In the UK World Book Day does just as much, handing out £1 vouchers (for special World Book Day Books) to all children under 18 in full time education, allowing many to own their own book for the first time. This year there is a Hall of Fame of £1 World Book Day books with 6 titles by some of the country’s most popular authors to exchange their vouchers for. Jacqueline Wilson, Roald Dahl, and Cressida Cowell (How To Train Your Dragon) are just some of the authors taking part.

So whether you’re a parent, teacher, librarian or book lover this is the day to get involved. You can host a “bake for books” sale, encourage your child to dress up or dress down for World Book Day, or host a bookish quiz evening. If you’re stuck for ideas but want to get involved there are a huge amount fundraising ideas on the bookaid website and the World Book Day site.

If  your child is not keen on reading World Book Day can help encourage reading with numerous free author and reading events around the country. In this age of technology it’s easy to think that reading fiction isn’t that important. However, aside from the fact that studies show that kids who love reading when they are young, tend to become lifelong readers, books can and do open the world up no matter what your background or academic level.

I know this coming from a home where we couldn’t afford to buy books but where we used the library all the time. So I think it’s wonderful that World Book Day gives so much to kids everywhere.

So what will you be doing to celebrate World Book Day next week? Let me know.

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The new research from the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual conference pointed out the average 2 year old child should know around 150 words but scores of 75 to 225 are normal. However, they warn alarm bells should start ringing for parents if a toddler uses just 50 words or less.

Currently it’s thought that a fifth of all two-year-olds are behind their peers in speech. Of these, half to three quarters are likely to be late-bloomers, but the rest may need speech therapy to help them catch up. Not being able to say much could also be an indicator of other problems.

Of course, as with all things children do tend to talk when they’re ready. My daughter talked by her first birthday, my nephew by his fourth and yet, at 5 years old both have the same vocabulary and ability to give their mothers a headache with their constant chatter.

I do think this research is good as a way to check if your kids are developing well but it isn’t reason to panic if you have a less talkative child on your hands.

However, I do have a problem with the 25 words stated. Surely the ability to have 25 words is probably a better indicator that meeting most words on the list. Anyhow here are the 25 words: mummy, daddy, baby, milk, juice, hello, ball, yes, no, dog, cat, nose, eye, banana, biscuit, car, hot, thank you, bath, shoe, hat, book, all gone, more, and bye bye.

What do you think? Is this info/list helpful or does it make you worry even more about your toddler’s development. Let me know.

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Will it work? We all love a bit of insurrection, especially if it involves shopping – look how the Peseta is making a comeback as Spanish villagers in Villamayor de Santiago have raided their old sock drawers for their old trusted currency in protest at the dwindling value of the all powerful Euro.
But would you like your own local currency? Would you spend the Croydon pound, or the Geordie Pound? And if so what would you spend it on?
Let me know

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Apparently we all fall into camps like baby bores, oversharers, moaners, and smug updaters. I don’t know about you but who are all these people getting so annoyed?

If Facebook, Twitter and social media annoys you so much and you don’t want to hear what your friends are saying why not stop whining and just leave.

A friend of mine who has lots of friends on Facebook is currently using her updates as a way to get over a broken heart and struggle with financial ruin (her words) says she is continually being told by friends that she’s sharing too much of her life online and needs to ‘restrain herself’. Her view is if you don’t like what I am saying, don’t ‘follow’ me. She knows what she’s doing and it works for her and I think good on her.

For me social media is for people who want to share what they are going through (good or bad), what they believe in (and that’s going to be political at times) and their lives. If we aren’t going to do that then what are we going to post about?

Also and this is just a side point if you’re not interested in hearing about your friends lives, woes and beliefs – why are you even bothering to have friends in the first place?

Do you friends annoy you online? Let me know.

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I know many many people believe in psychics and there is a huge market for fortune telling as seen by the amount of books on sale, and the amount of people I know who pay money to them.

However, when I was pregnant with my daughter I remember a woman on the train annoying me hugely, firstly by putting her hands on my bump without asking, and secondly by telling me I was definitely going to have a boy. When I politely said ‘How can you tell?” she very proudly said she was a psychic and then spent the next ten minutes giving me unwanted predictions which were all wrong by the way.

I am a relatively practical kind of person so I wasn’t thrown by her information, but had I been having a hormonal moment I am sure I would have cried right there and then by some of the things she said.

So I am a bit alarmed that my friend not only went to see a psychic but also let this woman tell her lots of things about her unborn baby such as what the baby wants to be called, what ‘she’s’ going to be when she grows up and how ‘she’ will be very wilful and need a lot of telling off.

My friend has laughed most of it off but I am seriously hoping when her hormones right themselves she won’t take the psychic’s advice in any way whatsoever especially over the name. It makes me so angry that people can take advantage of others in this way and say these ridiculous kind of things under the guise of ‘knowing’.

But what are your thoughts? Would you see a psychic? Did anyone ‘predict’ what you were having? Let me know.

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Apparently we’re bringing up a ‘culture starved’ generation of kids as the study carried out among 2,000 parents of five to 12 year-olds, found four in 10 children have never seen the inside of an art gallery, and 17 per cent have never visited a museum with their parents. The research also revealed that a quarter of children haven’t been to the theatre, while six in 10 have never been to hear classical music.

