school aged | Hear Mum Roar

Tag Archive: school aged

Advertisers’ Review

Written on July 15th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Cognitive, Gross motor, Music, Organisation, Preschool aged, Reviews, Saving money, School aged, Toddler

I’ve been lucky enough to have awesome advertisers at Hear Mum Roar. I always choose companies that sell products I would actually buy and use myself. If you only saw some of the rubbish I’m asked to advertise and actually knock back.. Anyway, some of my advertisers have been lovely enough to send out some samples of their wares, so I felt it was time to shine the spotlight upon them.

Little Dance Invitations are a fantastic place to go for everything party related. They have the cutest themes for kids, ranging from tv characters, to cute little Kokeshi Doll lollipops and everything else that interests children. They also do invitations and party supplies for adult parties. What I also love about this online store is that they can customise party goods with the birthday person’s photo.Next time we have a birthday party, I’ll be definitely going through Little Dance.

Bright Star Kids sell cute kids labels, wall stickers, bag tags, and all sorts of other cool stuff. I recently was sent some small name labels for all of my three kids…

I’ve blocked out parts of their names privacy reasons, but I left part of the lettering there so you can see the different fonts used. Missy 3 loves the fairy on her labels and always tells me it’s going to fly away! So cute.. I also love that if I put a name label on anything of hers, she’ll drink it, for example, water. She wasn’t keen on water for a while, but now she has a label on her water bottle, she’s drinking lots of water and is much healthier for it.

I’m also pleased to find these labels as Mr 5 is starting school next year, and it’ll be much easier with two kids at school if I can be prepared with labels now. It’s helping to build the excitement in him, also.

Forever Clover sells a new range of school-aged girls’ swap cards.

When I first saw these, I fell in love with them instantly! These cards were created as an antidote to the sexualisation of girls in our society. Your daughter can join the free Forever Clover Club online. Missy 10 has joined and loves it! You can read their Forever Clover girls’ blog with stories of their adventures. If your daughter is a member of the club, she can even comment!

The cards and packaging are made from renewable resources and starting a collection is very wallet-friendly, so anyone can start collecting and swapping! All three of my kids have been given some, and they absolutely love them.

KelliOne is the home of handmade toys. Simple concepts that kids will love and very cute too! Kelli was kind enough to send out three ribbon wands for the kids to play with.

Here, you can see Mr 5 happily fishing with his. This is a brilliant, open-ended toy for toddlers, preschoolers and school aged kids alike. They can get exercise as they twirl around in or outdoors, dance to music, draw shapes in the air, pretend they’re walking a dog on a leash, in short, they can do whatever they can imagine! KelliOne also can make these wands for weddings, and I’m thinking when we get married one of these days, I’ll order some for the guests! I can imagine how beautiful the wedding photos would be with ribbons swirls from happy guests, in our custom colours.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about these companies. They all have such great stuff and are lovely people to deal with.

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How Can Mums Get the Exercise They Need?

Written on May 5th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Challenges, Good times, Gross motor, Health and beauty, May 2011, Parenting, Saving money, School aged, Teens

I’ve been a lover of exercise since my late teens. Not the crappy PE-type exercise we did at school, or team sports. I’m more interested in workouts such as walking, using weights, aerobics and yoga. I’ve tried pilates in the past and enjoyed it, but I haven’t really gotten into it in a big way as yet.

When we lived in Sydney, we had *horrors* no car. We were in a fairly toffee-nosed suburb, and I would be walking to and from school, half an hour each way, twice a day. (Thankfully, I had some wonderful mum friends who’d offered to help me with lifts when I needed it) When my youngest started kindergarten (first year of ‘big’ school in NSW), I sported a pregnant belly. When my son was born, I’d be out pushing the pram, and very soon after, another pregnant belly. Then, I graduated to a double limosine-style pram, and I can tell you honestly, that put me through my paces. Once my fiance got sick and wasn’t working, I would leave the younger two kids with him as I took my eldest child to school, which made it faster, plus reduced the strain on my back, not having to push that heavy thing around so often.

There were only two types of responses I’d get from the other mums: horror (‘I couldn’t survive without a car!!’ Not really what one wants to hear when they’re trying to be stoic) and encouragement. I’m sure you can imagine which group I made a higher number of friends in! Although this regime was a little too extreme for my joints most of the time, I never had to watch my weight. I ate pretty much what I wanted. It was only once I stopped pushing that heavy pram that my metabolism slowed down a little. Once we got a new car a few months before we moved here, man, I got fat fast.

