Cake or Fitness? Thoughts on the Reebok EasyTones

Cake or fitness, cake or fitness. Normally they don't exactly go hand in hand, but in a way, in the past few weeks they have for me. That's because I was lucky enough to be selected to be a trialist for Reebok EasyTones and since my EasyTones aren't meant for running, I can wander about the house eating and making cakes in secure in the knowledge that I am in fact, doing some good to my body.

In all seriousness, these EasyTones do confuse me a bit. They look every inch like a running shoe. I love running shoes, my best ever ones are the Nike Pegasus (not the vintage ones but the up to date ones). I currently use a pair of Gell Asics for running. Top of the range they are, trendy they are not. However, both are the epitome of comfort for running about the mean streets of St Albans. I don't really wear them for daily use and on that note, since you aren't supposed to wear the EasyTones for sport, why not make them look nice? I'm not a fan of the sports wear for casual wear look, unless its from Prada it looks, well, a little bit cheap.

Anyhow, do they work? Well, I have been ramping up the running again, slowly working my way back to the peak of physical fitness. This has had a marginal effect. However in the last few weeks I have put on weight again. It's no thanks to the EasyTones which have encouraged a bit of a devil may care attitude in me and encouraged cake eating. I say this flippantly, but in all honesty, I sort of quantified calories of cake against EasyTone wearing. This is wrong, I know, slap my wrists and I'll go away now and develop a new mental attitude.

Yes, my bottom is quite a bit more toned, yes my legs have ached in a satisfying manner and yes I think that alongside running they have helped a bit. They are very comfortable once you have got used to them, but would I buy them? No, the thing is they are just not stylish enough for my liking. They look silly with most of my clothes and I tried wearing them with a dress and leggings and I got asked if I had just come from the gym. So, there you have it, EasyTones are great in themselves and they do exactly what they say, if you use them properly. However, I think you might need to indulge in an entirely new wardrobe...

If you want to find out lots more about EasyTones there is a whole website full of information here. Keep an eye out on my blog as I'll chart my progress with them in the months to come!

Cake or Fitness? Thoughts on the Reebok EasyTones

Competition; Win a Flexibath

A little while ago I told you all about The Flexibath. It's one of the best things I have ever reviewed and so I am really pleased to announce that I have been given 6 of them to give away!


Just to remind you,the Flexibath is one of those ingenious ideas that you wish you had thought of. It's literally a baby bath that folds up, making it suitable for smaller bathrooms and travelling.

What's more, the Flexibath has received 2 prestigious design awards in Denmark and has been declared one of This Morning's best baby gadgets. At just £29.95, its a bargain. Don't forget to go and have a look at my full review here

To enter the competition, just leave your contact details below and tell my readers the best place you have ever visited. If you want additional entries tweet my competition or even write your own blog post. Don't forget to let me know what you have done. I'll pick the winners using Random Number Generator on Sunday 6th June. The competition is open to UK residents only and the Flexibath will be posted out directly by the PR company so you will need to provide me your full address should you win so I can pass it on.

Good Luck!

Competition; Win a Flexibath

The Human Whirlwind

The other day I was sitting down with my friend having a cup of tea and watching the children play/ fight. Fifi wandered over to my friend holding a plastic dinosaur and said ‘look! Triceratops’. We discussed it, and came to the conclusion that this was not imagination. Since our holiday something has changed inside Fifi, not only has she become more confident in her play with her brother, her vocabulary has improved and perhaps most noticeably, she has become a lot naughtier.

This is a problem as she is clearly the ring leader in the games between her and Toddler Boy and all sorts of naughtiness is happening. Disciplining her is hard for lets not forget she is under a year and a half! The naughty step/ time out/ withdrawal methods simply don’t work, she is too little and anyway there are two of them to deal with which makes it a lot harder.

The main issues at the moment revolve around violence and climbing.

The dining room table surface is the most attractive place for a small toddler to visit. When I am not looking the chairs are edged away from the table with enough space to enable them to perform the function of a ladder. The manoeuvre from floor to table can take under a minute. There is no solution to this one as we have a through lounge and sometime, not often, but sometimes I am needed for a short period of time elsewhere (postman, toilet, to put the fish-fingers in the oven etc).

