keris stainton

My secret shame...

Harry's much better today. Thanks to everyone for their good wishes.

My journo friend Kelly Rose Bradford wrote a fab piece for the Daily Express on guilty crushes and, of course, I had something to say on the subject!

(Click on pic to embiggen.)

More magazine help please

Okay, the toxic babies article also needs to include tips from "real" mums on what parents can do (or what she does) to keep their baby safe from any (or all!) of the following:

* Babies’ socks and shoes – can they cause permanent damage to babies’ feet and legs?

* Babies bottles – is the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) that they contain dangerous to your baby’s health?

* Lead paint in toys.

* Cleaning products and being ‘too clean’ in the home – could you be setting your child up for a life of allergies (eczema, food allergies, etc) if you’re over-zealous with your cleaning at home?

* Pesticides in food – how dangerous are they for your baby, and should you really buy organic food for him?

* Additives in food.

* Combined vaccines (eg MMR).

* Obesity.

Obviously that's a lot of comments, so I'd be grateful for anything any of you have got to say. Only names required, no pics. Thanks! 

Case study request

I'm writing a piece for a parenting magazine on the recent health scares relating to babies: lead in paint, toxicity of plastics, etc., and I need a case study of a mum (with a baby aged under 1 year) who is living a completely non-toxic life – i.e. organic diet, avoids baby products such as bottles/toys containing chemicals that may be dangerous, etc.

I'd need her to talk about her lifestyle, when and why she switched, and the benefits she believes non-toxic living has for her baby. Plus I'll need a couple of photos of the mum and baby.

Know anyone?

Housekeeping

No, not in *my* house (don't be silly). Just, you know, stuff I've been meaning to mention and keep forgetting...

1. Thank you so, so much for helping me get to and then beyond the 80% target for New York. It's less than two months away now and I am so excited (and also worried, because I can't remember the last time I walked one mile, never mind 13...).

2. There are still a couple of knittens to go out. I know I said end of August, but my arthritic fingers haven't dealt very well with the changeable weather and there's only so much knittening they can take. They'll be with you soon, though. Honest. Soon.

3. Over on the right there, under that pic of me, you'll find some new links. In the WRITING one you'll find a couple of JPegs and even some PDFs of article's I've written. I'll be updating them periodically. (Get it? Articles? Periodically? Oh, never mind.)

4. There's also something called TODAY'S DANCE which is the song that me and Harry have danced frenetically around the lounge to that day. With the wonder of technology, you can point to it with your mouse, wait for the Snapshot thingie to open up and then actually play the video ... without leaving my blog! Feel free to frug furiously around your own home.

5. And then there's FRIDAY PHOTO, which was going to be my response to a Friday photo challenge from another site, but they've stopped setting them. However, I like it so I'll keep doing it. In future it'll just be whatever photo I'm liking on whatever day I put it up. And I'll probably change it to PHOTO OF THE WEEK or something, if I remember.

While I'm being self-indulgent (although it is my blog - where can I be self-indulgent if not my blog, eh?), here's a Blossom pic I did this very morning. I'm going to colour it in at some point (Ha, get me. Colouring in. I'm 36!) and then I'll upload the coloured one too, assuming I don't make a pig's ear of it.

So that's me. How are you?

More parenting questions

Parents of under fives? Fancy answering any of these for publication (names, ages and location only required):

Why are kids harder to discipline these days?
Are parents too soft with their children?
Do our own upbringings determine how we bring our kids up?
Is there too much conflicting advice on getting it right?
Has commonsense gone out of the window - as maybe the older generation might say?
What are best ways to create reasonably well behaved children – those that listen and do as they are asked?
What boundaries are important to set?
How early can you start – does a baby or toddler really know difference between right and wrong.?
How much can you expect them to understand and remember on a daily basis?

Any ideas? Thanks.

How strict a parent are you?

I'm writing an article looking at how strict you should be as parents in order to bring up your children in the best way.

I'm looking for lots of case studies of parents using varying degrees of strictness (to varying degrees of success!). These are for the body of the article so names are required but not photos.

I'm also looking for a particularly laid back family willing to tell me how they feel it works with their kids. I'll need a picture for that one.

So if you've got strong feelings on parenting (and I bet you have!) - and are the parent of a child or children under 5 years old - then I'd love to hear from you, either in the comments or via email. Thanks!

UPDATED! Calling all parents (of under fives!)

Sorry if you responded to the original query - the brief has changed ... completely!

Now I need case studies (willing to be named and provide a photo) for any of the following:

Reading to babies

I'm looking for a mum to feature in a magazine piece about the benefits of reading to your babies from REALLY young.

If you think your child(ren) benefitted from being read to please either leave a comment or email me. (If you think they started reading earlier as a result that'd be even better!) Thanks!

Turned away from the labour ward?

I'm writing a short piece for a parenting magazine on someone who was turned away from hospital mid-labour. Carry on over the cut if you think you might be able to help.

Dear anonymous...

Can whoever left a comment on the scan request post please email me with your details.

You've got a "strapping" 5-month-old and your comment was regarding an early scan and the Lucozade test.

Thanks! :)