In some ways, I don’t regret taking such a drastic break from exercise for so long. I have a horrible hip injury from giving birth to my eldest daughter, and I find that an hour a day of exercise is perfect to stop it from jamming up. More than that just aggravates it. After so many years of walking two hours per day, five days a week, either pregnant and/or pushing prams, my body honestly needed the rest. I enjoy walking long distances, but the amount I was doing became a bit of a drag.

Since we’ve moved to a remote country town and need to drive to most places, my exercise slipped even more. You guessed it, I kept gaining weight. My hip started getting stuck and sore again. I’m only 5’1, and small-boned, so the slightest weight gain really puts a strain on my joints.

It’s funny; a year ago I wrote this post, about wanting to get into a new exercise routine. I dabbled in walking, but found it not so inspiring. A walk around the block in this town doesn’t take long at all, then once I’ve done that, I don’t know where to walk next! There are no hills, which I’m used to, and everything’s completely flat. I find it hard to raise a sweat at all, walking around the block. Having grown up as a child in a beach town, and now living further inland than I ever have before, has made me homesick for a good ocean walk. I found a walk I enjoyed, walking in the outskirts of town, and I loved it. No oceans of course, but lots of beautiful farms to look at, and dams with ducks swimming in them. Canola fields and sheep.

Being a new habit and a new town, I didn’t get to go walking as often as I would’ve liked. There was also my partner’s anxiety to consider. I couldn’t/can’t just up and leave the house or the kids with him whenever I feel like it. I’m needed here. It’s far too hot in summer for the farm walk, not to mention snaky.

Recently, my partner and I had a group meeting with his and my support workers about his situation. It became rapidly apparent that I had a need for relaxation, and fast! I suggested yoga, and suggestions of classes flew in, thick and fast. Being in a remote area, this would be costly for us in terms of petrol in addition to the cost of the actual class. I was pretty sure the class timetable wouldn’t fit into our schedule and I knew my chances at actually being able to do my yoga was heavily dependent on what sort of day my partner was having.

So, out of a need to bring some relaxation techniques into my life, I’ve stumbled into creating a fully-fledged work out area. We have an office attached to our shop, in which we had stored a tv and coffee table gathering dust until we found a spot for them. We went to Big W and purchased a simple book on yoga with a DVD yoga session attached for roughly $11.

The result evolved into this:

It’s nothing fancy, but hugely practical. I had a floor mat handy, so I used that to define the space (these were moved to the shop), and pad the concrete floor for extra comfort. (As you can see, the tv is quite grotty, but I took this photo soon after setting it up and cleaned up the area soon after)

I had a bunch of exercise dvds and equipment I hadn’t been using. I tried using them in the lounge room, but it was too disruptive with children so close by. Even if I waited until their bedtime, the two younger ones would be too distracted by what I was doing to sleep! So although this area started out solely for yoga, it’s opened up the opportunity to solve my exercise problem also. I can go to this area by myself when I know it suits my partner and do what needs to be done.

Once I started getting back into exercise, I realised how much I’d missed this! The stress release, the adrenaline, the feeling of accomplishment. I’ve had a little break from working out for the past few weeks as I’ve had the flu, but I honestly can’t wait to get back in there.

I know some mums who read this will be thinking, ‘that’s all well and good, but she has a separate shop, not everyone has that!’ and this is true. Trust me, I can relate, having moved from a cramped two-bedroom cottage housing five of us. I also know how it feels to get stuck in a fitness rut, completely willing to exercise, but finding it hard to make it actually happen, due to being a mum.

Here’s some tips I think might be helpful for mums who are truly finding it a challenge to get that much-needed workout time in:

Wear a pedometer during the day and work towards a step-count goal. Incidental exercise is recognised nowadays as being just as effective as time set aside to work out. It’s a good way to ease back into being more active. I did this a few times when we first moved here, and it encouraged me to do a little more, and planted the idea of looking for places to walk. (Admittedly, I was disappointed with the offerings, but just because it didn’t work for me this time, doesn’t mean it wouldn’t for others)

Look at your obstacles to exercise and try to find creative ways to make it happen. If you can see a chunk of time in your day where your kids can be looked after by someone else, make the most of that time. If gyms and classes don’t suit you due to money or clashing timetables, don’t let that be your reason to give up. If you are able to exercise with your kids and are happy to, then that’s great too. I personally prefer to exercise on my own at the moment, because I find the alone time is better for my stress levels.

