Action for Happiness

I came across Action for Happiness the other day. The site is launching in full force at the start of next year as a movement for social change to help create a happier society. They think we need a shift in priorities to address the gap between rising affluence and levels of happiness:

As our society has become richer, our happiness has not risen in step. Despite ever greater affluence, our lives are increasingly stressful.

There's an interesting piece on their current site about why happiness matters, briefly discussing matters such as material wealth not bringing people increased happiness, selfishness and indivualism, bringing about more positive living, the part that our schools and workplaces should play and more. One point that I liked was the suggestion of The New Economics Foundation to get our 'spiritual equivalent of the 5 fruit and veg a day needed for physical health' by incorporating 'GREAT into our daily lives':

• Giving


• Relating to other people


• Exercising the body


• Attending to the world around


• Teaching yourself something new

This advice is nothing new and we all know that these things are good for our wellbeing but it's a good way to remember each one by thinking of getting our '5 a day'.

As we approach the time of year when we start considering new year's resolutions, I think I might use 'GREAT' as a sort of lifestyle mantra for myself in 2011. It incorporates several of my aims for this past year, that truth be told, never really got going. If I feel like I need to do a bit of each every day, it may make the tasks seem more achievable. We'll see.....

In any case, I'm interested to see what Action for Happiness brings us in the new year. If you'd like to be involved and support the movement, you can join and register your interest here.

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Tomorrow my husband, son and I will be fighting the snow-fuelled travel disruption to try to get to France for Christmas with my parents so this will be my last post for 2010. I wish you all a HAPPY Christmas and new year!

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Finding the calm around Christmas time

Christmas, Christmas, Christmas!! On Saturday we went to a local Christmas party for families in the neighbourhood, on Sunday we got our tree and decorated it, today my son had a Christmas party at one of his classes. If we don't see Santa again tomorrow, it's going to feel very strange! Time is ticking on and the last-minute rush that comes with Christmas is almost upon us. Even though we've been very organised in our family this year with our preparations (present buying, posting packages to family abroad, writing and sending cards etc), there are still the last few ends to tie up.

Fun as this time of the year is for families, I think parents also face a bit of added pressure and emphasis on Christmas that is hard to escape. You want everything to be perfect for your children, you want them to enjoy the excitement and surprise that Christmas brings but sometimes you just want to think about something else. Of course you can and you should! It's important to have a break from the frantic festivities and take a moment to yourself.

Schedule in something you find relaxing over the next couple of weeks. Maybe it's going to get your hair cut, have a manicure or a massage or maybe something closer to home like a long soak in the bath with music, candles and essential oils or having a couple of hours to yourself one morning while your spouse or a friend looks after your children to just lounge around in your pyjamas, put your feet up and read a magazine.

Making yourself step back from the Christmas rush, the things to do, the shopping, the food, the people, the Christmas-themed everything around you and to focus on something for yourself and something you enjoy will do you the world of good. Even just an hour off duty will recharge, reinvigorate and revitalise you! You'll feel ready to get back to the magic of Christmas, feeling calmer about everything. Do it now, plan something, arrange childcare with your spouse/family/friends, write it in your diary and look forward to it!
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Giving Christmas presents a personal touch

After last Christmas I told myself I would try to do mostly homemade presents for people next year. There are so many lovely things you can make to give people and presented in the right way, they can look great, as well as being all the more special for the time and thought that has gone into creating them. Here we are around Christmas time again and I completely forgot about that plan and have mostly done all my Christmas shopping!

For those of you looking for homemade gift ideas, I thought I would share a few of my own and also some links to suggestions I've seen and liked online:

FOOD: We made a couple of our favourite Italian nibbles and sent to family this year. One is the savoury taralli and the other is the twice-baked biscotti or cantuccini (almond biscuits). Both are quick to make and keep well for a few days in an airtight container.

Christmas cookies are a nice food item to make with chidren. If you have Christmas themed cookie cutters and some writing icing tubes, it's easy for them to help cut out and decorate the cookies.

Have a look at Stonesoup's 9 Christmas gifts to make at home for some original food gift ideas.

TREE ORNAMENTS: These are fun for children to make and the sort of thing that grandparents would really appreciate. For younger children, you could get some green felt and cut out Christmas tree shapes. With some glue, mini pompoms, glitter, sequins etc, your child can decorate it to their heart's content! Punch a hole in the top and tie some ribbon so they can be hung on the tree.

