May 19, 2012

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Budding young Authors asked to put Pen to Paper in major story-writing competition

May 16, 2012 By sonia Leave a Comment
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Aspiring young authors are being given the chance to see their work produced as part of a prestigious story-writing competition.

Aspiring young authors are being given the chance to see their work produced as part of a prestigious story-writing competition.

Back by popular demand, the Silentnight Book At Bedtime initiative is now in its sixth year and launches at 2pm, Thursday 17th May 2012.

Designed to celebrate shared bed-time reading and imaginative writing, it is open to children aged between six and eleven across the UK. They’re being asked to submit an original story featuring the company’s much-loved Hippo and Duck characters and be in with a chance of bagging a highly original prize.

Ten finalists will see their work broadcast to the nation, narrated by award-winning author, Jeremy Strong and the public will be able to listen to the stories and vote for their favourite.  The bedtime story with the most votes will be made into a unique, illustrated printed book for them to keep, and made available as an exclusive, downloadable e-book too.

The winner and their family will also enjoy a stay at the Pyjama Suite at The Alton Towers Hotel and all ten finalists will also receive a Silentnight Healthy Growth bed.

As Jeremy Strong explains: “I know from previous years that this is a fantastic opportunity to showcase some of our amazing, young creative talents – and the entries are always of a very high standard.  Last year we received more than 1,400 stories so we’re hoping to see even more this time.

“As well as highlighting how much young people enjoy imaginative writing, the competition is a great chance to talk about the importance of bed-time reading and sharing that very special time with your children.  I can’t wait to start reading them all!”

Entries can be submitted at www.silentnight.co.uk/bookatbedtime or by post and must be received by 2pm, 5th July 2012.  Voting for the ten selected finalists will begin on the 26th July 2012 and will close midnight 24th August 2012.

For full entry information please visit: www.silentnight.co.uk/bookatbedtime

Filed Under: Competitions, Family Matters, Featured, Flying Start News, Learning & Development

The Role Of The Modern Grandparent

March 29, 2012 By admin Leave a Comment
I am Typecast The Role Of The Modern Grandparent

In this feature, Flying Start showcases ‘The Role of The Modern Grandparent’ as seen on www.iamtypecast.com.
The Typecast blog is written by Nickie O’Hara- wife to one, Mum to three and Nana to two. She works full time for an educational charity, is studying for a Social Science degree with the Open University and writes, cross-stitches and tap dances to “relax” (although not at the same time). You can read more about Nickie here.

The Role Of The Modern Grandparent

I know I’m not quite the norm when it comes to being a grandparent (stop sniggering at the back, you know what I mean) but when I read research highlighted by The Telegraph it appears that children cared for by their grandparents whilst the parents go out to work are better developed both in social and emotional aspects.

To me, this is only representative of traditional families where, maybe, the grandparents are old enough to have retired and are in fairly good health.  It doesn’t take into consideration that there are many families at the extreme of this research, i.e. living longer gives us more reason to start our families later.  But also very much not when your family includes a non-traditional ‘Granny at 36′.

I never wanted history to repeat itself with my daughter also becoming a teenage parent, for both selfish and unselfish reasons.  I wanted a gap where my husband and I could have a break from little people running around and revel in the fact that we didn’t have to organise enough equipment for an expedition to the South Pole when we were actually only going out for the day in the car.  But also, I wanted my daughter to have A Life; one where she could have a few wild years, find a career that she loved and go and do all the things that I would have wanted to do instead of sitting at home surrounded by bottles, nappies, boring routines and a list of “What If’s”.

Life never really turns out the way you expect it to.  So you deal with it…. Read More

Filed Under: Family Matters, Featured, Parenting Tagged With: , ,

Sue Atkins Top Tips for a Stress Free Christmas

November 30, 2011 By sonia Leave a Comment
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Christmas, although a time of great joy and celebration, can also be the most stressful of times for even the best of parents, with the family home chaotic and often besieged by visitors. Throw into the mix over excited children who have weeks to sit around at home and the situation can quickly spiral out of control.


Keeping your children calm and entertained will be the key to helping keep the peace and getting through the Christmas holiday period with as few hiccups as possible. But before you begin to think about your children make sure you give yourself some time each day to relax and unwind.
It is important with so much going on around you that you make time for yourself, keep your energy levels up and remain positive in order to keep on top of everything – successful parents will look after themselves as well as their kids, setting an example of behaviour that their children can look up to and imitate.

Here are a few practical tips to help you and your children have the happiest Christmas ever:

• Make time for both you and your kids: – provide times of the day where you will be together and uninterrupted (don’t even answer the phone!). Similarly make sure that at least once a week you give yourself enough time to do things you want without distractions.

• Organise group and family activities to keep your children as active as possible, such as making Christmas cards, decorations or wrapping presents.

• Homework: – provide your children with some options as to when they should do their homework. If possible try to get them to complete this early in the holidays as the later they leave it the less motivated they will be.

• Give your children a sense of routine, keeping to weekly events. You could also provide them with some added responsibilities such as some regular housework. They could then complete this in return for being allowed to watch the TV for a little while extra etc. This will give you a little respite and reminds your children that holidays are not simply an excuse to do nothing at all.

• When disputes break out between siblings try to remain calm as this helps to prevent their squabbles escalating. Take them both to one side and explain the behaviour that you do want to see very clearly and specifically. Focus on the positive things you see and hear and give praise when your child does something you want to see – no matter how small this may be.

• Find some good quality ‘me’ time where you go and relax in a hot foamy bath with aromatherapy candles, or sit down and read a gossipy magazine or good book. Take time for you to re-charge your batteries so you come back refreshed and relaxed ready to start a new day.


• Write a ‘to do’ list and then put people’s names, including your children’s names, next to that job. Learning to delegate teaches everyone responsibility and it takes away your sense of feeling overwhelmed, keeping the spring in your step at a busy time of year.