Think about what you’ve got that could help you. Do you have an exercise bike or dumbells gathering dust? Don’t be put off using them just because you may not have been up until now. Maybe you just need to find a more suitable time/place to use them. Where would be the best place for you to exercise without disruption? What time would that be?

Ask for support. If you have a partner, ask them to help you make this happen. You might need them to look after the kids, or help move your family schedule around a little to ensure you get this time. Although my partner has severe mental illness and needs my help with a lot of things, there are still times in the day when he’s capable of spending time with the kids whilst I disappear to exercise.If you’re a single parent, can you get anyone to help you with the kids? If not, can you make walking to school with the kids your exercise? If your kids are older, you can ask them to respect this time of yours, and to avoid distracting you unless it’s urgent.

Where suitable, get the kids involved. It’s really dangerous to have little kids hanging around your treadmill, but there’s lots of ways kids can be involved. If you have a wii fit, you can play that together for some family fun, or run around together at the park or in your backyard. Sometimes Missy 10 will have a go of my yoga dvd. She loves the relaxation it brings, and I think it’s great that she finds a stress release right before the teen years. It’s also her NAPLAN year again, and usually she gets a little stressed about it. As mentioned, you can also walk together. I’m going to mention bike riding here too, because although I hate bikes with a passion, I know lots of family do this, enjoy it and it works for them.

Talk to other mums and find out what works for them. Often brainstorming and sharing ideas can lead to inspiration, especially if it’s a recommendation for a great gym or walking route. Also, let’s talk to each other here, share our ideas and see if we can add more solutions to this list.

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Making Pom Poms

Written on May 1st, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Craft, Fine motor, Handmade, May 2011, Projects, Saving money, School aged

Yes, this is a pom-pom made from the french knitting kit I mentioned the other day. I’m not overly thrilled with it, because of the technique used to wind the wool on:

Having made pom poms in the past the old fashioned way (winding yarn around cardboard circles with a hole in the centre), Missy 10 and I both thought this would be much easier. It was, but we didn’t like the effect as much as how it turns out doing it the old fashioned way. There was a lot of trimming needed afterward to make it look circular, and we didn’t like how the tied-up centre turned out, either. It didn’t seem as secure. Violet Le Beaux recently made heart shaped pom poms by wrapping the yarn around something rectangular with great results, so it could be a personal preference thing. I’m determined to make some of her cute heart pom poms very soon though, I think they’d look awesome on the end of some beanie ties!

This is a great activity if you have a child who’d like to dabble in wool/yarn craft, but isnt yet confident/interested in learning to knit or crochet. It still provides yet another opportunity to work the fine motor muscles and to problem-solve. It can be pretty tricky cutting those loops of wool, so a child will have to dig deeper than using just average scissor skills! They won’t be able to cut all that yarn in one hit, and will have to learn other ways to do it, such as snipping just a little wool at a time.

Making pom poms with children also encourages them to concentrate on this task for a longer period than many other activities this generation likes to do. I think it’s good to involve children in activities which don’t necessarily provide instant gratification in a matter of minutes. As with most wool crafts, school aged children are given a chance to lengthen their attention span and to learn about patience.

When Missy 10 made her pom poms, she quickly learned that although it’s a simple project, these make great gifts. She made a toy for Sookie the cat, and we both gave some pom poms to Missy 3 to play with. She was over the moon to be able to carry them around and cuddle them. Missy 10 did attempt to decorate one pom-pom into a toy character, but unfortunately, Sookie tore it apart within seconds of its completion. In time, we’ll make more pom-poms, and show a bunch of cool things kids can make either for themselves or others.

In future, I’m thinking we’ll buy one of those plastic versions of the cardboard circles, as a compromise. It’s tedious cutting out cardboard every single time, after all.

This is the perfect weather in Australia to be snuggling up, making pom-poms. I have fond memories of making them as a child, and making funny toys out of them. What did you do with pom-poms when you were a child?

Other reading:

French knitting

Knitting project for children – finger puppets

Teaching kids to knit

Crochet for children and finger knitting

Flower looms

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School Holiday Craft – French Knitting

Written on April 29th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in April 2011, Craft, Fine motor, Handmade, Saving money, School aged

School holidays ended this week (sob!). Missy 10 kept herself busy these holidays with plenty of craft, which she loves. A few weeks prior to the holidays, I was in Big W and found this cute kit for roughly six bucks, so I made a point of grabbing it in advance (it was in the knitting section).

