My Tips for Travelling with Children

I travelled a lot as a youngster. Kudos to my parents as it can't have been easy! By the age of 10 I had surfed on a boogie board in Phuket, had been shopping in Hong Kong and even attended school in a foreign country.

At the national museum in Oman

Feeding the elephants in Thailand

I have been extremely lucky to experience lots of different cultures and hope that I'm able to provide the same opportunities for my children. Although so far we have only holidayed in Scotland! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we manage a holiday abroad this year and I've been giving thought to some travel tips.

// Planning your trip

With smaller children it's all about the activities and the accommodation; the country doesn't matter so much. My recommendation would be to go for as large an apartment that you can afford. The more space you have the easier it will be; especially if the kids will be going to bed early it might be nice to have a separate bedroom or lounge for the grown-ups so you can have some time to yourselves ;)

When booking flights give plenty of consideration to the flight times. It might seem reasonable to wake the family up at 2am to save a tenner on flights but is it really worth it in the long run? Also make sure that you factor in plenty of time for any transfers as everything seems to take a million times longer with little kids.. the second the kids know you're in a rush they'll need to go to the toilet!

If you're going abroad, check passports and make sure they are still valid. I had to get an emergency passport the day before travelling to Thailand a few years back as I didn't have enough validity left on it and it was really stressful to say the least!

// Packing

I think getting the kids involved in the packing can help. My daughter especially likes to help choose her clothes for whilst she's away and it avoids any holiday tantrums when she selected the outfits herself in advance (yes, she is only 4 years old!!). Despite the fact we're yet to go abroad I invested in little suitcases for the kids so they can be (partly) responsible for their own packing and I think they like to be involved in the process of getting ready for a holiday.

Be organised with sun cream, hats etc and take a small first aid kit. Also take some antibacterial hand washing stuff, it's fab for when travelling. It's important not to forget medication for family members. It's easy to get hold of a new toothbrush when in a foreign country but not so easy to get hold of prescription medication if you forget that!

// The Journey

When it comes to the journey, buy and wrap a small present for the plane/car in advance of the trip or a few little presents if you're on a long haul flight. This doesn't have to be something costly; think sticker books and pocket money toys from the pound shop. You could perhaps pack a special travel rucksack that your wee one could pack with their special teddy or blanket along with some new bits and pieces. My advice would be to not get anything noisy as this will disrupt other passengers or the car driver. 

Take plenty snacks for the journey and my advice would be to steer clear of too many sweets. My littlest loves popcorn and rice cakes both of which are preferable to jelly beans and chocolate! For car journeys when I'm on my own with the kids I pack them each a lunch box of heathy snacks that they can open themselves (making sure there is no fiddly packaging or Tupperware boxes that they can't get into!) and in between them in the back seat I plonk a box of toys that they picked themselves for the trip.

// The Holiday

Start a travel journal... My mum encouraged my sister and I to start a travel journal when we moved to the Middle East and I'm so grateful she did as its a fantastic keepsake for us to look back on. On our first long haul flight we had our A4 book with us and we wrote & drew in this with details of our flight and what we had to eat. It also kept us occupied during our holidays as we collected ticket stubs, menus etc to record our adventures.

I dug my travel journal out of the loft to show you some of my entries!

I would absolutely love for you to vote for me in the Clickstay Mummy Blogger Awards. It takes 2 seconds and you can vote here up to once daily. I'm currently in third place, but I would be over the moon if I made it into the top spot as the prize is £1000 towards a villa in Portugal which would allow me to go with the kids on our first family holiday in the sun. Thanks so much for your ongoing support - it's much appreciated. Sarah x

When I was growing up I had a box collection (I know it seems a bit bizarre, but it's true! I even brought some of them into my old work for a laugh and they thought I was insane!!). Each country or city we visited I was allowed to pick a small ornamental box. I still have a lot of the boxes to this day and they are lovely memories of my family holidays. I also had a postcard collection. You could start a collection of your own and make it a new family tradition; let the kiddies pick a tacky souvenir or a fridge magnet as a holiday souvenir and each place you visit you can build on your collection.

// Homeward Bound

Once you get home, why not find a world map poster and start putting pins in the countries you've visited. Again, this is something that our mum encouraged us to do and it helped my geography. Not that you'd know it now; during a game of Articulate a few years back I was frantically trying to describe Buenos Aires as a South American airline...oops!!

This post is my entry into the Clickstay "10 Top Tips For Travelling with Children" competition.
You can vote for Glasgow Mummy here... many thanks for your support.

