6 tips for managing fussy eating (and apologies for the clickbait title!)

Fussy eating. Is there anything more annoying when you work with children? I'm fairly certain this is entirely a first world problem, too - pretty sure you wouldn't find children who do not have enough to eat on a daily basis being picky about what they like and don't like.





Personally, I find fussy eating very difficult to understand, as I have never been a fussy eater. I like all food, and the idea that there can be foods which somehow upset our taste buds, our palate, our mouth feels - huh?? So when I began my job and discovered that the bug is a fussy eater, my heart sank just a tiny bit. I love the job and I knew that I would still love the job, but I also knew how exhausting and upsetting trying to manage a fussy eater day in, day out is.



So it took me a couple of months to really work on it with the bug, but I think we're finally there; we're finally at the point where he will eat (almost) anything I put in front of him. And here are my tips on how to deal with fussy eating!



1. Were they always fussy?

Identifying whether this fussiness is in their nature or a new situation from their environment actually helps more than you know. The bug was not a fussy eater until he went to school - or to be more precise, until he started year one. Looking into it further, we discovered that although in reception the children were not given a choice about the meal they had at lunch, in year one they were given the choice between a full meal which changed every day - casserole, wraps, stir fry, bolognese etc. - and pasta with cheese. So naturally, every day all the boys in year one were having pasta and cheese for lunch, every single day. Combine this with the bug hearing other boys saying, "I don't like this" "I don't like that food type" and you can see where his fussiness was coming from. Any child given the choice will choose the simple carby option which skips out on the veg. Some children, though, are fussy from the word go and will refuse pretty much everything during weaning even. They will take longer to learn to eat lots of foods, and you will need more patience with them. They can be brought around in the same way, but it may well take them longer to settle to new ways of eating.

2. Control

Children start off life with basically no control - they poo and wee when it comes, they are fed when they're hungry, they can't move for themselves or speak for themselves, they don't get any choices in food or companions, in clothes or environment. Gradually they gain more control, learning to crawl, then walk, learning to pick things up and push them away. They learn to talk and vocalise what they want and what they think. It's understandable that children will push for more control, because they want to be in control of their own life just as much as you or I do. So I found that the bug would be more willing to eat if he got some choice in supper. He doesn't get the choice of what he's having, but he does get the choice of which vegetables he will have, and he gets a "this or that" choice - peas and broccoli or tomatoes and cucumber etc. He does not have free reign of choice, he gets to choose between two options. It satisfies his need for control but helps him to make a secure decision within boundaries.

3. Knowledge is power

Almost every child will ask what they're having for supper. Big mistake! Don't tell them! I was brought up with evasive answers like "puff pie and squeal" or "table and chair legs". I don't know why we feel a need to tell our children what they're eating - maybe we want to feel that they'll develop a liking for lots of foods by knowing what lots of foods look and taste like? Instead, the minute you say, "it's chicken korma with rice" the child will say, "I don't like rice" or something to that effect. The bug no longer gets told what he's eating. He can guess away but I will not answer. This also stops him from deciding to dislike a meal before he's actually tasted it. A large part of children disliking foods is that they have made up their mind not to in advance, and by then trying it is pointless and won't make them like it. Just don't tell them, and they have to try it before they can decide. As a result he has eaten cauliflower cheese thinking it's macaroni and cheese and told me it was absolutely delicious, despite having told his mum that he hates cauliflower. and this leads me onto my next point...

4. Which foods do they actually dislike?

The bug has a list as long as my arm of foods he would say he doesn't like. Most of them he eats without necessarily knowing that he's eating them. Cooked carrot, for example, he will eat as long as he doesn't know it's in there. It gets grated into bolognese, and he's happy. Potato, on the other hand, he will not stomach under any circumstances (yet). I do think that there are a couple of foods where the Bug does not like the taste of that food on its own. This is okay. If he has maybe 3 or 4 foods that he absolutely definitely does not like, that's okay. But working out which they really don't like and which just aren't favourites, and which are all about control is important. Most children should like most food, and sometimes it's about trying the food in many different ways before you can conclude that they definitely don't like it. And if you have a child who can retch on command, this does not mean they don't like it. It just means they have another way to try to control the situation.