The back of the sofa is another attractive place. It is one of toddler boys favourite places in which to attempt death dives and he has shown his little sister the precise way of reaching this hallowed place. Fortunately they both seem to hesitate for a minute or so before launching off the back onto the carpet.

The game of ‘Shut Door’. I think I have explained this one before, its like a more elaborate version of peekaboo and has been developed purely by the Toddler mind. Although it an happen under the throws on the sofa, games are more usually played in bed. Unfortunately, the toddler sensors which detect the drop off the bed have not been turned on and we often hear the plop of one or two little bodies as they fall out of bed in a slow, tangled and hilarious fashion.

Another Fifi game is to literally empty out any box that she finds. I can be gone for under a minute and the contents of the entire toy shelving unit will be on the floor, the wicker baskets under the coffee table will have been emptied of magazines and the megablocks will be strewn everywhere. Fifi will be standing proudly surveying the scene from the top of an upturned box.

Fifi is one and a half, do I have another sixteen and a half years of this?

The Human Whirlwind

Review; Munchkin Travel Booster Seat

Lindam (the UK's leading safety brand) have just merged with Californian brand Munchkin and have brought 60 of their products to the UK. Munchkin are a well known American brand, renowned for their quality and affordability. We were very kindly sent a booster seat to review.

The Munchkin booster seat is great for traveling as it has a handy storage compartment for cutlery. Keeping a spare set in there has actually proved invaluable, as when we went on holiday recently the cottage that we stayed in didn’t have any childrens cutlery. You can also chuck it over your shoulder and go, as it looks just like a bag.

We were really impressed with this booster seat, it's light has a stray which makes it easy to sling over your shoulder and the funky fabric design is easy to keep clean. At £19.99 It represents excellent value for money. It can be secured to all types of chairs using a simple strap system and appears to be quite hard wearing (from our experience on holiday anyhow). If you are looking for a booster seat Munchkin are really worth checking out. Currently, you can purchase the range of Munchkin products in Wilkinson and Asda.

As a small caveat to this, I would say that if you are considering buying a booster seat instead of a highchair for daily use at your dining room table I would take a very good look at your table. We have found that we can’t use any booster seat on a regular basis at our table, simply because there is a lip of wood underneath the surface of the table running around the edge. If you put a booster seat on the chair there is no space for little legs between the booster and the table!

Review; Munchkin Travel Booster Seat

Now Theres a Good Scam

Fifi is a quick learner. She learns everything she does from Toddler Boy. Toddler Boy is the master of Scams. Yesterday he was very tired so we put him to sleep for the afternoon. There was a lot of crying, thrashing and wailing. The hubby was dispatched to the front line. Toddler boy was sitting on his bed smirking and making crying 'noises'. His pillow was soaking wet. He was asked why his pillow was wet. "...me, tip water on it so you think me cry". You can't argue with that really.

Anyhow, Fifi has also has a few scams which are completely her own. One involves food. Shes not picky at all, she just likes quantity. She has realised that by demanding another member of the family's plate/ bowl she can also get free rein over their food. So she very quickly gets a bowl, adds her food to it and jumbles everything around. Another little scam, if she doesn't particularly fancy her dinner is to do that, then refuse to eat until she gets what else she wants. Usually a banana.

Mummy has a new scam herself. She calmly announces she is 'just going to get a drink'. She goes to the fridge and eats as much chocolate as is possible in the few seconds before her absence is investigated and calmly returns to the room.

Now Theres a Good Scam

Plum Baby Competition and Review

We always try hard to feed our kids healthily. It’s hard though and I freely admit that we have Fish- Fingers and Chips and Pizza on quite a regular basis alongside more healthy options. One of the things that I have really struggled with, is providing healthy breakfast cereals and snacks. Everyone wants to have a range of different things to eat and so providing the same breakfast cereal and the same range of snacks day in day out is a little bit dull. That’s were Plum baby have proved quite helpful as they offer a range of cereals and snacks which you can use in addition to the staples (such as organic raisins, fruit and malt loaf (random I know!)

