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On lockdown

We have been in lockdown due to Covid19 since mid March and have just entered in to the easing off period this week, about 3 months after the start of lockdown.  Bar a little outing for an Easter Egg hunt on Easter Sunday (don't scream at me this is not what you think, all will be revealed later), we had stayed home entirely for the 3 months, having all our necessities delivered to our home by couriers who practiced social distancing.  There was a fair amount of screaming 'thank you' down the street at the back of the courier who had rung the door bell and then ran for it.  One particular courier company required a photo of the recipient with the parcel as proof of delivery.  This was a rather awkward scenario to start with but our regular delivery guy and I soon got the hang of it and began to chat and laugh while he stood at our gate taking a picture of me in my PJs at my door with the parcel(s) at my feet.  We got quite friendly and I might even miss being h...
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Developing an environmental conscience 2

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As I said in an earlier post , I have been looking more closely at our footprint on the earth as I have been thinking about what sort of world I would like to leave for Baby and his descendants (if he decides to have any).  Recently I have been looking at how to reuse things in the kitchen so as to minimise waste. We buy a lot of things online and consequently have a lot of cardboard boxes.  We recycle these via our local recycling scheme but we also reuse some of these for e.g. storage in the loft.  Recently I have started to make cat activities out of cardboard containers for our cat, a bit like the one described here .  Mine don't look anything as fancy but basically my imagination is my limit and the cat will never run out of new toys. I have also been steadily ridding the family of disposable sandwich bags, cling film, etc.  We do take lunch to school/work so we have switched to using reusable things.  These beeswax wraps are fabulous, and we use...
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The importance of a ‘good’ teacher

Until I started teaching in earnest a few years ago, I had not given uhh thought to what makes a good teacher.  I undertook a number of teacher training courses and learnt the technical aspects of teaching.  That did change my perspective as I was more used to thinking with my professional hat on and that did not necessarily make me empathetic to my students’ needs.  It seems simple to say now but I knew where I wanted my students to get to in terms of their learning and taught in the manner that I had observed people who taught me teach me the same material.  In other words I was a good mimic but that did not take in to account what my students needed to help them learn.  So the courses were useful but I found observing good teachers very useful too.  The best observations are the ones done when the teacher is just doing their thing, unaware that they are being observed or that the observation means much.  I found watching the various teachers that B...
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Visiting London during the school holidays

Easter has come and gone but the kids are still off till the end of the week.  This is prime time for visiting London.  We did the same from our current home city, to see friends, go to events, visit some of the sites that Baby was too young to go to before.  Having lived there before, we did use our “inside” knowledge to help us get around a little bit more easily. For the last few months I had been travelling between Home and London for work on the odd occasion.  Although work paid for transport, I try to be economical.  Rather than look around too much, I use the Trainline app on my phone to help me look for the cheapest way to travel and to manage my train bookings.  I now book all family train tickets using the app as well.   Most tickets can be issued electronically so you really only need them on your phone to travel- no more digging around for paper tickets or having to collect tickets at the train station.  This works really well and t...
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Moving on

I have been a bit quiet over the last few months because I have been busy moving cities.  I am no longer in London.   The move was less stressful than I thought it would be.  I had always put this off on the basis that moving the family would be a nightmare but it all turned out OK.  On the professional side, it helped to have jobs that were relatively transferable.  On the personal side, it helps to have an other half who is pretty unflappable, and Baby who has adapted very well to being in a new city, with a new school and new friends.  I have been very fortunate.  And it has made me appreciate London more.  I have no regrets moving out of London- being in a less busy city where the commute to work is much shorter means I have a lot more time to spend with Baby.  When I go to London, I see it from the point of view of a visitor and I am there to do things that I want to do.  Gone are the hours spent worrying about trains being la...
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On resilience

I teach for a living and I see my students at the best of times and the worst of times.  Reflecting on our shared experiences, I have translated some of these lessons to my life with my child, which I hope will help him with his journey in life. 1. Failure is not a thing to be feared.  The adjunct to this is that being the best is not a given and,  although we always try our best, we accept that our best may not always be enough.  The process is as important as the end point, because we learn from the process.  It feels bad to fail but it will pass if we learn to weather it.  In the end we are but a small part of the universe and what feels big for us is small to the universe.  Humans like to blow their own trumpet and make the things we do sound great, our achievements sound grand, we celebrate greatness, but what does it really mean in the grand scheme of things?  Probably not that much.  The thing is, as parents we want the best for our...
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Developing an environmental conscience

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My environmental conscientiousness could be divided into pre-Baby and post-Baby phase.  Whilst I was always conscious of doing my bit for the planet, it was really only after Baby was born that I started to read every label, pay attention to what is recommended, and worry about what may happen if we don't collectively do enough.  I suppose I worry about his future and what the world may be like for him after we are long gone.  I also worry what sorts of chemicals we are exposing him to. We looked into nappies, weighing the difference between using re-usable ones or biodegradable ones.  We also changed all our household products based on what advice we could find.  Of the ones we have tried, these are the ones that we found and liked.   Naty : Nature Babycare nappies.  We considered using re-usable nappies but these would have had to be sent off for specialist cleaning and were too expensive and possibly would have environmental costs added on due ...
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