Tagged with " family"
May 3, 2011 - Life, Random    2 Comments

Scenes from the Weekend

I know it’s already Tuesday, and possibly even Wednesday in some parts of the world, but I thought it would be nice to share some pictures of the lovely places we visited over the weekend.

Avebury, in Wiltshire, the village is home to the lesser known of the Stone Circles, the Stonehenge being the most well-known. Unlike the Stonehenge, you can go right up and touch the stones at Avebury.

It is apparently the largest stone circle in Europe. The stones as they are arranged span across three fields, and a village sits right in the midst of all the circles. Read more about it here.

We passed some spectacular scenery along the way. The photos were taken from a moving car, so might not be as clear. The fields of Rape, not a nice name, but what pretty flowers!

Apr 1, 2011 - Family, Life, Parenting    No Comments

Balloons, balloons, are everywhere…

As we rushed back from school, to change in to a fabulous Belle princess outfit complete with tiara and dressy heels, foremost on Georgia’s mind was – are there going to be balloons at the party?

As I tried to distract her with the need to get ready, I also mentioned that we had discussed it before we confirmed our attendance that even if there were balloons, if she wanted to go, I would take her and if she wanted to leave we would.

And so it was, hindered by potentially globophobia (fear of balloons) or more likely the fear of balloons popping, ligyrophobia; pretty Princess Belle, sat pretty much glued to me, with her hands covering her ears the entire 30 minutes we were there at the party, while everyone else was running around with the balloons.

Georgia wasn’t always afraid of balloons, we actually had quite a fun time with a balloon drop on her 2nd birthday, which I think was also about the same time the fear developed, having heard balloons pop, up close.

Thinking about it further, it does seem to me, that we shall have to get some balloons to play with at home, if only to show Georgia gradually that, they really only make a loud noise and nothing much else.

Having said that, I’ve never been a big fan of balloons myself, I remember only touching balloons, or playing with them if they were blown up way less than the maximum, where the little ‘bump’ on the tip was still significantly visible, if only to convince myself that the balloon wasn’t stretched to breaking point.

How ‘transferable’ are our fears on to our children? Given that I no longer fear balloons popping, but did for quite a long while, although not after Georgia came along .

Have you had to deal with this or any other type of seemingly irrational fear, in yourself or your children? What has worked best?

Conversations with Georgia: Work and Money

Georgia has been trying and trying (top marks for persistence) to get us to give her some money for tuck (malaysian equivalent: canteen snacks). I’m at pains to do that, purely because it costs 40p for a snack which might otherwise cost 10p.

My take on that is that, if she needed a lesson in spending money, she could do it without ‘donating’ to the school.

Having said that, this morning, at 6.30am when her little voice piped out, “Please can I have tuck?” She was quite shocked, when I said “Yes”.

And then she tried a little bit more:

G: So you’ll give me money for tuck?

Me: Uh huh.

G: How about if you give me ALL your money?

Me: What would I do then? I need money too.

G: You can go and work and get some more money.

Me: How about if you start doing some work too, and then you can get some money too?

G: (thought for a while and then said) OK, I can work too.

Me: OK. You could draw and write some stories and we could sell those stories?

G: Oh no! … I want to just do work like you. Just e-mail and all that….

Ssshhh…the secret’s out now. I get paid to just email! 😉

Conversations with Georgia: On Lent

This morning, at 5 am, (!)  Georgia squeezed in next to me. As I willed her back to sleep, her little voice pipes out:

Lent, Easter

G: Mum, when’s Easter?
(I can see her thinking chocolate, easter eggs, holiday!)
Me: It will be soon, but do you know, now is the time called Lent?
G: (huffily) I know that already.
Me: And do you know what Lent is about? (pause…but no response comes) It’s about giving up things.
G (without skipping a beat!) : Ok! I can give up work and Cello practise!

Obviously I explained to her that Lent was about giving up things you really like or love, and her reasoning was,
G: (adamantly) But I do really like writing!

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