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What is Martinmas?
Martinmas is a hugely popular festival within the Waldorf education community. This will be our first proper year celebrating it with a lantern walk and special meal. What is Martinmas? Martinmas is a Christian feast day and takes place on the 11th of November. It is a popular celebration in mainland Europe, especially in Germany where it is a part of both the school year and the community calendar. Celebrations usually involve children going for a walk carrying homemade lanterns and singing little rhymes. There are a number of ways you can interpret the day if you wish to incorporate it into your family’s life. Christian Interpretation St Martin is…
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Home Rhythm: Meal Planning and Meal Prepping
Earlier this week I posted about how I got started planning our Home Rhythm. As I assessed our home rhythm I drew up a list of things that felt either time consuming or stressful. Cooking dinner (and meal planning in general) was top of both lists. Whenever I mention meal planning on Insta stories I get a load of questions about it, so here it is, everything I know! Get Started With Meal Planning I’m not a naturally organised person, Scheduling snack times was easy, meal planning was a bit trickier! Every day I was spending too much time chopping vegetables or making last minute dashes to the shop, even…
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Finding our Home Rhythm
If you’ve been following us on Instagram then you will know that for a few weeks I have been consciously making an effort to establish a home rhythm. This rhythm was inspired by being a student on Eloise Rickman’s Rhythm In The Home course. I highly recommend this course for anyone who wants to be intentional about their parenting and their self care. Identify the Family Needs The first thing I did was identify my main problems. For me the problem was stagnation. I was feeling overwhelmed, under-stimulated, harassed, ignored, tired and a bit bored. I was uninspired by my life. I hate to admit this but it felt like…
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10 Ways Busy Mums Can Practice Mindfulness In 10 Minutes
Has it been one of those days? One of those days when you feel frazzled, the only adult company you’ve had was a wave at the postman and you feel yourself starting to slowly lose your mind? We’ve all been there! I’ve put together this list 10 effective ways to practice self care in 10 minutes, all tried and tested by me. As an added bonus for Mums these can all be practiced in your downstairs loo or at your kitchen sink, because sometimes waiting until the kids have gone to bed just feels like too long to wait. And before we start there are a few things to know;…
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The Prepared Adult: Reflecting on Parenting Experiences
The August focus on Instagram has been The Prepared Adult. This came about as a result of my own experiences going through therapy to resolve some issues I felt were nagging at me. This experience was a mix of difficult, hilarious, painful, enlightening and most of all releasing. It helped me to see myself clearly for the first time in a long time, myself as an individual and myself as I was in relation to other people. The Prepared Adult This awareness caused me to understand some of what motivated my parenting decisions and to put them in the context of my experiences of being parented. It occurred to me…
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Montessori with Young Children Close In Age
7 tips from Montessori Moms for doing Montessori at home with two or more children
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Montessori at Home: Preparing a Toddler for a Newborn
Before Indi’s arrival one of my main concerns was Alfie’s reaction. Would he be jealous? Would he feel left out? Would he experience resentment? Would he become anxious? I think this is a worry that many parents share when introducing a toddler to a new baby. I’ve made a list of all the ways we prepared him to be a big brother and I’ve tried to list them in order of their helpfulness. When I thought about what a toddler would find stressful about a new baby’s arrival I started to understand the amount of changes a child would have to adapt to in a short space of time. My…
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And the nominees for best parenting blog are…
Readers I need a little favour! Would you be so kind as to vote for Fred, Ted and company at the Boots Family & Infant Awards. It’s a huge privilege to be nominated along with some amazing Irish bloggers. We’re the only Montessori focused blog that has been nominated and more than anything I want to encourage more parents to try Montessori at home! Just click the image below and then ‘Vote for this product’, there’s no registration required and it only takes two seconds! MASSIVE THANKS!!!
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What To Pack In Your Hospital Bag
Packing your Hospital Bag to have a baby is like packing for a holiday. Except you don’t know where you’re going, how long you’re staying, what you’ll be doing or who you’re going to meet! My goal when packing my maternity bag was to remove the need to make any decisions during my labour and also to make everything easy/quick to access. There are so many variable when it comes to planning birth and there’s no way to know exactly what will happen. Since you don’t know what your recovery will be like my approach is to cover all bases and prepare for a 3 day stay. Baby’s First Outfit…
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Plastic Free July
In January 2018 I made myself and my family a promise that I would try harder not to damage the earth in the name of convenience. Plastic Free July has been the perfect time to recommit myself to reducing plastic. I made a few straightforward changes that immediately cut or reduced our plastic consumption. Getting started can be the hardest part, once you’ve bought a keep cup and reusable shopping bags what more can you do? And is it possible to make any changes when you’re a busy mum? After all, you don’t quite fancy making your own soap or foraging for your dinner! It is absolutely possible! And while…