Paper plate angels are another decorative tree ornament that can be created simply with a bit of adult assistance.

These tree ornaments on The Simple Dollar are another good option and look pretty sturdy and long-lasting.

I love this cute pompom robin over at Nurture Store.

BEAUTY PRODUCTS: I bought some pretty glass bottles earlier this year that I planned to fill with homemade bath or massage oil and give as gifts. You can find simple recipes very easily, such as these.

Lip balm is another great beauty gift that you could make at home. Try this recipe from FIMBY.

STATIONERY: Photo printing websites offer easy ways to create personalised stationary which can be a lovely present for family members. Calendars with a different photo of your children each month, a notebook with a meaningful image on the front cover and diaries with various photos throughout can all easily put together. I use Photobox but everywhere seems to offer these same products.

For more hands-on creativity that gets your children involved too, this calendar using their drawings is a really nice idea, posted last year at Fab Mums.

Have you got any plans to make any Christmas presents for people this year? Are there things you have made in previous years that have been particularly successful? Do share any other ideas in the comments too.

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7 Delights of December

I was speaking to a friend yesterday and she was telling me how much she loves December. She likes getting cosy in winter clothes, the Christmas decorations, the gift buying, the parties and socialising, the mulled wine and other festive food and drink and it's also her birthday later in the month.

For our family, I think we share her sentiments. My son and my husband both have December birthdays so we have to be careful not to let those get overshadowed by Christmas and to enjoy separate celebrations for those. So far, this December has been a little extra fun than usual due to the snow we've had!

December is early enough that the winter hasn't yet started to feel never-ending and we're not yet tired of getting bundled up in our heavy coats and all the layers to keep warm outside. With holiday and Christmas on the horizon, people start to be more relaxed and tend to be in good spirits. There's lots to keep us occupied during the cold days and dark evenings too.

For those of you at home with your children I've come up with a list of 7 delights of December, simple things you can enjoy together this month:

1) The snow. It's early for us to get snow here but get out there! Make some snowballs, snowmen, snow angels, patterns in the snow with your footprints....Wrap up warm and you'll find it invigorating as well as fun.

2) Gift wrapping. Wrap as you go along rather than saving all the wrapping for Christmas Eve. My son loves to help wrap presents too and sometimes he's quite happy to have his own piece of wrapping paper and amuses himself wrapping random objects in our living room.

3) Boxes. We've been getting parcels of some sort almost every day this week but that's partly because of the December birthdays. However, you'll probably get a few too and the play possibilities with those are endless! Putting things in them, using them to make a pretend cupboard/cooker/robot or whatever, making a tower of boxes if you have several are just some suggestions.

4) Decorations. Let your little ones help with the decorations, putting ornaments on the tree for example. I know someone who used to let their children decorate the tree and then once they'd gone to bed she'd rearrange it all so it all looked evenly decorated and of course the children knew nothing of it :-). They love to help and it's a nice task to do together to get into the Christmas mood!

5) Cooking. Make some Christmas cookies, cupcakes, mince pies or whatever takes your fancy. My son loves to mix, he doesn't care what we're making as long as he gets to tip some ingredients into a bowl and mix them all together. Cooking can be a great indoor activity to do with your children. Older children can do more sophisticated tasks like decorating cookies with coloured icing.

6) Arts and crafts. Find some festive art ideas to do with your children and display them at home. Older ones could make Christmas cards. Even little ones can make their mark by decorating brown paper with potato printing to use as wrapping paper.

7) Christmas events & activities. Make the most of what's on offer for the festive season and take your children to see a show, make a visit to Santa's grotto, take older children ice-skating or to a Christmas market.

What other things would you suggest doing with your children this month?

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What's your illness etiquette?

There are a few things that nobody tells you about having a baby, like all the washing you suddenly have to do and how they get one cold or illness after another (which often you catch too).  I rarely used to get colds but since my son has been born, I've probably had more in these past two years than I ever had in my lifetime!

It's that time of year right now where there seem to be lots of germs around, colds and other bugs spreading like wildfire. I guess it's partly because we're all enclosed indoors now that it's got cold. Unlike in the summer when you can be outside in fresh air, we get stuck in confined spaces with each other in the winter!

