THE HARDEST CHALLENGES ALL PARENTS HAVE TO FACE



There is no job more rewarding on this planet than the job of a parent. Unfortunately, though,
there is also no job more difficult, upsetting, or stressful. As a parent, you get to see some
extraordinary things, like your son or daughter’s first words and steps, but there is a lot of things
that you don’t want to have to face, like them being sick, upset, or naughty. Your role is to put your
child on the right path, protect them, and keep them happy, but when you feel like you’re not doing
this, or at least not doing it properly, you can be left feeling lost. The only way to cope with these
situations is to know what to do in them, so here are three challenges you will face as a parent,
and how you should handle them.


Seeing Your Child In Pain
If your child is acting up, runs off, and hurts themselves, you will almost always feel guilty and
completely at fault. You’ll start apologising and will probably end up treating your child to some
sweets or something to make them feel a bit better. Unfortunately, while this may stop your child
crying, it doesn’t teach them anything. Humans learn from their mistakes, and all you’re
teaching your child is that running of results in a reward. Instead, comfort them while they’re crying
and support them as much as you can, but make sure that they know that they know that this wouldn’t
have happened if they hadn’t have been naughty.


Letting Your Child Go
Unless your child is Peter Pan, they’re going to have to grow up at some point. This is a difficult reality
for parents to face, but it’s necessary if you’re to support your child, rather than hold them back. Your
children are all going to be heading off to nurseries and meeting other children, and this is going to be
scary for them, so they need you to stay calm. It can get pretty lonely without your little one running
around during the day, so get out of the house and see your friends and family. You could even join a
gym or a book club for something to do during the day.


Facing Judgement From Others
Every parent at some point has to face disapproving looks and stares from strangers. It doesn’t
matter if you’re doing all that you can to calm the situation if your child is acting up, people are going
to judge. When this happens, you just need to focus on yourself and your child and ignore everyone
else. At the end of the day, they don’t know you or your situation, and have no right to judge you, so
why would you pay them any attention. Tell yourself to keep calm, and keep assuring yourself that
you are doing all that you can.

Parents have to deal with a lot, but the challenged mentioned above are as difficult as they come.
Hopefully, you now know how to handle them, so that you can keep calm and be the best parent you
can be.

MOTHER'S DAY GIFTS WITH B&M


Something I love to do is go shopping to buy gifts for people who mean a lot to me. Mother's Day is just around the corner, and I was given some vouchers to spend at B&M stores to see what I could buy for Mother's Day. The first that came to my head was to make a hamper and to buy things to fill it. For the past couple of years now I have been making my own hampers for my Mother-in-law and my Nain for Mother's Day. It's something I've always enjoyed making as I think putting a lot of thought into a gift, makes it that extra special. So, what did I buy as Mother's Day gifts from hampers?

- Box of chocolate
- Mug
- Candle
- Set of 2 wooden boxes
- Artificial plant
- Large Mug


There's a large selection of chocolates in B&M at the moment, as well as throughout the year. A box of chocolate is always a great gift to buy someone for a special occasion. I went for Thornton's Mints because my partners Mam loves mint chocolates. These were only £3.99 which I personally thought wasn't too bad considering they are a lot dearer in other stores.

The two mugs were my absolute favourite. One mug was from their gorgeous Mother's Day range. It says 'Mum in a million' on the front with confetti coming down all around. The mug itself is quite large and great quality too. It was priced at £2.99. The other large mug with polka dots all around with the quote 'Life is Beautiful' with a yellow circle background was £2.99 and again, great quality. I thought it looked extra great as a pot for the artificial plant. The plant was around £2.99, and I absolutely love plant. I thought the mug gave the plant that extra touch.


The LED Candle light really caught my eye. I tend to go for gifts that you can use around the house, not ones that get used once and thrown away the next. I thought this candle looked really lovely and the price was even better, at just £3.99. As well as the light, I bought 2 sets of wooden boxes to hold the items in. They were painted in a shabby white with hearts cut out around the sides. I thought they looked really pretty for hamper boxes, and they could also get re-used afterwards too.












What did you think of my choices? Why not head over to your nearest B&M store and check out their Mother's Day range.

* Collaborative post with B&M

HOW I SLEEP - #NESTGURU CAMPAIGN


If you have followed my blog for a couple of years, you may know that I was extremely sleep deprived for months after Freddie was born. Neither of my other two children was as bad sleeping as Freddie was. I have always loved my sleep and bedtime is something I look forward to all day. I'm sure most parents can agree that parenting all day is exhausting. Luckily, for the past few months now Freddie's sleep has improved a lot and for the past couple of weeks he has been sleeping through the whole night, every single night.

