The Summer holidays are in full swing and we’ve been getting out and enjoying London. We rarely go away over the Summer because London is such a great place to be at this time of year and there so many Summer activities for kids in London. This Summers mission is to enjoy as much of our beautiful city as we can and when I find something super fun to do, I thought I would share it here. Earlier this week, along with some friends, we headed to the Southbank which is always a fun day out. There is always a fab atmosphere, food, street performers and so much more. Our plan was to just wander around and soak up the sights and smells but we ended up discovering the Appearing Rooms Fountain. And once we discovered this, there was no moving the kids away.
The Appearing Rooms Fountain is no ordinary play fountain. It’s designed so that jets of water shoot high in to the air creating ‘rooms’ that appear and disappear as quickly as they appeared. It’s possible to stand in the midst of fountain and not get wet – the trick is finding the ‘room’ where there is no water shooting up or to move super quick when it does come. But the pattern of the fountain changes each time so you might get unlucky and get drenched. The kids headed in to the fountain and the joy on their faces was quite unbelievable. We thought they would play for a few minutes but they ended up playing in the fountain for hours. They absolutely loved it. There were kids of all ages there – from 2 to about 12 – and they were all squealing with delight and joy.
Right next to the Appearing Rooms Fountain is lots of outdoor seating so we sat there, ate and chatted while we kept an eye on the kids who just couldn’t believe their luck at stumbling across this magical play fountain. It may seem a bit over the top to go on about a fountain but the excitement was so evident on every child’s face so I think this fountain is a must visit for any kid. And the best part is that it’s free. Kids can easily spend 2-3 hours in there – just remember to bring a spare set of clothes or a swimsuit for them to wear while in the fountain. Because they will get drenched!
Have you discovered any London places that are fun and worth a visit? Do share so we can all check them out.
Anya wears quirky bear tee by ebabee and floral shorts by Zara (past season) {all photos by ebabee}
I am so glad I have started writing down what Anya says because even at 6½ years she comes out with some hilarious stuff! I know these innocent comments and crazy sweet words will disappear over time so I want to make the most of it! Do you write down what your kids say? It’s such a lovely memory to have and look back on. So to end the week on a happy, funny and light-hearted note, here are some recent conversations with Anya:
We were chatting about an upcoming 6th birthday party that Anya was invited to. Me: What does your friend like? I need to buy her a birthday present. Anya: She likes boys.(of course I’m thinking, boys already?! But I continue the conversation) Me: I can’t buy her a boy, can I? Anya: No, but you can buy her a toy boy! Oh the innocence of childhood!
Out of the blue: Anya: Do I have boobies or nickels?
We were at a restaurant and Anya chose Cumberland sausage and chips for her meal. She then proceeded to tell the waitress her order: Anya: Can I please have the sausage and chips without the Cumberland?
Anya’s just lost both her front teeth. We’ve always made a big deal of the tooth fairy and Anya’s always been so excited about the whole magic of the tooth fairy, much more so than Santa (sorry Santa!). So I was not ready for this. Me: How much did the tooth fairy give you this time? Anya: (very matter of factly) It’s not really the tooth fairy. Me: Who is it then? Anya: It’s you. Noooo… I’m not ready for these magical myths to be busted just yet.
What are some of the funny, cute, candid and crazy things your kids have said? I’d love to hear so do leave a comment below.
A couple of weeks ago Anya and I went shopping to buy a birthday gift for one of her friends. Near our local shops, we have a large no-car square surrounded by shops with an outdoor play fountain in the middle that the kids adore. I often see kids turning up in their swimsuits and playing in the fountain till they are drenched. Playing outside with water is such a fun thing to do for kids and Anya loves it too. On this day we visited the fountain and I saw at least three kids, aged between 2 and 6 years, playing without any clothes on at all. I was quite bit taken aback.
I have no problem with kids taking their clothes off as kids, especially the littlest ones, like to do that and there is absolutely no harm in a private garden or similar private space. But in a public place in full view of thousands of people, I just didn’t think this was a good idea and I know I would not be comfortable letting Anya do it. Also age is a factor here – I mean five or six is just a bit too old to do something like this under any circumstances in public. Obviously I’m also thinking about the darker side of life where we do live alongside a very small minority of people who may not have good intentions – you know what I mean. So why put our kids in what could be a vulnerable position? That’s how I feel but am I over-reacting? Am I being too cautious and cynical? I don’t know but it absolutely doesn’t feel right to me. And even if you set aside any fears of the darker side of life, is it really appropriate to allow your kids to be naked in public? I don’t think so.