Filed Under: Family Matters, Featured, Flying Start News, Parenting

Staying Connected: The Importance of Communication

November 24, 2011 By sonia Leave a Comment
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Flying Start catches up with the latest news from ParentMail- the unique, powerful parental engagement service!

Advertisement feature.

As parents, you play a crucial role in guiding your child, especially during the formative early years. Benjamin Spock once said, “in automobile terms, the child supplies the power, but the parents have to do the steering.” During the first five years of life, research has shown that your child’s brain develops more rapidly than it does at most other stages in life, with 90 per cent of the vital connections formed between the two sides of the brain. In fact, as these connections are formed, an average three year old’s brain is twice as active as an adult’s.

It is vital therefore that all parties involved in a child’s development are working together to maximise their potential. The education system has recognised this and is responding accordingly. The proposed new framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), the guide by which early year’s education is conducted and assessed, is calling for a greater emphasis on the role of parents as a partner in their child’s learning. This supports the importance of close working and communication with parents in shaping children’s future.

As such, nursery workers are being encouraged to improve their communication to home to build a triangle of care and support between the school, parents and children. For effective family involvement, a good flow of information is required. Many parents find that traditional face-to-face meetings with key workers are infrequent, perhaps once or twice a year, while letters home can be easily misplaced or forgotten about! Increasingly, electronic communication is finding its feet as a new way of keeping in contact, allowing contact to be much more frequent and to strengthen the ties. For nurseries and schools, ICT enables information to be captured and monitored quickly and closely, meaning that parents can then receive and access information about their children’s progress, and development when and where they want, using for example, secure online or mobile access.

By working together, and by utilising technology to strengthen communication, parents and schools can synchronise the at-home and at-nursery learning processes.  Greater parental involvement can help ensure early development is as effective as possible, helping set children on the path to success in future life.


Geoff Jones, director at ParentMail.

Filed Under: Family Matters, Featured, Flying Start News, Parenting

Newsround to be honoured at the 2011 British Academy Children’s Awards

November 23, 2011 By sonia Leave a Comment
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London, 23 November:  The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has today announced that Newsround will be awarded the Special Award at this year’s British Academy Children’s Awards which will take place on Sunday, 27 November 2011 at the London Hilton on Park Lane.

The Special Award will be presented to Newsround at the annual British Academy Children’s Awards in celebration of the programme’s 40th Anniversary of broadcasting and in recognition of the significant contribution the programme has made to children’s television for the past four decades.

The Special Award will be presented by former Newsround producer and current BBC political editor Nick Robinson who will be welcoming Newsround’s first presenter John Craven, creator Edward Barnes and current presenter Ore Oduba onto the stage to accept this prestigious award on behalf of Newround.

John Craven comments “Newsround was the first show of its kind in the world and I’m deeply thankful to BAFTA for recognising it as such. Newsround was and always will be my little baby and I couldn’t be more proud of it now it’s all grown up”

Edward Barnes notes “I am deeply honoured and profoundly grateful to BAFTA for this recognition of Newsround – the world’s first regular news bulletin for children. I hope that the importance of a news bulletin which reports the children’s world and also provides children with an insight and understanding of world events, will always be recognised and given a prominent place in children’s television”.

Newsround (or John Craven’s Newsround as it was first known) started on 4 April 1972 in the corner of an existing BBC news office and was created by Edward Barnes, the then deputy head of children’s programmes. The team consisted of three people including John Craven as presenter, and was originally broadcast just twice a week. Over the years the success and the size of the show has grown and Newsround now proudly boasts a larger, more varied team who broadcast 50 bulletins a week across CBBC, BBC One and BBC Two. Newsround is the only news programme for children now attracting an audience of over 800,000.

Over its 40 years of broadcasting, Newsround has held a reputation for reporting on all major UK and global news events and in some cases has broken news stories before anybody else. Newsround was the first British television programme to break the news of the loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger on 28 January 1986 when the shuttle exploded just 15 minutes before the show aired.

More recently Newsround has begun producing Newsround Specials. These 15 minute documentaries aired on both CBBC and BBC One tackle significant issues or news stories affecting children today. The 2010 special Living with Alcohol won a BAFTA for the Best Children’s Factual Programme last year, and in the past 12 months Newsround has travelled to Afghanistan to report on the lives of children living in Kabul as well as

Filed Under: Education, Family Matters, Featured, Flying Start News

7 Year old twin Peter has pioneering surgery to help him walk

November 17, 2011 By sonia 1 Comment
footsteps website post

The Ryan family from Bridgend are raising money in earnest for intensive physiotherapy needed to help seven year old identical twin Peter Ryan learn to walk after pioneering Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) surgery in early September in Bristol.  Peter is diagnosed with spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy, and was the sixth child to have SDR in the UK, which previously UK children needed to fly to USA for.

The operation   involved cutting nerves in the spine to reduce the spasticity and release tightness in his leg muscles and combined with intensive physiotherapy Peter has a better chance of increased mobility.  Peter is recovering well and is now embarking on intensive physiotherapy at the Footsteps Centre in Dorchester-on-Thames in Oxfordshire.  Such is the amount of physiotherapy needed for Peter, the family is trying to raise £15,500 to cover the costs over the next few years. As of late October they have raised over £8000 through individual donations and fundraising of friends and family to help him achieve more mobility and independence.

Before the operation Peter was able to walk with a walker in a tip toe position and take a couple of steps with sticks but crawled most of the time around the house.  Since the operation and starting back at Footsteps, Peter has walked backwards for the first time, stood in his supportive ankle-foot orthotics (AFO) for a minute, his walking pattern has completely changed and Peter himself talks about his walking feeling smoother. Pre-operation Peter had to be carried to the car, now he can get there on his own and needs less help than he used to when getting in and out.

Dad Christian Ryan says: “We were very lucky to be able to have the operation in the UK although we did consider whether to do it for a year, but felt if it increased Peter’s mobility in even the smallest way then it would be worth it.