5. Ban the phrase "I don't like"

I hate this phrase. Nothing gets my blood boiling quite like it. I have put in a lot of time and effort, in planning and preparing a meal for you and the only thing you have to say is that you don't like this or that? No gratitude, no appreciation, no pointing out of what you do like. I find it rude, in fact. So at our table, the phrase "I don't like" is banned. It took the Bug a few days to get used to it, but every time he started to say it I would interrupt him by telling him, "I don't want to hear that" or "I'm not interested" or "we don't say that, it's rude". He now has the hang of it, and I rarely, if ever, hear the phrase. Instead, if the bug has actually really enjoyed a meal, I get told, "that was delicious, that was really yummy, I love it!" Meal times are a lot more pleasant, I feel less grumpy, and the Bug gets frowned at less!

6. Motivate them to clean their plates

The Bug is very materially motivated - very common at his age. And his school does house points. So what I decided to do was to use this to encourage good eating habits. He now has a house point chart at home, and certain squares are highlighted. When he gets enough house points to reach a highlighted square, he gets a small treat of his choosing - a keyring, or a small toy or something to that effect. These squares are places 30 or 40 housepoints apart, so he doesn't reach them often. But he's very motivated to get housepoints as often as possible. He doesn't lose housepoints either - once he's earned it, it's there. He knows every supper time he gets one housepoint for trying everything, and one for cleaning his plate. He used to try to negotiate how many mouthfuls he had to do (another thing I hate), but now he knows it's his decision. He doesn't get too much food on his plate, he gets slightly under what I would expect him to manage so that he can ask for more if he wants. But he knows that if he finishes it he gets a housepoint. If he decides to leave food, he doesn't. So far he has cleaned every single plate since we started this. Result! Find out what motivates your child, be it stickers, telly time, a trip or a treat and find a way to use it to encourage your child to eat. Make it feel attainable, but still be a challenge - and don't give in or compromise on the conditions. It must be a proper forkful try of each food for one housepoint. It must be a properly scraped round plate for the second.


It's amazing when you put these sort of things into practice how quickly children catch on. It's incredibly important to be consistent - the Bug knows it's the same every night. Every night he will be given a meal without being told what's in it. Every night there are two housepoints available for his eating. Every night he knows we don't say "I don't like". It's the same routine, every night, and he is better for it. I would not longer call him a fussy eater, as I no longer her him complain about foods. He now eats foods he used to tell his mum he hated, and he eats them without any fuss.

Now we just need to work on his table manners!

This post has been a long time coming, and I've spent a lot of energy working on it. As a nanny it's very close to my heart, and the improvements in Bug's eating have given me relief too as I no longer have a battle at mealtimes every night. Sometimes it's still like pulling teeth, as he is so slow to eat - think an hour and a half to finish a plateful some nights - but on the whole we're more relaxed, and happier with it. I don't have to nag him to try things or eat things, which means I can concentrate on feeding the bean and chatting instead. No doubt there will be many people out there who will cry that these tips did not work or help in the slightest - no, they won't work for every case, as children are all so different. But I firmly believe that they would work for most children. Often when somebody says that something doesn't work I find that when I do it, it does, and that makes me wonder if the tips in fact did not work for the adult, rather than the child. The old cry of, "my child won't have their nappy changed" is one of the most common, and I have tips for that too which despite parents saying they won't work have then worked on their child every time I do them! Sometimes it's about the adults believing that the problem has solutions, and inviting an outside party to help or to offer advice is a good thing. Once you see that it works for your child too, your confidence can grow. But if all else fails, just remember that the majority of children grown out of the majority of problems you struggle with in their childhood. Sometimes what it needs most is time.

Love love xx

How misogyny is ingrained into society

So I saw this on fb today, posted by a girl I know:

Am I the only person who's bothered by the sentiment this presents?! Okay, I get what it's saying, and in one sense it's correct. If you know someone's in a relationship you should not behave towards them with the intention of trying to attract them - you shouldn't try to encourage dishonesty within their relationship, and you should respect that they're in a relationship rather than trying to split them up or have one of them be unfaithful.

On the other hand, if you're in a relationship with someone, you should have that integrity to be honest and faithful within that relationship regardless of anyone trying to flirt with you. It is not just "the other woman"'s responsibility for cheating. If you can't stay faithful to the person you're dating or married to, then you shouldn't be dating or married. Your unfaithfulness is your fault, nobody else's.

