We need more men.......

I was disappointed to read that men are less likely to go into Childcare because of the possibility of being labeled a Peadophile.  This not only shocks me to the core but also worries me that we live in such a narrow minded society.

It stated that it wasn't the other childcare professionals that they were worried would pass judgement but the wider society.  I ask you, what would you think if you took your children to nursery and were told their 'Keyworker' was a man?

I would like to think that most parents would be welcoming and professional with males within a setting and not automatically jump to any wrong conclusions.

Children who access nurseries deserve to have the best holistic care that can be provided by the setting.  Children should have positive male role models in their lives, for some children, the men in the setting would be the only male role models they have.

I like to think that we, as a society, would not pass judgement on men who choose to make childcare their profession.  We don't after all pass judgement on men who work within primary schools.... what is the difference?

I used to teach childcare and as the years we went on more and more young men decided to take up the career.  These young men were keen to do their best for the children in their care and wanted to make a success of their careers.  Yes, they got ridiculed by their friends for doing 'a womens job' and being 'puffs', but they stuck to it and the nurseries, parents and children embraced them.

The young men were very keen to learn how to protect themselves from allegations of abuse and this was sad.  Why should these young men, who have done nothing wrong AND have been through a CRB check with no history of any offences, be keen to learn how to protect themselves?  It just shows exactly where we are nowadays and how judgmental some of us are.

Lest we forget that more recently some women have been arrested and charged with children's sexual offences.  It is NOT just men who abuse children.

Men should be embraced in childcare, they give our children different experiences for bonding and relationship building and provide those with no male role models the one thing they need.

Just another bad hair day! When Parents should override their children's wishes

While having yet another bad hair day (Sorry Donna if you read this - my hairdresser!!), I started thinking whether this was something I inherited or something I learnt from growing up.

Titch, my own flesh and blood, has perfect hair.  Hair we would all want, it is super blonde, has natural curls/waves that just fall so perfectly and even looks fab when she gets out of bed..... It's just not fair!!

I on the other hand grew up with hair like this:

Now in these pictures, not only do I have bad hair, I have bad clothes and bad glasses.  I asked my Mum WHY she would even let me out of the house dressed like this... her reply: "because you wanted them"

At what point should a parent override their children's wishes for how they want their hair and what they want to wear???

Good Mummy or Bad Mummy? Little white lies at Christmas

So this is what Titch (Aka my little girl) came home from school with today:

Imagine my surprise when I read the outside of the card and then opened it up for the inside (second pic).  What's so surprising I hear you say....
Titch's room is a TIP!!  She is your average 4yrs old and has toys EVERYWHERE.

Let me explain....

A few weeks ago, Titch and The Boy (Aka, my little boy as if you hadn't guessed) who is 6yrs old had all their toys removed from their bedrooms and "thrown away".  Now don't get me wrong, this wasn't some moment of madness and extreme parenting, this was a long fueled stand off between the kids and us (well me) about tidying their bedrooms.  After months, and I mean MONTHS, of tidying up after them and asking them to keep their toys in their boxes and put them away etc I reached the end of my tether.  After the tenth time of asking them to tidy up, I marched upstairs with bin liners and started "throwing out" their toys.  I even got The Boy to help put his in the bags, I then told them I had thrown them out so now they had no toys left. I secretly hid them upstairs in my bedroom... see I'm not THAT mean.

Anyway in the spirit of Christmas, which if you've read my previous blog I am not in favour of it starting before December but a little white lie won't hurt right?, I informed the kids that if they were really good in school and managed to keep their bedrooms tidy (by this time they had, somehow, accumulated some toys) then Santa had told me that his Elves had rescued their toys from the bin and will drop them off to see if they can look after them.  If they can show him they can then they will get some presents at Christmas (horrible Mum I hear you shout).

IT WORKED!! albeit briefly, but nonetheless it worked and I had two tidy bedrooms, so last weekend the 'Elves' visited while everyone was out and left their toys.

This was obviously my reward for helping her, see I AM a good Mummy.

When is it too early for Christmas??

As a person who adores the 'holiday', or Christmas as it will always be known in my household, period I have been questioning: When is it too early for Christmas?

I know  a lot of people out there will be of similar mind to me, Christmas happens in DECEMBER!!!  The build up is great and the planning and preparing does need to start earlier than December granted, however, the decorations DO NOT!

At the beginning of November people were seen to be putting their Christmas decorations UP, yes, in their homes they were putting their tree and all their trimmings up....... now I ask you, what is that all about??

So when is the right time to start putting up decorations?
I have one friend who puts her decorations up before her son's birthday so that it's all magical for him, a brilliant idea I hear you saying and to be honest I thought what a wonderful idea until I found out when his birthday was.... beginning of NOVEMBER!!!  Surely anyone in their right mind would get bored of seeing their Christmas tree for 2 months.  Also, does this dampen the excitement for the child? after all he does have 50 days to wait for the big man to come down the chimney.

Shops put their decorations up just after bonfire night which I get, they have to maximise their sales.  But do we need to be sucked into that?  I admire people that are saying they have completed their Christmas shopping and written their cards.... well done you!!  I like to think I am organised for Christmas, in that I know which family member we are going to for lunch on the day and other parties we have to attend, I have also put a deposit on the boy's bike and that, my friend, is as far as it goes. Every year I say I will begin my shopping earlier, I will buy my cards and wrapping paper in the January sales, I will be prepared but to no avail and probably to the disgust of my former Girl Guide Leader I failed in my promise to 'Be Prepared'

After all these musings and thoughts I still don't when it's too early for Christmas!!!

Time to remember our children ARE CHILDREN!!

Ok, so I don't profess to know everything but I am passionate about some things and Child Protection is one!! 
I have attached an article about the Deputy Children's Commissioner speaking about the recent grooming incident in Rochdale. This is not just about the grooming and the welfare systems in place in this country, yes there are drastic changes that need to be made, and this incident was horrific and never should have got to the scale that it did but it can only change by the government releasing more money to support local authorities/support agencies to provide the support that is needed and train professional and competent staff who can tackle these issues without the red tape that is currently in place.  Children's Social Care need to have enough trained, quality social workers in place to be able to deal with the growing numbers of children in need in this country.  There needs to be an easy referral route into Social Care and the thresholds in place need to be re-aligned in order to meet the needs of the children and young people we are striving to protect and look after.

As an aside to this issue we, as parents and a society have to now look at our young people and the images that they see.  I truly believe that our young people are being 'sexualised' far too early and the 'popstars' and 'celebrities' (and I use that in the loosest term possible) of today are NOT good role models for our children and young people.  If you look at children's magazines and TV, even clothes nowadays they are all about being 'sexy' and looking good... what's that about???
I have a 4 year old girl and I intend to keep her as a 'little girl' as long as possible.  She does NOT have crop tops, high heels and clothes that are beyond her years!!  These children are desperate to grow up and why??  Are we not allowing our children to be CHILDREN anymore? Are parents wanting their children to grow up quicker to make their lives easier??  I'm not sure.  What I do know is this doesn't help our young people when there are people out there who see them as sexual objects from such a young age.
I only hope that things change and children can be children again!!

http://www.newstank.co.uk/headline-news/england-child-abuse-report-thousands-raped-abused/03864/