We were given a selection of biscuits to test. I have to admit they tasted a little bit healthy to me, but I love Belgium chocolate chip, jaffa cakes and party rings. I have been spoilt, my children however, have not and are much more open to less sugary and more virtuous snacks. Plum baby biscuits use spelt wheat (which is a heritage wheat strangely of interest to me as an archaeologist as it is often found on archaeological sites) and grape juice to flavour them. You cant get much better than this because the sheer healthiness of this removes some of the guilt about giving them a biscuit.

The children enjoyed the Minky Moons, they were a good shape and size to give as a little treat after dinner. However, they absolutely loved the Oat Rounds with orange oil and oat ginger. In fact, so did I, they are positively scrummy.

Plum Baby is available in most supermarkets, so next time you get your shopping give them a try.

The folks over at Plum Baby have given me 15 samples of yummy 4 grain breakfast porridge to give away to my lovely readers.

Plum Baby is all about real food for babies and not just baby food and all the products are made with the highest quality organic ingredients. They offer babies a taste of what’s to come and are full of nutrients and nothing artificial.

To enter, simply go to the Plum Baby newsletter and sign up using the code “being a mummy” – and the winners will be chosen at random.

Check out www.Plum-Baby.co.uk and discover more yummy products from the Plum Kitchen.

Prizes will be sent out directly from Plum Baby and the competition is open to UK residents only.

Plum Baby Competition and Review

Review; Green People Organic Babies Nappy Cream Baby Balm

It's a really good idea to try to use organic products on babies. I don’t think I need to explain again why in detail, but basically, less nasty chemicals makes for healthier babies. This is especially pertinent for sore bottoms. If you are one of (what I would suggest is the majority of mums) who use disposable nappies you are already exposing your baby’s bottom to some horrible chemicals. The crystal gel in some nappies is particularly nasty, or so I am told. Therefore, one way you might think about mediating this is to use some nice organic nappy cream.

In the past, I have used Calendula cream from Neals Yard for this purpose. That was until I got sent this lovely nappy balm. We use lots of Green People products, so I have no idea why I didn’t think to use this before. Organic babies nappy balm uses Calendula, Hemp and Chamomile. That's a lovely combination, even if you just think of the flowers. It's also 100% natural and repels water.

It smells nice, has a good consistency and a little bit goes a long way (If you need to justify the price at £9.25 for 40 ml). This has become a change bag essential for us, and it's something that I will be buying all my friends who about to become new mums as I think it would be a very thoughtful present. What's more, if you don't trust me its won two consumer awards for the best nappy cream!

Review; Green People Organic Babies Nappy Cream Baby Balm

It's All About Time

Yesterday I was given a special gift, the gift of time. Hubby and Toddler boy were invited to a preview screening of the film The Tooth Fairy (I'm sure that he will report on that in good time on his blog). It was in central London, so I hitched a lift with them and spent a few hours alone with Fifi wandering about.

I love the West End, I love the air pollution, the general buzz of people rushing about, the sights and sounds, the tourists, the museums and theatres, taking glimpses upwards and looking at buildings. I am a Londoner born and bred, I went to university there, I spent a small amount of time living just off Tottenham Court Road. The chance to wander, to look and to have a moment where I was not doing anything else was simply a joy.

I was a little bit hindered as I had Fifi in her pushchair, so I was perhaps a bit slower than usual. I put aside my mean-ness and went into Starbucks for a coffee and muffin. Sitting down on the sofa with Fifi and having the chance to have a little chat and play was a totally unique experience. I realised how lovely it must be just to have one child and not need to go to work. I felt that somehow we reconnected and I enjoyed her company. It was most of the best parenting moments that I have had. How sad is that!

We wandered around Covent Garden, a lot of it was shut, but somehow seeing the crowds, the street entertainers, the buildings was invigorating. For me, life is a very provincial existence. Yes, St Albans is fairly cosmopolitan for a suburban town, but its just not quite as exiting. Things don't really change, the weird and the wacky people are the same ones week in week out. The opportunities for culture are the same week in week out and it's just not very thrilling. Yes, the park is beautiful but its not really a hive of exciting thrilling natural scenes or animals. I think that the fact that I don't tend to go more than about 10 miles from here has lead to a general mundane trudge of life and that this is one of the things that is getting me down. I am used to a lot more.