My real issue with this, though, is that it assumes that it's a female who will be a "little tramp" as the poster calls it. Not only is there no assumption of responsibility on the part of the boyfriend, but it is automatically assumed that it will be a female who is stirring up trouble. It doesn't warn men not to flirt with women in relationships. Similarly, it assumes all parts of this relationship and trouble stirring are between heterosexuals. It doesn't warn women away from other women in relationships, or men away from other men in relationships. It's so sexist and degrading, and the worst thing is that despite so many people speaking out for women's rights and equality, this sort of degrading of women's character is a normal part of society - to the extent that women are the ones posting this crap, because they can't even see how sexist it is. They're not being deliberately sexist; they literally cannot see that that's what it is. It's like it's trying to tell us that if a man cheats with a woman, it's the woman's fault; but if a woman cheats with a man it's still going to be the woman's fault.

You know what this poster should really say?

There. Much better.

To anyone against feminism because they don't understand what it's about? This. This is what it's about. This is why I'm a feminist. If your man cheats, it's not because an evil woman lured him away. It's because he made a bad decision and did something wrong. And, to anyone who might call me a man hater, yes the same goes for if a woman cheats. It's the same whether in a straight or gay relationship. The person who cheats is the person who is responsible for their cheating.

Love love xx

The dress!

This dress. Oh man. Where do I even start? This dress took me an awfully long time to make. I knew what I wanted the dress to look like from September. I bought the fabric back in October. I think I even flipped through pattern magazines in October. I drew pattern pieces for myself in November, and cut out the fabric. Then I did nothing. And nothing. Until December.Until halfway through December, in fact. This dress scared me. I was scared of screwing up. I had never drawn my own pattern pieces before. I have always been one to tweak someone else's work in order to make the item in front of me match the image in my head. I always think tried and tested, reliable patterns by companies are the best way to get what I want - find something similar, then make it work for what I want. But we didn't have anything similar. I could have bought a pattern specially, but it wouldn't have been perfect; I would have had to adjust it to fit me anyway; and it would have cost more. So I followed our own tried and tested method of sewing, fondly called sewing by the seat of my pants. And this is how it turned out:

Worth the frustration? Worth the fear? Absolutely. This dress is tailored, delicate and light, comfortable and beautiful. Each detail was painstakingly chosen, designed. Even when it was a pain in the butt to make the detail work. Take the hem, for example. The fabric came with a gorgeous scalloped edge to it. Of course I want that for the hem. But I want some volume in the skirt. I bounced ideas off my mum, we tried one or two things, they didn't work. Eventually it was wangled with some slightly bizarre angles and measures and the promise of tucks in the skirt. Then the tucks looked stupid. They left booby shapes in the skirt. I was determined to have a roomy skirt, but it had to fit the waist. So it was gathered all the way round. Problem solved.



 Of course, the gathers then didn't want to sit nicely. The skirt didn't want to behave at the waist. So I topstitched the seam in the direction that lay most nicely. Another problem solved. Now I know why I normally let other people design patterns. I also used the scalloped edging of the lace to bind the armholes.






And how does the dress look on?












How's that for a pretty fit! It's just what I wanted, and I couldn't be happier with how it looks! I feel so sophisticated.


























There's plenty of room for movement, breathing and even eating a huge meal if I want to! But it doesn't bag on me. It still hugs at the waist. The grey overlay on top of the pink keeps it form being too cold a colour, without being so overly girly that it's cloying. I'm not generally one to wear baby pink, but with the grey lace over the top it suits me up and down. I even have a pair of shoes which go really well with it!

Definitely worth it.

Next week I will attempt to explain the epic saga that is my newly diagnosed heart condition. It's an interesting story but I have no pictures for it really. Maybe I'll do some drawings for it!

PS. Comment from a poorly five year old charge this evening: I don't want the cheese on my pasta to melt.

...

This did not dignify a response. For anyone who doesn't know, a nanny cannot bend the laws of nature. Not even when her charge is poorly.