At the moment we are in desperate need of a new bed frame and mattress. So, although I do not have to wake up so many times during the night with Freddie, I am currently struggling to have a good nights sleep myself mainly because of our mattress. Our mattress desperately needs updating. We have a new bed frame that just needs building up. However, we are still on the lookout for the right mattress. As I share my bed with my partner too, it can be quite a pain that I can feel him moving in the bed and it wakes me up. It also doesn't help that our mattress is quite a few years old and definitely needs updating. 


My partner and I are on a lookout for a new mattress, as we already have a new bed frame, it just needs building up. Bed Guru have a great range of mattresses, from pocket sprung mattresses, memory foam and much more. The kind of mattress we are looking at is the pocket sprung latex pillow top mattress as it sounds like the perfect mattress for us. Also, as we have three kids, we would also need a good mattress that they can bounce on too - which they do every single morning.

It's so important to have a good night sleep, whether you are a parent or not. A good night sleep helps you function the following day, as well as giving you more energy throughout the day. Having a mattress that you can sleep comfortably on, is a huge bonus for having a good night sleep. The last thing you want is to have broken sleep which can then lead to sleep deprivation

How does your mattress affect your sleep?

* This is a collaborative post.




PROTECTING MY KIDS USING THE BISSELL VAC & STEAM CLEANER


As parents, one of our main aims is to protect our little ones. That's from making sure they are safe, healthy and happy. We look after them, clean them, feed them and play with them. Also, something else we do each day is, tidy and clean up after them. We all know how dirty babies, toddlers and children get. As your baby grows, they start to move, whether it's crawling or even bum shuffling. This is the time we need to make sure the floors are super clean for them. One thing you could do is to ask people to take their shoes off before coming into your home. All kinds of germs are on your floors and even baby's toys too.

To help prevent the spread of bugs you need to make sure that you clean your baby's toys on a weekly basis. Shockingly, bugs such as flu can live on hard surfaces for up to 24 hours. It's best to make sure you clean your baby's toys often, hot water and soap or even put them in the dishwasher as its steam drying function will help to eliminate nasties. 

Talking about asking people to take their shoes off before they enter your home, I personally think it's so important. Although it can feel awkward if asking a visitor to take their shoes off before entering a room. But by doing this, you are preventing germs entering your home floors. If you have a crawling baby, a walking toddler and even young/older children, they all like playing on the floor. It can prevent them being exposed to faecal bacteria as we never know what we stand on outside. It could be so harmful to your little ones.


But even by leaving shoes at the door, it's still important to give your carpets a deep clean four times a year. Dust and dirt can still be hidden deep within your carpets. If you have hard floors like myself, the BISSELL Vac & Steam is a great way to clean hard flooring. We have hard wooden flooring, and we've been using the Vac & Steam to clean and steam our floor. I love the fact that it uses a 100% chemical free steam to kill 99.99% of germs and bacteria. 

Another great feature of the BISSELL Vac & Steam is that it's a 2-in-1. You don't have to buy a separate vacuum or steamer, as it does both. By the simple touch of a button, you can choose which you want it to do. The filter is also really easy to clip in and out, then it's easy to empty the dirt from your filter. 

The Vac & Steam comes with an easy release mop pad tray and 2 washable pads. As well as simple instructions and easy touch digital controls. It's been great for our floors and has been out quite often. I love the fact that you can use the vac and steam at the same too. It saves time, which means I get more time with my three little ones. 





* We received this product free of charge in return for an honest review.
However, all words, images and opinions are my own. 

REFRESHING IDEAS FOR A FAMILY FRIENDLY KITCHEN


Giving your kitchen a refreshing makeover in the new year is always a great way to bring a new look to your home, whilst making it work perfectly for you. Over the months a lot can change, especially when you have children in the house, as they’re constantly growing and learning which can mean that the old highchairs need replacing with proper seats, more child-friendly safety may need putting in place and so on. There are then the seasonal changes that you may want to make in order to keep your kitchen on-trend and stylish, and these useful tips have been gathered to help inspire you with some refreshing ideas for your kitchen.