Money Saving Sarah

I've written a few times about where I've been saving money lately, you'll find the posts here and here.

However I've since found a few other ways to save some extra pennies to allow me to continue with my luxuries. I thought I'd share them with you here...

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First up was my car insurance. It was due for renewal this month and being totally short of time, the easiest option would have been to continue on with my current supplier who would automatically renew the policy for me. However, I spent 10 minutes shopping around on the internet and managed to save myself a whopping £100. A quick call to the company to cancel my renewal and I was able to sign up online with the new insurance company in 5 minutes. It was much easier than I had expected and I'm really pleased that I took the time to do this.

Next up is my mobile phone. I have moved to a Pay Monthly Sim which is saving me £30 a month. There's nothing wrong with my current iPhone 5. Yes, it's a bit scratched and it's not the latest model, but that really doesn't matter. It's functional. So for now I'm happy with my contract and if anything does happen to my phone then I at least know it's insured through my contents policy. This is something else to bear in mind... make sure you're not doubling up on policies. At one point I had mobile phone insurance through my phone provider and through my bank!

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Finally, there's my student loan. It turns out that I am very close to paying this off. It's certainly worth checking if, like me, you feel you've been paying yours off forever! So instead of getting to the situation where I'm overpaying, you can change to pay the remainder as a direct debit rather than it coming off your salary. I reckon that by May I'll have this paid off, and that's going to give me an extra £70 each month. Result!

My next tasks are to shop around for my gas and electricity and my other insurance policies that I hold.

How to toilet train a toddler

I have two little ones that have been successfully toilet trained with minimal fuss. Both are dry through the night and I'm not having to use night-time nappies/pants or whatever they are called! We had very few accidents & I only carried around spare clothes with me for a few weeks (& importantly I never needed to use them!). My daughter did wet herself when we were at a friends for lunch & we had to borrow clothes, and there were a few incidents at nursery but that has been the extent of her mishaps. My son has had zero accidents, with me anyway.

So, what's my secret?

That's it folks, no real secret. The key was waiting for the right time.

I was in no rush to toilet train the kids. As long as they were using the toilet confidently before starting school, I wasn't overly concerned if they were 2, 3 or 4 years old when it happened. Every child develops differently.

My son was out of nappies first, aged 3.5 years. He decided one day that he fancied wearing big boy pants (which I had purchased in advance, anticipating that this moment would come), and so I put them on him and there was no going back. I cancelled all plans and we stayed at the house. We had a few accidents on Day 1 but I stuck with it and by Day 2 he was a pro! We had been reading Pirate Pete, the potty training book, and this probably encouraged him somewhat.

One point to note - I decided against using a potty. I think they're pretty foul, so we just bypassed this and went straight for the big toilet! I had bought a little seat from the supermarket for it & I had a step too for them to climb up.

I had him in nappies at bedtime, but he really didn't need them and so after a few weeks these disappeared. I also didn't need to lift him before I went to bed as I've heard some parents doing. I started to cut back the huge drinks of milk before bed and so long as he went to toilet before going to sleep, he's managed to go through until the morning.

I've not had to change a single wet sheet, for either of the kids. Phew! 

My daughter was a bit younger when she decided she wanted to wear big girl pants. And at about 2.5 years old we started the toilet training.

She had quite a few accidents at nursery. Never too many with me, but I was more on top of her & checking if she needed to go I guess rather than her being in a busy room with lots of children at her nursery. As I said before, we had only the one accident when we were out & about. I think I probably could have waited and the accidents would have been less, but as she was so keen I just went with it.

Their dad was equally supportive and we were both on the same page with the toilet training which certainly helped.

Get stocked up. Buy some big boy/girl pants and a potty or toilet seat and have them ready in your house for when the time comes. Get plenty pairs of cheap pants - you may end up having to wash lots in the first few weeks. I also got a few pairs of elasticated shorts for my son to wear - easy for him to get on and off himself.

And then wait. Wait until your child is ready. There's absolutely no need to rush.

Easier said than done, but try and relax. It's not a big deal if they have an accident. These things happen. Get them cleaned up, mop the floor & move on. I bought waterproof mattress covers but turns out I didn't need them, but best to be on the safe side!

Give lots of positive reinforcement & encouragement when they manage to go to the toilet without an accident. A sticker reward chart or a marble jar might be a good idea & they could pick a new toy when the jar is full.

Get a storybook from the library about using a potty, again good to reinforce what you're teaching.

