Getting ready for the summer holidays
With summer holidays just around the corner, you might be thinking about how you’re going to keep the children entertained for all those weeks. School holidays are very exciting for the children, but for parents it often means complicated childcare arrangements and finding things to relieve their boredom. All these things can add increased pressure on your finances too which may be stretched already. We have great tips on surviving the school holidays and some ideas for what to do when it’s raining as well.
This may be your first holiday as a single parent, and disagreements about where the children will spend time can flair up, underlying the fact that family life has changed and this is a painful process for children and adults. A quarter of British families are now...
School Bus Bullying Survey
In December 2006, 11 year old Ben Vodden took his own life after being bullied on the dedicated school bus. His father, Paul, has been trying to find out about bullying on school buses but there is very little published information. With this in mind he has joined with the Diana Awards to produce a questionnaire for those who have experienced bullying on the way to school on the bus.
The information will be used to find out how much bullying occurs on dedicated school buses and, if there is a lot of it, to use the information to lobby for better care for children on such buses.
As a result of Ben's death we were told of a number of instances where bullying took place on dedicated school buses and we discovered that there...
Do you know an older single mum or dad who wants to meet someone new?
Do you have an older single mum or dad? If so head to myLovelyParent and help them meet someone new.
We’ve partnered with newly launched website myLovelyParent, to make sure single older parents have the support they need when meeting new people online.
The inspiration came when the founder’s mum, a single lady in her 60s suggested he helped “find her knight in shining armour”. myLovelyParent was born, a safe and easy to use website where adult children encourage their single parents online whether for companionship or to meet someone new. Thousands of people have signed to the site, which went live in October.
We have teamed up with myLovelyParent to provide its users with the emotional family related support they may need during their online journey. Through our free, confidential helpline services we often hear from single parents who are struggling with the reality of isolation and loneliness, whether as a result of divorce, separation or bereavement...
Alma and Kathy - 20 years volunteering!!!
It is said that ‘time flies when you are enjoying yourself’ and it’s true. It is hard to believe that 20 years have passed since Alma answered an advertisement in the local paper asking for volunteers for Parent Line and Kathy was coerced into doing the training by Moyra Bowman, who was then chairperson of Parent Line in the North East.
Exceptional volunteers, they have clearly shared and shaped the organisation’s drive to reach every family who need our help through their generosity of time, energy, skills and experience. For 20 years they have listened to families who are struggling and who may have nowhere else to turn. It is absolutely clear that without them and their colleagues, the lives of those families would not have been changed for the better.
Their 20 years’ service will have touched the lives of countless Mums, Dads, Children, Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents and many more. They will have known Alma and Kathy as the calming...
Getting Your Child to Sleep Better
Getting Your Child to Sleep Better
Trying to get your child to sleep at night can be one of the most frustrating tasks as a parent. You may feel like you have tried everything and that nothing works, but have you tried the simple methods below? Please note that the methods below can be tried in no particular order. Choose a few methods that you feel may work best, and give them a try.
1) Stick to a routine: If you do bath time, pyjamas, story time and bed time all at the same time and in the same order every night, your child is much more likely to get used to going to bed at a particular time each night. Their bodies will become accustomed to going to bed at their set bedtime as their body clocks will adjust to the routine.
2) No sugar after dinner:...
Find Childcare with the New iChild Directory
You can search for registered childminders in England and Wales with this brand new free service from iChild.co.uk. All childminders are members of NCMA (National Childminding Association). Unlike some other services, there is no cost to contact these childminders and you can search by postcode for local childcare. Visit the iChild Directory here.
On iChild.co.uk you can also find thousands of free, fun printable activities to help keep children between the ages of 0-11 years entertained. Many activities follow the National Curriculum and are designed to support your child’s educational and social...
Doing Sport Differently with disability or health conditions
In the year of the London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games the guide hopes to inspire disabled people to get active by demonstrating how to overcome barriers to participation and get involved with sports locally. “Sharing stories written by and for disabled people about participation and what it can mean to individuals and families will help create a legacy from the Paralympics beyond elite athletes: reaching disabled people at grassroots level who can engage with get the benefit of fitness, sport and health.” Liz Sayce OBE, Chief Executive of Disability Rights UK
‘Doing Sport Differently’ is a...
Young people and self-harm study parent volunteers wanted
Are you a parent or carer of a young person (up to age 25) who has self-harmed? A health charity website, www.healthtalkonline.org, supported by the Department of Health and based at the University of Oxford, is researching the lives of people in this situation, aiming to help others by sharing experience and information. Are you willing to talk to us about how self-harming has affected your life?
If you are interested, please call Caroline Jordan on 01865 289 328 or email herg@admin.phc.ox.ac.uk. This research project is funded by the National Institute for Health Research.
The real cost of sporting success
The real cost of sporting success - Including video featuring mother of Olympic medal-winning gymnast Louis Smith
Bringing up the next Lewis Hamilton or Andy Murray could cost parents an average of £4,000, according to a new survey.
But the cost can rocket depending on what sport the child excels at – golf for example will set parents back a staggering £55,420 because of hefty petrol costs driving long distances to tournaments.
And go-karting enthusiasts eager to follow in the footsteps of Lewis Hamilton will cost parents £5,072 a year which totals over £40,000 between the ages of 11-18.
The study by pub restaurant chain Chef & Brewer polled 2,000 parents of children that took part in organised sport at least three times a week.
Six in ten parents said they...
Rocking Your Role as Female Breadwinner
Rocking Your Role as Female Breadwinner
Jenny Garrett author of ‘Rocking Your Role’, the ‘how to’ guide to success for female breadwinners, shares her top five tips on Rocking Your Role as female breadwinner.
Figures from a Government commissioned report into economic inequality published by the National Equality Panel in 2010, show that one in five women in the UK are considered the breadwinner. This trend is more common in the US, where Reuters reported it to be one in three in the same year. Surprisingly, this is one of the last taboos in society.
Often juggling work, life and family in secrecy, this growing number of female breadwinners or main earners as I like to call them, rarely discuss or seek coping strategies for their complex role in the world.
My mission is to support and celebrate women main earners, so here are my top 5 tips for Rocking Your Role in work and life.
1. Check Your Ego
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