Introduce an Open Living Space
Having enough space within the kitchen for you to cook and socialise with your family is a huge bonus, especially when mealtimes are often the only time that the whole family is together at one time. There are different ways to open up the kitchen area, from an open dining space, to an area dedicated to living, with a television and cosy sofa to snuggle up on. Take the layout of your kitchen into consideration and try to work out which way would be best to open up the space, you want to have plenty of room with a clear division between the two areas in order for it to flow properly. Open living spaces within the kitchen are becoming more and more popular, as the kitchen is thought to be the most used room within the home, so it makes sense to have it serving multiple purposes for your family.

The Right Materials
Up until now, you may have had a beautifully painted kitchen in a stunning cream colour, which has been a huge nightmare to keep clean. Whilst having beautiful cream painted units is very aesthetically pleasing, it’s not the best option when you have little ones running around. Sticky fingers and food explosions are not the best when it comes to cream paint, so you should look at investing your money into a new kitchen layout designed in the right material. When you have children in the house, the best materials to work with (in the kitchen) are hi-gloss, acrylic and marble. These materials are easily cleaned, look beautiful and require less maintenance. You’ll also find that your kitchen lasts a lot longer due to the higher quality, durable materials. Finding a well-priced, discount kitchen is actually really easy to do, especially if you’re looking online. Be sure to do plenty of research before you make any concrete decisions, as you want to be positive you’ve made the right decision!


Multi-Purpose Spaces
There’s never enough room in the house when you have lots of people in your family, especially when someone wants to watch the football, the other wants to practice violin and someone else wants to do their homework. Having multipurpose spaces is essential, especially in the kitchen area. The most popular areas within the kitchen for having more than one purpose are the kitchen island, which can be nicely switched into a breakfast bar for those rushed mornings. You then have the kitchen table, which can work for mealtimes, as well as a homework spot, a place to read or even a place to socialise. If you have plenty of use for these areas, you’ll find things run much smoother within your household, as people have more space to do the things they need to do without being on top of one and other.

Plenty of Notice
Balancing out all of the important things you need to remember for your family can be difficult but trying to get the rest of the family to remember them can be even more challenging. Knowing that there is always one time in the day where your whole family will be together in one space, you need to take advantage and introduce a notice board. Whether it’s a stylish blackboard with motivational messages, a pin board for important letters and cards or simply just a calendar to keep everyone up to date with important occasions, this can really help to make your kitchen a family-friendly space, whilst keeping everyone in your family up to date with everything that’s happening!


MOTHER AND KIDS JUMPERS FROM PINK SORBET


As a small business owner myself, I absolutely love supporting other small businesses, and it's one of my main reason to why I love social media. Many small businesses these days are done over social media such as Facebook and Instagram. Some have their own websites, and some sell via Etsy. Every penny helps small business, and so when I was told I was a brand ambassador for the lovely business Pink Sorbet, I was super excited. I love their clothing, they're bright, colourful and gorgeous. 

They send the kids some jumpers and me, and I loved the fact that mine and the girl's jumpers were pink. As sad or silly as it sounds, I love matching/twinning with the girls and Freddie too, if I can. Pink Sorbet have an Instagram account, and they sell on their Etsy store. They have a great range of items such as personalised gifts and clothing, children's and women's jumpers and t-shirts. 

 I received one of their Bella Mama sweatshirts which is in a light pink colour. There is a choice of a font colour, I received the white font, which I really liked. I thought it went well with the main pink colour. I got the Extra Large, which fits 16-18 and I'm normally a size bigger than this. The jumper is very generous, and it's like an oversized jumper for me. The quality is fantastic, and it's really cosy too. 


Both girls received a pink jumper each with a glitter unicorn on the front with the words Believe on the front, which I loved. The girls were super excited as they are obsessed with unicorns and glitter at the moment - who's child isn't? Again, they were both fantastic quality and super cosy for this weather we are getting at the moment. 

Freddie received the navy jumper with a red star saying the words 'Star' on the front. Again, perfect quality and great sizing too. I love the colour navy on Freddie, I think it suits him perfectly. As you can see in these photos, we all absolutely love our new jumpers. 

Head on over to Pink Sorbet now and use the discount code LIFEASAMUM10 to receive discount.

















* We are currently brand ambassadors for Pink Sorbet. However, all words, opinions and images are our own. 

I'M A WET WIPE ADDICT


I never meant to become a wet wipe addict.
At first, they were just a handy way for wiping my babies’ bums. Then I started using them to wipes their faces, then their high chairs.


