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Slummy Mummies? We're Just Being Honest

Mess with one parenting blogger, and you mess with all of us...

Say what you like about bloggers, we’ve got one thing right – the community. When you attack one parenting blogger, you attack us all. When you make a half-hearted attempt to disguise personal attacks on parenting bloggers as “journalism”, you’d better believe that we’re going to respond. If you’re not up to date on the world of blogging controversies, here’s some context. A certain newspaper,…

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Star Name Registry (REVIEW & GIVEAWAY)

Want to win a personalised gift that's (literally) out of this world? Come this way...

One of the first birthday presents I ever bought Daf after we started going out was a star. That makes me sound way more awesome than I actually am. Although the present won major Girlfriend Points for me, by “I bought a star” I mean I named a star after him. Since then we’ve wanted to get a star for SB, but we’ve never quite gotten around to it because of one thing or another. Star Name Registry…

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I Want To Hear Your Birth Story

It's time to stop demanding "positive birth stories only".

Dear Mums. No-one Wants To Read Your Birth Story.  Don’t Tell Your Birth Story, Because Birth Stories Are Boring.  Telling A Birth Story Makes You A Smug Mummy.  These are all titles of articles I’ve seen promoted or posted on popular parenting websites. Until I had the idea for this blog post, I had no idea there was so much opposition to women sharing their birth stories. I also had no idea why…

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Student Parenthood: I Don't Know How I Did It

When I talk about being a student parent, people say they don't know how I did it. The honest answer? Neither do I.

When I was in my third year at university, juggling the responsibilities of looking after a newborn with the pressures of essay deadlines, I’d often hear “I don’t know how you do it”. My standard response was to smile blithely, shrug my shoulders and say “it’s no big deal”. At the time, I really felt that way. I was right in the thick of it, and although the balancing act was precarious, I didn’t…

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Blogging: It's Not About The Numbers

What makes a good blog post? Does your position in a chart really matter?

Some people think blogging is just a case of writing a post, hitting “Publish” and waiting for the views to come rolling in. Actually, it’s a little more complex than that. When you start a blog, you enter a crazy world where everyone talks about metrics and ranking and DA and Moz and a billion other bits of jargon that wrapping your head around seems almost-impossible. Most of these are ones…

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Will We Choose Welsh-Medium Education?

We've applied for SB's school places... but have we gone Welsh-medium?

  One thing I’ve always said with absolute certainty, from as soon as I was pregnant, was that SB would be educated through the medium of Welsh. It seemed like a no-brainer. Daf and I were both educated in Welsh-medium schools, where we spoke and learned in Welsh until the age of seven, and then bilingually after that – but still with the emphasis on Welsh. I support Welsh-medium education. I…

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One of the advantages to growing up in a tourist area is that when you go back to visit, you’re never short on things to do. Whether it’s local attractions or a trip to the beach, it’s hard for SB to be bored around here. When we visited for her third birthday celebrations, on a sunny Easter bank holiday, we knew where we wanted to go. For her first birthday, we all visited the Children’s Farm Park at Cae Cethin in Llanfair, near Harlech – so we decided to do the same for her third.

The farm park is a bit of a family tradition. There are pictures in my parents’ photo albums of me at the farm, feeding goats and chickens, when I was SB’s age and even younger. We’ve been going for years and years. It’s just down the road from my childhood home. Daf used to work there, so it’s a place with lots of memories attached for both of us!

At first glance, the Children’s Farm Park doesn’t look like much – a collection of sheds and a wooden play castle on what is, to all intents and purposes, a normal working farm. However, first impressions are deceptive. The owner is constantly developing new attractions to make the farm park a fantastic day out for the whole family.

I’d say Spring is the best time to visit the farm park, as it’s full of new baby animals. We saw baby goats running around, bottle-fed baby lambs and saw a group of seven-day-old baby rabbits cuddled together. The “aww” factor is very strong!

There are also pigs, calves, ponies, ducks, geese, chickens and more. You can buy bags of feed from the entrance for only 40p a bag, and it’s lovely to be able to feed all of the animals. They’re gentle and tame, making it great for young children, and the staff are happy to talk to you about the animals and to let you feed them – as seen above, where SB bottle-fed a lamb -, hold the rabbits and so on.

In addition to the animals, there are plenty of activities to turn what could be a couple of hours around the animal pens into a full day out. Additions like an indoor soft play, air cannon game, go-karts, ride-on tractors, a little crazy golf and a big sandpit full of buckets and spades makes it perfect for toddlers, pre-schoolers and primary school children. If you’re in the area on holiday and you’re looking for an inexpensive way to entertain the family, I can’t recommend the Children’s Farm Park enough.

One of the newest additions to the farm park is a huge wooden play castle, which has proved very popular on both occasions that we’ve visited this year! SB loves clambering up the steps and coming down the great slides; big enough to entertain even older children, but safe enough that I was happy for 3-year-old SB to play on it too (okay, and I might have had a go too… but only to supervise, honest!)