Love love xx

Beans, bugs and Brian

Life is busy. Work is amazing but tiring. The bean has worked out crawling forwards, and now likes nothing more than to try to reach anything  dangerous or disgusting, such as the bin, pram wheels, heavy bikes and scooters or cupboard doors. His crawl is a bit like a komodo dragon in style, and as slow as a sloth - especially compared to other crawlers! But he is stubborn and determined, and woe betide you if you remove him from whatever dangerous activity he is interested in. I spend my days being shouted at by a 10 month old who cannot understand why he isn't allowed to keep opening the cupboard door just enough to poke his fingers in, then shut it with the other hand. He is very smiley though, and despite bumping his head regularly with his new-found freedom he is happy and fun to be around with his constant chatter and the way his legs lift off the ground when he's excited. The bug is back to school and so comes home exhausted and emotional every night. He is full of brilliant questions, any of which I can't easily answer - what is technology? What''s the difference between a tractor and a digger? Where does the sun go when it sets? Why can't I see the sun but still see light on the clouds? How do helicopters fly? Does everything poo? Why? Some questions are hard not because I don't know the answer but because I don't know how to explain it so that he can understand. Sometimes he surprises me with his understanding - take the sun question. I told him that the earth was a big ball that turned and the sun didn't move, so when we turned away from it it couldn't shine on our part of the earth. I was still trying to reach a point with this, and worrying that I might be confusing him further with which bits move and which don't; but he said, "so when it sets here, could it be rising in America? Would people there be having their breakfast?" Incredible! He has an amazing ability to notice detail. Here's a combine harvester he made out of lego without any assistance:

He also drew some very detailed pictures of Frozen characters, including the Duke of Weselton, complete with moustache, spectacles and (can you believe) epaulettes!

On an entirely different point, this is Brian:

Brian is a unicorn. He is very pretty, and obviously male. He has a shiny gold horn and smiles a lot. You also may not have noticed but he has the barest, almost invisible little squint. It doesn't affect his vision very much but sometimes he can feel quite self-conscious about it. As long as people look him directly in the eyes and don't stare at his mild squint he's fine, though. He does hate it when people stare.

Brian is a good friend, and very fluffly but kinda lazy. He's like a supersized cat in some ways because he sleeps most of the time, he doesn't demand too much attention and he doesn't ask me to pick up his poop. Which is good since my job involves some of that anyway from the bean.







Yes, he has a side of the bed. He has the left side. It's closer to the radiator, which stops him getting cold during the day. His favourite foods are candy floss and ice cream - at least, they would be if he were allowed any. Ice cream would make him gassy though, and I don't need him farting sparkles in my bed. His favourite books are all teen fiction - I think he relates to the angsty awkward teenagers.



And yes, for anyone wondering, Brian is somewhat distantly related to the unicorn from Despicable Me. I don't know how distantly - I'm not even sure Brian does. They tend to all look alike in his family, but he doesn't even know the name of that particular cousin, and I don't push it. Some families don't live in each other's pockets.

Next time I post I will have photos of the dress I made over Christmas. It's very pretty and I have some photos of it already, but none with me wearing it, and I don't think it can be fully appreciated without a body filling it.

Love love xx

It's been a long while

New Year's Resolution: Blog once a week at least.

It's been forever. Life's been busy, then not busy, but I'm a procrastinator, and the longer I leave something the harder I then find it to make myself do it. Does anyone else find it so? I'm the same with making phone calls, writing to people, even reading fb messages - I dread opening them, because I know the other person can see that and so I then have to reply! Life has had ups and downs since I last posted. Since April I have:

Finished my full-time studies at Nanny College
Dated, and broken up, with someone
Got my first official Nanny job (!) and started just before Christmas
Moved twice
Grieved for my beautiful cat who finally died from old age
Discovered I've had a heart condition all my life without knowing about it AND agreed to be operated on
Made 1 dress
Made 1 adorable nanny purse
Knitted 1 1/2 socks and 1 fingerless mitten
Finished 1 quilt
Cooked lots of food
Discovered at least 3 new recipes, including some Swedish ones
Made my first set of bunting for a wedding
Agree to make a supersized set of bunting for someone else's wedding (think 4 triangles to a metre)
Survived Christmas
Read lots and lots of books
Downloaded 2 stupid waste of time apps to my phone which I play constantly

Um... I think that's about it. There will be more detail and photos on many of these. Safe to say it's been pretty crazy, lots going on in the last 8 months. How was your 2014?

Love love xx

Jam, picnics and cake, frogs to kiss, and a busy life...!

Ready for a catchup?! Here's what I've been up to of late...

