JustPickOneUK

Children's birthday parties can be an emotional, financial and confusing nightmare. But they don't have to be.  You can put in as much or as little effort as you or your budget can afford. Will your child remember the exact places and people in attendance of their parties when they are 21? Probably not. Will they remember that they enjoyed themselves with those they actually want to spend time with. More likely.  There are those families who will always invite the whole class to a soft play centre or bouncy castle place and everyone has a ton of food and presents galore and party bags for all. That's fine.  There are those families who invite a few friends round to their house for a large play date with a bit of cake and a party bag. Also perfectly fine.  Families who don't invite anyone to anything and spend their money on their child. All good here.  Families who cannot afford to join in or throw a party. Which is sad for them, but there should be no pressure ...

 How do we make decisions? Find out what is needed, make a list of options, weigh up pros and cons. Then just make it, go with the best option.  I, like many others, find this a very hard process. We all make many decisions in a day. Some decisions are easy, what time to get up (although at my age my bladder answers that for me usually), what to wear, what to have for breakfast and so on. Some decisions are made for me and I have no choice but to go with the flow or do as I am told / asked. I do find comfort in being given a task to do, I like to do my work well and I am by nature a people pleaser. And then there are times when I have time to plan and have many options for the same outcome.  Looking for a holiday is usually one of the hardest for me. All of the world as a possibility, even narrowed down to a particular region or country, still fills me with apprehension. Will it be the right place? Have I thought about flight time? Transfer times? Entertainment for n...

 I don't know what to write. What to say. Who do I aim a post towards? How do I begin when I have no start and no actual thoughts?  Currently sat here watching Emily in Paris, thinking about how nice her Instagram posts are. Nice and simple. She's making the most of her time in a new place. Her style is something .......else. But I like it. Her friend is fabulous and speaks what we are all thinking. Can we all be that free? Can we all just flounce about the world going ooh look at this cool thing? Its quite funny seeing the contrast between French culture and American Culture through British eyes. We can understand the romance, bitchyness and attitude from the French side due to a long and complicated relationship with our nearest neighbours. Along with the assertive, me first, culture blinded way of the American side which we are partly responsible for beginning.  The writers of this show have caught the right tone with this, both sides of the culture battle being shown ...

 World Book Day is an annual global event where books are celebrated, showcased and children go to school dressed as book characters. The teachers usually join in too. This year my year group of teachers decided to dress up as Roald Dahl characters. Easy enough you'd think, but most of them are unusual colours or have a strangely specific about item which requires more thought or time than I was prepared for.   I settled on Miss Trunchbull from Matilda in the end. I went to Sainsbury's and found a dress which would actually be nice to wear during a regular week. Not my usual style but when I put it on my husband said he was surprised but liked it a lot. I put on a wide belt, a green tie, my hiking boots, put my hair in a bun and declared me done.  I didn't match the Quentin Blake pictures properly but with the right attitude and saying who I was then all of my colleagues and some of the children figured it out and that was enough for me.   Here's a few bits...

Parents get a backstage pass to their child's life. They see the ups and downs. They see their child's first words, steps, writing, singing, playing. What their child is 'into'. Favourite games, toys, people, TV shows and foods. They know what brings them comfort when in stressful situations. Now imagine you know none of this and you get handed 30 of them to care for while trying to teach them something. That is day one in a school.  When a child comes to school they are in a new place where they don't have their usual support system around them. Teachers receive a register of up to 30 children, all of whom have individual lives, likes and dislikes. Teachers also have to learn their names, try to learn any difficulties these children may have, work out who may need more help with the adjustment to school than others. Which ones are fully toilet trained, who can read simple words, who is naturally quiet, who has additional needs or who will have no clue how to regula...