Would you let your kids take off all their clothes in a busy, public place? All it takes is that one wrong person to see them so I think even though it’s a very small risk, it’s a risk not worth taking. Similarly I wouldn’t put pictures of my kids without clothes on this blog or any social media either. But aside from any dangers, I still think there’s no reason for kids to take their clothes off in public. What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Have a wonderful weekend full of lots of playtime in the sunshine! And a very happy 4th of July to my American readers. x
It’s Friday! To end the week I wanted to share some recent conversations I’ve been having with Anya. Some are funny and sweet while others are brutally honest – kids have no editing facility do they?!
On the theory of evolution: Me explaining that many people believe that we started off as apes and evolved in to humans. A: That’s wrong. Me: Why? A: We all start off as babies and become grown-ups. (Can’t argue with that!)
Latest excuse not to sleep: A: I’ve forgotten how to sleep. I really have.
Out of the blue one day: A: Mama, why do you always have bags under your eye’s? (That made me feel good – not! And how does she even know what under-eye bags are?)
We are in the midst of house renovations and living in one room. A lot of the rest of our home is still a building site so we can’t use it. I overheard her telling her teacher: A: I have a broken house and my mum keeps me locked in one room. (Oops! Luckily her teacher knows the situation!)
What are some of the funniest things your kids have said or even brutally honest things? I’d love to hear in the comments.
Have a wonderful weekend and lets hope for some sunshine! – nomita x
Easter is here – nearly! I am so looking forward to the four day weekend (and the chocolate) even though we are and will continue to be knee deep in house renovations. The time has come to choose all the fixtures and fittings and this is exciting but daunting too! I want to wish you all a fun-filled Easter – enjoy the chocolate, the crafts and all the Easter fun. In case you fancied some blog reading over the long weekend, I pulled out a range of some of my old posts which you might enjoy:
Kids really do say the funniest and sweetest things ever. Lately I’ve been making a great effort to write down some of the stuff that Anya has been saying because I really want to remember it. These little conversation gems won’t be around forever and will get less and less frequent as she gets older. I was looking through my book of these notes and I thought I would share a few here for a light-hearted end to the week:
I was reading the Observer food monthly (kids special) which had an interview with Nathan Outlaw talking about his kids and how adventurous they are with food including all kinds of vegetables. I showed Anya this interview as she is a fussy eater and especially dislikes all manner of vegetables. After explaining how they eat and try everything I asked her to fill in the blank:
Me: The children eat everything like meat, fish, chicken, fruits and they even eat….? (I’m thinking veg of course) Anya: … their dad?
Latest excuses not to sleep: After trying a few usual ones and realising they’re not going to work, Anya pipes up: ‘I can’t sleep because my underwear is too small!’ (Whatever will she think of next?)
Anya asks to borrow my ipad and this is how the conversation goes: Me: Why do you want it? Anya: I want to sing along to ‘Beat It’ Me: OK give me five minutes Anya: No, that’s too long (I tell her again that she has to wait but I can see she’s getting very frustrated and impatient and I just can’t understand why the urgency) Me: Why can’t you wait five minutes? Anya: Because the concert has started and the pretend audience are getting very bored!
Anya: I’m really rich. Me: Please could you give me £50,000? Anya: I only have £2 but you can have £1 (bless her sweet little heart!)
What are some funny things your kids have come out with? Or maybe they’ve said some stuff to melt your heart? I’d love to hear in the comments.
P.S. Anya wears the gorgeous Oslo dress which is now available in the Ebabee shop. Unfortunately stock is very limited due to off-line sales and this dress being so popular.And the cute brown brogue shoes were a gift from Pisamonas – where you can get £10 off your first purchase.
It’s Wednesday and that means it’s time for another photography tips post. Last Wednesday I shared the best photo filter apps and before that it was tips on taking better iphone photos of your kids. This week it’s about taking photo’s of your kids who cannot sit still! I know from my own experience that Anya is constantly moving and the more I ask her to stay still, the more she jumps around while I’m trying to snap pictures. I also know I’m not alone because since starting my photography series, many of you have said the same and quite a few have asked for tips on how to take photos of moving kids. So today I share top 10 tips on photographing those fidgety kids by super talented photographer and mum of four – Abigail Fahey.