It’s not a surprising study for many reasons but I doubt any of the above is because parents can’t be bothered. From my perspective I’d say the reason why culture doesn’t feature highly on the top of most parents list is down to money.

Yes museums are brilliant and free, and yes some art galleries are also free, but how many parents live close enough to the above for a day out not to cost an arm and a leg? I live in London and yet a day out with two kids to a (free) museum always costs more than a day to the park (factoring in travel costs and food). As for stage shows, and music concerts even local ones cost in excess of £10 a head, not a cheap holiday option by any means.

So if you’re feeling a bit guilty this half term that a museum visit isn’t on your agenda don’t be. I was someone who was always being taken to museums, art galleries and classical music events and it didn’t make me any more cultured than my friends. In fact it put me off all of the above until I was older and could appreciate what I was being shown.

In the meantime if you are interested in a museum near you this half term the long list for the Telegraph Family Friendly Museum Award (judged by families) has been announced. All the museums on this list are well worth a visit (even if it costs you a bit more) because they have been chosen as they go out of their way to make visitors of all ages feel welcome.

So what’s your view – are we bringing up a nation of uncultured kids? Should more kids be taken to museums? Let me know your thoughts.

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Youth unemployment has become one of countries biggest growth areas – there are more than a million 18-24 year olds out of work in this country and trying to push them around until we lose them has become a huge moneyspinner for charities and voluntary organisations, with £1B promised in government grants to charities and employers  this morning.
So many charities and voluntary organisations bang on about the value of apprenticeships but few have the clout to deliver jobs at the end of it..
And today’s papers are full of stories which illustrate how lucrative dealing with the pesky business of the young and unemployed has become.
I am particularly enjoying the story of Emma Harrison who is under fire for paying herself £8.6m this year despite failing in her promise to get 30% of “problem families” into work. She’s clearly a phenomenal businesswoman, and generous with it – she shares her gothic pile in The Peak District with 11 friends as well as her husband and four children and turned her father’s training company into a multi million pound concern more or less on her own.
I’m not sure how she goes about motivating her problem families but I think her first step is to clone herself and start a national lecture tour round the countries schools and village halls. I’d pay to hear how she turned her father’s business around and with four children I bet she’s got a few tricks up her sleeve when it comes to motivation and enthusiasm. And anyone who can keep winning contracts while not quite meeting her targets must be a pretty good saleswoman.
Meanwhile as she gets older she’d better make sure she keeps every one of those 20 bedrooms in her mansion full, especially if David Cameron or his advisers pop in to see how she’s getting on. His latest wheeze is to persuade empty nesters to swap to a smaller house to ease the housing shortage. And by the way, once they’ve moved out of the family home would they mind awfully carrying on working  as long as possible because we can’t do without their skills and experience. Is it me or is there something ironic about a party that made its name by knocking the “nanny state” running straight to their  their mums and dads’ generation to bail them out  the moment things get tough?

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Personally I can’t stand the term MILF, or yummy mummy, or super mum or momshell or just about anything that says ‘Hey-you’re-a-mum-but-somehow-you’ve-managed-to-be-attractive’.

I think my biggest problem with all these labels is the focus that it puts on mums and how they look. Labels like these just pressurize many mothers (especially new mums) to try and be it all – a good parent, nicely groomed, well dressed and sexy to boot.

Just reading the papers today – I note whenever they mention a female celebrity (two examples from today Elle McPherson and Reese Witherspoon) the fact that she is a mother appears in the first sentence usually next to one of the above terms. As if it’s amazing that X can be famous, a mother and look so good all at the same time!

Now on top of all these looks based labels, we have new ones to contend with that attack our parenting style such as Tiger Mum, Helicopter Mum and Attachment Mothers (don’t ask!).

So I want to know how come dads aren’t subjected to the same kind of labeling? Why isn’t there a name for dads who look good or dad’s who are pushy or dads who don’t bother? And why don’t the papers ever mention that male celebrities are dads too (and they rarely do because I just read an interview with David Beckham and Matt Damon where they didn’t mention either were fathers anywhere in the whole piece).

So what’s your thoughts on these mum labels? Do they annoy you too or are they just a bit of fun. Let me know.

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In this first episode Gok met teens who suffer from body dysmorphia and explored the unobtainable images of perfection that so many teens and pre-teens  now seem to strive for. Aside from talking to a girl who was recovering from Anorexia, he talked to an internet-obsessed 15-year-old girl who was addicted to looking at pro-ana sites of skinny models that fed her belief that she was too ‘big’.

What was great about this episode was that Gok was understanding of the issues and yet not afraid to be firm with the teens. Encouraging the above girl look beyond what she was viewing and realize that (1) what she was seeking was unhealthy and (2) that the pictures she obsessed over had been doctored to look thinner. Even more interesting were the celebrities who took part to tell their own tales of teen angst and body image such as Jo Brand, Gordon Ramsay and boxer Joe Calzaghe.