I imagine that this is something that happens to a lot of people, once they have children. To be honest, it is something that I vowed would never happen to me. People have been telling me to be more selfish, make more time for myself, do more things for me and I have been ignoring this advice. However, I have realised that this is so important, my own happiness and welfare have such a big influence on others. What's more, I think its incredibly important for children to be open to a wide range of life experiences. From this moment onwards, I vow to do more for me and to spend some time just sitting with the children without thinking about the washing up, ironing, work and so forth.

It's All About Time

Review: Polariod Sunglasse

As I live in Britain, my opportunities for sunglass wearing are a little bit thin at the moment. We seem to be stuck under a bit of a cloud and I don't think its all down to volcanic ash. However, fashion as it is, this hasn’t stopped me and I happen to find them very useful for covering up the bags under my sleep deprived eyes. I’ve not been all that lucky with sunglasses generally as the children seem to think that they are the best toy to play with (other than the remote control) the minute I turn my back. So I have limited my budget to a few quid. However, joy of joys, Polaroid contacted me and asked me if I should like to review their new range. I was literally jumping for joy, as they are obviously a well known and respected brand and have been coveting a lovely pair of sunglasses for a while. They were even kind enough to provide little (toddler!) Fifi with her own pair.

This year Polariod have really managed to catch the current trends with their sunglasses range. There is quite literally something for everybody. I was a given a pair of Liberty sunglasses which retail at £65.99. I am more than happy with these, the shape seems to fit well. I have let a few friends try the on and they all look good in them. The quality is superb, the lenses meet all the current safety standards. The frames in the range are well made and they have lots of additional features. I can quite honestly say that I love these sunglasses.

Fifi was given a pair of children's sunglasses. It is hard to find children's sunglasses, many of the cheaper ones are made from un-bendable plastic which snap within a few minutes of them putting them on, taking them off, putting them on, taking them off and then sort of waving them about. However, Polaroid seem to have taken this on board, as the sunglasses are quite bendy and have, so far lasted a lot of bending, waving and general childishness. I thought that the fit was a little bit big, however they are made to last a few years and she is just at the start of the age category so that is understandable. At £19.99, I think that given the length of time that they should last and the quality I think that they are a good investment.

You can see the whole range here.

Review: Polariod Sunglasse

Review; Dulux Ecosense Paint

Alongside holidaying we have been very busy re-decorating the Toddlers Bedroom. Progress isn't very quick and it's happening bit by bit. Just as well then that Dulux very kindly provided us with some of their Ecosense Paint. Now, I have to say that I would not recommend anyone get paint delivered by a courier as this did contribute a little to an incredibly bad day I was having. Basically the courier managed to break one of the tins and presented me with a cardboard box full of paint. Hmmm. Anyhow, this is not the fault of Dulux, but of a courier company who use the word 'link' as part of their name.

One of the main worries about decorating kids bedrooms is the potential harmful chemical stink created by paint. In fact it is actually recommended that you paint a baby's nursery room 3 months before you put them into it. This is one reason why we have avoided decorating. However, all this changes with Ecosense paint as Dulux has virtually eliminated volatile organic compounds meaning no lingering odour and the possibility of safe decorating. From the one wall we have painted so far, this is indeed true and I felt confident letting Toddler boy return to sleep in his bedroom. Once we have done the other walls I will produce a little Vlog tour!

Ecosense paint is the sort of paint that you can feel virtuous about and it has half the carbon and water footprint of the standard paint and the range has cut waste by 50 per cent. This can only be a good thing. The range has a good selection of colours, we chose the Bellflower Blue for Toddler Boys room. However, I am tempted to be radical with our lounge and paint a few walls a different colour to cream and I quite like Beach Storm for this purpose.

I use a lot of paint at work as we are continually changing our temporary exhibition gallery and I can honestly say that this has to be the best paint that I have come across in a long time, entirely due to the lack of odour. If I can find appropriate colours in the range, we will be using this in the future for all decorating projects. Its competitively priced, produces the results you would expect from Dulux paint and has all the green credentials you would hope for in this day and age. I fully expect that this paint will be a 'must have' for all parents.