 I made jam - plum jam, to be specific. I love plum jam, especially in PB & J's!












 The weather has been, at times, glorious! This was an amazing picnic we had as a house, with cake and biscuits and sunshine...!










 I made this cake for my housemate's birthday. It's a classic victoria sponge, with whipped cream and jam in the middle... mmmmn! Nothing quite beats a cake like that for the sunny weather!








 And I spent a weekend in Sherwood Forest, chilling out. I saw lots of these little guys, and rescued a few from the middle of roads so that they wouldn't get trodden on.




Other than that, I've spent a lot of time doing work for Nanny College. We have had many deadlines, and lots of preparations to make ready for job hunting in a couple of months. I handed in my last piece of work on Monday, and have been catching up on sleep ever since! I almost don't know what to do with myself now that I have some time off. But only almost! I'm headed back to my parents' in two days for a week or so, so I have to pack, and clean my bedroom here in Bath. I also have to clean the kitchen, as it's my job on the rota this week. I also want to do a little sewing - not much, but I want to make a block tonight! We'll see though. Tomorrow I'm meeting a friend for coffee - how I've missed my Niminy Cricket! I can't wait to see her tomorrow morning. And in the afternoon I'm visiting another friend. so I don't have much time left before I'm headed back to Manchester to do the cleaning needed... Who wanted a quiet life, anyway?!

I also received my bridesmaid dress for my best friend's wedding, so at some point I will post photos of it - once it's properly fitted to me, anyway!

Speak again soon.

Love love xx

A lot's happened round here...

But the main thing, which I'm going to show you right now, is that I finished making a baby mobile! No, it's not for me, or anyone I know, no babies happening anywhere near me at the moment. It's for nanny college, for Creative Skills. That's right, we will even make a mobile for your child! I kept mine under wraps for a long time, because I didn't want anyone to see it before it was complete. But now it is complete, and first thing tomorrow morning it will be handed in. So now is the time! Without further ado:

 What do you think?! I'm pretty chuffed with it, even if I do say so myself! So much effort went into it, and I've been itching to post photos of it for so long, but I hadn't finished evaluating it, and everyone else was still making their own mobiles, and... well, anyway, it's done and there and I'm very pleased!










Do you like the webbing?











And... it turns into a dream-catcher:









That way, a child can enjoy it even when they're older!
































I'm especially fond of the butterfly in the middle for some reason...









Lots of other things have happened round here. But I expect I shall tell you about them another time! For now, my aim is to go and find some sleep! But I shall try to post at least twice a week through Lent - and hopefully beyond!

Love love xx

The Hair, Tattoo followed by Lots of Experiments, Last Meals and a Belt to Hold them in, and I'm a Hero and want you to be too!

So all of this happened...

My housemates never used to believe me when I said that brushing out my curls would give me an afro...

My head's not that big, there's just lots of hair!

They do now!!













My housemate got a tattoo, and I went with her for moral support...




We did some fun 'science' experiments in Practical Skills, like this:






Which is called Dancing Raisins - you drop raisins in lemonade, and they rise and sink alternately due to bubbles of carbon dioxide getting caught in their wrinkles, then popping when they reach the surface...









And this one, which mimics the impact a meteorite would have upon hitting earth - you sift flour over a tray so that it is half an inch thick all over, then you sift a very thin covering of cocoa powder over that. Then you drop tasty little chocolate balls (whose name rhymes with walteser) from a height and see how the top soil is thrown everywhere and a crater is left...






... And we did this experiment, which was meant to show how different temperatures of water work but wasn't so successful - you submerge a bottle full of hot blue water in a bowl full of cold yellow water and in theory the blue water will stay near the surface so only the top water will be blue or green. In reality it didn't come out of the bottle at all, so we just tipped the bottle and enjoyed watching the colours blend!

And we tried out beer goggles to teach us to be careful when we drink:








As you can see, they made standing straight a challenge, and I had to hold onto things to stay upright! As for caring for children...

Note: no babies were harmed. Or real.

My face says it all. I almost stepped on another baby on a 'safe spot' on the floor trying to reach this one. And that's why you shouldn't drink whilst working with children!








We had a controlled conditions, timed essay which stressed everyone out. So the morning of the essay, we made pancakes, and generally behaved as though it was our last meal on Death Row!











