Attitude? What attitude?

Elf when tiny... ahh so easy then!

A month ago, I posted a war cry - This week's challenge is Overcoming Attitude in a 4 Year Old. I'd been letting Elf get away with too much (we'd just moved house, he'd just started school etc) and then I caught myself thinking I'm letting him get away with murder, all because I've taken my eye off the ball.

I got some lovely advice and support from fellow bloggers (thank you), and friends and family, and I can report that his attutide has certainly got better, thanks to the following strategies:

our conker jar (we emptied it half full to buy a Ben 10 magazine)
Mickey Mouse (watching MM drives me mad but it's made him forget about watching Ben 10 which is too old for him)
a set of rules for a reward chart (getting dressed by himself; tidying up; reading his book each day and practicing his writing)
a better attitude from me!

I feel much better equipped now to deal with him. He is still tired, so I try to keep his bedtimes early, and not give him too many activities to do. Mr Humdrum has started a new job and is home earlier (which presents a whole new blog piece on Be Careful What You Wish For - coming soon!) and Elf enjoys playing with his dad, even if I have to chivvy both of them up the stairs.

Without sound smug, I am pleased with the effort I made. I know my friends who have had to "get back with the programme" have also seen the benefits - well done to all of us!

Now what's the next challenge going to be?

This last week I've been ill with the most horrid cold I've had in years, and it's made me tired and miserable. I felt unable to blog or even read blogs - I'm still not 100% but feel I need to write something!

Would I Lie To You board family game review

Would I Lie To You? "The game of believable lies and unbelievable lies ", linked into the TV show of the same name. Purchased: December 2017 in Waterstones, for around £20 In a nutshell: These TV show-affiliated games usually show themselves up (Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Top Gear) but this game is fun and easy to play (if a little modified) as a family. You don't really need specialist knowledge to play, just the ability to lie! Every year for Christmas, I like to buy a board game to play, even though no games better either Ludo (in which my dad is the reigning cheater-champion, and argues to high heaven over the rules about doubling up or how to place your counters in "Home") or Rummikub (which we can now play with two packs of cards lest we forget the game). This year, Would I Lie To You caught my eye in Waterstones (other emporiums - emporia? - for book lovers are [locally] unavailable). It's a game, it says, for 2-8 players; however we dec...

A walk from Portchester Castle to Salt Cafe

Well we just had to choose the worst day of the year to walk. The date had been set weeks before - who knew there would be the worst winds of the decade almost on this very day? But we didn't want to be beaten. We will walk to the cafe. At least it wasn't raining! Parking is free next the castle and obviously, it wasn't busy this day! We set off around the outside of this medieval monument. The sea wall affords views across to Portsmouth and Gosport, and Portsdown Hill if you look behind. You can see the Spinnaker Tower in my photos, but you'd have to zoom in. The sea wall leads to a walk along a path, switching between grass (a much more sheltered area) beside a playpark, and the beach. It is an easy, flat walk, made slightly harder in the wind. After 1.75 miles, you reach the Salt Cafe (@saltcafe66). This took us one hour - that wind did slow us down! I've had a breakfast bap there before and remember it being delicious, but slightly expensive. But today, we...

That's not my Elf, he's too rude and noisy

At nursery drop-off this morning, I was handed part of Elf's transfer to school pack, you know, the bit that the pre-school teacher had completed and also that Elf had drawn in (looking worryingly like a blaze that Fireman Sam ought to be putting out instead of rescuing Norman's head from a saucepan with the "jaws of life"). Reading it, I had a sense of "That's not my child" in the way that the above tractor book is written. Surely, the little angel you've so kindly described here doesn't really exist, and certainly doesn't pretend to be my little Elf? So here is "This is not my child" book, by A Humdrum Mum. That's not my child He's too rude and noisy That's not my child He's uncaring and unkind (to me sometimes) That's not my child He wants to sit in front of the TV not run around in the garden That's not my child He won't help me take in the washing This is my child ...

A Humdrum Mum

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