In a middle-class drama

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07H44DYF7

 

I slice on pieces my tie

And throw them on your persona

 

I laugh of you

Using my hands at your table

in a natural way

 

I hear 

Clanging my chains

When I move on

slowly

 

You also know it

But you don’t want to  listen to

‘cause they are your own chains too!

 

So we spend our lives

playing a drama

somebody else has written

just for ourselves.

5 Reasons to Play with Your Child More

 

At the end of a long day many parents don’t have the energy to pull out a board game, put together a construction set or sit on the ground and play with dolls.  With having to cook dinner, clean the dishes, fold the laundry, answer the phone and take out the garbage, spending time with your kids can end up on the bottom of the evening’s list.  After all, the rewards for finishing the household chores are obvious and immediate. However, the effects of spending time playing with your children are just as real and will certainly last longer.

Through play children learn how to cooperate and share with others.  The only way a child learns to share and play nice with others is through observation and interaction with people.  Play is a great opportunity to show by example how to work with someone else even when you don’t agree with them.  While playing with your child, do not shy away from disagreements and do not always let your child have her way.  Help her learn to cooperate with others by having to figure out how to cooperate with you. Role playing can teach a child lessons that are difficult to teach through conventional means.

Playing with mom or dad meets the need for attention children have in a positive way.  Children may act out with negative behaviors because for some reason they are in need of attention.  When this need for attention is not met in a positive way, the child will begin to look for other ways to get that need met. This could be through behaviors like not following directions, doing things he has been told not to and even hitting.  Playing with your child will feed his very real need for attention and will help to make the “acting out” behaviors less frequent.

Parents will learn to understand and respect the challenging perspectives of their child.  There are many ways parents disagree and argue with their children.  In heated moments it is very easy to misunderstand a child and her opinion.  Playing with a child helps parents gain more of their child’s perspective.    Through time spent together parents can understand why a child might act in such strange ways or at least soften their hearts to not be quite as irritated.

Parents will understand to a greater degree the pressures their child is facing every day.  During lighthearted play a child will often let out her greatest worries and concerns.  It might be very difficult for her to verbalize why she is worried about a particular problem but often times those feelings reveal themselves when she plays.  During playtime parents should listen closely to these cues and use the playful atmosphere to reassure and comfort her.

Time spent together in play helps a child connect and get to know his parents.  Life moves fast.  Parents often say “It seems like he was just my little baby and now look how big he is.”  Parents will never look back at their life and say “I should have kept the dishes cleaner” or “I should have answered my phone more.”  However, if parents don’t take the time out of their busy lives to play with and engage their child, some pretty amazing opportunities might be missed. This time together not only helps parents understand, support and love their child more, but it will help the child know the parent to a greater degree which will help him become a well-balanced and emotionally whole adult.

This post has been proposed to me for publication by Anne Laurie. If you want to know more about it please just go to link below.

http://www.gonannies.com/blog/2013/5-reasons-to-play-with-your-child-more/

5 Popular Playdough Recipes

Playdough is a hallmark of childhood, largley because it’s so fun for kids to mush and squish around.  The possibilities of what you can create with Playdough are endless, and kids have a blast rolling it around, squishing it up, and imprinting different toys into it. However it can also be tempting for little kids to eat due to its squishy consistency, which can make parents wary of buying it for their children. When you make your own Playdough, however, you know what is in it and the ingredients it’s comprised of and can rest assured that it won’t poison your child if they happen to put some in their mouth.  There are many different recipes for Playdough, and each makes a different type of dough.  Check out these 5 popular Playdough recipes and have hours of fun with your kids.