I got awarded my brown belt - which you get in exchange for completing a whole lot of work! So I was very pleased to be given it. Ignore the wonky bow, and note that by this photo it is not at all obvious which nanny college I go to!







And then I came home to Manchester for Christmas, and yesterday I went and gave blood. I know, I sound all braggy! But I really believe that if you can, you should give blood often. One day it might be you, or your friend, or your baby, who is in that hospital and desperately needs blood. And a stranger will have donated their blood to save you or your friend or your baby. I find the whole experience sort of fun - the actual donating doesn't hurt at all. Sticking the needle in hurts a little, but not even as much as stabbing yourself with a pin. After that, all discomfort is done with. It takes about 10 minutes, and you won't even feel the blood coming out. I find that the needle doesn't hurt at all when it's being removed, and they plaster you up to make sure it stops bleeding quickly! The donor carers are lovely, and laugh with you, and exclaim over the little fellow painted on your thumbnail:







They were shocked that I'd done him myself (note: cotton wool bud and head of a pin are all you need tools-wise!), and jokingly made requests for me to do their nails too!





 and there's barely a mark to show after donating - look:






 This is my arm the day after. That little red dot just below my elbow? That's where they took it from. If you didn't know I'd given blood, you wouldn't notice it. It aches a little when I stretch my arm out as straight as possible, and they say not to do any heavy lifting, but otherwise I have no side effects at all.

It's so important to me to give blood as often as possible. It really is saving people's lives. It's a free way to find out your blood group - I'm B-. And you get free crisps, biscuits and and a brew afterwards. Just think how easy it is to save people! Being a hero and lying down at the same time? the best kind of heroism! And what better time to do this than in the season of giving? They do those corny adverts about giving the gift of life, but it's true - you really are giving someone the best gift.


I spent today catching up with a friend, then visiting my grandparents, who spoilt me rotten as they always do! Tomorrow, hopefully I will be seeing another friend, and Friday I'm seeing another! So it's all go-go-go here! What do you do over your Christmas holidays? Have you ever given blood? What science experiments do you remember doing when you were younger?

Love love xx

Snowy toes, Sewing for Children, Natural beauty, and Birthdays

Why yes, those are my toes - and yes, I painted those snowmen myself! No, I don't really have the time to be wasting on things like this - but I did it anyway. And it's lovely to see blogger allowing me to load a picture for once! It's been so frustrating recently, not being able to.

So here are a few photos of what I've been up to recently:

Sewing a 'taggy' for Nanny College - it's a lilypad!










 And the back...












 ... And a close-up! So we weren't technically meant to quilt it, but I wanted to sandwich the layers together, and after I'd done it the teacher looked at it and told me it was a good use of the pattern of the fabric! Win for disobedience!





Then a scary creature attacked me:

 Isn't it beautiful?! I know you can't tell from the photo, but this butterfly was huuge!! Here, let me show you another picture of it...

Isn't it amazing?! It flew into my room, so as the good human that I am, I caught it to release it, and as the blogger that I am, I photographed it lots before I released it! The colours were just incredible on this peacock butterfly...







And this little one turned 1!!! I can't believe it - a whole year of this little boy! So I went back to Manchester and went to his birthday party, which was brilliant. I got to see him walking around, which was the first time I'd seen it. I gave a book of his year of photos as a gift - more for Manndibles than Bilbo really, but what mum has time to do a photo album?!

I finish Nanny College in 2 weeks for Christmas - very exciting! I'm looking forward to going home, but first I have to complete 2 modules and part of a third. So it's off to work I go!

Love love xx

Issues with Intelligence

Blogger has been taking issues with me posting photos, so there will (hopefully) be a post soon with lots of lovely photos of what I've been up to recently. In the meantime, there's something I want to talk about, something that's been on my mind and my heart for a while.