Next thing I knew, I was using them for everything - food splats on the table, spills on the floor and even the crayon marks on the walls. From dusting off the banisters to removing mud off the front door, a wet wipe can clean off just about anything.
Why wouldn’t you love a cleaning product can be used for everything from removing eye makeup to dusting your window sills? With a wet wipe, you can do things long assumed to be beyond human ingenuity: remove food marks from your jeans, for example, or even scrub toothpaste off a jumper.
And if you’re anywhere near the bathroom, what’s the easiest way of getting rid of them? The toilet. One flush and they’re gone. Job done.
But, then I started working for Welsh Water and saw consequences of the nation’s growing wet wipe obsession first hand. I discovered what happens once that toilet is flushed. It wasn’t pretty.
Welsh Water deal with 2,000 blockages a month – and 75% of these are caused by wipes, sanitary items, cotton buds or other items being flushed away, which congeals into an even bigger underground mountain of mess when it mixes with fat and grease from our sinks.



These startling facts got me thinking about my own wet wipe habit. I’m hooked and I’m not the only one. The popularity of wet wipes has increased hugely over the last few years.
The problem is that wet wipes, baby wipes, make-up wipes, moist wipes, and cleaning wipes don’t actually break up in the pipes like toilet tissue does (even the ones advertised as “flushable”, which was news to me!).
As people flush without thinking, water companies across the world are struggling to keep sewers flowing. If a blockage isn’t caught in time, the results can be horrendous. In the sewers, wet wipes float on top of the wastewater, absorbing oils and grease, and clumping together with fat and grease to form blockages or giant ‘fatbergs’ like you’ve seen in London.


Seeing this first hand has made me face up to my habits…
The thought of monster wet wipe clumps lurking in the sewers below your home is enough to put anyone off their tea, but the risk of blockages brings with it even more stomach-churning consequences. It’s safe to say that every time I consider flushing my beloved wipes, the possibility of homes, beaches and neighbourhoods being flooded with sewage because of me stops me dead in my tracks.
Every wipe, cotton bud or piece of dental floss I now use goes straight into the bin. But that’s still not a great solution - to send all those things to landfill.
Wet wipes haven’t been easy part with, I’ve tried going back to my pre-wet wipe life: removing your makeup with a facecloth, washing your hands with soap and water, and cleaning surfaces with a reusable cloth instead of cleaning wipe. I only use wet wipes for nappy changes and the odd sticky face.
And most importantly I make sure that wet wipes go in a bin, not down the loo.
By making these small changes, I’ve doing my little bit to prevent homes and neighbourhoods being flooded and protecting the rivers and seas. So Mabel and her sister can enjoy the beaches for years to come.





* Collaborative post with Dwr Cymru * Guest Post *

HOW TO ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILD TO PLAY INDEPENDENTLY

As a parent, you’ll understand how important it is for you to try and encourage your child to be
sociable as this is a brilliant way for them to make new friends and it is also a great way for you
to really get some alone time as well. If your child finds it hard to play by themselves however,
then you may feel obliged to try and play with them or even entertain them all the time.
For this reason, it helps to encourage them to play by themselves from time to time, as this will
help them to stay occupied when their friends can’t come out to play.


Attention


It helps to give your child some attention before you send them off to play by themselves. If you
tell your child to go play without first talking to them or spending time with them then this can lead
them to believe that they have done something wrong and it can even lead them to believe that
playing by themselves is a negative thing. If you want to avoid all of this then sit with them, start
playing something with them and then go to do your own thing, so that you can ease them into the
activity. Dolls’ houses and even action figures are great for this, as it is more than possible for them
to use their imagination so that they can really create their own world.



Don’t Interrupt


When your child is busy playing by themselves, it’s really important that you leave them and that
you don’t interrupt them. You won’t want to interrupt their train of thought and you also won’t want
to distract them from their own activity as well. It’s important that you keep your distance and that
you give your child some space at times like this, as this is the only way that they will ever be able
to establish their own independence.



Stay Available


Your child needs to be able to contact you or talk to you when they need to. If you shut yourself in
another room or if you don’t allow them to talk to you at all then this will only make them feel worse
about playing by themselves. It helps to stay in the same room as them, and if they ask you to look
at something then do it, but if they have repeat requests then remind them that you are busy and that
they need to occupy themselves for a while. When you do this, it establishes the fact that you are not
available to entertain and it also encourages them to find their own activity as well, without implying
negativity.


All in all, being a parent is about finding the right balance and it is also about trusting your instincts.
There are things that you can do to encourage your child to play on their own, but if you have your
own method that works then that’s great and you should stick to it if it works for both you and your
child.