parenting

Autumn/Winter Capsule Wardrobe 2016

The term ‘capsule wardrobe’ is certainly not a new one. However, a quick Google will soon find a whole myriad of ‘rules’ and a vast variety of ‘how to’ guides. In my mind, there’s no hard and fast way that capsule wardrobes have to be put together. Some people protest that when they expand to 30+ items, that they can hardly in considered capsule. But I reckon, that whatever works for you is best!

I don’t have a huge space to store clothes, but equally live in a climate where it really wouldn’t work to wear the same clothes all year round. For that reason, I like to keep the same basic wardrobe but to update it or rotate items seasonally.

Back in March, I put together my wardrobe for Spring which saw me through most of the Scottish summer too. I had to add in a few pairs of shorts for our holiday in America, but for the most part it has remained the same.

Obviously, the return to work necessitated that I also needed to address my formal wardrobe. I’m still about 4lbs above my ‘normal’ weight now but was well over a stone heavier upon my return. For that reason, a capsule wardrobe made more sense than ever; I didn’t have the budget for vast variation but needed something that would fit well and be functional.

I do still like to adopt a more casual look on the weekends though; and actually changing my clothes is a good way to ‘switch off’ work mode. Therefore, for Autumn/Winter 16 I effectively have a capsule with two subsections. As I said before – my wardrobe, my rules!Read More »Autumn/Winter Capsule Wardrobe 2016

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…

Read More »The Philosophy Series: The Seneca addition

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

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