Author: Oana

A kid-friendly trip to Paris

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Paris is one of those cities that everyone has to go to once in their lives. Known as the city of love, it’s an ideal destination for a romantic weekend getaway but it’s not always somewhere that people think of taking their kids. However, if you do have young children, there’s no reason to be putting off this beautiful French city and taking the kids with you. You just have to pick and choose what you do while you’re there to make sure it’s a trip that makes everyone happy. The best time to visit Paris is a great place to visit year-round. It’s not a city that slows down at any point. You might want to avoid the hottest months of the year as you don’t want the kids wilting as you take them sight-seeing. And another reason to avoid Paris in June and July next year is because of the huge influx of visitors who will be there for Euro 2016. Equally the winter’s not an ideal time to go, as part of …

On judgement

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We sat around the kitchen table, over a rushed bowl a soup and a quick chat. I love and care for her deeply, even if we have only been friends for three quarters of the past year. I don’t know if the affinity is that of souls who have known the pain of loss or the similarity of our existences. And she told me about her worries about how people perceive her. And I heard myself say to her what I had said to many others before: “Why do you care what others think of you?“ But then, perhaps because of my love for her, my soul found a way to enunciate it clearer than ever before. It said: “We are multifaceted beings, my dear, and what people usually judge us by is the one facet they know or need us to be. But you are more, much more than that.” It was like a revelation, the thought so clearly formed and put into almost visual shape. In the days that have passed, since we …

Clarks Children’s Winter Boots-A Review

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Autumn, as sweet and bright as this one has been so far, has taken reign over the land well and truly and we have all started to feel the need for cozy knits and warm boots, especially early in the morning and in the evening, as soon as the sun goes down. If your children, just like my Emma, are in the annoying habit of growing out of their last year’s everythings, then you would soon (if you haven’t already) be looking for sturdy, reliable, reasonably priced and comfortable boots for them to wear. Clarks were kind to approach us and offer Emma the choice of a pair of magnificently looking leather boots from their new autumn-winter collection. We had a good look on the website (Emma has big feet and some of her choices simply weren’t available in her size) and settled on the Epsie Skye boots, which arrived promptly, within a few days of placing the order. I had thought myself clever and did order a 12 1/2 F for her, since at …

Parenting with Purpose – Book Review

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Who do you go to for parenting advice? If you are like me, mothers are almost always the first port of call, followed by well-meaning friends. Without meaning no harm to the two groups mentioned above, I had come to realise that more often than not, they advise, yes, out of love and care but without the knowledge or expertise required and can do more harm than good. Back in 2012, when I was toying with the idea of starting my own little blog and I was the mother of a very headstrong toddler, who kept me on my toes and whose upbringing threw steep learning curves at me daily, I came across this amazing blog, called Sleeping Should Be Easy. I loved Nina’s approachable style immediately and found great comfort in the fact that, despite being a busy mother of a toddler herself, with a full time job, she found the time to blog about her parenting experience with grace and would always respond to any comments or questions I would have left on …

An Extraordinary Saturday Out with McDonald’s!

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Last Saturday, we were the honoured guests of a very well organised and intimate blogger event organised by McDonald’s UK, as part of their current Happy Readers campaign. McDonald’s Happy Readers campaign was created to put more books into the hands of families, with recent research from the National Literacy Trust showing that only half of children enjoy reading and almost one in seven don’t have a book of their own. Since the campaign launched, McDonald’s has fast become one of the UK’s biggest book distributors and have given away over 32.8m million books via their Happy Meals and online. Young at Art, Northern Ireland’s leading arts provider for children and young people, were invited along for an “extraordinary” story telling session and they did marvelously in bringing to life excerpts from Roald Dahl’s “Matilda” to the utter delight of their young audience! The choice of Matilda for the story telling session was not coincidental, as in a new inter-generational UK survey by McDonald’s, the book, first published in the UK in 1988, was revealed …