Review; Dulux Ecosense Paint

A Coalition Made in Heaven

I have kept fairly silent about my own political leanings as I work in Local Government and as such, I am sworn to secrecy, unable to comment as an insider. However, I thought I could bring the latest political news down to my own level. You know, as a reader of Red, The Sun (it was there on the coffee table- I didn't buy it), The Mail in Sunday (OK, I bought that for the Sunday magazine), The Times (the hubby is a Conservative), Chat, Now (that was the children's aunties fault), Museums Journal (it just keeps turning up) and of course a watcher of Eastenders (I am not ashamed to watch something that addresses important social issues).

In a nutshell, marriage is a coalition. Two parties each with their own interests, joining together for a common cause. That becomes even more pertinent when you have children. So, I think we may be able to measure the success of this coalition by looking at how the party leaders manage their marriages and home life. In fact, I am sure that one of the above rags will be probably writing this very article as we speak. It will be a more considered article as they don't have a baby hanging off their leg and Spiderman and His Amazing Friends on the television. However, from my extensive reading of the above media, I gather and predict that this Liberal Democrat/Conservative alliance may work very well. This is why:

• Nick Clegg accepted his wife's decision not to go on the campaign trail, rather she was allowed to go to work normally. He is clearly a man that listens, empathises with situations and ultimately does as he is told.
• David Cameron likes to run a clean modern household, furniture is designer and minimalist. A minimalist approach will be good. He looks as if he has managed to position himself as the stronger party in his marriage. As he has the upper hand in the coalition he can use the skills he has learnt at home to manage Nick Clegg.
• Samantha Cameron is clearly a woman who has a love of small boutiques, playing a large part in one of her own and according to all accounts enjoys a bit of shopping and partying alongside friends who include Kirstie (of and Phil fame). This bodes well for small business.
• I am told that one of the leaders went to public school, one did not. Experience in both areas can only be good.
• Both marriages have been very secure through personal ups and downs and despite differences in background. Working well together as a team on a personal front will have provided the leaders with experience that they can bring to their professional lives.
• Both appear to live in semi- detached houses, they clearly have the ability to tolerate others.

There you have it, all the evidence suggests that they can work well as a team, they have the experience.

So what am I looking forward to? Yes, I am shallow, but ultimately I am looking forward to seeing the fashions we are presented with. I imagine something more directional than with the previous team, I think that there may even be a reprisal in prominence of British designers thanks to the Sam and Dave effect. This can only be interesting. The rest, I guess we will all have to live with whatever they do. I have been part of a coalition for over ten years, six formally.

A Coalition Made in Heaven

Disney's new fun interactive tool ‘What Shall We Do Today?

I must say that I have been incredibly impressed with Disney. Before children I was always a bit skeptical about the films, merchandising and so on. However, I have come to realise that it is quite important for small children to have good recognisable role models and characters to learn from and Disney provide these.

This week sees the launch of Disney's new fun interactive tool ‘What Shall We Do Today?’ Part of the Playhouse Disney website the fully interactive tool allows you to choose activities based on the popular TV shows and characters, allowing you to filter down by character, the time you have available, type of activity and location. You can tailor each activity to fit in with your schedule – be it a 5 minute video showing a fun way of exploring primary colours or a half hour outdoor activity that builds reading skills and helps children discover their sense of family.

I have to admit that I am particularly interested in this as I had a very small part in its development as part of a team of bloggers who were asked for opinions and ideas. As a result I have had a really good look through the site and I think that it does actually contain a lot of useful activities.

For me and Toddler Boy, the best part of the site are the videos. These kept both of us amused and provided a lot of ideas for future activities. We enjoyed learning how to do the dances, in particular the Jungle Junction Zippy song and the game of Animal Charades. In fact, Toddler boy has decided that this is his favourite website and 'me want do more' is currently his little mantra every time I turn on the PC.

I think that learning to use the computer is an important life skill now days and the Disney Playhouse provides a great platform for you and your child to sit down and start to begin to learn some basic actions.

Go and have a look and see what you think.

This has been a sponsored post.

Disney's new fun interactive tool ‘What Shall We Do Today?

I have a feeling...

...that Fifi is going to be the boss of us all. Our childminder thinks that she is the brightest child she has ever looked after. I forget how little she really is on a regular basis. She appears to understand complex sentences, has really good spatial awareness (she has to with a brother like hers!) and gets in a total strop if I don't let her chose what clothes she wants to wear. They are often mismatched! Toddler boy is lead astray on a regular basis by her and her determination to do things is really rather undermining.