“Now the most important thing for us is to have the very intensive physiotherapy at the Footsteps Centre needed to recover from the operation, build up his strength and move forward.  We have a wonderful window of opportunity to make a real difference post-operatively and the physiotherapy at the Footsteps Centre will play a big part!”

During pregnancy Peter’s mum Lisa had twin to twin transfusion and the boys were born premature. When Peter and William were born there was a big weight difference between the two of them but everything else appeared normal.  When the twins were nine months old, their parents Lisa and Christian noticed that whilst William had started to sit up, Peter wasn’t able to and he was soon diagnosed with spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy.

Peter has now attended nine three-week Footsteps sessions and Dad Christian said that they noticed a change in Peter even after his first session. “We noticed a big difference in his core stability, increased strength, his range and co-ordination of movement in his muscles and in his confidence.  After his second session at Footsteps Peter was able to get himself into sitting cross-legged on the floor, so he was able to be like William and the other children when sitting in school assembly.  Who knows what he will be able to achieve now post-surgery!”

The Footsteps Centre helps children with neurological issues take their first steps using intensive expert physiotherapy. Scores of children are enjoying and benefitting from the three week programmes that comprise both traditional physiotherapy and a piece of equipment known as ‘The Spider’ allowing physiotherapists to implement a full course of exercises in any chosen position and to align the body properly by using a series of elastic ropes, enabling greater mobility and independence.

http://footstepscentre.com / www.petersprogress.co.uk

Filed Under: Family Matters, Featured, Special Needs

Calming the chaos

September 21, 2011 By sonia Leave a Comment

They don’t call her Supernanny for nothing – Jo Frost tells Flying Start how she went from babysitter to author of several books and star of her own show

Words: Olivia Frances

Supernanny Jo Frost has made quite a name for herself. After first appearing on our screens back in 2004 with the original series of Supernanny, her career has gone from strength to strength.

A year after launching her Channel 4 series in the UK, Frost went stateside and the US series of Supernanny was born. Both the UK and US versions of the programme are still played out across several stations and her new TV series - Jo Frost’s Extreme Parental Guidance – is due to be broadcast this summer.

Supernanny’s expertise also stretches to the publishing world. Following on from the success of her debut book Confident Baby Care, Frost tells Flying Start about her new book Confident Toddler Care, which launched June 28. “A toddler book was always on the cards, having spent over two decades in childcare and seven of those on screen, the idea grew organically because of people asking so many questions about toddler care. Listening to those questions, I realised that the toddler years were challenging and a whole different experience to bringing up a baby. It was necessary to write the book to help the parents who were asking questions so desperately. Stepping into the toddler years was a shock to them and a whole different stage. They would come to me saying “I’ve got through the first years and now what?” Ultimately, the book came out of a need to help parents through this new and very challenging stage of their children’s lives.”

Confident Toddler Care instructs parents on how to attack any situation they and their toddlers might find themselves in. The chapters teach readers how to deal with what Frost calls the big issues – potty training, healthy eating, trips and visits – without stress. “We have another section in there called ‘A day in the life of a toddler’, which provides the reader with comprehensive routine ideas, from how to tackle the most hectic part of the day (morning), to how to get through the rest of the day. Those routines are really important in a child’s early years.”

The book also covers the emotional journey that parents will go on. “In the early years, parents are emotionally impacted as much as their children. Bringing up children is one big learning curve and a good time for parents to learn more about themselves as well,” said Frost.

Her inspiration comes from parents all over the world, by simply listening to what they need and responding to that. “Families are families wherever you are in the world, they still fundamentally have the same challenges. There used to be a large margin between both countries but that isn’t there any more.”

After answering an advert for an ‘experienced person to help a chaotic household’, Frost has been in the profession in all capacities and at all levels for more than 20 years. “I didn’t learn the techniques, they have always been innately within me.” She continued: “I used to babysit as a teenager, took a job here and there and it just developed. Kids have always been a big part of my life,” she told Flying Start. Despite not making a conscious decision to follow the career path that she has, Frost couldn’t imagine doing anything else. “I truly believe I am meant to be doing this. I am sure that people who are successful in what they do say the same.”

Despite not having any children of her own “yet”, the reason for her success is quite simply because what she preaches works – the iconic ‘naughty step’ being just one among an array of disciplining techniques that Frost has passed on to families on both sides of the Atlantic. She now works with all ages – “from newborn babies right up to adults who need teaching a few things” – and cites living out of a suitcase for six years as the worst part of her job. “The best elements are definitely when you witness the parents making the changes, when you walk away from the family and you see that they are in a different place from when you arrived,” said Frost. Getting to that point isn’t always easy though and not every parent likes what they have to hear from her. “I think that parents need to understand that part of being a wonderful parent is to instill discipline otherwise you don’t teach your children to become respectful. As we have all very well seen, human behaviour can spiral out of control without boundaries so it is important for these to be present in childhood.”

Frost also believes that nurseries and schools can help play a big part too. “It’s incredibly important that teachers and parents work together when recognising the help that is needed at home to assure academic success and a lot of that is due to a child being able to behave in the classroom so that they can behave and focus and not disrupt a class. Teachers need to help parents encourage good behaviour and an academic understanding. Parents need to understand that teachers want the best for their kids, ultimately it is all about the welfare of the child.”

Frost added: “Also, it is important to look at how teachers hands are tied - there has to be some kind of system in place that allows nurseries and schools to actually diffuse a situation and remove a child from the trouble that they are causing. We need to assess what teachers are able to do in those difficult circumstances. Overall, the education system needs to look at what measures can be put in place so that other children are not affected by children who do misbehave. If teachers never had to deal with disruptive children they would be able to educate to the best of their abilities uninterrupted.”