These are also sometimes called a ‘knitting nancy’. We thought this one looked really cute. It also came with a bonus pom-pom maker, which I’ll write another post on shortly.

This is a simple, cheap and fun activity for school aged children. It’s more of a structured activity than a creative one, but let’s face it, school-aged kids are ready and able to learn crafting techniques at this age, and enjoying mastering them. Once mastery is gained, creativity can come into play if the child chooses. They could use the cords created for decoration, for example on knitted toys (the post I’ve linked to wasn’t decorated with french knitting, I instead used i-cords, which looks very similar to french knitting and could be used in the same way), as ties on beanies or other clothing.

Kids are attracted to this craft for the fun, but they get so much more out of it than they realise (or need to know):

- This activity is highly cognitive, as they try to remember the steps in the sequence of french knitting. Kids are challenged to use trial and error, experimentation and problem solving, just to get the little loops over the spikes! Are they pulling the yarn too tightly? Is it too loose? Your child will be encouraged to reflect on the consequences of every attempt they make to get this to work, and tweak the way they try it on each next attempt.

- Eye-hand co-ordination is challenged quite a bit, as they really need to look at what they’re doing to make their own hands match what their eyes can see!

- Because this is very fine, close work compared to preschooler craft, it helps children to become more skilled at using their hands, strengthening them at the same time.

- It’s a beautiful way for parents or grandparents to spend with the kids in their life. I don’t think this generation values this sort of interaction as much as previous generations.

So many families are obsessed with filling each day up with play dates, extracurricular activities and so on. Whatever happened to spending time with the adults in a child’s life, learning new things with them? I love that when I craft with my daughter, it’s a perfect opportunity for her and I to slow down, de-stress and reconnect. I’m all too aware that soon she’ll be a teen. I’m all too aware that she spends so much time at school, and less time with her dad and I as a result.

I think once our kids start school, it’s so easy to let that time together slide and for parents to become disconnected from their children. We need, as a society, to re-claim that bond with our children. What better way to do that than by teaching them new things? And please, if you’re reading this, and you and/or your child aren’t crafty, don’t think that’s that’s the only way to spend time and connect with your school-aged child. I’ll be talking about lots of ways we can keep that bond alive with our older kids very soon.

Did you french knit as a kid? Did you have a wooden cotton spool with four nails bunged into the top, or did you have a store bought ‘knitting nancy’?

Other reading:

Knitting project for children – finger puppets

Teaching kids to knit – school holiday fun

Crochet for children

Flower looms

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Pushing Kids to do Their Best

Written on February 6th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Cognitive, Emotional, February 2011, Preschool aged, School aged

This is a sensitive subject for me. I have mentioned before, but don’t like to go on and on about it, but Missy 10 is very bright. When she was four years old, she learned how to read fluently. I read a baby board book to her, showing her how I was sounding the letters out in the words, then left the room. When I came back, she was reading everything. Of course, in order to be able to do this, she already had been taught letter sounds. Basically, any time, right from when she was a baby, if she ever pointed to a letter and asked what it was, we’d tell her the name of the letter and the sound it makes. Then we’d move on and forget all about it.

I, of course, being a proud mum, bragged to my parents about it, who were equally proud. I kept tight-lipped about it with others, because to be reading to the extent she was, I knew it looked bad. I’m sure it looked like I’d been coaching a poor little four year old into being a competitive academic. Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s a shame, because I had every right to be proud of her! But I knew it made other parents feel not so great, and so I didn’t make a fuss.

I also learned to read at around this age too, so I think genetics plays a big part in her abilities. The only difference with me, was that once I got to school, I wasn’t comprehending as well as I was reading. By the time I had my daughter, I was aware that early reading ran this risk, so I made sure to nurture her comprehension as she read new things, so as not to hinder her progress as she got older. Thankfully, her comprehension was never a problem. In kindergarten, when teachers asked her to tell them what happened in a book, she’d say, ‘I don’t know!’, thinking they wanted her to quote the book verbatim. Once I explained to her that they just wanted an idea of what happened in the story in her own words, she was fine.

