!

We primarily decided to visit the wildlife park because of the dinosaur area. As you know, Mahi is a future palaeontologist (and artist!) so his obsession are dinosaurs! The World of Dinosaur was the biggest dinosaur park we've seen. It had animatronic dinosaurs and some cheeky ones unexpectedly spraying us with water, a tiny train ride through the dinosaur park, a play area, facepainting and meet and greet with a friendly dinosaur! Mahi was in dinosaur heaven! He loved it so much, we had to visit the park again, before we left, to say goodbye to all the dinosaurs.

Next, we went to the wildlife part of the park. It was separated into different themes/world.  We especially liked the Egyptian world as it felt like it. We saw some never seen before animals such as the white tiger. There was a huge aviary with so many colourful birds that I cannot tell you how many different species there was. It wasn't as big as I thought so didn't take us long to finish that part of the park before the kids run off to play in the play areas. They were a few play area and adventure playgrounds so the kids made full use of those playgrounds.

It was reasonably priced (you get a discount if booked online)  and took a good 7 hours for us to thoroughly enjoy the whole  park without having to rush anywhere! There were a few cafes but as we brought our own lunches and snacks, we didn't buy anything from any of the eateries.

It was a fun filled day with lot of different things to do so go and enjoy it!

How to prepare for SATS

I've got both the year 6 and year 2 SATS upon me this May at the same time (Lord, help me!). Although, I'm not worried about the year 2 ones, I'm absolutely dreading the year 6 ones!

At the beginning of the year, the year 6 teachers already told us not to go away for Easter as they'll be given lots of work to do over the Easter period. So now you understand why I'm dreading it. Imagine being stuck at home, in sunny April, not going anywhere because the school has overloaded the kids with all the work they could have done at least during the beginning of the year. There wasn't much work over the Christmas holidays or during the October half term for Lucky. Mahi had no work to do during any of these holidays either! You'll think that with 2 important exams, that the school is stressing everyone about it, that they'll actually give you some things to prepare the kids towards these exams. But no!!!!!! I'm seeing other school children being given work over the holidays a bag load of work to prepare them!

So, it has fallen on us parents to slowly prepare our kids towards SATS. I actually haven't changed our studying routine much since the beginning of primary school. I just brought tighter deadlines for the kids to complete work. What do I do?:

1. I download the whole curriculum, which can easily be found on https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-primary-curriculum, and give greater emphasis to maths and english syllabus including spellings. But what I do too, is download the curriculum for the year above too so I can give my kids more knowledge. Although Lucky is year 6, at home it' is year 7work and Mahi is year 3 work. Exams always like to catch you if you don't have that extra knowledge so i'll rather be safe than sorry.

2. Worksheets / Workbooks -I use certain websites to download worksheets such as k5learning.com . The kids love worksheets as it's laid out in a format that is simple and  clear to use I have no idea how much I spend on workbooks but I swear by BOND and CGP books with their corresponding assessment papers. My kids love BOND books better as it is very child friendly with easy language.

3. Studying timetable - on a Sunday evening, I set out the work for the coming week so when kids come from school, they know exactly what to do study. It is also a great way of me to keep a track of them and their work. Then on a Sunday morning, we correct the week's work together. They get a day free of studying. You could think that my kids work too much but it takes them an hour of their time and from 5pm onwards, they are free birds. But to me, it's important to incorporate studying around our lifestyle because education is everything.  The kids also do a bit of mental workout session in the morning before going to school. Having lived in India, where waking up early and studying before school is normal, I personally found that I remembered and understood things better when I did that.

4. Practical learning - basic maths and english are better learnt when used in real-life circumstances. When the  kids started reading, we read all the shopfront that we came across. If we are going to the shop, kids are responsible for buying things and getting the correct change. So whenever possible, use real-life situations to enhance their learning.