Don't confuse them by going between nappies and no nappies. If you're going to let them wear the big boy/girl pants, then do so and keep doing so. You can't do it one day and then not the next. The sooner you can ditch night time nappies the better in my opinion.

What are your tips for toilet training?

Yay - no more nappies!!!

Healthy Eating

I was asked over on Instagram by Merry in the Ferry about my work day eating habits after posting this photograph of my office drawer filled with snacks!! It also ties in quite nicely with my health & fitness goals that I posted about last week.

As you'll know if you are regular readers, I am currently seeing a personal trainer once a week for an hour sesssion. I was struggling to get motivated, especially hard at this time of year when it's dark and cold! For me, I knew that some sessions with a PT would be money well spent. Exercise is great for your mental health and wellbeing, helps you sleep better and I know that by losing a bit of weight I'd boost my confidence. I wasn't exercising at all, and had totally gotten out of the habit of exercising, and Ross has got me back into  it. I started in November last year and now that I'm seeing results I'm finding staying motivated a lot easier. I weighed myself this morning, and that's me now lost 7 lbs.

However, it's not just exercise, what you eat is just as important.

The key for me is being organised - hence why I have a drawer full of snacks at my work. This way if I'm feeling peckish and my colleagues have donuts or crisps, I can get myself a healthy snack and I'm able to stay clear of the junk food. I actually managed to resist the donuts...! Are you impressed?

So at the moment in my desk drawer I have the following:

• Decaf tea bags (Tetley)
• Rude Health Oat & Spelt Thins
• Peanut Butter
• Oatcakes
• Munchy Seeds, Chilli Bites
• Muesli (one with more seeds and nuts than dried fruit, like Jordan Nut & Seed)
• Baby plum tomatoes
• Bear blackcurrant yoyo (these are designed for kids, but to me it's a sweet treat!)
• Food Doctor Roasted Bean Mix
• Beyond Dark chocolate drops

I've also got some Light Philadelphia cheese in the fridge, which I have on the oat & spelt thins.

Some other snacks that are great are crudites & hummus, sugar snap peas, popcorn, yoghurt & berries, a handful of nuts, rice cakes or a few dates.

On a typical day I'll have the following:

7.30/8am Breakfast - muesli & cup of tea

Muesli with dates & bananas

10am Snack - see list above!

12.30pm Lunch - soup or salad, sometimes with a spelt thin and Philadelphia cheese

Hummus & oatcakes with salad

3pm Snack 

5pm Dinner - this varies and depends on whether or not I have the kids but I try and stick to healthy options where possible. If the kids are having pasta, then I'll have gluten-free pasta or choose to have steamed cabbage instead. I'll possibly write a separate post on our dinners.

Chicken stir fry

8/9pm Snack

So I'm actually eating lots, and eating a lot more than I would have previously. But it's all about eating the right kinds of food. However it's also about being realistic. I can't stick to this 100% of the time... I've got to have a life and I do love my food. We were at Pizza Hut at the weekend for dinner, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I also still have take aways, but again I'll be sensible in what I choose.

Hopefully this has provided some inspiration, food for thought you might say ;-)

You can find my Weight Loss Inspiration post with before and after photographs here which has a few more tips on losing weight and getting healthy.

The Key to a Happy Relationship?

I heard a snippet on the radio the other week from a couple celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary (can't remember exactly the number of years, but it was a lot!). They said that they key to their successful marriage was arguing.

R & I are yet to have an argument, or even a disagreement for that matter. Not sure if that's a good or a bad sign!

In a relationship where there isn't even a heated conversation, it apparently could be that one or both parties don't feel safe enough to express themselves. I totally understand that, and I can appreciate that you may be in a relationship where it's difficult to be honest. Thankfully though this doesn't apply to me now (& I hope it doesn't apply to R either!).

Is this really true?

I'm not a confrontational person and think I'm generally quite laid back. I'd say I'm open and honest with everyone that crosses my path. And R is laid back too. So perhaps that's why we've not had any fights - it's against our individual personalities.

We've been in a couple of stressful situations, like when we got locked out of the house, and I had thought if we were going to argue that'd be when it would have happened. But it didn't. We managed to keep calm, organised a lock smith to come out to the house & even went for an ice cream whilst we waited! (R had to go & get the ice cream as I was in my nightshirt...oops!). Now we look back on it & have a laugh. How on earth did we manage to both leave without keys :-/

And I think moving forward that we may potentially have (hopefully small) bumps in the road as we try to blend our lives together (more on this another time I think, but suffice to say things are going well!). I am confident that we will be able to have rational discussions without the need to argue. It's definitely good to talk. This is one of the lessons I learned from my past.