As a mum, you quickly learn that consideration for others goes out the window when it comes to your child's illnesses. Maybe for the first ever cold your child gets, you keep them away from other babies, kindly not wishing to spread the germs to other helpless creatures. Yet, before long, you find yourself surrounded by runny noses galore! People don't feel the need to keep their child away from others when he or she is ill. I guess they think that at some point sooner or later, the other children will catch something themselves anyway so what's the point in keeping them away.

A few of my mummy friends have recently started their two-year olds in nursery for a few mornings a week and so I've been hearing about their experiences. You're always told that once they start school, they're forever ill with something and that seems to be the case for a lot of the people I know. These mums are paying for the mornings at nursery and as you know, they don't come cheap. When their child gets ill, they send them into nursery regardless as they don't want to lose out on the money they've spent.

A cold is one thing but when children are sent to nursery or playgroups with something highly contagious, I think that's a different story and shows a lack of parental responsibility. It's really not fair to inflict something contagious and likely rather miserable to other children. It's not something they will inevitably get like a cold and so why should they be put at risk of catching something nasty because another parent didn't keep their child at home?

I'm more relaxed with something like a cold and will still take my son to a playgroup if he has a bit of a runny nose. When it comes to something contagious or more unpleasant, I wouldn't take my son to mix with other children. I wouldn't, because I don't think it's fair to the other children but also because I'd like to think other parents would have the same respect for my child and his peers in the same situation. What frustrates me is when parents don't share the same attitude and respect, which seems to be the case more often that not.

What are your views? Do you think I'm being a bit over-sensitive? Is it something that you view differently when your children start school and begin mixing more regularly with more children?

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Something for the weekend

It's been a busy week but rather than not write anything at all, I thought I would share a few links that you might enjoy reading over the weekend.

We have friends coming over for tea and cake tomorrow so I'm planning on making these pumpkin cupcakes that Urban Mums shared with readers earlier this week.

Books always make good gifts and there are some nice recommendations for the adults you might be buying for this Christmas on Five Books.

As it's getting colder and colder now, these 5 tips to keep healthy and happy during the chilly season are definitely worth a read.

I enjoyed reading this post on The Sweet Beet about the intimacy of sharing food with loved ones.

As a vegetarian, I eat a good amount of beans in my diet but after reading 4 of the best beans for health on the Little Green Blog, I think I should look into mung beans!

Is there anything you've read this week that you've enjoyed and can share?

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A day in the life

This post is inspired by The Key to a Peaceful Home with Toddlers on Zen Family Habits. I really enjoyed reading Sherri's daily routine with her two children aged 2 and 3. To me, it's always interesting to know what a person's typical day is like, especially that of another mum.

There's always plenty of talk about routine when it comes to babies but less so with toddlers, even though it's just as important to keep their day structured. Sherri's emphasis in her post, was that making an effort with her two young children has helped make the days more fun with her family. One way she has done that, is by following their routine.

So, I thought I would share my routine with you. My son is almost 2.

• Wake up. Breakfast. Tidy up dishes.

• Free play whilst usually getting ready to leave the house.

• Playgroup / park / activity.

• Snack.

• Back home, free play, prepare lunch.

• Lunch.

• Quiet play (read books, do a puzzle together).

• Nap.

• Snack.

• Go out for walk / playdate or have someone over to play.

• Free play while getting dinner.

• Dinner.

• Clean-up, free play, tidy up toys.

• Bath, stories and bed.

This is an average day. Somedays if the weather is bad, we won't go out and we'll do some art stuff or some cooking together. When it's summertime, we spend most of the day outside.

Looking at Sherri's routine, I was impressed by two things in particular. One was the 'kids do their responsibilities' and the other was 'craft time'. She's found a simple way of introducing responsibilities to her children, by displaying and talking through these routine printable cards. If you were feeling artistic, you could make your own. They seem like they might help make chores fun for children and of course they are simple enough for her 2 and 3 year-olds to follow.

As for the crafts, I think that shows real effort. I always wanted to be a mum who did lots of crafts with her child but I don't do them very often at all. As Sherri points out, they do require planning and preparation that she does the night before. I'm going to give that a try, as crafts are a good way to spend some time when it's cold outside and there are fun seasonal things to create.

When I look at my schedule compared to Sherri's, mine involves more getting out of the house. For me, that's an important part of the day. Fresh air, seeing things or seeing people, a change of scene all break up the day and I try to get out whatever the weather, even just for a short walk. My son enjoys it and I feel better for it too.

What would stand out from your daily routine? What particular activities are important to you and your children on an average day?

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