I have to admit I am finding this very demanding, it is totally lovely and I adore her, but at the same time I am suffering from depression and it's hard. Depression is a strange thing, it makes you totally selfish, you are absorbed in circumspect thoughts of yourself, thoughts about others always seem to come back to how you can make an impact on whatever is happening. I am finding it very hard to just sit back and enjoy my children, their personalities and individual quirks. This upsets me a lot.

The pressure of being a working mummy, even part-time, is suffocating. Without full-time proper professional childcare for when I am at work, I am pushed and pulled by a conscious effort that I must not take advantage of family and friends. I sit at work and wonder what my children are doing and when I am at home with them I sit and wonder if they prefer being with their other carers who probably do it a lot better than me. I think that it is these thoughts that will be a lasting memory of their early childhood. Standing on the beach looking at them happily play last week, all I could think was how soon this would be over and how we would go back to the trudging drudgery of our daily lives. I am sure that this is how so many people must feel.

Anyhow, short of winning the lottery, this is how it must be and I must find ways to pull myself out of this frame of mind and find some inner peace. From this, I will be able to appreciate being bossed by my little girl and beaten up by my little boy. I will gain a better understanding and appreciation of Spiderman, Buzz Lightyear, Thundercats and Waybaloo and the wonderful, blessing of the gift of two fabulous little people who I could never be without.

I have a feeling...

Fossils, Fish and Chips and the odd Donkey

Typical of my luck, following the hottest week of the year, we go on our annual Fossil hunting Dorset holiday in what may well have been the coldest week that the month of May has ever experienced. Unfortunately I didn't bank on this, so we had a lot of shorts and summery dresses and 3 pairs of jeans for all of us. Luckily, we all had a jumper and 2 spares each, this was lucky as we all needed to wear them all at the same time most days.

Still weather is no barrier for the keen naturalist/ palaeontologist and like Mary Anning before her, Fifi was keen to collect as many stones (ahem) fossils as her little arms would allow. A keen user of my well worn archaeology trowel she had a lot of fun digging holes in which to fall in. The best stones were always just that little bit too far in front of her and down the slope she was standing on. Unfortunately, one particular stone was just a stretch too far and she plummeted head first down hill, her cheek against a large rock stopping the progression into the sea. This hasn't been good for the photographs, one cheek badly bruised and a lasting reminder of the one moment that I didn't hold onto her for dear life.

Toddler boy discovered a love of climbing up cliffs, throwing stones (the bigger the better) and can now spot a fossil (which he can pronounce) a mile off. He spent most of the time talking to his dad and his uncle and other little boys in a special language that only men understand. Although 'me want lollipop, me want lollipop' repeated several million times was discernible. He also showed a special skill for kite flying. Years of failed attempts have left me and the hubby incapable of even lifting it off the ground, but the little fella managed to fly the kite for some considerable time. Despite our best efforts to thwart him.

One of the benefits of taking a trip to Lyme Regis this time of year is the Fossil Festival. This is when the Natural History Museum, Cardiff Museum and various other wildlife organisations descend on the town and provide lots of free educational kids activities. I found a great deal of inspiration for my forthcoming 'Geology Day' at work, but more importantly it was a good opportunity to begin to inspire and introduce Toddler boy to the wonders of fossil hunting. The town seemed to come alive with weird and wonderful personable characters, all of whom were so enthusiastic about their subject matter that you couldn't fail to feel a little bit of enthusiasm.

The Donkey Sanctuary provided a little bit of shelter from the wind blown beaches and Fifi couldn't help but point at every Donkey telling me 'cat' which appears to be her name for every single animal. It's a beautiful place in a wonderful location, I can't help but think of how lucky the donkeys are to live there. However, their peace and tranquility was shattered by Toddler boy and Fifi who decided that it would be fun to run around their yard, playing tag and shouting 'robot'. As a parent, one does not always feel empowered to do something in such circumstances. Donkeys fled one way, parents the other, toddlers the other. I imagine this happens on a regular basis.

Despite the total lack of sleep that both myself and the hubby managed thanks to our daughter, we had a nice break, we collected lots of fossils, enjoyed the elements and ate a lot of chips. It's hard to go wrong with a holiday in the UK.