5. Practise, practise, practise - Practise is key to learning. If I'm done with a workbook or worksheet, I don't throw it away. I rub/scribble the answers and giveth book again, comparing their marks between their first and 2nd attempts. It is a great way to spot where they have improved but also what their weak points are so you can concentrate better on them. So don't throw away anything any studying materials!!!

This works for ours.What works for you?

Supporting your children's mental health

It's Children's Mental Health Week this week and with a rising number of children, getting younger and younger, experiencing mental health issues, it is vital that us as parents/carers/guardians are equipped to deal with these situations, if the problem arises.

What are mental health issues that kids can experience when everything has been taken care of and they just play/study, some of you might chuckle? Ahhh! If only life could be that much easier eh? But no, any mental health issues experienced by adults such as anxiety, stress, depression, etc... can be experienced by kids too! School life, family dynamics, social media, poverty, homelessness, etc... can impact and sometimes traumatise a child so much. Children are vulnerable and susceptible to all these hence why we need to be extremely attentive to them.

Last year, due to an incident which created a major imbalance in our family dynamics, Lucky's behaviour changed! Lucky is very open to me and doesn't hide her feelings. So when we were having of our 1-1 alone time and I had asked her about her behaviour, she told me about having very bad thoughts and communicated those thoughts to me! With the help of her school, she was fast tracked to a children's mental health service  and was diagnosed with an anxiety and stress disorder. She has counselling and play therapy, which she has found very helpful. Lucky has now been discharged from both. What we found, through this journey was that communication is key. Not just verbal but body language too. Lucky is very easy to communicate to. She doesn't hide anything from me so I know how to best support her during her tough times. However, with Mahi, it's not as easy. He'll tell you when he is sad or happy but sometimes, he doesn't. He is very hard to communicate with. So I use drawing, his passion, to talk to him about everything and it works! Things just flow out of him! Every child is different therefore we need to find the right way to communicate best with our children.

Here are some tips I use with my kids to help them have a healthy mind:
1. 1-1 time with each kid- I try and spend at least 10mins with each kid, every day, to do an activity they want to. During that time, whilst doing activities. We talk about nothing and everything without getting interrupted by anything.
2. Creating a safe space to talk - the school is their 2nd home and the kids need to be comfortable in knowing where their safe space to talk to an adult is. It is vital that a safe space is also established at home so they know they won't be interrupted if they want to talk. My bedroom is my kids safe space.
3. Having a routine/timetable of the days events reduces stress and uncertainty. I got a whiteboard with a schedule of events for that week so they know what is happening and where they need to be. I found that my kids hate sudden changes to their day or turn rowdy if  there's no structure.
4.  Do not show panic - children are very sensitive and observant of behaviours. Thus, it is vital to maintain a certain composure when kids share sensitive information with you. If you start panicking while they tell you certain things, their anxiety levels rise up. So composure is extremely important.
5. Respect your kids feelings - what you consider, as an adult, minor could be major for your child. Do not laugh at or undermine their feelings. Understand their viewpoint and feelings. Help them.
6. Social circle - keep an eye on their social circle and what those friends do. They]re are friends and there are 'friends' . Teach your child what is what. Teach them what to look out for in order for them to act accordingly.
7. Be their biggest support network - be there for your kids when they need you.  Support and nurture them. Understand their needs and wants. Understand what clicks and what doesn't!

Don't forget that parenting as a whole is a work in progress. Nobody is perfect! But we can support our kids emotionally as much as we can to help them keep a healthy mindset.

Wookey Hole, Somerset

Want to reconnect with nature and try something new?

Why not head to Wells in Somerset and explore some deep underground caves with the kids? It is indoors so the perfect day out for this chilly weather.

Wells is this tiny village with beautiful scenery and about 1hr drive from Bath. You could easily make a weekend out of it if you wish. Wookey Hole is a network of underground caves with the River Axe flowing through it. Experienced guides will take you through the caves to explain the history and if lucky like we were, can be very entertaining for kids. The waters looked stunning in the lights. Wear appropriate footwear as it is wet. There are narrow and low passages so be careful. If you have bi adventurers, there's also other more daring activities you could do. Check out their website to find out more: https://www.wookey.co.uk . My kids are into these nature things so they loved going through tunnels and exploring caves.