1. Make dough with a more rubbery feel.  Mix together 2 cups of baking soda, 1 cup of corn starch, and 1 ½ cups of water with a fork in a saucepan.  Boil this mixture over medium heat until the mixture thickens.  Dump the mixture onto some wax paper or a plate and allow it to cool until you can handle it.  Next, press and knead the dough until you like the texture.  At this stage you can add a fragrance if you’d like, but keep in mind that if it smells good enough to eat it might entice your little ones to do just that.  To color the dough add some food coloring and knead it until you are happy with the color.
2. Make all natural Playdough using plant juice for coloring.  Take 1 cup of flour, ½ cup of salt, 1 cup of water, 2 tablespoons of oil, and 2 tablespoons of cream of tartar and add it to a saucepan.  Make sure that you add the water slowly while mixing.  Cook the mixture over medium heat until you reach your desired consistency.  Dump out the dough mixture onto some waxed paper and allow it to cool until you can touch it.  Now knead the dough until the texture is smooth.  Divide the dough into 3 equal parts.  Add a few drops of beet juice for pink dough, a few drops of carrot juice for orange dough, and a few drops of spinach juice for green dough.
3. Make nutty dough for those that love peanuts.  No need to cook this dough.  Just mix together 1 cup of peanut butter, 1 cup of powdered milk, 1 cup of honey and 1 cup of oatmeal.  Press the dough together with your hands.  The kids can help mix up this one because it won’t be hot.  Be careful not to allow kids younger than 12 months old to play with this dough, as it does contain honey.  This dough is edible.  
4. Make brightly colored, fruity dough.  This recipe contains alum which most people may not have at home.  Plan on making several batches of this Playdough in different flavors.  Start by boiling 2 cups of water, and then add 1 packet of flavored drink mix to the boiling water.  In the bowl of a stand mixer add 2 ½ cups of all-purpose flour, 3 tablespoons of corn oil, ½ cup of salt, and 1 tablespoon of alum.  Add the flavored hot water to the bowl and with the dough hook on, knead the dough until you get a smooth dough-like consistency.  Depending on the humidity you may have to add up to an additional cup of flour to get the right consistency.  If it seems sticky start adding flour a spoonful at a time and allow it to mix thoroughly before adding the next spoonful.  This recipe makes really soft Playdough that will keep for a long time in a zippered storage bag.
5. Make Playdough in a bag with the kids.  Start by giving the child a gallon-sized zippered storage bag.  In it place 4 tablespoons of oil and food coloring.  Gently mix those two ingredients.  Next, add 4 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt, and 1 cup of water.  Zip up the bag and smash the bag around until the dough is combined.  If the dough seems too sticky add some more flour a ¼ cup at a time.  If the dough seems too dry add a little bit more water.  Once the dough has been thoroughly mixed the kids can pull it out of the bag and mix and match it with their friends.  The dough will stay pliable for several weeks if kept in an air tight container.

 P.S. This post was  proposed to me for publication by Meghan Welker.  I'm therefore publishing it by her invitation and under her permission. See also the link below fore more information:
 http://www.babysitting.net/blog/5-popular-playdough-recipes/

A funny ride

- Keep you still! We're going to have a stroll!
- But don't go too fast, please!

Photo from Daily Mail on line!

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

Please shine on me

I just want the sun shining on me.

Can't you see I had to wear my wellies to protect my self from the rain?

Read more on it by Kate Loveys on DM on line


The piglet shielded from muck in miserable weather


Clive the teacup piglet might have been happier without the wellies, since his kind are partial to puddles.


This little piggy made sure to protect himself from the wet weather in some red wellies

Thunderstorms rumbled above East Anglia and the East Midlands, with more than an inch of rain falling in Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Devon in less than an hour. Lighter rain is set to linger over Britain until the weekend.
Blue tit

Torrential rain left this blue tit bedraggled as its non stop search for food for its babies can't stop just because of the weather

Temperatures will remain average, with highs of 72f (22c) and lows of 50f (10c).

Clive, also known as a micro pig, was dressed up by his breeders at Pennywell Farm, Devon. They said it was all part of the play process for the little animals.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1285139/The-piglet-shielded-muck-miserable-weather.html#ixzz0qKceWoPr