Of course, being so proud of her new skill, my then four year old did nothing to hide her pride, and rightly so! She would read whatever she saw out loud (including graffiti! *blush*), and soon I had parents criticising me, accusing me of not allowing her to have a childhood. Honestly, it’s not as if she did nothing else but read all day! I was accused of pushing her too hard, being too competitive, of valuing academic achievements over everything else. It still makes me quite angry, because not one of these people doing the judging had ever been into our home, nor witnessed our family life.

The day she turned five was quite funny. I was pregnant, but wanting to test again. I raced into the chemist before our family went out for a special birthday outing. I took my daughter in with me. As I browsed the pregnancy tests, my daughter read the labels of every single condom packet out loud! There was not a dry eye in the shop, as she factually stated: ‘ribbed for her pleasure, ultra sensitive, regular, fruit flavoured…’ and so on. So that was something…

It’s fair to say that I’m quite paranoid and conscious as a result, of not pushing my kids too hard. But there is this nagging part of me that wants my children to know that they can do anything if they work hard enough for it. I want them to know when it’s ok to push themselves. That they should put their best effort into whatever they attempt, no matter what the result, or their own natural ability or lack of ability.

Basically, I want my children to intrinsically want to strive to be their best, for themselves. To learn self discipline, satisfaction, and the value of hard work. I never want to be cruel. And believe me, after that experience with my then four year old, I know what it is to be accused of being a cruel, pushy parent.

Some of you might remember Missy now 10′s success in the spelling bee last year. The highlight for her was being chosen out of the school with one other child, to go on a trip to another school, and be challenged in something she loves doing. Her biggest hope at the moment is that she be asked to do the same again this year.

Seeing how important it is to her, and seeing an opportunity to teach her about goal-setting and self-discipline, I talked to her about things she could do to help her chances. I talked to her about her natural ability in spelling; the fact that she is quite ahead of her peers in this area, with very little effort. I explained that this was an advantage she had, but that other participants in the spelling bee clearly had it too. So we agreed that natural ability is great, but can only get you so far. To rely solely on it leads to cockiness.

I talked to her about how wonderful her spelling is now, but things she could do to become even better. When she came third last year, the word that she got stuck on, which got her ‘out’, was the word, ‘timbre’. As soon as I heard the announcer call it, I knew she wouldn’t get it. It’s simply not a part of her vocabulary, and not something she’d be able to guess easily. So, I encouraged my daughter to do more wide reading. She reads a great deal anyway, but I reminded her that she could borrow as many books at the library as she could read.

Sometimes, Missy 10 just reads the same books at home over and over again. In reading a wider variety, she expands her vocabulary. I find with her, all she needs is to see the written word, and she’s pretty good at remembering the spelling after that. There are two computer/internet games she loves: Mathletics and another Aussie spelling one. (I wish I could remember the name of it, but my daughter’s asleep as I write this. I’ll ask her the name of it, and share it tomorrow.) Both have spelling competitions where she can compete with other kids across the country. She absolutely loves playing these games! So this was my other suggestion: keep practicing on there, too.

I told her that I was proud of her spelling abilities as they are now, already. I am more than happy for her to just keep trying her best at school, and not try to cruise through just because it’s easy for her. But I also told her that if she wanted something desperately enough in life, that she could push herself, work extra hard, and have more chance of making her goals come to light.

So, do I think it’s cruel to push children too hard? Absolutely. But I have no qualms whatsoever with encouraging my children to push themselves hard for things they want in life. I think it’s an important skill to have. My daughter knows that no matter how hard she works, we’ll always insist that she have playtime/downtime. She knows that we will not allow her to beat herself up mentally if she doesn’t achieve perfection. The good news is though, that as time goes on, I think she’s seeing that perfection is an impossible thing to strive for. Over the years, she has put this pressure on herself: she knows she’s smart, so has had trouble understanding why she doesn’t always get what she believes would be a ‘perfect’ result in life.

I’m hell-bent on teaching her that as long as you’ve done your best, that’s all you can do. You may not get the mark you craved, but you can hold your head up with pride that you worked hard and gave an honest effort. Where do you draw the line when it comes to pushing your kids?

Other reading:

Regressive behavior in children

Helping kids to make choices

Emotional development – how to help children to talk about feelings

Learn by doing – laundry

Ten activities that enhance under fives’ language skills

Emotional development – initiative

Reflective listening

Students’ homework: how much should we help?

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Announcing the Winner

Written on January 17th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Giveaways, January 2011

I’d like to announce the winner of the Back to School giveaway. It’s….

