Kids co-op - Chocolate playdough

 
<center> <a href="http://www.tamingthegoblin.com/search/label/kids%20coop"></p> <p> <font color="#808080" face="'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/FkLk8.jpg" title="Hosted by imgur.com" alt="" /></a></font></p> <p> <font color="#808080" face="'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"></center> Its time for Kids Co-op. Please link up your favourite child related posts and check out what others have been up to this week. I know its tempting to link and run but do try and stop a while and look at some other links, I'm sure you won't regret it. This week I'm linking the following:

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I was putting out the recycling today when I found a Chocolate box insert. WHAT! How could I throw that away (Note to self - Normal people don't think like this). Anyway I whipped up a batch of playdough. I used the Nurturestore recipe as always but I added brown food colouring, two tablespoons of hot chocolate powder and some vanilla essence. It smelt AMAZING!

I laid it out on Goblin's table with some pony beads, sparkly sequins and gold glitter. No sooner had I laid it out than Goblin was there and playing (result!). 

I showed Goblin how to fill the chocolate box hole with a pony bead and then push the playdough in so that when he popped it out it had the bead on the top. He spent some time creating decorated chocolates. 

But one of the wonderful things about playdough is its open ended nature. Instead of just following the natural direction I had presented, Goblin decided to get out his cutters and make sparkly playdough feet. These looked beautiful and were even better for being his own creation.  

Obviously the smell of the chocolate playdough was too much for Goblin and despite me warning him repeatedly he insisted on nibbling it throughout the playtime and then looking at me in distress when it did indeed just taste of salty playdough!
And now to the linky

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The Sunday Parenting Party - Taking Playdates Outdoors

<center> <a href="http://www.tamingthegoblin.com/search/label/The%20Sunday%20Parenting%20Party"><img border="0" src="http://i.imgur.com/FJIJWl.jpg"/></a></center> Its time for the Sunday Parenting Party. Please link up any parenting posts offering tips and tricks, anecdotes on your life whether wonderful or woeful (we can all relate!), requests for advice or general rants all welcome. Please don't link kids activity posts, these can be linked to the Kids Coop. This week I am linking the following: *****

Recently, despite the cold weather we have been having more playdates outdoors than indoors. I really enjoy outdoor playdates and I thought I'd explain why I think they can make for a better meet up. 

1.Neutral Ground I often find when I'm at other people's houses on playdates I tell Goblin off for things I wouldn't do at home. The trouble is that different families have different rules. When you are at someone elses house you need to respect their rules, but often they aren't obvious. There are unwritten rules and it can be a minefield working out what is, and isn't acceptable. Even minor things like allowing your child to walk around while eating a snack can turn out to be a major faux pas. Or the family may divide their toys into outdoor and indoor toys. If you don't operate that system in your own home trying to explain that to your toddler or preschooler can be quite stressful.  If you have your playdate in a park or wood it means you are on neutral ground. Neither you, now your parenting friends need to play by each others rules. This takes some of the pressure off you and your children. 

2. Less Squabbling over sharing Even on better play dates, if there are toys involved there will be squabbling. Even the nicest of kids will have the occasional issue over sharing a much loved item, and some kids just have to have what ever their friend is playing with. This can be difficult if you are hosting a play date or if you are visiting.  Hosting parents feel they need to encourage their children to give up toys that are rightfully theirs, while visiting parents feel guilty that their child is trying to play with something that isn't theirs and is upsetting the host child.   With outdoor playdates the focus tends to be on running around rather than playing with toys, so there tend to be less squabbles. The toys kids do find are natures own - sticks, leaves, moss and stones - there are usually lots of these so no need to fight over who gets what.  The only time I find the 'less squabbles' thing doesn't hold true is when one of the parents breaks the 'rules' and brings a toy without telling the other parents. So their kid is the only one with a ball or a bucket etc. 

3. Great Exercise  When kids get outdoors they tend to burn off more energy by running around and climbing. Not only is this great for their health, but they tend to be less likely to throw tantrums when they can reales any stress by running and playing.  I have also found that I get a chance to do some exercise, running after Goblin or just going for a really long walk. Often this is the only exercise I'll get in a week so I relish it. 

4. Adults can join the fun Lets face it, a lot of the activities that toddlers and preschoolers choose to do indoors aren't exactly thrilling. I get bored of playing cars and trains quite quickly. But outdoors walking through the woods or climbing trees or swinging on a swing, that will never bore me. 

5. Space to chat Have you ever been on a playdate where you really want to have a good old moan to your mummy chums about how your week's been, how terrible your kid was, or how miserable you are? But you can't right, because your child is playing directly infront of you and it would be a really inappropriate conversation for your child to hear? Well outdoor playdates give you that opportunity because your kids can be much much further away and you can still keep an eye on them but they can't hear what you are talking about.  If you think that's selfish look at it this way, your child is also benefiting from having space from you that they probably don't get that often. It gives them a bit of autonomy and freedom.   

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Here are some of my favourites from last week 50 things that make you know you're a mum ~ Just for Daisy Possibilities ~ Little Moments Express Yourself ~ Raise a Boy  Pebble's Birth Story ~ Octavia and Vicky Easy ways to recharge ~ Carrots are Orange
And now to the linky
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Knitted sling

(Goblin is 39 months)

After seeing Small Potatoes beautiful post William's doll I had been meaning to make Goblin a sling for his doll, but then due to nightmares he banished all his toys from his room and stopped playing with them. However, recently Goblin found a bear in a toy shop and started sleeping with it. Then Cerys from Rainy Day Mum let me into the secret that there was a knitting pattern for the Small Potatoes sling at A little time to share, and she kindly interpreted the knitting instructions putting them into idiot terms that even I could understand.