I couldn't agree more!

One other thing I have learned is not to bottle things up and let resentment and anger set in - everything will be blown out of proportion. It's best to raise your issue early. It's also important to listen. There are two sides to every story.

So tell me, what are your thoughts - is it really healthy for a relationship to be arguing all the time? 

{35 at 35 - talk to somebody famous, check!}

Regular readers will know already about my 35 at 35 list, but for my new followers (hi there *waves*) let me fill you in... When I turned 30 back in January 2012 I set myself a target... 35 items for me to complete by the time I turn 35. The other week when the littlest and I met Myleene Klass at the Mothercare St Enoch Centre launch I was able to check off another item, number 19 "talk to somebody famous".

On the subway on our way into town

Taking a selfie on the subway!!

Myleene was so friendly and absolutely beautiful - as you can see from the pics. She's stunning!

Despite the fact that things were running a little later than schedule (her little helper Jessica decided pulling silly faces was better than smiling for the camera!), Myleene and I chatted for a good while about single parenting, achieving a good work/life balance and Myleene's BabyK range that's now in its 12th season in store at Mothercare.

I asked Myleene what would be her advice to any new mums, and her response was concise:

"mama knows best"

We shared experiences about having the confidence to trust your own instinct and Myleene explained that all grown-ups are different and want different things, which is also applicable for children - it can't be expected for any two to behave/want the same. Makes perfect sense to me!  

Myleene said for her the key to a good work/life balance is prioritisation and being organised, and I couldn't agree more. What I didn't realise was that Myleene did the nursery/school run for her two daughters herself - it's reassuring to hear that a hugely successful single working parent can manage it all.

Myleene complimented the littlest's impeccable behaviour - proud mummy moment for me!

And here we are... let's get the 35 at 35 list updated. What to tick off next??

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{Is it okay for my toddlers to see me naked?}

At the moment, my children (son aged 4 years and daughter aged 2 and a bit years) see me naked in the mornings as I'm getting showered and dressed.

I've started to wonder at what point should I be covering up. The general consensus at work was that when my son starts school I should be more careful with my nakedness because he'll tell everyone else and it may become an issue. (Not sure if I've mentioned the Barbie story, but he said to me the other week "Mum, you look just like Barbie apart from you've got nipples"!!).

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I do own a bath robe / dressing gown / house coat (whatever you want to call it!) but I rarely wear it. I only wear my house coat in the house when I'm cold, hence why I would call it a house coat. I don't tend to wear it when I'm getting dressed.

Let me stress here that I don't walk about naked for long, and it's only in the mornings as I go from the shower to my bedroom to get dressed. So we're talking all of 15 minutes or so.

I'm really self-conscious about my body and part of my reason to not cover up was to try and teach the kids that they should accept their body and not be ashamed of it. If they ask me questions, then I try and answer them as best as I can and for the most part we've been calling body parts by their proper names (although we've been using "front bottom" instead of the v-word!). 

My son has stripped off a couple of times whilst in our house during the day, and once or twice it's been when my friends have been round. The other male 4 year old joined in and the two of them were jumping around like lunatics on the trampoline, whilst the 4 year old girls looked on in disgust!! But that's just boys, right? 

I'm thinking now is also a good time to start talking to them about "The Underwear Rule". The statistics are frightening... 1 in 20 children in the UK have been sexually abused. My son has absolutely no stranger danger and he's super confident about talking to anyone and everyone when we're out and about. I don't want to scare him or affect his confidence either... what's the best approach for these chats??

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

PANTS - The Underwear Rule

{Do you have a TV in your bedroom?}

I've been having this discussion with a few of my friends this past week or so, with the jist being that we all feel that technology has a negative impact on relationships.

TV in the bedroom, yay or nay?
I grew up with no television in my bedroom (I vaguely remember about age 15 I had a black & white tune-in TV but it was rubbish and I didn't have it long). I was in my early 20s when I first had a TV in my bedroom but I was living on my own with my husband's parents (boyfriend at the time, and he was living elsewhere in Scotland!) and so it made sense to have a separate TV that I could watch.
When I then moved in with my husband (by which point he was my fiance) we continued to have a TV in the bedroom, but now looking back I think it was a bad decision and it had a definite negative impact on us. We watched far too much television and chose to sit in silence rather than communicating with each other.

At the moment I have a TV in my bedroom, mainly to keep the kids occupied whilst I get ready in the morning. When I move to my new house, there are going to be new rules and no televisions in bedrooms is one of them.