Number 6, which happens to be Caz! Congratulations, I hope you find your prize helpful. Thanks so much to everyone for so many amazing back to school money-saving tips! I was blown away by all the great ideas, and it’s great to know this year, there’s an excellent resource for aussie parents just in the comment section alone! Mums and Dads all win, when we band together and help each other with tips like these. So well done, everyone, for making this giveaway so much fun. Also, stay tuned, because there will be more giveaways very soon. Caz, I’ll be in touch soon.

Other reading:

Pushing kids to do their best

Cute sandwich cutter

What I did on the first day back to school

Students’ homework: how much should we help?

School supplies on a budget

Tips for dealing with the back to school routine

School term dates 2011

Covering school books

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Teach Your Child Knitting

Written on January 16th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Cognitive, Craft, Fine motor, Good times, Handmade, January 2011, Projects, School aged

In Australia, we’re in the last weeks of the Summer holidays. It’s been fun, but now everyone’s getting a bit tetchy. Few of us have unlimited funds to do ridiculously exciting outings everyday, but it’s becoming clear before the kids get on each others’ (and our!) nerves, that they need something to do.

This is I why I think it’s great to teach school-aged kids how to knit. Missy 10 already knew the basics of it, but because she’s usually so busy with school, doesn’t get enough time to practice. What better time to have a go, than during school holidays? Our kids have hours and hours of time on their hands, and whilst it’s a great time to play and relax, sometimes kids don’t know what to do with so much spare time.

Knitting is also really cheap to get started with. Sure, you can spend a lot of money on beautiful wools down the track, but for beginners, cheap is best anyway. And to be honest, for the amount of time spent concentrating and being quiet (oh yes, I went there!) I’d say it’s a damn solid investment.

Even for my own knitting, I like to be relatively frugal. I use knitting needles that have either been handed down to me, and if I don’t have a certain size, nine times out of ten I can source them at the op shop or ebay for a dollar or two. I prefer old knitting needles anyway; to me they feel like there is magic in them. I can picture the ladies before me working on their projects, and feel as though I’m extending the continuum. Any money I save here allows me to buy high quality wools and yarns. I believe once you’re an established knitter, you deserve only the best materials.

I also have been able to to source many patterns for free on the internet, or for a couple of dollars. Ravelry and Knitty are my two favourite resources for knitting. There are also some great, easy knitting patterns for kids online. When I was nine, I became obsessed with knitting! I started out by reading beginners’ knitting books, and doing the projects in there. Basically, once your child can knit, there’s no reason for them not to start out on any beginner pattern that catches their eye. I also used to enjoy designing and knitting clothes for my toys.

Another great thing kids can do once they’ve mastered the basics of knitting is to attempt sampler squares of different patterns, such as stockinette stitch, moss stitch and ribbing. If your child enjoys the mastery of a computer game, there’s a fair chance they’ll get a kick out of a challenge like this too!

Ok, so knitting is cheap and enjoyable for kids. What are some of the direct benefits for the child?

- Knitting builds fine motor strength

- It challenges their eye-hand co-ordination

- It gives them great spatial awareness

- It is a great cognitive (intellect) building activity

- It encourages children to think in mathematical terms. Don’t believe me? Try knitting a pattern from a graph, or attempting a sampler pattern!

- Knitting is a great way for children to explore a new material. They learn about how fabrics can be made, the way they interlock together. They learn about how different sized needles, and different wool/yarn thicknesses affect the work they’re doing. They learn by working with the yarn and feeling it for long periods, the different properties of different fibres. For example, working with mohair is an entirely different experience to working with pure wool. Cotton doesn’t stretch very much, acrylic yarns don’t stay nice for very long, and so on.

- Knitting gives children a challenge and a purpose.

- Knitting gives children with a taste for fashion an outlet to channel it towards.

- It encourages children to have patience, and to work towards a goal.

- It keeps them quiet for hours!

So, how does one start out teaching their child to knit? I like to grab some 8 ply acrylic yarn (I usually can’t stand this stuff, but it’s perfect for learning on), and the needles in the size that complements the yarn (check the label for suggestions). I make sure I do it when I have a lot of time. Knitting with a child is a bonding experience, and not something to be rushed. It should be pleasurable.