Once you come out of the caves, you are faced with a dinosaur park with high dinosaur statues. Some are animated statues. You cold also go digging for fossils towards the end of the trail. Then right next to it, we have the Witches den with the 4D cinema. The movie lasts 15mins and differs each time, I believe.

By the time we had all this done, it was lunchtime so we headed to the diner which had nice hot food at a reasonable price and the food was decent.

We started the afternoon by playing the soft play which expanded over 2 huge rooms!  Right next to it was a games arcade and a hall where special shows happen (we watched a Circus Show). We spent the whole afternoon between these 3 areas as kids kept running from one room to another while I sometimes had to take a break from playing and running around behind 2 monkeys by cooling down with a cup of hot chocolate in the cafe where you can watch your kids from.

If there isn't a downpour, you can head outside to play some crazy golf. We are so bad at crazy golf but had a great time nevertheless. The theme was pirates and somehow all of us turned quite rowdy on that gold course because my youngest hate losing!

At the end of the day, we were exhausted but content that we managed to fit in a little bit of everything in 1 day.

We booked tickets online so that was a bit cheaper and stayed there the whole weekend so we had the chance to split this into 2 days and repeat some stuff. It was a weekend of no technology and it was worth every penny!

Warwick Castle

I've wanted to go to Warwick Castle for a long time and was so happy that we could finally make it. To be honest, all the advertisements for the castle made me so eager to go to it and it didn't disappoint me.

It was a small castle but the fun wasn't. We first entered the Horrible Histories Maze where I've lost each kids multiple time but to my defence, they were running off in so many directions that I gave up. To add matters worse, they had a quiz to hand and competing between each other as to who is going finish first.  Anyhow, once the kids finished they met me at our designated meeting point, we entered the castle. There was a big stage on with performances going on. While the kids were laughing away watching the show, I quickly run around to the places where the timed performances were running so we don't miss on anything.

Before, we explored the castle, we did the Warwick Dungeon. We booked in advanced along with the castle tickets online as it was cheaper. We found the Dungeon more scarier than the London one as it was in an actual castle climbing narrow staircases and corridors. The kids were scared but in a good way! Because we went to during Halloween, it was extra scary.

Next stop, inside the castle, in different parts of it, there were different timed performance which may  differ during different half-terms. The performances were interactive and kids enjoyed running through the castle going on adventure. We then went to the grounds and saw a Falconry show. There was also other paid activities such as knight training and sword fighting. The castle grounds were beautiful with beautiful views. We climbed on top of the walls and walked and looked over the town. There were actors walking around with costumes and weapons which gave us the feel of being back in time.

Overall, we had a great experience and a spooky time!

In and around Norwich

We spent a weekend in and around Norwich during one for the half-terms and we had a good time. The places are not near the city centre so having a car will be helpful although not essential as some places are quite long but easy to get to via public transport. However, we stayed in the town centre with lot of child friendly places to eat. Here's what we've done:

1. ROARR Dinosaur Park - As you know Mahi is crazy about dinosaurs so wherever we go we must do something related to dinosaurs. This place was huge. I did;t know how big it could be and a whole day was happily spent there. There was a large trail of prehistoric trail with all the dinosaurs along the way with easy to read information of them. There were also building a new attraction which should be opened by now There was many play areas, a learning centre which holds special shows during half terms. Mahi was the centre of the show  (literally) as he became a little paleontologist. There also had a farm with the usual animals and some other non-farm animals.  There was other activities also such a faceprinting, dinosaurs walking around, an indoor go-karting space, splash park opened during warm weather. Most of the places are outdoor so pick a good day to go!