I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Abigail for a while – both on and offline. I was first drawn to her through her absolutely amazing family photography. Abigail’s style is distinctive and beautiful. All her pictures tell a story and really draw you in. I know my words are not doing justice to her photography but from the pictures below you’ll see exactly what I mean. I am so excited to have her here today sharing her photography secrets and handy tips to capture those kids that never sit still! Abigail’s tips are geared towards DSLR users however there are lots of tips in here which can be applied to any kind of camera you use including phone cameras. Now over to Abigail!
It wasn’t until my babies became toddlers that I truly realised how much ground they covered each day. My two sons in particular rarely sit still and are generally on the go from morning until night and sometimes even throughout the night! I tried hard at first to get them to pose and found it so frustrating when they would not sit still whilst I tried in vain to recreate some gorgeous shots I had seen online. I quickly realised that posing and fidgety children are not a happy match, so I decided that if I was to get any decent shots of my children I needed to embrace the action and just learn how to photograph them on the move. So here are my 10 tips for photographing fast moving children!
1. Don’t be a poser. Kids don’t always cooperate so it’s best not to try too hard. Instead go for natural shots of them moving or interacting. If you want them to slow down, a great way of doing this is to give them an activity that focuses their attention in one place. Something like a board game, a toy, sitting them on a swing or simply asking them to find worms outside will do the trick.
2. Lets go outside. The best way to maximise the amount of available light is to shoot outdoors. More light means faster shutter speed which means less blur.
3. Change your camera mode. If you shoot in Auto then turn your settings to Sports mode and your camera will automatically increase it’s shutter speed in anticipation of an action shot. If you shoot in Semi Auto then turn the dial to Tv (shutter priority mode also marked as S on some cameras) and set your shutter speed at 1/500 or above. You may need to compensate by raising your ISO to get the correct exposure.
4. Be ready. Keep your finger on the button and if possible use a continuous shooting mode. If you want an action shot then short bursts of the shutter will increase the chances of getting the shot you are after.
5. Anticipate the moment. Look at the scene before you and get yourself into a position where you can concentrate on getting one good shot rather than chasing children around taking hundreds of pot luck ones.
6. Steady yourself. Use a wall or something to lean on to steady your hands whilst holding your camera. The more you can reduce camera shake, the less blur you will create.
7. Talk to the hand! Not all photographs have to show a childs face. Often I will take shots of busy little hands or quick little feet. Or even photos showing the back of the child. These can be equally cute and take the pressure off having to get a shot with the right facial expression.
8. Use a zoom. This will allow you to sit further away and take shots without interrupting their games or encroaching on their space. Children will quickly get fed up of a constant camera in their face and will start to react. If you can sit quietly some distance away and snap without them being too aware, you will achieve far more natural results.
9. Get creative. Don’t panic if you get some blur. Occasionally blur in the photos emphasises the movement and makes for a more interesting shot. If you get some unwanted blur turn your photos to black and white; it’s amazing how much better they look.
10. Don’t miss out. Remember to put the camera down occasionally and get involved. So often I have waited for the perfect shot only to miss the moment. Pick your time to take a worthwhile shot. For e.g. when you go to sports day as great as it is taking shots of your children running, the best ones are of their faces when they have completed their race and are full of pride. And better yet you were there cheering them on from the sidelines not squinting through the viewfinder.
Thank you Abigail for these great tips on how to take photos of moving kids. I look forward to experimenting with these tips and hopefully capturing some great motion shots. I especially found the tips of using a zoom and turning blurry photos to black and white very useful. Abigail has recently started photography workshops in Surrey for beginners, bloggers and intermediate photographers so if you’re interested in learning more check them out at A Happy Capture.
Yesterday Anya was invited for a sleepover and my instant reaction was she’s only just turned six. How can she go for a sleepover? It’s not something I’ve ever really thought about because the situation has never arisen so it never needed any consideration. But now I have to think about it. I did a quick google search on sleepovers and came across a thread on netmums where they were discussing what age is right and some mums had happily has sent their kids for sleepovers at four and five. On the one hand it made me think that maybe I’m being over-protective but on the other I’ve always believed in trusting my own instinct as a mother. And what is right for one child doesn’t mean it’s right for another. At least that is what I told myself when reading the thread.
But on thinking about it further I know that Anya is mature for her six years. She is well behaved and doesn’t get up at night. She is respectful of other kids parents and is a very social child. Given all this my rational mind tells me that she is more than ready for a sleepover and will have a fabulous time. So if I’m being honest, the real question is am I ready? And the answer is no. My emotional mind is screaming ‘NO’ not yet! She has never spent a night away from me, ever. Would it be selfish to not let her go because of my own feelings? Richard felt exactly the same as me – no, not yet! Thankfully we are both very much on the same page when it comes to parenting our child.
