I am a huge advocate of free range parenting and natural play. One of the ways I encourage this is by taking the boys to our local woods and also to Dalby Forest, which we are ambassadors for.
I want them to learn that they can climb trees, roll in leaves and use natures playgroup. I want them to learn all about unstructured play. I want to encourage them to build dens and look out for nature. In short I want them to have balance in their lives, I want them to have a natural childhood along with the technology that pervades their lives.
I am sure that I am not the only parent that feels this way. If so then this giveaway is perfect for you.
33 Comments
Leave Your Comment »
o hands, one for each of my children. I still take joy in the fact that at eight and nearly seven the boys want to hold my hands when we go places.
Two hands, to hold on tight to the man of my dreams
Two hands that love to get dirty with bread, paint, glue and glitter (not all at the same time mind you)
Two hands, one to hold the book and one to turn the pages as I read the bedtime story
Two hands that love to gently stroke my children as they sleep.
Two hands that tippy tap away on the keyboard letting the words flow from brain to blog
Two hands that hold the camera capturing the moments to make the memories
But mostly my two hands help, they help my children learn to make their own way in the world
Fancying winning a 3 night weekend or 4 night Midweek break with Haven Holidays? I thought you might…………
All you have to do is share a picture of one of your Haven holidays saying why you think nothing beats a holiday by the seaside using through Haven’s Facebook app before 14 April 2013.
Then Rory the Tiger will choose a winner and they can either have a 3 night weekend or 4 night Midweek break in a Deluxe caravan for up to six people before October 2013 (but this excludes July and August).
Now I know that I am lucky to actually live by the sea, so I am biased, but I also know that nothing beats a seaside holiday. There is something about the sea that makes me and the rest of the family relax and feel grounded. The boys adore the sea. They never seem to feel the cold of the water until they get out! They love digging and making sandcastles and honestly nothing beats fish and chips out of the paper at the seaside.
When I was growing up even though we lived by the sea, most of our family holidays were taken in our touring caravan at the great British seaside resorts. In fact look at the photos my brother found of one of our holidays!
I love the fact that no matter how hot it was my Grandad would be fully dressed!
I love reliving my holidays of past with my children, so why not enter and see if you can win a seaside holiday.
For full terms and conditions please see the Haven Facebook app page
If you are of my generation then you will remember the amazing ticks that the Harlem Globetrotters did. In fact they were all I knew about basketball at one point in my life!
Both of my boys are sports mad and after checking our their you tube video I knew that this would be something that they would adore. The UK tour starts on 25 March, so in order to be in with the chance
to win a family ticket (2 adults and 2 children) to the UK venue of your choice then please complete the rafflecopter entry below. The draw will close at noon on Friday 15th March.
Wondering if there is a venue near you? You can find the Harlem Globetrotters tour dates and venues online.
Do you have a budding novelist in your house?
Thompson Al Fresco Holidays have a fantastic Young Story Writers competition at the moment. The competition is for budding young story writers aged 6-12 years old and open until the 31st March 2013. Your child has to write a short story no longer than 500 words with the theme My Fantastic Journey. You never know they could win a family holiday for up to six people.
You might want to get your young story writer some inspiration and Jeremy Strong’ has created his very own story created exclusively for Al Fresco Holidays.
We’ve teamed up with the friendly people at Thorntons to giveaway a delicious ‘I Love Chocolate Hamper’!
Thorntons sell yummy personalised chocolates, toffees, fudges and also some delicious looking hampers like this one we’re about to giveaway. Everyday there is a reason to make someone smile, whether it’s to say ‘I Love you’ or just to say ‘thinking of you’, why not lift and brighten up someone’s day by buying them a box of chocolates from Thorntons to create those smiles
To enter answer the question below via the rafflecopter mechanism:
Who opened Thorntons’ very first shop 100 years ago?
a) Harry Steven Thornton
b) Joseph William Thornton
c) Andrew Thomas Thornton
As you know I have been taking part in the Tots100 Swagbucks competition along with 12 other fantastic bloggers and I wanted to tell you about my experience before the winner is announced next week. I am not sure yet that Swagbucks is for me, I haven’t been very stressful with it, but I do think there are a number of reasons. Firstly the toolbar doesn’t work in Chrome and that is my preferred browser and secondly the major one for me is that I think it is possible to get many more points if you are willing to use Swagbucks to register with gambling sites, but I don’t gamble, so it didn’t really work for me. Another issue was that often people post hints and tips to the Swagbucks facebook page and with the changes on facebook I often didn’t realise they were there until to late.
I am not sure that this time of year was the best time for me to focus on Swagbucks, as I am short of time and I think that if you have time to use it to do the daily poll, survey and searches via them you can make a lot of cash. Wendy made £100 in just three weeks, where I made less than £10! Pippa also made an amazing number of points too, which highlighted to me that it is more than possible and it was me that wasn’t using the site right!
Also I think it is really important that you get other people registered and using swagbucks as you get a proportion of their bucks too and neither of my referrals used the search function.
So my top tips would be:
Get in to a routine (I will try again after Christmas)
Use the seach toolbar
get your referrals to use swagbucks
So I am going to try again in the new year when I have more time and if you want to have a go with me, http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/MuminTheMadHouse
If your children are anything like my boys, then I am always grateful for any help I can get with the cost of shoes. I love shoes and have to say that the boys do not share my enthusiasm for shoes other than for football boots and trainers, which are something that I can not get excited about. I more »
I am all for passive income! So the thought of getting paid for doing what I do online anyway was a no brainer for me. So when the Tots100 were looking for people to take part in their Christmas Swagbucks challenge I jumped at the chance to be part of it.
What is Swagbucks?
Swagbucks is a site that basically rewards users for spending time online. With this site you accrue a virtual currency for doing the things that you might normally do online – using search, watching videos, chatting, playing games, doing polls and surveys etc etc – and you earn from doing it.
Swagbucks has been running in the US since 2007 and is one of the country’s top 100 trafficked websites. Since 2007, the company has paid out more than $26m in rewards to its members – and now Swagbucks is available in the UK!
What is the challenge?
The competition is simple, whichever blogger earns the most Swagbucks by 5pm on December 14, 2012 will win a fabulous £250 gift card.
So I can earn these virtual pennies in a couple of ways, by searching the internet, spending time online, doing little quizzes and playing games and I can appeal to my friends, family, loved ones, blog readers etc to sign up and have a go themselves.
getbox! Not seeing a widget? (More info)
All you need to do is click this code: http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/MuminTheMadHouse and follow the easy instructions – Please
2013 Diary Contents:
Year-to-view 2013
Double page week-to-view
4 storage pockets
Elastic closure strap
Pen loop (new feature for 2013)
Notes pages
Now the fab people at KTwo have offered a free diary to one of the readers of The Mad House. So please follow the rafflecopter instructions.
Follow Mum In The Madhouse
My other sites
Join Me Facebook
I’m Listed At…
Working with
Working with
style="width:165px"
I am taking part
Advertising
My Ebook