2. Bewilderwood - If you read the books, you will be happy to know that you can see the place in real-life! It is a magical place filled with little creatures just like in the books. You have to take a boat to go to the mainland to go across the swamp filled with crocodiles. Once you land, the land is a big adventure playground. There's so many playgrounds that you can get on, yes yourselves too, that it feels like turning into a child. They also have shows which tells part of the stories of the books. We came out exhausted but I was in such a content state having felt like a kid again!

3. Right in the town centre there's the Norwich Castle which holds a special activities during the school holidays. We went on a mystery hunt which took us through the castle and it's history. It was not expensive and a quick way to learn the history of the city. x

3. We also caught a show in the Norwich Theatre where we caught the Jungle Book. It was a small cosy theatre but an amazing performance and a great way to end our time in Norwich.

RAF Museum London

This museum is in Hendon and quite easy to  get to especially with 4 overexcited children of different ages. We went with Lucky's and Mahi's best friends. We decided to go there as we heard great things about this museum.

During the summer, which was when we went, they also held a special escape room kind of event but across the museum instead of being in a room. But before we started that, we visited the museum which had lots of interactive games and plenty of planes to climb aboard. We also enjoyed the inspiring stories we saw across the museum and what it means to be in the army.

Once it was our time to start our escape room game, we headed to a tent were there was a dress up corner, games from older times and other interesting objects. Once we started the game, it was a huge trail across the museum. We were put into teams so it was a competition and our scores were monitored through an app on the phone. We didn't fully appreciate the size of the museum until we were doing the trail. It was a great way to see the kids working as a team, solving problems. There ws a lot of running as we were against a timer. But in that amount of time, we mounted an actual spitfire! We couldn't finish all the tasks but we earned some bonus point through some special tasks. We didn't win unfortunately but all the kids enjoyed the activities.

The museum had a few cafes and a very unusually designed playground.  There was a lot of ground to run around too!

The kids couldn't stop talking about their day on our way back!

The Great Fire of London - Family Walk

Is your child learning about the Great Fire of London at school? Would you like to support your child's learning by making it more interactive? Look no further.

Mahish has been learning about the Great Fire of London at school. The Great Fire of London is one of the biggest disasters that happened in London. It was a fire that started in a bakery on Pudding Lane, ravaging the city for 3 days before it  finally died down near the Tower of London. When Laksha was learning about it, it was one of the big anniversaries so there was plenty of events to go to  and things on TV being shown. But this time, I didn't have nothing until I came across the Museum of London's Great Fire of London Family Walk. It is a family friendly, 45 minutes walk, tracing back the steps of the fire. It is a pre-book, popular and paid event. It gets booked up quickly so if interested, check their website https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/museum-london/event-detail?id=73409 .

You have to meet outside Monument Station. While you are waiting, you can take in the magnificient Monument, which was initially a telescope, but now a symbol of the Fire. Our guide was very nice and talked in a way that wasn't too heavy for the kids. We literally started from where the Fire started to where it ended. Along the way, the kids were asked questions and enacted what could have happened. The kids had plenty of time to ask question and our guide was excellent in answering the curious kids. The group wasn't too big and grown ups also got involved in the interactive bits. As someone who wasn't taught in England, I learned so many things too and a great way to learn about a significant event in history. We finished the tour near the All Hallows Church, where the Fire died down. We were invited to visit the Church which had a museum about the Fire in the basement. The kids opted not to do it as they were  hungry.

The Museum of London also has a permanent gallery of the event.

We were also very lucky with the weather and overall a pleasant day and a great way to learn!

Bath

You know how we love day trips to discover England so over the Christmas we quickly popped up to Bath!


