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Dear Daisy, It is your first day at school...

How to talk to children about coronavirus

I wanted to be next coming on here to write about our recent holiday to Lanzarote and share what we have been up to, how it was staying in a villa versus a hotel and so on... But sadly like every other person in this world we were locked down and didn't really get the holiday we planned.

We are home safe and sound (and have been for some time don't panic!) and have spent the last few weeks isolated at home. With 2 small children. Working full time. Whilst attempting home schooling (or emergency schooling) and keeping sane.

how to talk to your child about coronavirus


I expect none of us actually ever imagined we would be in this situation. It feels as if we may wake up any minute and it was all a dream. How in this day of age does something like this happen? It feels absolutely ridiculous, but it most certainly is happening. And it is terrifying to us as adults never mind small children.

I have been doing lots of reading up on how we should be talking to our children about the situation and how perhaps they may be feeling. It has become fairly clear over the last few days that Daisy is pretty worried over "the germs". And Alex definitely knows something serious is going on. So, how should we talk to our children about Coronavirus?

So a couple of my tips or at least things I am trying to do currently:

- Shelter them from the news stories and publicity as much as I possibly can. We all know what it is like to become absorbed by the news aound Covid-19 but even I have taken the steps to stay away from it as much as possible at certain points of the day, to avoid starting the day in a dark place. If I struggle how hard must it be for a 5 year old to absorb and process all of that terrifying news? They pick up of far more than we give them credit for. We are now catching up on the headlines when they have gone to bed in an evening. It may not exactly be sheltering them from the news but perhaps filtering.

- Give them a sense of control. So one thing we can control now we are in lock down is our hygiene. Take it as a time for education on germs and virus. How can they keep themselves clean. How can we wash our hands effectively. But also making sure you get that balance correct and don't push them into becoming obsessive over washing their hands for example.

- Reassurance is key. We have been asked questions such as we have to look after older people at the moment and stay away. will they die? But we turn it around and talk about older people we may know and talk about how fit and healthy they are and how they too are isolating to keep themselves safe. Try to keep the way in which you talk to them super simple and appropriate for their age.

- Take your cues from your child. This is a tip from Childmind and I thought it was really, really helpful.  Invite your child to tell you anything they may have heard about the coronavirus, and how they feel about it. Give them the chance to ask questions they may have, just be preapred that you have to answer them!

- Try to avoid them seeing you in a state of panic or heightened anxiety. We are all going to feel it at some point and I expect potentially there may be more to come but we need to try and disguise this. Children pick up on our behaviours and moods. When we are all stuck at home the last place we want to feel like a deep dark gloomy cave is here.



There are some fantastic resources available to help you with this such as the below:

Talking to Kids About the Coronavirus: https://childmind.org/article/talking-to-kids-about-the-coronavirus/

Unicef: https://www.unicef.org/coronavirus/how-talk-your-child-about-coronavirus-covid-19

Young Minds: https://youngminds.org.uk/blog/talking-to-your-child-about-coronavirus/

Kids Health: https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/coronavirus-how-talk-child.html




Jooki | Kid's Music Player Review*

We were recently sent a Jooki Music Player to test out and it went down an absolute storm.

jooki music player review, kids listening to music,


Jooki is a very colourful, bold, solid and super easy to use speaker for Children. It comes with five little solid characters which you then can program to play different songs and stories set up in Spotify (or Deezer). You can also upload any MP3 content that you may wish to or even stream live internet radio stations. We haven't actually done that though as we have never had a need, the spotify function has always been more than enough! The idea behind Jooki is that it allows your kids to control the music themselves.

The Jooki was super quick and easy to get set up, we had it up and running within 5 minutes. You just simply follow the instructions in the leaflet, connect your Jooki to your wifi – download the app (which is free from iTunes/ Play Store) and you’re ready to get playing. The next task is to program all your characters, you just use the app. You can create simple playlists and then just assign the character you want to that playlist. The the kiddies can argue over which character gets to go first!

