How do you deal with discipline?

In our house with 3 children aged between 1 and 4 years old, chaos rules. I have become accustomed to the sympathetic stares of the general public when I attempt to leave said house. Discipline is a daily concern for my husband and I.

At the moment we are trying loads of things and probably failing at most :-) We have a star chart for good behaviour which seems to be a strong motivator for our eldest child and has helped her with showing politeness to people. For our eldest 2 we count to 3 and then send either of them on a time out if they do something different to what they are told. We are usually striving to shout less and offer a calm voice, but the word 'noooo' does get used rather a lot!

As far as possible we try to use the language of virtues and name types of behaviour that we would like to see, ie 'please use kind words' or 'use your helpfulness to tidy up'.

I love to watch TV shows like Supernanny and The 3 Day Nanny. They are great for picking up parenting tips, but also make me feel a little bit smug that my family isn't doing too badly ;-)

Let me know your parenting tips!

What makes your little one smile?

I've just been having a look through my phone pictures for something cute to share. This is Harrison letting me know just how much he loves being in a ball pool! What makes your little one smile?

Back to life

Thanks to all of you who came and had a look at our wedding pictures! It is amazing to think that 10 years have passed since Mark and I tied the knot.

We had a really lovely and luxurious time staying at Abode in Exeter and enjoying some fine dining at Michael Caines' restaurant overlooking the cathedral. As a vegetarian non-drinker I'm always a bit awkward in restaurants, and I think we both felt a bit like we don't belong in posh places :-) We have become accustomed to getting stares from other diners as our children make loads of noise and throw food around, so it was nice to play grown-ups and have a meal out together.

I had 3 delicious courses of things so haute cuisine that I have no idea what they were, I got to wear high heels and lipstick, and I only spent the first hour worrying about the children (who were safely at home with their Nan).

Now we're back to the Monday routine of school and work. But, the anniversary was a lovely time to reflect on how lucky we are to have such a great family and how this is a life well worth coming back to.

10 Year Wedding Anniversary!

Tomorrow marks 10 years since we made our vows. We have only made it to 'tin' apparently - we have to wait longer for silver, gold and ruby! I feel a bit cheated... 10 years of marriage is quite an achievement, and our precious element (or is it a compound? I never was good at chemistry) is TIN?

So what does ten years of marriage mean to me? Well, looking back at the photos now I realise that my husband has become my best friend and life companion. We have grown as adults together and are now learning what it means to be parents. We run our business together (www.serenity-baby.co.uk) and are learning how to best combine our different skills. There have been highs and lows, crises and victories, but there has definitely been love and laughter.

We are blessed with 3 beautiful children and it is hard to remember a time before they were around. For our anniversary we are going to enjoy a meal out just by ourselves! What percentage of the time will be spend talking about the children?

I think that's about as mushy as I can muster! Here are some photos to enjoy instead :-)

How much TV do the children watch?

Like many parents I vowed that my children would watch no TV. Or, all right, just a little bit now and again. OK well just after school when they are tired. Or when I'm cooking dinner. And perhaps when they wake up early in the morning. Also on rainy days. And when I'm doing housework / getting work done / checking my emails...

Hopefully you are all much better at managing this than I am! At the moment I'm trying to regulate TV to short bursts at certain times of the day. I don't usually let them have any TV if there are guests in the house and I try to provide activities for weekends and rainy days to keep them occupied. My daughter who is 4 gets some TV in the morning when she wakes up, and around half an hour when she gets back from school.

I usually get them to watch shows which I have pre-recorded to try and prevent them watching adverts. The amount of products pushed at them at such a tender age is scary. I remember when my daughter was 2 years old I asked her not to touch the toilet as it was full of germs. "And limescale" was her reply!! So I learned my lesson about keeping them away from adverts!

Please do let me know your tips, your successes and failures...

First day at pre-school

My middle child (Sutherland) started at Whimple Pre-School today! He has been going to another pre-school and has in the past been to nursery so it is not totally new for him. But, this is his first morning going to the pre-school he will hopefully attend for the next 2 years meeting all of the children he will go to school with.

Here he is all dressed up ready to go in the pre-school jumper and t-shirt. I stayed with him for the first couple of hours whilst he did free play followed by book time and then snack time. I left whilst he was enjoying a tasty snack and preparing to go outside to play in the garden.

I love pre-school because it is more structured than the nurseries that we have been to. The children make friends with those who will be their classmates and they have a sense of identity in belonging to the village community. I hope he enjoys it and I'll be off to collect him soon!

Crealy Theme Park

We have gotten winter passes for Crealy theme park in Devon and so are here for our third day in a row!
The children have had a brilliant time on rides, rollercoasters and indoor play centres. Us parents are relaxed because the children are happy, so all in all great value for money.

Back to school tomorrow so need to get uniforms sorted, bags packed and children to bed early.