When we arrived, we headed straight to the Roman Baths, walking through old streets. We booked tickets online and it wasn't as expensive as I thought. We had to book in a time slot. Since these were online tickets,  we skipped the queue to go in. On our way in, the kids collected headsets which also had a kid friendly version. They also got hands on a trail around the museum. It is a beautiful place and I was amazed at the history. The kids were so engrossed as to what they were listening. Mahish was jumping up and down dying to tell me what I was looking at. I have never seen him so excited about history. Lucky was in her own world, listening away and walking quick as I was too slow. The baths were beautiful and can't believe the history behind it. We also got to drink the water which tasted a bit weird! We saw all the different hot and cold rooms! It had interactive things to do and the trail also ket them quite busy. It is truly a beautiful place with amazing architecture.

We then headed to see the River Avon while standing on the Pulteney Bridge. The Pulteney Bridge is famous because it is 1 of 4 bridges in the world to have shops across its full span on both sides. It was pretty but the kids were thrilled. We then headed to the No.1 Royal Crescent which is museum taking us back in time to the late 1700s. We decided to go to this museum as it offered something different to what we already done s well as having Christmas themed activities. The kids were handed an activity bag which was a good way to explore the house. The museum had a very Christmas feel with each room explaining how they celebrated Christmas back in the day. The volunteers were very good and helped the kids with their activities. At the end, the  kids were able to make Christmas cards and decorations.  It also had a playroom with a dressing up section too. 

At the end of the day, we were all exhausted but we ticked another beautiful city off our list. 

Tackling racism!

I was born and brought up in France and never did me or or my family experienced racism. We moved here when I was 13 and  again, I didn’t experience racism. 

However, for my kids, it is a different story.  We live in the same area as I was when we moved here from France. Over the past year, my kids have been subject to racism by other kids in the flats we live. These kids are just under 10 but the things that are coming out of their mouths is pure vile. Things like ‘fat Muslim’ , ‘ white is better than brown’ , etc.. are what my kids have heard so far. I have confronted the adults. While one mum was so shocked to hear her son say this and punished her child for that, others have barely acknowledged it or walked off! 

The kids know this is racism. Once they were old enough to understand what I was saying, around 7years old, we talked about how some people look at colour and gender and how wrong this is. And I told them that should their experience sexism or racism, they should call it out and then come to a reliable adult so they can help as well.

I don’t know if this is because of the current political climate but the fact that this is now becoming a regular thing and kids that young are saying such disgusting things isn’t normal. But the best way to tackle racism or any -ism, is to have an open conversation with your kids so they know what is wrong and right.  They also need to know that they have absolute rights to call anybody out on these horrific abuses and not feel threatened by it and that as parents, we’ll be there for support! 

Preparing for grammar schools and secondary school

Child in year 5? Already thinking of secondary schools? Thinking of applying to grammar schools? Confused as to what to do? Here is your Bible from a parent who went through hell and back!

Before I start with anything, I would like to explain what a grammar school is and the special exams, 11+, that the child needs to take in order to considered for such schools. A grammar school is a secondary school which admits students based on abilities (most schools look at academics whereas some schools look at music and sporting abilities). The academic standard they look for is year 7/8 standard by the way so most of the things expected in the exams are not learnt in schools! The reason why parents would like their child to go to a grammar school is because it is more academic then normal schools therefore providing better prospects for the future. However, as with  secondary school, there is a distance limit so if you are not luck enough to live near a grammar school, your child needs to do exceptionally well in the exams for them to be considered for such schools As an Asian, unfortunately, you can't escape the question ' Is your kids doing the 11+?' Parents treat this as an extreme sport. I know parents who start preparing from reception, booking tuition place with popular tuition masters in year 4 and even shifting homes closer to a grammar school! I told you it was an extreme sport!