Fossils, Fish and Chips and the odd Donkey

Teaching Your Toddlers About Inequalities

One of the most fundamental aspects of Western Society is the inequalities that we live with. There are vast differences in money, education, ability and so forth. I don't think children have any natural inherent understanding of this. Although, I do believe that they have a natural instinct which allows them to pin-point and capitalise on weakness. I think that it is fairly easy to deal with this instinct at Toddler age and prevent them from bullying those that are physically dis-advantaged compared to them. However, there are other areas which are hard to approach appropriately.

One of the areas which I have discussed here, is the concept of the value of money, however, how does one even begin to start to explain that some people may not have as much as you do, or more? Or that some people do not have the benefits of our standards of living. If anyone knows of any good pre-school books dealing with this subject, then please comment.

The whole issue came to light the other day when Toddler boy spotted a homeless man going through a public bin looking for food. I assessed the situation and felt that as this was clearly someone who was homeless and not drunk, that it was appropriate to give him some money for his lunch. Which he courteously accepted and wandered into the shop to buy something. I then explained as best I could, that some people are not lucky enough to have homes to live in and mummy's and daddy's to look after them. This was hard because I didn't want to frighten the little fella.

Inequalities in housing stock are not noticed by toddlers but inequalities in housing altogether are a different and a much more difficult area. The inequalities in standards of living across the world are yet another area, which in this age of global media require thought and consideration in your explanations to children.

Yes, there is an argument (Steven Biddulph) that you should shield your children from the news. However, I disagree with this, I think that its an important part of learning and understanding to see things like volcano's, soldiers (provided the imagery isn't too violent), famine and so forth. When you actually start looking at the news and considering the stories covered many of them are fundamentally geographical rather than other than violent. For us at least, much of the news provides good starting points for conversations based around the planet, buildings and to a certain extent hierarchy. However, clearly there are moments when you need to talk about inequality; that little girl doesn't have any food because it wont grow where she lives and so her mummy and daddy find it hard to give her any, and so forth. It's these conversations which are so difficult, and which I don't wish to avoid.

I have a feeling that there are many biblical stories which probably would assist me with this one and a children's bible could be the answer. However, I have a wobbly relationship with my faith and I do not wish to go down this route if at all possible. Yes, its tempting to answer that inevitable question; why? With another question, but this is not the way that toddler's learn. I have considered basic role-playing, but I think this may be flawed as it would undermine the person or thing viewed as less advantaged. I do not wish to do this, as I want to teach a little bit of understanding and awareness.

Perhaps I am over-analysing this idea and the need to even start to thinking about this with toddlers, what are your thoughts?

Teaching Your Toddlers About Inequalities

Review: Force 18 T-Shirts - Perfect for Fathers Day

Let me start this review by saying that I am a bit prim and proper. So when I got the email from Force 18 T-Shirts asking whether I'd like to a review one of their Father's Day range of T-shirts, but that they also sell a range of rude and offensive T-shirts so to be aware, I was a bit apprehensive. But if you go and look, which I know you will now, because like me you are intrigued, you won't be too shocked, as after all, following childbirth nothing will shock you at all anymore. Force 18 are a Hertfordshire company, based in Stevenage. I'm all for supporting local business, so was more than happy to receive one of their T-shirts and make the hubby wear it.

We picked the Superdad T-shirt, Toddler boy is obsessed with super-hero's so this seemed ideal. It proved that way, Toddler boy has a similar T-shirt and it's quite hard to extract the T-shirts from both of them to wash! The T-shirt arrived really promptly, with email notification that it was on its way. The quality is superb and it's one of those really solid but comfortable fabrics which I know will prove indestructible. They are a reasonable price and there is a great range. All in all, I couldn't be more impressed.

Lets face it, you will be wondering what to get your husband for Father's Day. No doubt, he has more gadgets than you can name, a bedside table over flowing with books and you don't know what items he has bought for his latest fad, sorry, new hobby. Well, Force 18 provide the solution with one of their Dad T-shirts or alternatively and arguably even better, you can create your own T-shirt, I know what @daddacool might be getting...

Review: Force 18 T-Shirts - Perfect for Fathers Day