The farm park is really easy to reach – it’s on the main road from Barmouth to Harlech, so if you’re staying anywhere in that area of Snowdonia, it would make a fantastic family day out. Take a picnic with you and sit in the picnic barn, take your cameras, buy a few bags of feed and enjoy!

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I have not received anything for this review; we enjoyed our visit to the Children’s Farm Park and I decided to write a review off my own back. 

We visited the Children's Farm Park in Llanfair! One of the advantages to growing up in a tourist area is that when you go back to visit, you're never short on things to do.

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Home

We're about to leave the place we've called home for the last three years.

In March 2014, we got the keys to a new two-bedroom flat. To many, it wouldn’t have seemed like much, but it was our first private rent. The first place either of us had lived that wasn’t with parents or student accommodation. The place we’d be bringing our newborn baby back to in less than a month. Our home. Three years and one month later, and we’re moving again. At the end of this week, we’re…

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Dads Are Asking For Help, And We Need To Listen

I'm wading into the debate on whether dads can suffer from postnatal depression too...

There’s been a discussion in the media recently about men who develop depression after the birth of their child. The crux of the debate centres on whether or not this can be called “postnatal depression”. As with most internet debates, there’s no overriding consensus. There are arguments for and against, and both sides are defending their position passionately. Still, I can’t help feeling that…

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To My Daughter, On The Eve Of Your Third Birthday

A letter to my daughter, on the eve of her third birthday...

Dear SB, These letters are becoming something of an annual tradition, and one that I’m happy to keep going for as long as I can. On the eve of your first birthday, I wrote a letter of advice for the future. On your second, I wrote a letter reflecting on the changes of the last twelve months. Now, we are about to celebrate your third birthday. Three feels like a major milestone. Three feels like…

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The Advice I'd Give Myself...

The last year has been a learning curve like no other. Here's the advice I'd give myself.

As SB’s third birthday approaches, it brings with it another milestone. It’s almost three years since our lives turned upside down, and we went from being average university students – albeit one of us resembling a manatee with a giant bump – to first-time parents, basically making it up as we went along. After three years, I can’t claim to be a parenting expert. I still bow down at the feet of…

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We Are Enough

In an age where mothers are plagued by feelings of inadequacy, I want you to know that you are enough.

I have been a mother for almost three years now. Aside from being an utterly terrifying thought, as I don’t feel old enough to be a mum, let alone mum to a three-year-old, it’s made me think about parenting so far. I hate using the term “journey” to describe anything other than a car trip or an 80s rock band, but it seems pretty apt here. There have been ups and downs on the way – plenty of speed…

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Potty Training: Hitting A Standstill

Potty Training: Hitting A Standstill

This series of posts is in collaboration with Potty Training Academy. I knew potty training would be tough. We’ve hit a standstill. The majority of that is my fault. SB is still resisting the potty for all she’s worth, but we’re rushed off our feet at the moment. We’re moving in three weeks, and I’m starting a new job soon, so it’s like our life has been thrown into a blender and jumbled up!…

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GUEST POST: Student Parent Stories with Eps And Amy

GUEST POST: Student Parent Stories with Eps And Amy

Welcome to Student Parent Stories, part of The Student Parent Survival Guide! Here I’ll be featuring stories, anecdotes and experiences from parents at all stages of education – whether they’re studying currently, have already finished or are considering it! Today’s guest blog comes from Amy, who blogs at Eps And Amy, and was kind enough to guest post about balancing parenting, studying AND work!…

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Potty Training: The First Week

Checking in after our first week of Potty Training!

This is a series of posts in collaboration with Potty Training Academy. Potty training the untrainable toddler begins… We’re working on potty training SB at the moment, with resources from Potty Training Academy and a potty from My Carry Potty. I haven’t been confident about our prospects – as you can probably tell from me calling SB ‘untrainable’ – but I’ve heard great things about Potty…

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Potty Training: It Begins

Potty Training: It Begins

This series of posts is in collaboration with Potty Training Academy.  I nearly called this post “Potty Training The Untrainable Toddler”. I was starting to think that was the case with SB. I’ve read a lot about the importance of waiting until your child shows all the signs of being ready – things like announcing when they need to wee, going at least an hour between wees, recognising when they’re…

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My Daughter Will Never Disappoint Me

My Daughter Will Never Disappoint Me

This post first appeared on The Huffington Post.  “Disappointed” is a loaded word, isn’t it? From a young age we all grow to fear our parents uttering those soul-crushing words – “I’m not angry. I’m just disappointed“. Our parents could shout at us for hours on end and nothing would compare to the intolerable, sick-to-the-stomach feeling of knowing that they are disappointed in us. Even as an…