I wasn't that bad though. I did ask Lucky if she wanted to have a go at these exams. I want my child to have all opportunities to try. She agreed. Maths isn't her strongest topic so we put her to a popular group tuition where she struggled. This tuitions will try and squeeze in so many topics in half a school year so the other half, they can just do practise papers after practise papers. Lucky was overwhelmed and so was I. The kids were just meant to pick it up as fast. So 1-1 tuition was arranged but apparently i was too late as again, there was so much to learn and 1 year isn't enough! Told you it was madness. Anywaysm, along with tuition, Lucky did practise papers at home. The internet had so many worksheets and papers all for free. Grammar school websites also have their practise papers. We also used books such as Bond and CGP to practise. I put Lucky to mock exams which she found quite useful in terms of building confidence and knowing the format of the papers for certain schools. It is quite expensive but if your kid is serious about this, then it is worth a try. They can be found here: https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk. After the exam, they go through common questions and tips on how to answer some questions. A day after the exam, you are sent the marks with a report on how well they did compared to others. It was a good confidence booster for Lucky which will help her in any exams. It was a £70 well spent (per exam).

Around May time, the different grammar schools will start putting up information on application deadline and exam dates so make sure you check carefully. You can't sit the 11+ at a school without registering your child. The exams start in early September,  when your child enters year 6, right up to January. For most, the exams are in September and results in October before the secondary school placement application deadline. Private schools usually are the ones where exams are after October. If you are interested in a private school, there is a fee for applying to sit an exam. There will be an exam and if done well, an interview too!

While on this happening, don't forget that simultaneuously, you need to apply for 'normal' secondary schools. Open evenings happen in September. I didn't know this so by the time, the kids settled back to school and fishing off the 11+ exams, most of the open evenings were over. So my advice will be to note down dates in August itself. You have a choice of 6 schools to apply for. The deadline for applying is October. I took Lucky to a few open evenings as she's the one that needs to feel the schools. It's a great way to see how a school works, how pupils and staff are and have a feel of the environment. If you are a working parent like me, open evenings are also in the evenings or you can arrange your own tour by emailing the school directly. Before applying, make sure both you ad your child agree on your preferences. You'll be surprised to know how many parents apply without consulting their kids but ultimately they are the ones who are going to spend 5-7 years in this school.

Lucky hasn't got into any of the grammar schools but as I always said to her, it was just trying and if anything, this is a good practise for the year 6 SATS exams. The outcomes for our secondary school is in March so fingers crossed, we get the school we want!

Bonjour Paris!

It's hard to think that France, a country with so much culture, history, fashion and lots of yummy patisseries is just round the corner (well not literally but you know what I mean!) It's a country that has a lot to offer with 4 different corners with different weather, cultures and things to do. I'm trying not to be biased by the way but it's so true!

You go to the west, you have the fishing towns with the English weather. You go East, and you can ski down the beautiful Alpine slopes. You go to the hot South and get ready to party like a celeb. There's something for everyone and especially kids.

It was the kids’ first time in France but we were there for a week only so stayed in Paris at my cousin's house, right next to Stade de France.  We took the coach as we tried to be more environmentally friendly but it's quite cheap also! On the day we arrived, we went to see Parc de Villette which is a very popular science museum. During summer time, there's also plenty of fairs happening and would highly encourage you to go to one as it's not like fairs in the UK. It's more like Winter Wonderland in Summer.

If you are back in the country, you have to visit your hometown right? And that's exactly what we've done on our 1st day there. Travelling by bus and train Paris is very easy and straightforward. We had to get tickets everyday but day passes made it cheaper. If you are stuck, the staff at the stations are ready to help and most of them talk English so don't be afraid to ask! Anyways, my hometown Colombes is situated just outside Paris so it took us a while. Once we got there, I showed my kids the nursery and schools I studied in, our flat we used to live in and basically everywhere we used to hang around especially the immense park Ile Marrant (the island of fun). The park changed a quite a but but it still had it's charm. I loved seeing my kids run around the park the same park I used to play in when I was their age and playing with other kids, despite the language barrier. The park has an indoor swimming pool where I used to do my swimming lesson, an indoor ice skating ring where learning ice skating was part of PE at school! After half a day there, we went to meet my BFF in the local shopping centre near La Defense, which is Europe's largest purpose-built business district. I took the kids to the exact supermarket I went with my parents and splashed a bit on French biscuits and patisseries! To end a very hectic day, we visited the Sacre Coeur. This church is very special to me because, even though we we were born Hindu, we visited the church every other month but my dad, would visit the church every Sunday! The merry-go round that me and my brothers used to go on was still there and now my kids were on there.  So we climbed up the hill and nothing can beat THAT view of Paris. It never ceases to amaze me. We went inside and that peace that always enveloped me as a child whenever I stepped in, still did the magic. The kids loved looking around the church and reading about the statues. I told them things I used to do and they also wanted to do it. Once out, we decided to take the stairs down again. Well, that's not exactly how we did it. We SLID  down the ramps. Mahi literally had a huge hole in the back of his shorts because he took sliding to another level (thank God I bought extra change of clothes). The kids loved exploring the tourists shops around. 