Our Jooki has already had a few tumbles (3 year olds!!!!) and has survived without a mark at all. It really is built for little hands and is built to survive a few bumps and crashes. It is a little heavy as expected for something so strong, it definitely feels like it is worth the money you pay for it.

jooki music player review, kids listening to music,


My favourite part of the Jooki is that it is actually screen free. To find something so interactive that doesn't involve a screen can only be a good thing.

Another good benefit is that it is rechargeable and will easily last 8 hours whilst on. You simply just plug in the USB charging cable to the back of it for easy charging. It didn't take long to charge either.

I would say that the age range for this product would probably be up until about 8 years old. But although the characters may become tiresome at that age it also doubles as a bluetooth speaker so can be used forever more. It isn't something they grow out of and it is never used again! It would be a great birthday gift! 

Jooki is available to buy online at Jooki or Amazon.



*We were gifted our Jooki for an honest review. All opinions are my own 


Things to do in London with your mum

I recently went to London as part of a girls weekend away. We were a mixed group and thought we did some great things that your mum may enjoy to do whilst in London.

There is so much to do and look at but it really would depend on the season, weather and how active you want to be.

I will pop a few mum friendly London things that we did down below, that you may also like to try next time you go.

The Sky Garden

This wasn't the first time I have visited here but I knew the group I went with would absolutely love it. And it is Free, which is a bonus! You don't mind paying the slightly high prices for a G&T when you get to the top then. The Sky Garden is basically a free public space at the top of the Walkie Talkie Tower with the most spectacular views of London, depending on the weather.

The garden is filled with various species of plants and fauna which makes it unique compared to many other spots you will get to see the views of london. There is a restaurant (which has to be booked separately), a bar and plenty of seating. There is also an outdoor terrace, but this was closed this weekend due to the bad weather.

It was absolutely peeing it down when we went up at the weekend and we were expecting the views to be pretty poor. However we were pleasantly surprised to find it absolutely fine.

You do need to book tickets before you go though.

Photo of the walkie talkie building in london


Gin-themed visit to Mr Fogg's.

I had heard of Mr Foggs several times before heading to London last week, it has been a must visit for a while. It is an instagrammers heaven, so beautiful. There a couple of location and we headed to the Covent Garden Tavern spot. A really fun spot especially if you’re not from London and on a weekend trip. It’s a different and unique experience to the usual British pub you may stumble across. You won't miss the doorway of My Foggs with its gorgeous floral garland, first up you will notice tourists having their photo taken outside of it !

Not only is the venue quirky and visually pleasing but the staff were also so welcoming and did all they could to give their customers a real experience! The bar itself is really cool & based on a Victorian theme. We didn’t have food but it looked and smelt good too!

The drinks were absolutely beautiful too, to look at and drink!

beautiful doorway outside mr foggs

Mr Foggs Gin Parlour, Mixologist making cocktails, gin cocktails


Breakfast at the Ivy, Covent Garden

Everyone has heard about the Ivy, and who wouldn't want to be treated for breakfast (or lunch or dinner of course!) there. I know i would! It had again been on my watch list for a while and finally last weekend we went.

I made the reservation for the Saturday morning and we got there at around 10.15am and it was fairly well occupied. By the time we left at around 11.45 it was really busy! I would definitely recommend booking and getting there early if going for breakfast.

The venue itself is absolutely beautiful, it is what you would imagine. Classically decorated, shiny brass and interesting artwork. The bathrooms are also beautiful.

The breakfast menu was good, something for everything although rather heavily egg based.  Was expecting the quality of service and food along with the gorgeous venue to come at a fancy price but I was surprised by how modest the bill actually was.

the bar inside the ivy market grill in covent garden,


Visit the west end and see a show

We often go to see a show, weather that be in London or when touring at more local venues. The reason we actually visited London this weekend was due to us getting tickets to see Pretty Woman at the Piccadily Theatre. There is nothing better though that a trip to the actual west end to see a show.

The show itself was fantastic. I have always loved the film so was excited to see how it would transfer to the stage. From the opening scene I was loved it, the music was really catchy & the story followed the original fairly well.

The theatres in London are beautiful and really are an important part of London and in particular the west end. Whats On Stage has a fantastic article all around the ideal show to take your mum to: https://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/mothers-day-top-shows-presents-theatre-mum_48718.html

Pretty woman in london