Of course being me I couldn't just simply follow the basic instructions. You see I already had a half done knitting project which happened to be a 50 stitch square. So I used that as the starting point and worked from there - which is why my top picture has the sling template looking rather odd. 

I also decided to try some ribbing. I am useless at ribbing so a nice simple pattern was a great place to practice. This meant my pattern was more like the following:

Knit a 50 by 50 square (thats 8 inch squared). 

Then start decreasing by one stitch at the beginning of the row and one at the end until you get down to 25 stitches. That's when I started ribbing.

And this is where my pattern following goes seriously down hill. I forgot to take a tape measure on holiday. So instead of measuring the 'strap' to make it 14 inches I just measured it by knitting until the 'strap' was as wide as the square front, then folded it back on itself and knitted rib again until it folded back to the beginning of the decrease and then I started increasing again until I got to 50 stitches, then I cast off. 

As you can tell I'm not great at following patterns so I tend to make things up and do a lot by eye and judgement. But the end result seemed to work. I sewed the ends together and gave it to Goblin to put his bear in. The only photo I managed to get was of him trying to take a close up shot of his bear while its in his sling. Needless to say his photo was a bit blurred.

I am sharing this with

The Sunday Parenting Party - Permission to be proud

<center> <a href="http://www.tamingthegoblin.com/search/label/The%20Sunday%20Parenting%20Party"><img border="0" src="http://i.imgur.com/FJIJWl.jpg"/></a></center>

Its time for the Sunday Parenting Party. Please link up your parenting related posts, these are anecdotes, experiences, tips and tricks or cries for help, anything specifically related to being a parent and raising kids. Please don't link up kids activity and craft posts. These can be linked to Kids Co-op. 

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I give you permission to be proud.

(Goblin is 39 months)

I am really proud of Goblin's swimming. He has essentially taught himself to swim. There are going to be kids his age that are more advanced in swimming and there are going to be others who are far behind. But that doesn't stop me being proud of my son's achievements. 

This got me thinking that while we are all told we are supposed to take pride in our children's achievements we don't often get a chance to share them in a guilt free way. 

You can talk to a friend or colleague who doesn't have kids. But they often don't have a clue what kids are supposed to be able to achieve at a given age, so they don't realise that writing aged three or walking aged 8 months is a big deal. Even if they do listen and sound interested you probably find yourself feeling a bit guilty that you are going on about your child and not talking about something that they might actually want to talk about. 

So you really want to share your child's big (and little) achievements with other parents who will get the reason you are so pleased. But response from other parents often isn't entirely positive. Sometimes it come in one of two forms:

The 'Put down' 

"Oh yes my child achieved that at X age" [several months before your child]

This leaves you deflated and feeling stupid that you were so proud of something that apparently isn't such a big whoop after all

The 'Guilt trip'

"Oh my child is still struggling with that, it will be ages before he achieves it"

This leaves you feeling like you've been boasting. Often in a desperate attempt to backtrack you will end up dumbing down your kids amazingness . 

Are you guilty of responding to friends in this way? 

I know I am. Too often the achievements of other children make me question my own parenting. So rather than helping them to celebrate their child's achievements I respond from a more self centred stance. 

I'm not saying you should never respond in these ways. Sometimes you need to have a conversation with another mum or dad about your anxieties and their child's achievements will act as the catalyst for that conversation. But maybe occasionally we should just let another parent savour their child's achievement for what it is.

So starting today I'm going to make an effort to enjoy my friend's kids achievements simply for what they are rather than as a paranoid comparison to my own child. I'm going to respond to friends with phrases like

"Thats awesome, what a clever kid" "You must be so proud of him/her"

"That's Pretty cool"   "Oh how wonderful"

And then sit back and enjoy the smile I know will spread on a fellow parents face as they see its OK to be proud of their child. 

And to help me start off my celebration of parental pride I'd love for you to leave a comment telling me why you are proud of your kids. Lets all enjoy children's achievements without worrying that our own child doesn't match up.

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My top 5 posts from last week are
Child led learning - Like Mama ~ Like Daughter
Encouragement: Building block #3 for positive parenting - Positive Parenting Connection
Attachment Parenting for Introverts - Prickly Mom
Finding Happiness as a Stay at Home Mom - Connection Family and Seoul
Job entitlements - Just for Daisy

And now to the linky

Kids Co-op - Valentine craft

 
<center> <a href="http://www.tamingthegoblin.com/search/label/kids%20coop"></p> <p> <font color="#808080" face="'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/FkLk8.jpg" title="Hosted by imgur.com" alt="" /></a></font></p> <p> <font color="#808080" face="'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"></center>

Its time for Kids Co-op, please link up your favourite kids posts and check out what others have been up to this week, plenty to inspire you. This week I'm linking the following:

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(Goblin is 39 months)

Goblin and I made some Valentine hearts for Nanny and Granny. These are super easy to make and look great. 

I cut two hearts out of cardboard. Around the edge I cut little Vs. Then I sprayed them gold. 

I cut some Christmas parcel ribbon into foot long lengths and taped one to the back of a heart. Goblin then wound the ribbon around the heart until it ran out and I taped the end down. The idea was to do this a few times but unfortunately Goblin decided it was more fun to see how much ribbon he could stuff into his mouth. So once I'd retrieved it and wiped the dribble off I finished them.

And now to the linky

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