The next day, we went proper touristy. We did all the Parisian landmarks. We first visited the Jardin de Luxembourg, taking in the beautiful gardens and the vast amount of space for the kids to play around with their cousins. Next, we went to the Eiffel Tower. The kids didn't want to climb up as there was a queue and I'm pretty sure they were underwhelmed with what they actually saw and  what they see on TV. Anyway, when you got young kids who don't want to walk around, the best way to see Paris is the bateau mouche (river boat cruise) on the river Seine. There is commentary and it's a scenic way to see Paris. The kids enjoyed the cruise, getting excited in seeing places they only saw on TV.  It was about 1hr cruise and it was well worth it. Before we wrapped up for the day, my kids, sharing my love for Diana, we went to see the place where she was killed. Laksha was unusually quiet but I knew she was processing the significance of the place she was standing on. 

The following day, we went to Champs Elysees. I taught the kids the importance of the place and they were mesmerised by the flame which never goes off. We then headed to Versailles for a bit of history. The kids loved the waterworks, pretending to be kings and queens and dancing to the music playing in the background. They loved the maze-like grounds and were running around everywhere. They also had an activity trail they took part which turned into a race between the kids. There's a cute boating lake at the bottom of the royal gardens where we relaxed and saw the people on their pedalos.

The day before we were meant to leave, we went to Disney!!!!!!! We got there before the gates opened at 10am to make sure we have time to enjoy ourself. We did the studio only (I told Laksha that if she did well in her upcoming 11+ exams, I will take her to the main park. I know, I'm a mean mum!)  A whole day can easily be spent there. It is a magical place and no place can compare like it. We did all the rides, saw characters, saw a couple of shows including Lion King and Lilo and Stitch. People say you can do both parks in 1 day but the studios took us a day so do plan 2 days if you want to soak up the experience. The kids literally didn't want to leave as it truly is a magical place. Our time in Paris sadly came to an end.

There were places that I wanted to visit but couldn't due to time limits such as Parc d'Asterix, a theme park based on the comic book of Asterix and Obelix. Although we saw the Louvre when on our river cruise, we didn't go inside. The kids get bored of museums especially art ones so there were dead against going to any museums. They didn't want to do anything they could do in London so we didn't do the wax museum or the aquariums.

Back to school madness!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Who else feels like this? After 2 weeks of no school run, dropping/picking kids from their numerous classes across North West London, no bed time and lie ins, I always dread going back to school. I enjoy having my babies around, spending time with them not worrying about times and just being chilled. Yes sometime they drive me mad but it isn't as bad as parents fear. They still stick to a routine , especially when I am at work, so it keeps their madness down and it works. On my days off, we go out, away from any electronics, which does everyone good. I always go on short breaks because I need a break from everyday life!

A new school term also mean, the fees for the different classes to be paid and when i've done my calculations, without counting the monthly payments for some classes, I have to pay £600! Yes you read that right! £675 for 4 classes that need to be paid per term and I have 3 other classes which require monthly payments. So this is me, sitting right now, after Christmas/New Year festivities, having to fork our about £800!! This is why I also hate the kids going to school too.

Anyways, its now back to school and work. Let the madness begin  once again!

Good luck parents!