It’s best at the first learning attempt for the grown-up to cast on the stitches and work one or two rows. This enables the work some more elasticity, which in turn makes the learning process less awkward. My Gram taught me to knit, by teaching me to recite as I worked, ‘in, round, under, off’ throughout the process of knitting one stitch. When you’re teaching a child to knit, a lot of this is repetition based, and takes a lot of practise. I’ve found it helped if I worked on a garter stitch sampler at the same time, (when my daughter was just starting out) so my daughter can look over my shoulder and see the ‘flow’ of the process.

As your child becomes more used to working with the needles and yarn, they’ll develop a comfortable habit in how they hold both. They will get their own little flow going! Knitting is a great confidence builder, too. What I love about it, is that a child can follow a pattern to learn the skill, or to make a certain, wanted project, or they can create something entirely original, if that is their wish. It can be as structured or open-ended as they choose! My motto with knitting is, build the skills first, then you can create anything later.

My daughter is really keen to learn more about knitting now, so we’ll be building up a cheap but nice stash for her. She’s really excited about this! You’ll be able to find out in a few days, what exactly it is she’s knitting!

If you don’t or can’t knit, why not consider asking a relative or friend who can, to teach your child? Do you or any of your children knit? Why not start with your child these holidays?

Other reading:

Knitting project for children – finger puppets

Crochet for children

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‘Why Don’t You Just Give Your Kid Contact Lenses?’

Written on January 14th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Care, Challenges, January 2011, Parenting, Soap box

This is a question I’ve been asked frequently since Missy 10 started wearing prescription glasses full-time at the age of five. I’ve been told by other ‘experts’ on my child (read: busy bodies) that it’s cruel for me to send my child to school with a reason for kids to tease her. It’s cruel, because apparently, according to these ‘experts’, that she won’t feel confident, or attractive. (Of course! I forgot to teach my daughter that her sole purpose in life was to focus on her appearance, because that’s all women are good for, right? I’m guessing that all the science she does and books and learnin’ are a waste of time too?)

Apart from the most important point in all this, which is that other parents’ choices aren’t anyone else’s business, and apart from the fact that the only experts on our child are us, the parents, I have many good reasons why I don’t get her contact lenses.

I’m not prepared to pay for expensive lenses when there are other mouths in this house to be fed, and possibly other children who may (but hopefully not) end up needing glasses also. Not in the name of vanity, I won’t.

My daughter actually needed glasses, not lenses when she started out wearing them, as one eye was severely turned inward. Glasses could help to straighten this problem, and train the eye ahead, whereas lenses could not.

I didn’t feel that my daughter was or is at a stage where she can competently and confidently place the lenses in her eyes. Also, I’ve never used lenses, so I don’t feel confident in my ability to help her. (But I would love to try out some cool coloured ones, one day!) The idea of her getting an infection unnecessarily, concerns me. I’ve heard that there can be other risks with contact lenses, and for growing eyes, I don’t feel it’s worth the risk. Poor hygiene when using contacts can be extremely dangerous, and whilst I like to drum the importance of hygiene into my kids, I’m not ready to hand the responsibility of that with lenses over to my daughter at this age.

My daughter has been teased in the past about her glasses, yes. Probably not as much as she would’ve been back in the years when I went to school, kids were more brutal and teachers turned a blind eye. Do I want my daughter to be teased? Of course not! Is it my fault or her fault for not conforming when she does get teased? Absolutely not. I teach my children not to tease or bully others, and that’s the best I can do. If more parents did this, then perhaps that would cut out the bullying problems in schools better than everyone else having to change who they are to suit someone whose opinion just doesn’t matter. It’s important to me that I teach my children not to change who you are for anyone, especially not rude people. Lead, don’t follow, is our mantra in this family.

No one wants their child to be bullied, and when it happens, I help my daughter through it. But let’s face it; we become who we are based on our life experiences. We become stronger people, more compassionate people, when we aren’t shielded from the life condition. If my daughter weren’t teased about glasses, kids would find something else. Some kids just look for reasons to tease, and I can’t control her entire life and all the experiences she is going to have. But I can support her if something bad happens, I can advocate for her at the school, also. Best of all, I can teach her how to cope with the arseholes of the world. She’s going to need to learn how to do that!

As much as I wish she didn’t need glasses, and I know my daughter does as well, the good thing that has come out of this, is that she has now had an experience which I believe has been very character building and enables her to empathise with others in a similar situation. I know she wouldn’t tease someone about wearing glasses, ever.

