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The Philosophy Series: The Seneca addition

This time of year is naturally all about resolutions.  Whether your aim is to lose weight, read more, laugh more, or even continue your life without any new goals, I believe that Seneca can give pause for thought.

Seneca was a Roman Philosopher in the 1st century, who identified anger as a serious problem in the Roman empire and aimed to try to remedy this issue. He had good reason, given he worked for the notoriously mental emperor Nero. That said, anger can be an issue for many people on different levels today too. Sometimes it may be as mild as a simple irritation or perhaps a resentment over something – either way, it’s rarely a positive feeling.  Seneca offered a rather simple solution to dealing with it…

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Design: #2015bestnine reflection

Like many others the world over the end of the year brings a natural time of reflection – What has the last year brought? What do we want from the year ahead?

Much of my 2015 has blurred into endless months of work and exhaustion – obviously completely surpassed by the joy that Thomas has brought into our lives. I hope that when I think back to the time in years to come, my abiding memories won’t be relating to anything other than my family and specifically, the kids. Whilst they may be noisy, excitable, at times uncontrollable – I’m in not hurry to quash their spirit!Read More »Design: #2015bestnine reflection

Conversations with Katie (aged 3)

I am feeling incredibly blessed to be having time away from work, not only to look after Thomas but to be able to see Katie grow too. I’m very conscious that both of the kids will have to be in full-time childcare and that I will miss so much. I’m just trying to soak up every minute that I can and not be too sad at what I will be missing in the future.

Katie is a little chatterbox and I love the snippets that she comes out with. I often have no idea where her imagination has picked them up from but there’s certainly variety. Here are a few of my favourites from the past few weeks that I don’t want to forget:Read More »Conversations with Katie (aged 3)

The Philosophy Series: Epicurus edition

Epicurus was a 3rd century Greek Philosopher who is interesting purely because of the way that his ideas have pervaded philosophy throughout the ages. Only small fragments of his writings have made it through the channel of history, yet we know quite a lot about his life and his ideas because of his influence on others.

Epicurus is our philosopher for Christmas because he spent much of his life considering what it meant to be happy. He believed that we should not feel bad about our own happiness and indeed that we should chase the things that give us pleasure. Whilst that may conjure ideas of great feasts, flowing gin and tonic and piles of new books – he actually followed a very simple life, supping on water, bread, and a few olives.Read More »The Philosophy Series: Epicurus edition

I. J. Mellis Cheese

I have a confession. I have never eaten turkey for Christmas dinner… and I hope I never have to.

As my Dad couldn’t eat white meat, we never had a traditional Christmas dinner growing up. After trying turkey as an adult – I can’t really understand why people would!

Our Christmas meal evolved over a number of years and I now mimic a version of it with my own family (who certainly aren’t complaining!).Read More »I. J. Mellis Cheese

Design: Christmas table setting

I’m storming ahead with Christmas organisation in the hope that everything will be done by the time that Mike is on holiday. That way we can just chill out and enjoy time with the kids together rather than having to get things organised or worse still – brave the shops!

I have a few things left-over from my table setting last time I hosted Christmas in 2012. Keen not to waste those things (I still like them) – they form the basis for this year.Read More »Design: Christmas table setting

The Philosophy series: David Hume edition

An old school friend of mine posted on Facebook that her five year-old had recently posed the question, ‘How did the first person get on this world? There wouldn’t have been anyone for them to be born from.’

Whilst I  found the question amusing, my response was definitely that of a philosophy teacher:

‘David Hume would say that she’s only looking for a first cause because it’s emotionally reassuring, and that you should tell her that ‘instances of which we have had no experience need not resemble those of which we have had experience…’ The existence of man may just be ‘brute fact’.

I was initially worried that my response was overly convoluted but I needn’t have worried as my friend’s response was additionally thought provoking –  pondering the question of why children ask some questions and of course, the observation that they are rarely governed by reason!

It struck me that a number of the philosophers that I talk about in the classroom are applicable to the world of parenting and that it would be interesting to consider what advice they may give – so let’s begin with Hume:Read More »The Philosophy series: David Hume edition

Food: Free from Fairy Cakes

I’m not about to start disclosing my daughter’s full medical history, which would be long, boring and a bit grim at times, but suffice to say – she has a number of food intolerances. At one point we were entirely off dairy, but had begun to re-introduce it in the hope that her gut had matured a little more. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to have been the case and we’ve been referred back to the children’s hospital again. Whilst we begin the months of waiting for an appointment, we will need to manage Katie’s diet as closely as possible but that’s no excuse to exclude fairy cakes!

After keeping a food diary for the last couple of weeks, we’ve decided to not only cut all dairy again but also to try and cut her gluten intake. Supermarkets have such superb ‘free-from’ sections now, this isn’t actually that much of an inconvenience. However, it’s still fun to do baking at home and pretty easy with help from Doves Farm – the provider of all good gluten-free cooking goodies in this house!Read More »Food: Free from Fairy Cakes

Top Tips for Swimming with Kids

I find it extraordinarily hard to find decent toddler girls swimwear. By decent I really mean swimwear that is actually most suited to,  you know… swimming. I cannot fathom why everywhere you look there are bikini tops, frills or spaghetti strap halter-necks. I’m assuming some people must think this is cute? However, it strikes me that it certainly isn’t what I would look for in swimwear for me and I can’t imagine it’s comfortable for a child to swim in either.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I own a few bikinis but really for sunbathing. At no point, have I ever thought, ‘I know what will make swimming easier – more frills on my swimsuit!’ Why is this even a design feature?

I cannot recall ever owning a swim suit like this as a child either – I remember having wide straps (that didn’t get twisted) and really bright patterns. I don’t know if anyone could direct me to the source of these but I’d really like one in age 3-4!Read More »Top Tips for Swimming with Kids