If you haven’t seen the show do watch it on 4OD  because it’s an excellent series to watch with kids no matter what their age. Not only will it encourage conversation in an area that most of us ignore, but it will also help teens with secret and not so secret body issues to feel that they’re really not alone.

I don’t know about you but I could have really done with seeing something like this when I was a navel gazing 14 year old with zero self esteem.

So how do you help your teens deal with their self esteem and body issues? Let me know.

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Recent research into Internet use by teenagers conducted for GFI Software by OpinionMatters revealed that 1 in 3 parents do not know if Internet safety tips are being taught to their children. With 31% of teens admitting they have shared information with an acquaintance online that they would not have said face-to-face, it’s not surprising that half also admit to lying about their age in order to gain access to adult sites.

The problem for most parents is not just the fear of what they know the Internet can bring, but also the fear that they don’t actually know what they don’t know. So it’s great that The Safer Internet Day message for families is to start educating each other about safety online life.

You may scoff at that but getting your child to show you how to use a smartphone/computer and what it’s capable of is an ideal way to (1) see what they’re doing and (2) realize what they can do online.

So if you’re someone who has no idea about social media, Facebook, Skype and the power of a Smartphone it’s time to ask. If you’re worried about going in cold here’s a few tips to bear in mind:

1. Internet safety goes beyond the PC: Internet access is not confined to PCs. Gaming services on consoles and Smartphones also provide a means for strangers to engage your kids via chat and IM within popular games. One reason why it helps to ensure parental controls are activated on all these services so that you can prevent, or at least check, who is contacting your kids.

2. Your view of an online stranger is different to your kid’s view: While most kids/teens know the mantra never post anything personal online to strangers, their view of who a ‘stranger’ is, is different to yours. My friend’s 13 year-old doesn’t think any of the 200 ‘friends’ who have connected to her on Facebook are strangers, even though she’s never met half of them.

3. Parental controls are your best friend. While you can’t safeguard against everything it does pay to have parental controls and not just at home. Smartphone-monitoring software like Phone Sheriff is compatible with the most popular smartphones – Android, iPhone, and BlackBerry – and allows administrators to record user activities (including SMS text messages and calls) as well as track location. It also allows you to block certain websites and applications.

4. Ask if you’re worried: There’s nothing most teens like better than being asked to show how a phone or app or browser works, which gives you a great opportunity to learn at the hands of an expert. If, however yours is of the mute variety ask a tech friendly parent or better still google it or ask us. Knowledge is after all power.

So what worries you about Internet safety and how do you protect your kids. Let me know.

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In the most cases being smacked for something be it fighting/arguing/being cheeky or plain naughty left us feeling angry and vengeful. It certainly didn’t instil any respect in us or improve our behaviour (which looking back was pretty normal for a bunch of pre-teens). In fact all that being smacked taught me was that hitting was  a great way of getting what I wanted. As a result my brothers and I often whacked each other hard whenever we were angry.

So while I agree with some of MP David Lammy’s report on last August’s riots, such as parents need to be able to set boundaries, and to exert a meaningful authority, I don’t agree with his or other people’s take that being allowed to hit your kids, instils discipline and respect.

The fact is it’s not actually illegal to slap your kids. The 2004 Children’s Act simply banned ‘unreasonable physical chastisement’, which is defined as anything more than a temporary reddening of the skin i.e. anything more than a sharp smack or a slap.

Now I am not a perfect parent. I get angry at my kids, I shout a lot and tend to snap too quickly. But what I try not to do is lose control completely, which I know from experience is where a slap/smack/wallop tends to come from. It’s not easy because as we all know children are testing especially when you’re tired and stressed. However, I don’t slap because I don’t want my kids to be afraid of me and to feel angry rather than sorry after being told off.

But what do you think? Is it ever okay to slap kids? Is David Lammy right – do we need to instil more discipline in our kids? Let me know.

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Actually it isn’t embarrassing and ironically she doesn’t think it’s embarrassing that she looks after the kids and doesn’t work!

From where I’m standing every day there are more and more dads in the school playground and though they are in the minority stats show they are on the rise. Having been someone who rarely saw anyone’s father when I was young I think it’s an excellent thing. Aside from the fact it teaches kids that being the primary carer has nothing to do with what sex you are, it brings a good balance to the school gates.

New research from the Office of National Statistics shows that there has been a rapid explosion of stay-at-home dads (though the trend is less about choice and more about economic necessity). Last year 62,000 men were classed as “economically inactive” and at home looking after children, tripling from 21,000 in 1996. These figures did not include fathers working from home or part-time in order to be the main stay-at-home parent. With another survey from Aviva suggesting there could be 600,000 men, around 6% of British fathers, in that role, a further rise from the ONS figures.

Having said numbers may be on the rise I’m guessing it must be a daunting prospect for dads to be in the minority. One tells me “It’s lonely as you rarely see another dad in the playground and many of the mums in the won’t talk to me.” Another says, “In the past I’ve had two mums come on to me which was very uncomfortable and has now made me feel that I can’t talk to anyone for fear of being misread.”

So what’s your experience? Are you a stay-at-home dad who finds it hard?  Or do you know someone who is? Let us know what it’s like out there.

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