Laptop computers & tablet devices
I've never owned a laptop computer or a tablet device and I'm not sure that I ever will. I guess I'm quite old school in that respect.

My husband spent a lot of time on his laptop computer, and again, it meant that we weren't communicating with each other.

If I want to do something on the computer, I sit at my desk. If the kids want to play a computer game, we sit all together at the desk to play.

For a while I was letting my eldest play with my iPhone on the odd occasion, but I could see that he was becoming obsessed with it and as such he now doesn't get it at all.

Anyway, all this chat got me thinking about all the other things that I should have done differently in my marriage.

Don't go to bed alone
More often than not, my husband and I went to bed at different times. I struggled to stay up late and he was always up until the small hours working. Or if he did come to bed, I'd fall asleep and he'd stay up watching TV in our room.

I think we probably should have compromised and met somewhere in the middle.

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Speaking of meeting in the middle, we had a gigantic super king bed. Yes, we're both tall - but I'm not sure we needed so much space. I could stretch my arms out in bed and I wouldn't be able to reach my husband. Surely that's not right? I'm never buying a super king bed again.

Never go to sleep on an argument - really?
I've never been one for arguments, but for some reason my husband would want to have important discussions at some crazy hour before he went to sleep. I was always too tired and really struggled to focus and get my point across. I definitely think that it's better to wait until the morning and yes, go to sleep on an argument.

The grass is greener where you water it
Everyone should know that relationships are hard work. The more you put in, the more you get out.

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One of my pet hates was my husband swearing at me. It was the only thing I asked him not to do and it was the one thing he kept on doing. I don't think you should be calling your other half names, throwing things at them or swearing. Treat someone how you'd like to be treated in return.

There's also something to be said about small gestures. It's so nice to get a simple compliment, or a nice cup of tea made for you...and it doesn't cost a thing! Not saying there's anything wrong with flowers etc but you don't need to even go that far to make someone know they're special.

It's good to talk
Communication was one of our major downfalls. I think if there's something you want, then you should ask for it. There's no point letting things fester and build up into bigger deals than they originally were. It'll just make you angrier/upset. My downfall is that I'm fairly crap at talking about my feelings and prefer to communicate in writing.

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Having fun
I think it's important to have fun things that you do as a couple. It became a habit that we would stay in, every night, even if we didn't have the children. I think I'd forgotten how to have a laugh.

Equally, I think it's key to have your own hobbies and interests outside of your relationship. I've always been one for trying new classes or activities, but when the kids came along I stopped doing all these things and I do regret that.

What do you think? Does technology have a negative impact on relationships?

{Fabulous Finds: Sleep Training for Toddlers}

As you may or may not know, I've been having to contend with a toddler who continually gets out of his bed before he goes to sleep, and then who clambers into my bed in the middle of the night when he wakes up. Far from ideal. I've seen me spending two hours at the top of the stairs returning him to bed, over and over....and over!!!

Here he is asleep on my bed!

Well, after discussing with many of my mum friends, I've come up with a a few ideas that I've put into action. I've decided to post them as part of my Fabulous Finds series:

1. Night light

We've had various night lights for my son's bedroom - a jelly mould shaped one that changes colour, fairy lights in blues and greens and the recent addition is a ladybug light that projects the stars onto the ceiling. They seem to have worked for some of my friends at keeping their little ones in bed, or helping settle them in the middle of the night, but for me they haven't been that useful. 

2. Reward chart

This chart arrived this morning from Amazon. We used it tonight for the first time, and my son was in bed at 6.30pm - desperate to get his fifth star before going to bed! Let's see how he gets on during the night...!! I have one friend who has used this and recommended it. She said it took a week to see real improvement, but that it worked a treat.

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3. Audio books

Another friend suggested I try letting him listen to an audio book before he goes to sleep. Over the weekend the inexpensive CD boombox that I had ordered from Amazon arrived and yesterday I downloaded a bedtime audio book from iTunes. After the usual bedtime routine, I let him press play on the CD player and then snuggled him up into bed. After 20 minutes, without any movement from his bedroom, I stuck my head around the door and he was fast asleep! Tonight he is listening to some Fireman Sam stories (his favourite), but again he's been in his bed now for 40 minutes and he's not gotten up. I'm so impressed! Usually he'd be jumping around and coming running through to see me.

The new story book that I ordered which was read tonight before bed

Audio book ready to go!

I'll update you tomorrow to let you know how we got on. Fingers crossed!!

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