I don’t think that there is a right age for a sleepover (within reason of course) – it depends entirely from child to child, where they are going and how the parents and the child feels about it. As the parents we need to be absolutely comfortable with it and confident that our child will be fine. But my dilemma is different. I am confident that Anya will be fine, I see no rational reason to stop her apart from my own feelings. She would not be going far so if I was needed for any reason I could be with her in minutes. I know what I probably should do but the question is will I be able to do it?
What would you do? Have your kids been for sleepovers and at what age? I’d love to hear your advice and thoughts.
Want to improve your iphone photography? This post has so many handy tips for anybody who wants to improve their iphone photography. This is part of a whole series of photography posts so do check them out – there are some links at the end of the post. But for now, if you want to improve your iphone photography skills, read on.
I am so excited to have the super talented photographer Julia Arif sharing her tips on how to take better photos with your iphone of your kids. Many of us want to learn to take better everyday photos of our kids and this is exactly what Julia is showing us how to do. All of Julia’s tips are easy to action and you can start trying them out today. Julia is a professional portrait and lifestyle photographer who is also mum to one adorable little girl. It was when I discovered Julia’s beautiful instagram feed that I knew I had to ask her how she does it. All the photo’s on her instagram are taken with her iphone only which is quite unbelievable when you see the stunning photo’s. Julia has agreed to share her top tips with my readers so if you want to learn to take better photos on your iphone get reading these tips. After reading we can all get more creative with our iphones! Now over to Julia.
I’m not talking about mum guilt. Feeling guilty as a mum is a thing that’s been talked about so much on and off the internet so I won’t add anything more to that, at least for today. I am talking of another kind of guilt – yup there are so many of them! I am talking about work guilt or working at home mum guilt. The whole working for yourself and feeling guilty that you’re not doing as much as you should. These last couple of weeks I have not been very well at all. I am slowly recovering but in the midst of my illness, we had to pack everything up (again) and move house to a temporary place while our builders have started with our home renovations. On top of that there have been numerous kitchen planning appointments, extended meetings with the builders, liaising with the Council for required permissions and so much more. If you’ve ever done a complete house renovation, you know it’s a huge project.
While I’ve continued with this blog as best I could during these last two weeks I’ve had a constant nagging feeling of guilt. Guilt that I’m not doing enough on my business. Guilt that I did not post for two days last week. Guilt that every waking minute should be spent planning, tweeting, pinning, replying to emails instead of having a few minutes of down time to recover from my illness. I have had to take some time out because when you’re burning up with temperature, focusing on work is not easy or even possible. So I have had no choice. But that just makes me feel even more guilty.
If a friend of mine came to me with this predicament, I would strongly give her the advice that when she is ill she needs to take some time out – guilt free. After all, nothing is as important as your health. But I was struggling to take this advice myself. Until I decided that a sick, exhausted, unhappy me would be no good to anyone. Not to my family, not to my work and not to our building project. So I have worked fewer hours this week by just focusing on the priorities and letting everything else wait. Because of that I’ve been able to taken some much needed rest and I am actually starting to feel better and happier for it. Those feelings of guilt won’t disappear overnight but I’m realising that sometimes it’s so important and necessary to focus on yourself. We all put so much pressure on ourselves be it for our work, family life, parenting (often all three combined) that when we can’t do as much as we feel we should, those big, ugly feelings of guilt start to rear their heads and become difficult to shake off. But with effort and determination we can and should shake them off.
Why am I telling you all this? Because these feelings are so relevant to this blog and because I’m hoping that by talking about it we can help each other realise that we shouldn’t feel guilty for not working enough (or for anything in our lives). That it’s ok to take time out or even a day off and that will actually help you feel better and most likely work better. That if you work from home it doesn’t mean that you should feel like you need to work all the time. And because sometimes we all need to take a step back and remember what’s really important so I hope this post will serve as a reminder to me in the future.
Are you a mum who works from home? Do you feel guilty when you can’t work as much as you should or could? I’d love to hear how you deal with this guilt?
Ebabee Likes is a style guide for babies, kids, teens and their mamas. It’s all about inspiration, ideas and indulging yourself and your brood. It’s written by me ~ Nomita ~ a style loving girl from Mumbai who now live’s in London. Read More...