Looking ahead, Frost has plans to write more books. “Writing these books allows me to say so much and give so much without any time restriction – on a TV show you only get 48 minutes!” Although she has achieved so much in her career to date – several books, an international television series, globally renowned disciplining techniques – for Frost, her greatest achievement is simply doing what she’s doing right now, “living this experience”. She added: “I think best is still yet to come!”

Words: Jennifer Shuttleworth

Filed Under: Family Matters, Featured, Parenting

Like Father Like Son

September 21, 2011 By sonia Leave a Comment
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Cook, blogger, radio presenter, author and most importantly dad Nick Coffer chats to Flying Start about how becoming a stay-at-home dad was one of the best things to happen to him and his toddler son Archie

Words: Olivia Frances

Nick Coffer never imagined he would end up where he is now when he became a stay-at-home dad in 2009. Fast forward just two years and not only has his blog – www.mydaddycooks.com – attracted worldwide attention, but he is also star of his own radio show Nick Coffer’s Weekend Kitchen on BBC Three Counties Radio and has recently launched his My Daddy Cooks recipe book.

“I became a stay-at-home dad when my business started to struggle in the recession. Having spent much of 2009 looking for new projects and work, I decided to set up the blog as a little side project, just to document all the fun, mess and chaos of my time in the kitchen with my then two-year-old son Archie,” Nick told Flying Start.

The blog features videos of Nick cooking in his “tiny” kitchen in Watford, with the help of his sous-chef Archie, “a chatty, creative and wilful little boy with a vibrant imagination”. It also features other brilliant family food recipes and a whole diary section, in which he talks candidly about anything from the death of his grandma to the home birth of his daughter, Matilda.

“I didn’t really come up with the concept as such,” said Nick. “I had no agenda at all when setting up the blog. I just wanted a creative outlet, something just to keep me a bit sane. I had no idea that it would become as popular as it did. In fact, in the early days, I was shocked when I first realised that people were actually cooking the recipes I was putting on the blog! I just hadn’t thought that far ahead.”

As for the name of the blog, Nick was looking for something sharp and to-the-point, something that clearly explained what it was all about. “I was very excited when I came up with this name,” he said.

His first big breakthrough was being featured on BBC London news in January 2010, followed by an appearance on Lorraine on GMTV and then Archie featured on the front cover of the London Evening Standard. “Believe it or not, I really wasn’t phased by it. I love creating content. For me, content comes first, always. The subsequent publicity was an unexpected bonus rather than the aim. Also, I was brought up in the music industry as my dad managed some big Indie bands. This meant that I had been around TV and the media so it didn’t feel completely alien,” Nick told Flying Start.

Being a stay-at-home dad, hanging out in the kitchen was (and remains) one of Nick and Archie’s favourite activities. “I just wanted the videos to show the quality time we spent together, so it was logical to have hime in the videos.” That said, in the very earliest videos Archie’s face wasn’t shown, he was slightly off camera. But as time progressed, Nick and his wife Jo decided it was a shame to cut him out.

For Nick, cooking with Archie is quality bonding time. “For sure, you have to leave all your mess inhibitions at the kitchen door when cooking with young kids.” He continued: “The mess really is worth it. It’s not really hard work, as long as you view it for what it really is – play time. Getting kids in the kitchen really helps build a positive relationship around food for them. It shows them that food is fun and exciting. Cooking also has the added benefit of teaching many different things, almost accidentally, in a completely informal atmosphere. When I look back at the videos, I can see Archie learning to count, learning new techniques, even learning some basic geography. Plus cooking is early science. It’s a great thing to learn that if you put something into something else, there is an effect that happens.”

Nick doesn’t feel it’s a question of parents having to encourage children to help with the cooking, more a case of just involving them organically. “Once they see how much fun can be had – and they begin to cherish the quality time – many kids will not need further encouragement to get into the kitchen.”

Although Nick receives a lot of questions from parents about what their children should eat, he isn’t keen to get into discussions about the subject. “My attitude has always been to just cook tasty family food and to eat it together. There will be good days and bad days but that is all completely normal. Archie has broad taste but there are days – and sometimes weeks – when he won’t be into food. I just accept this as part of being a toddler and I trust him to know when he needs to eat.”

Nick’s love of food stems from his childhood and his parents, who have always loved food. “My mum is a brilliant cook and my dad is a really good one too (he taught me how to make great pasta sauces). Both my grandmas used to encourage me to cook, as did my mum.” However, Nick’s love of food turned into a passion when he moved to France at the age of 18. “I loved the food culture there and I loved the way the table was such an important part of family life.” He added: “I am not actually a chef – far from it – I am just a home cook, albeit I would like to think a really good one!”

He considers cooking an important part of family life and believes it is important to try to eat together as a family where possible. “Food is a central part of life and I want it to be associated with happy memories in our house and in our family.” He added: “Cooking is very therapeutic I find, especially after a stressful day. I love being creative and I also love feeding my family. The effort involved is all worthwhile when a meal goes down well.”

According to Nick, cooking doesn’t have to be time consuming though: “Many meals can be thrown together in 10 or 15 minutes. Pastas in particular can be really quick.”

To come up with ideas for new recipes, he constantly plays with ingredients that he regularly has in his own kitchen, trying to to find new ideas around them. “Much of my cooking is very spontaneous and I try to capture that spontaneity when I write my recipes. Of course being around so many great chefs for my radio show gives me loads of inspiration too, although the challenge there is to use the ideas in a way which can work in a busy home kitchen rather than in a fine-dining restaurant.”

Nick’s radio show – Nick Coffer’s Weekend Kitchen – goes out every Saturday at midday for two hours on BBC Three Counties Radio and is also available online. “It is basically a lovely lunch party. We have three guests in the studio (a mixture of top chefs, top authors, amateur home cooks and wine experts) and we eat and drink our way through two hours of radio! It’s a lovely way to spend a lunchtime. I had the idea for the show and took the concept to the station editor and to my surprise  - and joy – he commissioned the show and it is soon coming up to its first birthday. I had appeared a fair bit on radio but never as a presenter, but the station decided to take the risk on me and I am really pleased they did as I absolutely love broadcasting,” said Nick.