But for me, possibly the most important reason that I don’t give my daughter lenses, is because she doesn’t want them. A question that these nosey parker ‘experts’ have failed to ever bother asking. Now, as a parent, there are things my daughter doesn’t want to do that she has to do, like it or not. We’re the parents, and we get the final decision. But not on something purely based on vanity. My daughter would be the one who’d have to put these into her eyes everyday, and to be honest, the idea frightens her and grosses her out. I don’t think it’s wise to force this on her if she feels this way.

After all that’s said and done, I remember my daughter’s last eye appointment (she’s due for another one, which has gotten me thinking about this again). My partner took her, whilst I stayed at home. They were told that her eyesight had drastically improved. Looking back, I now wonder if she actually even needs to be wearing them full time at all! Of course, things were pretty hectic at the time, and the idea hadn’t occurred to me. Her eye has drastically straightened out lately, too. We’re hoping she may not need surgery for this, after all. But I’m going to contradict everything I’ve said above, now. When we go to her next appointment, I’m going to ask if she actually needs to be wearing glasses full time anymore, or just for reading. I wonder if optometrists and opthalmologists think to tell people if they don’t need to be wearing glasses permanently?

I want to ask, because I know it’d be the best gift I could give my child. I know she makes the best out of wearing glasses, and is as positive about it as she can be, but I also know that she doesn’t like having to wear them. A couple of years ago, our family had a little photo shoot, and it occurred to me, she doesn’t need to wear them just to have her photo taken. So, I let her take them off, and she was so excited, it gave her this gigantic lift! I so badly would love to give her that again one day, not for peer pressure, or appearance reasons, but to give her that same sense of freedom all over again.

What about you? Do any of your kids need glasses? Do you let them wear contacts sometimes?

Other reading:

Back to school: does your child need glasses?

Upset

How I saved almost $800 on my daughter’s glasses

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Science experiments for school aged kids

Written on October 16th, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in Cognitive, Fine motor, Good times, Language, October 2010, School aged

Missy 10 had some extra pocket money to spend as a result of her recent birthday. She bought herself an Eco Forensic Lab. (This isn’t a sponsored post, nor a review, I’m just really impressed with what she bought!)

This needed adult supervision, so her Dad helped her with this.

The kit provided her with protective gear, because some of the chemicals were dangerous! She was handling lime water, which went smokey, and calcium hydroxide powder. As you can see, this is very fiddly work! Great for those fine motor skills. Here she is cutting up litmus paper, and trying very hard not to touch it.

She had a ball, testing soil and water in our yard for richness, organic matter and now she has to wait a few days for it to dry out. After this, she’ll be analysing it for chemicals. She is devastated that she has to wait!

Other things she’ll be able to test for are mini beasts in our water and soil, humidity in our air, and so many more cool things. I must say, it’s leaving me feeling very dumb… But I can see that this is an excellent activity for school aged kids, and my fiance and Missy 10 were out in the studio for hours, having a ball, working together.

I would highly recommend this kit if you have a bored school-aged kid, especially if it were school holidays! Have your kids tried any fun kits lately that you’d recommend? My man is dying to get Missy 10 an electronics kit, but she’s not convinced it’d be any fun just yet.

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Messy play – spaghetti paint.

Written on October 15th, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in Cognitive, Fine motor, Good times, Language, Messy play, October 2010, Preschool aged, Saving money, Toddler

Time for some messy play again! This time, I have mixed cooked spaghetti with fingerpaint for some squishy, slimey, squoozy fun.

(If you’d like a printout of the fingerpaint recipe, you can download it along with recipes for cooked and uncooked playdough.)

Spaghetti paint is great because it doesn’t cost much and uses ingredients most people usually have in their pantry. It is an excellent activity for sensory exploration. Children can enjoy the smell, the slimy feeling, talk about if it is warm or cold and how wet it is.

It encourages much social and language interaction between children and adults alike. Children can experiment with the paint by either handling it on its own or smearing it around on a piece of paper.

Don’t worry if the paper gets holes in it, always remember that children care about and need the process, not the product.

You can see in the photo above how a child could find out what the paint looks like if they lift the spaghetti off the paper – beautiful swirls!

Mr 4 isn’t a huge fan of messy play, but he liked watching this activity, which is a big improvement. Missy 2, however was willing to have a try. If only Missy 10 were home to really get up to her armpits in this mess. In fact, I think I’ll have to let her when she gets home from school.

(Note: if you are considering using this in a preschool or a daycare setting, please be sensitive to the fact that food play is offensive to some cultures. When in doubt, check first.)

What messy things have your children been up to lately?

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