Work & Family -The Home & Life Balance

So my new job is in full swing for the past few weeks (wasn’t meaning to be so long between posts!), and my Hubby just got a proper job too! Of course, this is a massive change for Miss. She is used to having Mummy to herself (to a point!). And Daddy goes out sometimes, but not for long periods of time like shift work causes.

Adjustment is needed. Tonight while Hubby went off to work, she said “Daddy isn’t coming back.” And I said time and time again, yes he is just after your bedtime. I tried explaining how Mummy is at work in the mornings but Mummy comes back later. This is the same thing. But she is still finding it difficult to understand. She even started wetting the bed again.

It’s hard. I hate leaving at the morning at six AM. My heart strings feel like they’re breaking to be sneaking out of the house, even though I know this will be so much better for us. My job is also flexible, in that as she gets older I can move my hours around to longer or to be around school times.  Hubby will be the stable breadwinner, which makes him happy, and he’s guaranteed overtime if he wants it. My work, well it’s a bit pants money wise. But I’m enjoying it, and that’s great. I’ve worked in a variety of different settings, but this one is different entirely. It’s not all paperwork or being sat at a computer or stacking shelves. It suits me.

As time goes on, we’ve no idea at this stage what will happen. I may not get any work one week (I really hope not!) which would hamper that week entirely for shopping. At least for now, Miss seems to be adjusting. It’ll just take time.

What about you? Are you a parent who works? How did you manage if you went back to work when your kid was older? Comment or Tweet me, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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10 Things to Try with Your Preschooler This Summer

(c)TheGamingMum 2015

Summer holidays suck as a parent. As a child it never seems long enough. But for a parent who can’t explain to her threenager that we’re on a very low income as I await hours for my new job; this is hell.

When you cannot drive between you and the Grandparents are all busy, this means one thing. Most days you will be at home. Nearly every day. With no access to the garden which needs attacking by professionals. Seriously, I have a jungle for a garden, but unless you have over 30m extension cable, good luck reaching it!

But this sucks. I start a new job soon so I thought naively that I would be able to enjoy these last few weeks as a stay at home mum. No. We are officially a month down from when Nursery said it’s summer for those who aren’t paying for extra hours. And most of that month I admit has made me cry, scream, and wonder what I’ve done wrong. It’s not like a year ago before she went to Nursery and it was an everyday all day thing. Her mind has moved on, needing more and more stimulation or the meltdowns start. And quite frankly, for a child that can already count to thirty unaided, and has been saying the alphabet since she was two, this Mum has no idea where to go next learning wise!

Trying to teach her to write her name makes her frustrated, her name starts with a K and she can’t get the hang on the letter. I’m slowly teaching her French to compliment what Nursery are supposed to be teaching her (think I’ve taught her more than them). Miss is just so independent now, with a proper personality and attitude to match. The Threenager is definitely in residence!

So what am I to do? Here is a list of everything we’ve tried so far!

• Colouring/writing/drawing – obvious but we just got given a printer so I’m able to print out many Peppa Pig/Doc Mcstuffins/Dora pictures as demand dictates.
• Cutting/Sticking – only allowed when Mum is prepared for the mess and for the inevitable “I got glue in my hair Mummy!”
• The ScrapBook. When she was in the Toddler room at Nursery, the kids would be given a copy of the Argos book to rip,cut and look through as they wanted. I thought this was genius as the massive book is free. All I have to do is walk into town, She will quite happily just sit and look through it and occasionally I’ll get the preschooler scissors out for her to practise with. And when it’s finished with, recycle and go get a new one!
• Origami – I’m not great at this, though a quick google search can tell you all you need to make a paper hat, frog, pirate ship etc! Oodles of fun!
• Dressing up – I admit, her dressing up box is a bit lacking. But combine bits such as old cot bedsheets for capes and the origami hats in different shapes and we have everything from pirates to superheroes to princesses!
• Puppets – you can buy sets or make your own! Also if you use card and cut out the “puppets” you could try shadow puppets on a sunny day and make up a story!
• The park – on good days, the best place to go to tire out little high energy persons! We’re lucky in that there is lots of different parks where we are so there is some variety.
• Painting – With my Miss, this is not for the faint hearted. I have found paint on our ceiling. And we have high ceilings! Mind boggles.
• Shopping – This is here because normally I do my shopping child free when she is at Nursery. I do not put her in the trolley and instead she walks around quite happily helping me fill the trolley and then emptying it! If I’m using the self-scan, she’ll help scan non-fragile stuff too.
• Playdoh – The prepackaged stuff is amazing, but for cheap you can also make your own when you want it. It doesn’t last as long but hey, cheap is good! I’ll do a future blog post on my recipe for it and what I do to make it interesting!