I am intelligent. I know, sounds like I'm boasting, but actually it's just a statement. I am intelligent. I did very well in my exams at the ages of 11, 16 and 18. I speak Spanish fluently, and I see maths like artwork. I love Maths because there's only one right answer, and I love English because there are so many possible answers. I love the beauty I see in the world around me because of science and God, and I love to sew thigns of beauty. My sister is incredibly intelligent, unbelievably intelligent. She has been reading since she was 2, reading adult books and classic literature since she could read. She excels in near enough everything she tries. She puts a lot of effort into learning and developing skills, but she has natural aptitude in academic areas too. In fact, my entire family is intelligent. we're all academic. I am the stupidest of all of us, and I'm intelligent. My family speaks french fairly fluently, and enjoys discussions about politics, the economy, controversial topics, the mechanisms in life, and intangible concepts. They use language that has rarely been heard in the last 2 decades, and joke about the crossover of sounds of words and meanings of words. We enjoy our intelligence, and enjoy learning, and consolidating learning. I don't think my family would disagree with that statement - we take an interest in knowledge and wisdom and understanding.

So why am I made to feel ashamed to speak in college? Why must I feel too embarrassed to contribute to discussions in lectures? The girls all complain about how annoying it is for people who haven't done well academically to be held back by streaming, or teachers, or situations. They talk about being able to do better - indeed, so many of them beat their predicted grades in school. But when they talk about it, they talk about predicted grades of D's and U's. They beat the predictions by getting C's. And that's great. But if I try to agree, or mention the challenges of being at the other end, the pressure of being intelligent and the stress it brings, or the frustration of being held back because you're already in the top set and the teacher has provided nothing more to challenge you - well, I haven't mentioned half of those things, because I've felt too embarrassed, ashamed, guilty. When I have mentioned any of these thigns, I've been shot down, sneered at, or disagreed with that it's not a problem at all, and I should redirect my focus down to the unfairness that they experienced.

I know that this is a practical-based college, that the academic grade expectation is low. But in a society, and particularly in a college, which believes that every child should have their needs catered to, why are mine not? In fact, when I tried to talk about this with a friend in the college, even she shot me down and told me that everyone was catered to, and when I said that only the majority was, she told me that meant everyone was. Not only is that incorrect, but it's also unfair. If you only ever cater to the majority, the minority suffer. In a world that believes 'no child should suffer', why is this ethos allowed to continue even subconsciously? I know that change takes time, and I'm not even saying that I shouldn't take classes with people who are less academic than me.It is great that their needs are catered to, that college is accepting of all, that students with dyslexia, dyscalculia, or cognitive delays have their specific needs catered to. But the emphasis is always on catering to those below the average, never on those above. We challenge below-average children to fill their potential - what about me? What about all my potential that I'm not being challenged to meet? Why is there no provision for helping me to be better, learn more (or anything, as it currently stands)?

I realise I sound like a whiny child. But I am tired of listening with sympathy to people complaining that their below-average needs deserve to be met. Everyone's needs deserve to be met. Yes, you have individual needs if you have dyslexia. Yes, you have individual needs if you have dyscalculia. But guess what? I have individual needs too, that involve me not sitting in lectures or discussions all day every day being bored by having to go over information I have heard 5 times before, that I understood half an hour ago. I have needs that involve me not having to sit silently through discussions because I might upset people by talking about the challenges of being intelligent. If you can talk about how challenging it is to suck at maths, I should be able to talk about the challenges of being incredible at maths, at having a teacher who refers to you to check that her answers are correct, at having to teach yourself your GCSE because you're 6 modules ahead of everyone else.

When will we stop focusing only on the people who can't, and start focusing on the people who can as well?

I can't say any more. I realise this is a rant, and that maybe there is nothing constructive in what I say. I don't know how to solve this problem. Maybe the majority feels that there isn't a problem. And I guess majority rules, right?

Excuses, excuses...

I've been very idle about my blog. There is a reason for this, albeit not a very good one: my camera memory card got full, so I couldn't take photos, so I felt like my life suddenly got very boring. Told you it wasn't a good reason! I have also had my first week back at college, mind, so I have been super busy and super tired. Hopefully I shall go and get a new camera card tomorrow or Saturday, so i shall post some beautiful and very amateur photos again soon.

PS. I also didn't realise how useful my politics and philosophy A levels would be to me when doing a degree in Early Years. strange!

Love love xx

21st celebrations, including lovely gifts and cards and experiences, plus my mum came down and brought my sewing machine, the first sewing project made in Bath, and my week working on Maternity ward

So, it's official! I'm 21! I had an amazing birthday the other week - my placement were very excited! The mum gave me a huge balloon:

Which is still floating in my room!! Very impressive, definitely earning its moneys-worth! It makes me smile every time I see it, bobbing around.