“I am privileged to have fantastic chefs every week on my radio show. They are inspirational and I can only marvel at their level of creativity and expertise. But as I said earlier, I am not a chef, so I will just enjoy eating their food, rather than aspiring to open my own kitchen,” he added.

Published in May, Nick’s recipe book – My Daddy Cooks – contains 100 recipes for the whole family to cook and eat together. “It is not a kid’s cook book, nor is it a kid’s activity book, it is 100 per cent a cook book, chock full of tasty recipes. All the recipes use ingredients that you will have to hand in your kitchen and my cooking style is relaxed, flexible and informal. It has to be, bearing in mind that I often have a toddler in tow! I like to give twists to classic dishes (a Mexican lasagne, for example) and also make cooking as easy as possible (there is a whole chapter of “no-cook” pasta sauces). My aim when writing the book was to have a book that anyone could open at any page and think that they would want to cook that recipe. It may sound obvious but I was determined to create a book that people would cook from. There are many cook books that I truly love, which I have read from cover to cover but from which I have never cooked. I wanted this book to be the opposite.”

Judging by the feedback that Nick has received so far, it would appear that people are thoroughly enjoying cooking their way through his book, so much so that he is starting to write book number two. “I am also working on lots of ideas in radio and TV. As with all creative pursuits, there is no guarantee of any of them coming off but it is fun putting them together!”

Archie in the limelight

  • What is your favourite food to eat?

Pasta and Chinese.

  • Which is your favourite recipe to cook?

When I make my soups. ["Making soup" is Archie's term for taking as many ingredients as he can and turning them into a usually inedible concoction. It's basically creative play in the kitchen].

  • What is it like cooking with your dad?

Fun. Messy!

  • What do you enjoy most about helping your dad in the kitchen?

Making mess.

  • What is your favourite thing about your dad?

He’s funny.

  • What is the best thing about cooking?

Playing and making mess.

  • What other hobbies do you have?

Swimming and doing shows. [He likes to do imaginary shows in his bedroom with all his toys].

Words: Jennifer Shuttleworth

Filed Under: Family Matters, Featured, Parenting

Food For Thought

September 20, 2011 By sonia Leave a Comment
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In our look back at 2010 interviews featured in Flying Start Magazine, here Annabel Karmel MBE gives Flying Start her top tips on healthy eating and talks about how the death of her first child inspired her career as a best-selling author of books on nutrition and cooking for the whole family·
Words: Olivia Frances
  • What are you working on at the moment?
A lot of things! I’m writing a book on quick and easy meals for babies, toddlers and older children. We’ve launched a range of natural organic sauces that you put together because I don’t like buying meat in a jar for a baby. So you have a sauce like a tomato, cheese, sweet potato sauce and you cook your vegetables and meat and blend it into the sauce. I’ve been launching those in supermarkets. We are launching some new meals from our Eat Fussy range and I am also working on a TV series that we record later this year, which goes out in spring 2011 called Annabel’s Kitchen. It’s on teaching kids how to cook with animation and puppets so that’s exciting. It’s very busy – I’ve just come back form the Birmingham Baby Show and I was in Jersey doing a baby show there.

  • What does attending the baby shows entail for you?
We have a stand so we give our food away for people to take and I sign my books and answer mums’ questions. I also give a talk everyday about the myths and truths of feeding your baby and toddler and eating in pregnancy.
  • What is the most commonly asked question you get asked from mums?
Usually their baby won’t eat and what can they do. Or their toddler is very fussy or some have allergies and what can they do if their child is allergic to milk or wheat. Lots of common problems like if the child has eczema, what kind of food is going to exacerbate the eczema. A lot of the same questions come up actually.
  • What advice would you give to parents with children who are fussy eaters?
First of all I wouldn’t only give them the food that they want because that will only encourage them to be more fussy. So I would stop giving them their favourite foods so they would be hungry and want to try new food. Widen the variety that they’re eating and don’t just give them a narrow range of foods. You’ve got to break the pattern and the pattern can only really be broken when they’re hungry. Another thing is I would praise when they eat well or try the tiniest amount of something new. I would ignore bad behaviour; you don’t want to acknowledge bad behaviour like not eating. If you don’t make a fuss when they’re not eating, they don’t make a fuss, instead of getting attention from you. Sometimes you have to disguise things, you might have to blend the food in a tomato sauce if they are lots of vegetables in it. Sometimes it might be that you have to give lots of healthy snacks rather than a main meal.

  • Can healthy eating really be made easy for parents and children?
All my recipes are quite easy and not difficult to make. I think that when a lot of people say the don’t have time to cook, they think it’s going to take a lot longer than it does. The thing is, whatever ready made meal you buy, it doesn’t really taste as nice as something you make yourself. If you’re making a stir fry it doesn’t really take that long. Or you could do marinated chicken on a griddle, or chicken on a stick, it’s just not that time consuming really. You will teach your child healthy eating for life if you start them when they’re young, that’s why it’s so important. My new book is all about pasta because to be honest I had so many parents saying to me “all my child will eat is pasta”. I thought the good thing about pasta is that you can put together so much nutritious food like salmon and vegetables. The whole book is from babies and how you can introduce pasta to babies and get them chewing, and toddlers and how to cope with fussy toddlers and get them to eat by putting things together with pasta, and then food for the whole family with pasta recipes.

  • Where do you get your inspiration for recipes from?
Whenever I’m eating out or I go to the supermarket or reading magazines I’m always looking at new ideas, new recipes, things that might go together. I spend time in the kitchen experimenting and testing it out, it’s trial and error really. I kind of know what children like now because I’ve been doing it for so long, I’ve been doing it for 20 years. They don’t like too many things mixed together, they like cooking while they’re eating and they like oriental style food as well like soy sauce, mild curries and chicken satay. Sometimes we stick with things like burgers, chips, pizza, chicken nuggets, whereas if we gave them a pad thai noodle they would really like that. It’s got lots of vegetables in it, eggs, chicken, noodles, beansprouts and by pushing the boundaries a little bit your child will eat more than you think.