There is more I could add to this list, but you get the idea!

How are you coping with the summer? Do you have any ideas to share? Tweet me or comment below!

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Being a Mum & Gamer : Time Juggling

Time and balance is a juggling act

There are a lot of things that need my time and attention on. First, a mother who is the cook, errand runner, cleaner, laundry woman, transport, and scheduler. She is also the teacher, the nurse, and the best friend who you can have an all day imaginary tea party with. Frankly just looking at that list exhausts me and I’m still bound to have forgotten something! My day as mum starts around 8am, though can be as early as 7:30, and doesn’t end until sometimes 9:30pm, but 8pm is preferred.

Then I’m the wife. A lot of my day counts for the mother too, but we as a couple always make sure we spend quality time together in the evenings. Even if it’s catching up on GoT or watching a Twitch streamer before usually I pass out on the sofa.

So then comes the gamer/person that is behind all that. Everyone needs to relax, and for me (now I have very little time to sit and enjoy a book like I used to) gaming definitely does this. It is my escapism from the daily grind of being an adult. I’ll expand more on this in another post, but I love being whisked away by immersive games with the music and sounds of a new strange world.

When do I find time to play? Well, this really varies. Sometimes I’ll boot up a PS4 game such as Knack or an indie game first thing when I wake up (7am every day). Other mornings I’m just zoned out and just read Reddit or other blogs until I’m awake enough to boil the kettle. But usually the three afternoons a week Miss goes to nursery is my definite gaming time. There is the evenings too, but after our dinner after she is in bed, there is no guarantee that me and hubby will be awake enough to see text on a computer screen. I try and make sure that for those three afternoons I do not have any chores to do (as a rule most things are dealt with daily). That way if I want to play video games I can, but if I want to snuggle up on the sofa and watch Netflix with hubby I can do that too!

When do you play your games? Comment and let me know your thoughts!

Getting a Threenager to eat healthy

Getting a Threenager to eat vegetables sometimes isn’t easy

The bane of chicken nuggets!

For those not aware a Threenager is a three year old who is a mini glimpse of life with a teenager. Getting Miss to eat anything new is sometimes very stressful if it is obvious on her plate. She will cry and scream if she is even told to try it. Then says she doesn’t like it when it has not gone anywhere near her mouth yet. The one food she would eat every meal if she could would be chicken nuggets. I hate giving her processed food and because of my dodgy relationship with food, I am trying so hard to give her a better attitude and better all round diet than me.

So how do I get my Threenager to move past the chicken nuggets? I have a variety of different ways, the main one being that she has to try everything on her plate. Just once. This encourages her that she doesn’t have to eat it all, (I’m not going to force her!) but Mummy made this and would like her to try one mouthful with no pressure. We still get a tantrum about that one spoonful but it is smaller than earlier methods. She has to be encouraged. Sometimes, saying “oh Miss isn’t going to eat (food here) all up” will make her gobble up the evil food. Reverse psychology.

With her I’ve noticed that a lot of the foods she doesn’t like involves textures. If they’re bitty (contain mince for example) she really doesn’t like it. To be fair, this is something I have trouble with. I don’t know why but I hate lumpy food and even mash when smooth I cannot stand it in my mouth. I still make a point of eating it though. Because I have learnt that if Miss sees something that we adults don’t eat, she will refuse to eat it.

So if you are a parent, this is what I do that may help you.

• Try one mouthful of everything
• Try at least one new food or food done differently each week
• Reverse psychology (you’re not going to eat that _____)
• Don’t take the easy route of chicken nuggets just because s/he wants them. The adults pick tonight’s meal.
• Make sure the food makes a healthy and balanced meal
• Make sure there is not too much on the plate. This can be overwhelming and resort in nothing eaten

We still have issues, but this helps a lot. Last night for example, she refused to eat her vegetables!

If you have a young child who has problems with food and have any other suggestions why not comment below? Each child is different after all!