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Pain-Free School Shoe Shopping with Clarks: Is It Possible?

4 Comments / Back to School, shopping / By

I hate shopping for school shoes with the boys. This is made much worse by the fact that Mini has very wide feet with a high instep. We have tried every shoe shop going and I have never been over the moon at any shoe shop until now.

Today we went to Clarks in a neirbouring market town, which doesn’t actually have many shops at all, so much so that MadDad didn’t even know that it had a Clarks.

So what made this shop pain free (apart from in the pocket)?

We booked our appointment online. No getting a ticket and waiting inline. Not for us, we jumped any queue with our pre-booked appointment – Whoop.
We had an experienced fitting lady (she was the manager) and all the other staff were more mature and handled the boys perfectly.
The plimsolls Mini needed were out of stock, but will be delivered FREE to my home address on Friday.
Plimsolls in a range of width fittings and in half sizes, which is perfect for us as both boys are half sizes.
We have found in the past that the larger and more trendy Clarks often employ people who have not got children of their own, so although they are qualified fitters, we have had to return on a number of times, especially with Mini and his wide, high feet.

Both boys have come away with different style shoes, but with a protective rubber bumper at the front.

My only gripe would be please stop making Jack Nano shoes. I do not want to purchase these for my children and I do not want to have to experience pester power over them. Thankfully the Manager understood this and they were not the best fit for my children, so they were not in the running.

Pain-Free School Shoe Shopping with Clarks: Is It Possible? Read More »

Family Film Night – A romantic interlude

1 Comment / parenting / By

But more than that, it reminded me why I married MadDad and just how much I enjoy his company and how much I relish time on my own with him. We have resolved to make more time for each other on an evening and also to try and arrange a couple of days or nights out just for us. For the last seven years our life has revolved around the boys and the time has come to reclaim a bit of couple time. We are not talking about a regular date night, just taking the time to chat and turn off all outside interruptions.

How do you make time for yourself and your partner?

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Boys and guns

17 Comments / parenting / By

I have two boys aged seven and very nearly six and I remember when they were very small having a conversation with MadDad about the fact that I wasn’t going to allow toy guns in to my home. I was determined that they would grow up in an environment that didn’t promote fighting, death, anger or shooting. For the first two years of Maxi’s life, he didn’t even know what a gun was, let alone how to use them, but we got to a point where anything and every thing became a weapon. He would use sticks as arrows and swords, duplo was fashioned in to guns and imaginative play revolved around cops and robbers.
As time went on the boys toys included Playmobil knights, castles and dragons, LEGO police and Toy Story little green army men and I realised that I was trying to swim upstream against my refusal to have these thigs in our home. The final straw being when the boys were given Nerf guns and I realised that we all had a ball with them.

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It is not babysitting

14 Comments / parenting / By

Today my husband is looking after our children whilst I am at Blog Camp UK. I just want to confirm that he is not babysitting the boys.

When he is out at work during the week, I do not babysit our children, so why do people insist that when he is taking sole responsibility of Mini and Maxi they insist on calling it babysitting.

So just to make it clear. He is PARENTING.

It is not babysitting Read More »

Trying Not to Pass My Food Dislikes to My Children: Tips for Positive Eating Habits

7 Comments / mini mads, parenting / By

MadDad’s mum doesn’t like mushrooms and tomatoes, neither does MadDad. When you ask him he puts it down to the fact that he had never tried them until he was older and he doesnt like the texture, he never learned to like them. In fact between me and MadDad we have quite a few food aversions, but we have always ensured that we try not to pass these on to our boys.
Growing up I didn’t like turnip, but was made to have a tea spoon each Sunday on my dinner and told to mix it with my carrot or potato and I was expected to eat it. Guess what I actually like turnip now. With regards to veg, both the boys will happily eat their way though the garden, to which I am so thankful and I put down to the fact that we grow a selection in the garden.

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Keeping your children warm, without turning up the heating

8 Comments / parenting / By

With the price of fuel going up and up and up, it is important to me that we make savings where we can and with this in mind I wrote a post at Ready fro Ten about helping to stem the cost of soaring fuel prices. The thing for me is I am happy to try and save money, but I would never put the boys at risk by being too cold, however, you can make changes which mean you can leave the heating off for a little longer.

Layer up
I am a big fan of lots of thin layers, which trap the warn air. We do this with thermal vests and long johns (bought from Aldi), then PJ’s and then dressing gowns. The boys were soft bedsocks to keep their feet warm when in bed.

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0 Reasons I Wear Shoes in the House: Avoiding LEGO and More

22 Comments / parenting / By

We have wooden floor downstairs and carpet upstairs.

LEGO. Have you ever trodden on a lego brick, nuff said!
Little plastic soldiers. As painful as LEGO, but not as durable, so not only do you end up with a sore foot, but an unhappy child too
Paper. The last time I slipped on a piece of paper I broke my big toe. On wooden floors, paper or magizines means a slip hazzard and you will often find me legs akimbo on the floor
Wet patches. Thankfully now my boys are five and six these patches tend to be drink, but in the olden days you never knew what you might be stood in (I will leave that to your imagination)
Cars. Oh yes cars can soon have you propelled across a room at breakneck speed too

0 Reasons I Wear Shoes in the House: Avoiding LEGO and More Read More »