  • As it’s coming up to the summer holidays, what advice would you give to parents who want to continue eating healthily whilst they are abroad?
You’ve got to wash everything to make sure it’s clean, especially salad and things like that. Probably steer clear of buffets as they’re kept warm for a long time and that’s when you tend to get tummy problems. It’s quite good to introduce your child before you go away to some local cuisine to get them used to it. Look at what the local fruits and vegetables are. Most places have more fresh produce than often we do as we import a lot of our fresh produce. There’s different fruits and vegetables in different countries so make the most of that.

  • What foods would you particularly recommend during pregnancy and breastfeeding?
Two things are very important, both when you’re pregnant and when you’re breastfeeding. One is iron, generally when you’re pregnant you lack iron and the best source of iron is red meat. So you can have stir frys, spaghetti bolognaise, steak, something like that would be good to make sure you have enough red meat in your diet. The same after you’ve had your baby as generally you are quite low in iron after you’ve had your baby so try and have red meat products. If you’re vegetarian, whole grain cereals, spinach, lentils, they’re all a good source of iron but you need to have vitamin C in the same meal or you can’t absorb it, a lot of people don’t realise that. So say you’re having breakfast and you’re having whole grain cereal, yes it’s a good source of iron but you need to have a glass of orange juice with it to absorb it. And the other thing apart from iron is essential fatty acids, which are found in oily fish like salmon, which is very important particularly in the last few months of pregnancy when your baby’s brain is forming very rapidly. And again, very important when you’re breastfeeding as your baby’s brain grows very rapidly in the first year.

  • How important is child nutrition?
It’s really important. In the first year a baby grows more rapidly than any other time in their entire life. I do believe that you should give them lots of fresh produce and I think babies need better quality nutrition than we do so why are we eating fresh and they’re eating something that’s got a shelf life of a year? It’s wrong. It’s really important that you train them to have good eating habits because if they’re brought up on junk food then they tend to continue eating junk food. If you can get them to eat lots of fruit and vegetables when they’re young that’s all they’re going to be eating. What you set up in the early years is very, very important. Also teach children how to cook. If they learn how to cook they will eat good, fresh quality food. Otherwise when they go to university they’ll just eat rubbish. When my son wentto university no-one cooked and they all just ended up eating pizzas and not very good quality food. But he’d been brought up to eat good food and he doesn’t eat junk food, he doesn’t like it. I trained him to cook a few things and it was the only good meal they had. It’s a shame, they go off to university and they can’t cook and can’t eat well because of their budget and the cheaper food is the junk food.

  • So it’s all about teaching children to cook from an early age?
Yes, and they love it. They all love cooking, they really enjoy it and it’s a great way to bond with your child. It’s not just about making cup cakes, I write books about teaching children to make spaghetti and stir frys and pasta salads. I also believe that from the age of six or seven they should be allowed to be able to chop things up and peel things. They need to learn how to use a knife properly under supervision. You can’t cook without chopping things so I don’t hold children back, I think it’s important to teach them how to cook.

  • You’ve been doing what you do for 20 years?
It’s the 20th anniversary of the Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner. That was my first book that I wrote following the death of my first child who died when she was 13 weeks. The book was kind of my legacy to her and to make some meaning from her life and it was therapy as well, getting over her death writing it. It took me two-and-a-half years to write it and it was all about feeding babies and toddlers. I had a son after I lost Natasha and he just wouldn’t eat so I felt very vulnerable with a child who wasn’t eating very well, having already lost a child. The recipes were really recipes that I got him to eat. I was running a large playgroup and gave all the mums my recipes and they said to me “you should write a book.” The book has now sold three million copies. It’s become the best selling book on feeding babies and toddlers. I’ve written 22 books now on feeding children. Now we have food in supermarkets so we have a range of healthy ready meals for one – four year olds, and we have a new range of sources and we have a range of pastas. We also have a range of finger foods that we do with Disney. We also do a lot in food service – food that gets served in Lego Land, Alton Towers, Chessington, hotels, a lot of places you go to that have childrens menu. We provide the food for the childrens menu and it’s really good quality food – low salt and no saturated fat – and it’s very important.

  • What has been the highlight of your career so far?
I love it all. I think the recognition I’ve had for my books is an ongoing highlight in that almost every mother I meet has used my books and we can talk about the recipes their child likes and it touches peoples’ lives. So everybody has benefitted from the books that I’ve written and that their children will grow up hopefully to have better eating habits and a healthier life. For me that’s an ongoing highlight that I’ve been able to change the way children eat whether it’s eating out at a restaurant, whether it’s following my books, or whether it’s buying a good quality ready meal, I want to be able to provide something for everybody. Some people won’t cook and some people say “you write books on feeding children so why are you doing ready meals?”. Well because those people only buy ready meals and why shouldn’t they have good quality ready meals so I try and touch everyone’s life whether they want to make a really nice family meal or something a little bit more exotic. It’s really helping people to provide better quality food for their children.

  • What is your favourite meal?
I like spaghetti with seafood and I have two recipes for that in my pasta book, which are both very delicious and both simple to make. I like mussels and prawns and all that kind of thing. I love pasta myself so writing a book about pasta was an absolute joy because it was just a good excuse to eat it every night. I didn’t hear a squeak out of my three children – they didn’t mind having pasta everyday. If it was anything-else they would have objected. They loved it. I love all kinds of food.

