Being five

When you are five.........


Singing in the morning is important.

Milky is not cow's milk or rice milk, it's Milo warmed up.

Cuddles in Mummy and Daddy's bed are the only way to start the day.

Wet kisses are yuck.

Rice bubbles that aren't soggy are breakfast.

Fairies are real and help make the seasons change, gardens grow and they make furniture out of all the old teeth.

Cake should only be chocolate flavoured.


Teddies and babies have real feelings, so need to be dressed.

Ballet is grace and beauty.

Mermaids are real, definitely. One was seen in a parade.

Being sick is snot in your mouth.

You show your friends the ribbons in your hair.

At school you can have a carrot for fruit because there is an 'other' list.

Being a carrot in the end of year ballet concert is great as its going to be glittery.

Running is fun.

Crusts should be cut off.

School is serious, homework must be done every night.

Painting is what you want to do or crafting, or sewing, or colouring, or cutting, or folding.

Putting your lunch box in the sink after school is way too much to ask.

Being a Doctor, famous Ballerina or a Kindy teacher is the plan.

Your clothes should match.

Playing is putting all your toys all over the floor where you can see them.

Pasta is best for dinner.

White chocolate is nibbled and licked.

Cuddling something at night is necessary.


Happy Birthday Little Miss

Chicken

When Little Miss was at Kindy she got to experience the hatching of eggs and cute little fluffy chicks. This was a wonderful learning exercise that B also showed a lot of interest in. But little chicks quickly turn into big feathered birds that need more space so the kindy had the task of rehousing the chicks into the wider kindy community. We ended up with four of them.



Rosie - happy to follow the group, is always last to join in

Snowy - very friendly, loves a cuddle and pet so much that closes eyes with pleasure



























Jessica - also known as Jumping Jessica, as will jump up to peck leaves in pot plants




























and Cupcake, bold, brave, inquisitive and friendly. Will investigate your buttons and shoelaces.

Everything went swimmingly at first. The chickens lived in their borrowed Kindy run during the daytime and came inside with a heat lamp at night. Yes it was a bit messy and quite smelly, but all that was solved a few weeks later with a homemade chicken coup.

Things got really interesting when Cupcake, Snowy and Jessica decided to fight. B particularly hated the fights and would say, "Mum you have to do something!" But chickens like to sort out the pecking order, so there wasn't much I could do.

It was when the crowing started that I really had to step in. Semaphore Fodder deserve a plug as they  took our Snowy, Jessica and Cupcake into their rooster wing and gave us Princess in return. It was a very sad day to say goodbye to the boys.

B and Snowy having their last cuddle

However Rosie seems much happier now (is always first for the treats) and Princess and her can start to think about eggs.

Its been an emotional roller-coaster, but I can highly recommend chickens as pets.

How much screen time?

If B could be would use the ipad before school, after school, during meals and in bed. But only if he couldn't use the computer to play Minecraft in that time. Minecraft is his obsession right now. A few months back it was Dragonvale.  I had read somewhere to take an interest in your children's computer games so I got Dragonvale for myself. It was so addictive I had to play it whenever I could, waiting for B to go to bed so that I could play without him knowing. That addictiveness for an adult was hard to control, so just think of the torture B went through in his eight year old brain, wanting, craving and needing and whining. So thanks to Dragonvale we have had to address the issue of gaming screen time and I learnt a valuable lesson (I don't need to get that involved). 

My Mum used to say,"Variety is the spice of life" and "Enjoy a little bit of everything" She was referring to food not screens, but it has been helpful to apply the same principles. I've had to make some hard decisions about how much gaming screen time is enough for a 4 and 8 year old. On the one hand games can be addictive, singular and antisocial, but on the other they can be creative, fun, educational, social currency and children are learning to use the tools of their future.

So how much screen time is B allowed right now?

During school term:

Friday after school 30 mins of Minecraft (we use the microwave timer).

Saturday 1 hour total with no more than 30 mins of Minecraft.

Sunday 1 hour total with not more than 30 mins of Minecraft.

However he is allowed to watch movies or television after school if his homework is done and on the weekend. I am quick to warn him that screen time will be taken away for inappropriate behaviour, so it's a valuable currency now it is limited.

Little Miss is allowed the equivalent so a total of 2.5 hours over Friday, Saturday and Sunday of screen games. She prefers the ipad over the computer and often chooses to watch Playschool episodes on the ipad over any other type of game. It will be interesting to see how that changes as she matures.

Is 2.5 hours gaming enough a week?

Not according to B. But when I consider the amount of time he plays sport a week (3 hours per week) or reads books (4 hours), or creates/draws/crafts (2 hours), then I think that the screen time is in balance with everything else. I am often reminding him that variety is what makes life enjoyable. A range of interests and skills is what makes you an interesting person.

I have to say that I was horrified by a recent communications agency advert where a mother is on a bus with a screaming baby, so she gives her mobile device to the baby to keep it quiet. Might be great for the bus trippers, but I hope that baby isn't playing Dragonvale.... I think that the habit of handing a device to B and Little Miss when they are bored is ultimately teaching them that they dont have to be patient and it's okay to switch off from the world around them. I would much rather my kids are interesting as well as annoying. It wont be long and they wont be kids anymore anyway.

I found these articles on screen time very interesting :
BBC Health News
Raising Children

Kidspot
Kids Health
Becoming mininalist