Interesting article

Every once in a while I come across articles and topical items that make me go wow this is what every parent should know. From now onward I will be publishing and sharing such. This article hit a nerve with me because just the other day I was out with a friend and her daughter and we were discussing colours and why it is that kids are pushed and pressured towards liking certain colours over others based on gender. For example boys liking blue and girls liking pink. Of course many parents delight in letting their kids be kids especially when it comes to forms of expression. However making that the norm as kids grow up  is often tricky considering if the parent does not bat an eyelid, others will. Is this the reason why we feel pressure to teach our kids to conform to society's attitudes and bias? Find out what happened when this lady's son wore a pink headband to Walmart.

His first encounter with bullies

T suffered his first bout of bullying while we were out today and thank heavens I was on hand to witness it and defend him. As he was playing in the splash pad (which I had blogged about earlier), the sun protection cream I had applied on his face turned bright white and before you know it, these three 6/7year old boys were taunting, laughing and flicking water at him. Noticing them and aware of their unfriendly attitude, he walked away.  Instead of leaving him alone, they followed him unaware I was watching stalking like a lion about to pounce on its next meal. When they started getting in his face and laughing, I stepped up eyes wide open, nose flared and asked was was going on and why all three of them, big boys were teasing a young toddler. Looking sheepish one of them asked why T's face was white like talc powder? I was gobsmacked but not speechless. Oh so y'all parents haven't educated y'all about sun cream, my streetwise side blurted. Y'all never seen someone wearing sun cream before? I continued before they could answer. 'Nope', one of them replied.  I shook my head. Oh OK always a first time! I answered. And before y'all ask me anything else cos I know y'all are black and y'all probably don't wear sun block, it is to stop your skin getting burned in the sun, as you can see my boy is mixed-race. 'Your skin can get burned in the sun', one of the boys asked looking at me confused. I was done. Go ask your mum or your dad I responded before grabbing T's arm and walking off. What exactly do parents teach their kids these days? So all that talk on the news about excess sun exposure and skin cancer and some kids still haven't heard about sun cream... sheesh!

Kensington Memorial Park

Today's weather is predicted to be a scorcher and T and I plan to enjoy it as much as possible: never mind people moaning about the heat after that long awful winter we've just had. Anyway we are heading out in a while to Kensington Memorial Park near Ladbroke Grove and there is one main reason why: the splash pad there is so awesome it is a blessing that will be sorely missed when the cold weather returns.

If you haven't heard about this park, look it up. It is not huge but it has tons of different play areas and apparatus to keep the whole family entertained. There are tennis courts, an adventure playground, a sandpit, a massive climbing frame, and oh the splash pad which contains numerous water fountains and spray nozzles to suit all ages. The best part is it is free.

That is the bit of news I have today because there is plenty to do outside. Have a good afternoon everyone and whatever you do, stop moaning about the weather, enjoy it instead!

He will be the death of me

T is getting very confident and daring right now and I am not sure I am enjoying the transition at all.When he is not treating everything around him including myself like a jungle gym at the playground, he is running, jumping and just driving me near crazy with his daredevil antics. Just this evening I took him to the park and within 30 minutes of being there he had fallen flat on his face twice, banged his head on a ride and tripped on the slide thrice from jumping off it; all these while I was screaming and running about frantically making sure he was playing nicely and carefully. But boys always have to be boys and when I tell him not to do something he does exactly that. Don't climb the slide; he goes and climb it laughing. That is for boys bigger than you; he goes and play with it and screams 'look I did it' afterwards. Can you watch where you are going; he keeps looking at me and walking away until boom, he walks into something. At times I just want to chain him down or wrap him in cotton wool but I know I can't and the feeling that he could hurt himself is wrecking havoc on my mind. Watching him play this evening, my heart was beating so fast as I wondered if we would leave the playground heading home for dinner or in an ambulance to A&E. He was so bold and rowdy I was shaken a couple of times by what he did. Someone pass me a pace maker for my heart. Oh the joys of raising a boisterous and active young child!

RIP Daniel Pelka

If you haven't heard about the sad story of Daniel Pelka, then you must have been living under a rock. I was just watching it on the news and it brought so much sadness to my heart that a mother would do that to her own child when she was meant to be his biggest protector. How could she live with herself knowing she, and her boyfriend, killed that boy? And then she tried to cover it up and lie in court. What a sad and tragic ending for such a young innocent soul. God rest him in peace!