  • Do you have any future projects in the pipeline?
I’ve got a TV series that comes out next year, that’s a big project. I have a range of sources that has just launched, helping mothers to give their babies fresh food by combining the sauce with vegetables or freshly cooked fish so you’re combining a convenience with a freshly cooked product to give your baby better quality food, that’s really important to me right now. I’m probably going to do an App as well, an iPhone App on eating in pregnancy and feeding your baby and toddler. We’re also launching a whole range in America, a make it easy range for making baby food. There’s an awful lot going on!
Words: Jennifer Shuttleworth
Filed Under: Family Matters, Featured, Parenting

Into the Blogosphere

September 20, 2011 By sonia Leave a Comment
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Flying Start takes a step back to look at some of the fantastic articles and interviews featured in 2010.
Tanis Miller is a pretty big deal in the blogging community. Here, the author of the Redneck Mommy talked to Flying Start about how her online journey began simply as a distraction after the sudden death of her child in 2005her child in 2005.

  • Why do you call yourself the Redneck Mommy?
At the time, calling myself the Redneck Mommy seemed like the wiser choice compared with calling myself the Garden Ho, which while accurate, could be construed in the wrong way. But the reality is there was little to no fore thought about what I named my blog. I was sitting alone in the dark, in the middle of the night, trying to stave off another night of nightmares by setting up a blog and avoiding my bed. I kept trying to think of something clever to title my site and I was coming up blank. The only thing that kept popping into my head was the memory of when I was a child and I would ask my uncle why his neck was always red and he’d reply by telling me he was a true Redneck. I never quite understood what it meant until I grew up. In a fit of nostalgia, I decided to name myself the redneck mommy as homage to my childhood innocence. Looking back now, I wish I had googled ‘Redneck Mommy’ before naming my blog because then I would have discovered the rat farmer in Alabama. I mean, who wants to be mistaken for a rat farmer?
  • Why did you decide to start blogging?
My youngest son died unexpectedly and quite suddenly late in 2005. I was all of sudden left alone, grappling with the grief of losing my almost five-year-old and struggling to find my identity. A few weeks after he passed away I searched ‘moms + grief’ online, looking for some sort of support as I was hip deep in grief and feeling more isolated than I had ever felt before. A list of blogs popped up after searching and I slowly found myself immersed in the blogging community. After a few months of reading every blog I could find, I decided that I should try my hand at one of my own. Mostly as a way to fill the long, empty hours of the day. I was simply looking for a distraction and trying to find a way to remember how to live my life. I reasoned to myself that if I could write about life maybe I could start actually living it again.
  • When you first began your blog, what did you expect to get from it?
I wasn’t expecting anything at first when I began blogging except as a way to kill the endless hours of the day. I had hoped to find some relief from the pain clawing at my heart. What I found was the ability to connect with other people while working through my grief online. It was and still is, very cathartic. Slowly I remembered how to find joy in my life and it was a pleasant surprise to find a new passion. Interacting with the online community turned out to be very therapeutic and very likely saved my sanity. I’m pretty sure if I hadn’t found a way to focus myself after losing my son I would have ended up bouncing off the padded walls of some rubber room in a hospital!
  • You say in your blog that you knew something was wrong with your pregnancy with your son – can you elaborate on this?
With the previous two pregnancies I had a text book pregnancy with each of them. There was nothing unusual about either pregnancy except for perhaps my new found love affair of scrambled eggs mixed with ketchup. When I was pregnant with Bug, I suddenly gained almost 130 pounds and was plagued with health problems. I just knew deep down in my soul that this baby was different and not because he liked to kick the crap out of my internal organs and head bunt me into submission from the inside out. I kept telling my obstetrician my concerns but she seemed to think everything was fine. She was wrong. I was right. I find small comfort in that because I’m egotistical and like to be proven right as often as possible.
  • Has blogging helped you in your grieving process?
For the most part, yes. Blogging about losing my son and having the ability to relive memories with my readers has been very comforting, but there was a period of time, about six months after he died, when blogging about anything became too much. I started to use my blog as a way to escape my emotions and push aside the grief and it caught up with me hard. I had an emotional breakdown and it resulted in me walking away from my blog for four months so I could get a handle on my pain. Ever since then I have been very careful not to use blogging as a way to escape my reality because there is no place on Earth you can run from the devil. He’ll find you even if you are hiding in the blogosphere.
  • What advice would you give to someone who is grieving the loss of a child?
First and foremost, allow yourself to grieve. Grieving takes time and there is no time limitation. Be gentle with yourself, your world has changed without your permission and it is okay to be angry about it. Take the time to be sad and to deal with all the emotions swirling around you. Never feel shame in showing weakness. But most importantly, I would tell a grieving parent to remember to find joy in their life when they are grieving, even if it’s just a bag of corn chips and a cheesy movie. Joy can feel impossible and elusive when you are grieving but the simple truth is, one joy really can erase a mountain of pain, if only for a second. The world can be a dark place when you are grieving and it can be really hard to remember there is light behind the clouds. I would like to promise them that the sun will shine once again.
  • Where are you now in the grieving process?
It depends on which day you ask me. Some days I’m just dipping my toes in the pond of grief and other days I’m sinking in an ocean of tears. It’s been five years now and my son is still the very first thing I think about in the morning and the very last thing I think about at night. Grief is a shackle I fear I’ll never completely shake loose, just as the love I feel for my son will be one of my unending constants.
  • Can you describe a bad day and a good day?
A bad day is waking up and stepping in dog vomit, then discovering there are no coffee beans in the tin, which seems to happen with an alarming regularity around these parts due to an aging dog with gastrointestinal issues and my continued lack of making a grocery list before heading to the store. A good day is any day that doesn’t involve wiping dog vomit out from between my toes.
  • How has the loss of your son changed your outlook on life?
Losing my son changed every aspect of my life and my personality. I am now more laid back and easy going. It takes a lot to rattle my chains these days and I tend to be more forgiving than I was before my son passed away. I have a keen awareness of just how short life really is and how fragile our lives can be and I want to make the most of every minute I have. And more than ever, I appreciate my family and the love I have for them much more than I ever did before. Our loved ones are a gift and I’ll never take the time I get with them for granted ever again.
  • Why did you decide to adopt?
My husband and I had discussed adoption prior to my son’s passing. After the birth of my third child I wasn’t able to have any more children myself and I wanted an entire brood of them. I would still like more. The more the merrier. My husband may not feel the same though. Heh!
  • What is the most difficult aspect of parenting?
I don’t even know how to answer this because I’m still scarred from the sleepless nights, the vomit, the unexpected trips to the emergency room and all the typical teenage battles I find myself embroiled in. But I think, personally, the most difficult aspect of parenting is knowing that sometimes, no matter how hard you try, no matter how much you love your child, sometimes bad things happen and the unthinkable nightmare of losing a child becomes a reality. Learning how to survive that loss and continue to effectively parent my remaining children has been by far the most difficult aspect as a parent.