She also gave me this beautiful card which she made herself:






Isn't that just stunning!! It's such a beautiful card, I can't believe the effort she went to! And she wasn't the only one...









The 4 yr old drew me a card as well! There is nothing I love better than a card which a child makes for me; it shows such care on the part of the child. For them to focus on something like this for such a long time -!





My placement family also gave me this book:

It's full of projects to make, with beautiful photos all through. There are so many things in there which I want to make, and the images are so inspirational. Even the front cover - I love the style! It's a book brought out by a (for want of a better word) store in Bath, which runs courses and classes in sewing and making, called The Makery. It also hosts parties and sells habadashery items. Very cool!

So I was given all of that amazing stuff from my placement family, then we chilled at home in the morning before going off for cake and coffee early afternoon with a friend and their child. The 2 older children were pretty tired from school in the morning, so their emotions were running a little high; but it was a lovely afternoon, with chats and laughs.

My mum came down the weekend before, and stayed a night. It was lovely - we chilled out Saturday evening, and went to Newark Park on Sunday. It's a lovely hunting lodge, not too big for a ramble, but very interesting and really pleasant. She also brought down my sewing machine:















And the bag of sewing machine extras (I made the bag with my sewing machine!!):

 And the gift my sister got for me:






An ice cream maker!! Very exciting! I can't wait to make some ice cream! I've wanted one of these for so, so long, so I can't wait to try out some recipes.





My mum also spoilt me by getting me an extra gift of this adorable fabric:

 Isn't that just ridiculous?! I'm so grateful - she knows what I like!! It's one of those fabrics you just can't leave a shop without buying.




 I got this lovely card from my Friday babysitting family:

 The 3 yr old drew these pictures of himself (left) and his little brother (right) which was just lovely and sweet and oh-so-cute! And they gave me a gift card to buy a book, and some delicious chocolates!





 And my housemates also got me some yummy chocolates, which are mostly stashed at the back of my cupboard in order to savour them(!), and this notebook, which is utterly stunning:







 It has a quote from the bible on the front of it - to be exact, Exodus 33:14. Notebooks come in so useful for studying the bible, so I know I'm going to love writing in this one!

We also went to La Tasca as a house, and had a delicious meal together which was lovely - our first meal out as a house!






And the final thing I want to show you is this:

 yep, I wanted to use my machine, so I threw this quilt together. Oh yes, I did just say 'threw together'. Because I took blocks I already had, joined them together, and quilted and bound it in a day! It nbow sits on my bed, and is super warm and snuggly! the batting in the middle is 50% bamboo, 50% cotton, so it's really soft and warm and delicious! I also ordered some other materials to start another quilt, and I know there are some bits and pieces in my room at my parents' house for quilting too, so it's going to be a busy quilting year I think! I used fabrics I already had for the back:





See how simple I kept it?!








And then a super simple siggy block on the back, too:

Just my name and the year it was made, nice and simple! I love the wavy stitch here - it's really simple as well, but it's very pretty and covers a multitude of sins easily. It also can give the impression of there not being a seam or an edge there, which I love! I've used it before on my mum's machine, when I made the wife's quilt, and when I made my laptop bag. I used bias binding I already had for this quilt, just to keep it quick and simple. I like making my own binding, but pre-made is just as good, and much quicker to sew.

So yeah, the last 2 weeks in pictures! I've spent this past week working on the maternity ward, which has been an incredible, indescribable experience. Lots of baby cuddles have happened, and baby baths and topping and tailing and first nappies and lots and lots of changing beds. It has been a full ward all week and I've loved it! I've had some hilarious conversations with mums about the real nitty gritty details of giving birth - those things you don't usually learn about until you actually have your own baby! One mum said that she didn't know you had to deliver the placenta after the baby; lots of mums said there was no preparation for the amount of pain having a baby came with; many of them described the tenderness and discomfort of the aftermath (the waddling that doesn't stop once you've had a baby!); and many of them talked about how weird it was that that was inside them only a few hours before. Truly a worthwhile experience, and I feel so lucky to have been able to do that. Having said that, I got a sicky bug from one of the mums and ended up missing out on the last day because I was ill. I feel much better already, but I didn't want to risk passing it on to any other mums or their babies, so I stayed off yesterday.

And that's all for now!

Love love xx