  • What makes a good parent?
A good parent, in my opinion, is one that puts their child’s needs ahead of their own personal wishes. A parent that keeps their child safe and instills a deep sense of love with in their child. Bonus points if the child grows up and stays out of prison.
  • What is the best thing about parenthood?
The best part about parenting is the total joy that comes with loving smalls. I’ve never known such love before having children.
  • Do you believe in nature, or nurture?
Nurture all the way. I wouldn’t want to doom my children by believing they are destined to become as rotten as some of the apples hanging on my family tree.
  • What were you like as a child?
I was an obnoxious know-it-all with a competitive streak. There wasn’t a sport I didn’t play or a book I didn’t read. In other words, I was a bit of a geek. My stringy blonde hair and knobby knees didn’t help with the geekery either.
  • Which five words would you use to sum yourself up?
Sensitive, smart, arrogant, slightly chubby.
  • What ambitions do you have?
At this point in my life, my primary ambition is to see my children through high school and into university and onto a solid path of adulthood. If along the way I can lose 25 pounds, write and publish a few books, travel with my husband and figure out how to not burn homemade cookies, I’ll consider that a success.
  • If the internet didn’t exist, what would you do instead of blogging/tweeting?
Likely something constructive that earns money. Or at least that’s what my husband would prefer. If the internet didn’t exist then I’d likely fill my days reading comic books and watching soap operas because I’m inherently lazy and real work frightens me.
  • Who are your favourite bloggers?
Kate Inglis from Sweet/Salty Kate, Schmutzie, Whit Honea from Honea Express. There are so many. I’m drawn to bloggers who weave magic with their words and whose talent with writing far eclipses mine.

  • Where is your favourite place on earth?
Anywhere my family is. Preferably some place where there is a warm sandy beach and an unending supply of nachos and beer.
  • What makes you happy?
Listening to Billy Idol while watching my older children do household chores as I eat frozen grapes and point out all the spots they missed. There is a limited time frame where I can take advantage of their hard work and pass it off as ‘teaching them to be a responsible adult’. I’m embracing this period time because I know it won’t be long before they realise I’m just really lazy.
  • What gets you on your soapbox?
Anything to do with special needs children. I’m a huge advocate for the rights of children with disabilities and their families, but I tend to jump on my soapbox most often when people use the word ‘retarded’ in a derogatory way. I’d like to see the word completely eradicated from our modern lexicon. It hurts to hear people make fun of people with disabilities because it means they are making fun of my children.

  • When was the last time you cried and why?
I am a cry baby. I cry at the drop of a hat. I wear my emotions on my sleeve. I cry watching commercials on the television, or watching my cats torment a field mouse. I cried yesterday because I saw a balloon in the sky and remembered standing at my son’s graveside watching the balloons we released for him float away in the clouds. I just leak. I’m a leaker.

  • What’s the best piece of advice about anything that someone has ever given to you?
Never walk behind a skittish horse. Only I didn’t listen and found myself in an emergency room with a giant horseshoe imprint on my entire face and three chipped teeth. I walked around with a black and blue face for weeks and small children cried and hid behind their parents when they saw me. I learned pretty quickly that sometimes we don’t know best and we should listen to the advice given to us by those who are wiser than we are.

  • What’s the biggest compliment you have ever received?
The biggest compliment I have ever received is people complimenting me on how wonderful my children are. My children are an extension of who I am and I take great pride in knowing I haven’t completely mucked them up with my own neurosis and foibles.
  • What are your insecurities?
I worry constantly about my youngest son Jumby, and his medical health, and I’m very insecure about my inability to keep him alive. Losing one son does not breed confidence in keeping another medically fragile child alive. Also, I really am insecure about my chin, or rather my chins. It doesn’t help that I keep sprouting chin whiskers. Nothing is dead sexier than a double chin with whiskers on a gal!
  • Describe a typical day for you right now?
I’m up to my eyeballs nagging my teenagers, driving them around in my ‘Mom Taxi’ and sitting in doctors offices as my son has one medical appointment after another. If I can squeeze in a blog post, fold a load of laundry and remember to defrost some meat for supper I consider the day a success.
  • Describe your perfect day?
Any day my husband is home and our children are playing with him is about as perfect as it gets. I love watching them together. And I love the fact that when my husband is home the kids pester him more than they do me.

  • How were your blogs first noticed?
I have no idea, I am just grateful and thankful they were. There are so many wonderfully written blogs out there that don’t get the attention they deserve so I don’t take any of my small successes for granted.
  • What makes a good blog?
To me, a good blog is a blog written with an authentic voice whether it’s humourous, sad or poignant. Any blog that can make me feel something is considered a success in my books. Also it helps if the blog doesn’t have annoying music that starts playing automatically when the page loads. I hate that with the intensity of the blazing sun.
  • Where do you intend to go with your blogging in the future?
I have absolutely no plans. I’m flying blind when it comes to blogging and I am enjoying every second of it. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Life is short and I’m just enjoying the ride.
Words: Jennifer Shuttleworth
Filed Under: Family Matters, Featured, Parenting
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