Budget to announce new childcare costs scheme

The 2013 Budget will announce that from autumn 2015 working families will receive up to £1200 in childcare support. Is this a better solution to current childcare vouchers?

The government’s Children’s Minister, Elizabeth Truss told BBC Radio 4 “This is about giving parents choice. At the moment a lot of parents can’t go out to work because the cost of childcare is prohibitive…We believe in marriage and strong families and in families making choices.”

Cathy Newman, presenter of the Channel 4 News writing for The Telegraph believes this is an offer, “too little, too late”.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-politics/9939701/Budget-2013-David-Camerons-childcare-vouchers-for-working-parents-offer-too-little-too-late.html

Keith Reed, CEO Twins and Multiple Births Association (TAMBA) said “The proposals from the government today are a step in the right direction for our families”.

https://www.tamba.org.uk/get-involved/press-releases

Will these new measures compensate for the changes to the Child Benefit system in January 2013?

Will this benefit the UK economy with more parents returning to work?

Is it fair on taxpayers?

Is the answer to childhood happiness, popularity?

Do you remember the playground line “If you give me a crisp then I’ll be your best friend”? This isn’t exactly an act of kindness, but more a popularity bargaining tool used by children to benefit both parties.

Researchers at the University of British Columbia and the University of California have approached this in a different way by tasking a group of children in Canada to perform deliberate acts of kindness to see if this boosts acceptance among peers; and ultimately an individual’s happiness.

The findings published on 26 December 2012, state that “Increasing peer acceptance is a critical goal, as it is related to a variety of important academic and social outcomes, including reduced likelihood of being bullied.”

In Vancouver, 400 pupils age 9-11 across 19 school classrooms were assigned three tasks each per week over a period of four weeks.  Tasks not only included acts of kindness to peers such as “gave someone some of my lunch”, but also such as “carrying groceries” and “gave my mom a hug when she was stressed by her job”.

Before and after the ‘acts of kindness’, pupils reported on their ‘life satisfaction’, they were also asked to circle the name of students that they would like to spend time doing activities with.  Overall results showed significant increases in positive affect and marginally significant increases in life satisfaction.

Dr Kristin Layous from the department of psychology at the University of California explained their conclusions.  Being liked by their classmates is not only beneficial for the individual but also for the whole community.   As an example, a popular pre-adolescent is more inclusive towards others and is far less likely to bully other children too.

“Entire classrooms practicing prosocial behavior may reap benefits, as the liking of all classmates soars.” says Dr Layous.

The hope of this research  is that teachers may regularly assign students specific ‘acts of kindness’ to enhance the ‘well-being’ of the classroom.

If your child would like to a make New Years’ Resolution, then maybe this is a worthy one?  Why not assign them a deliberate ‘act of kindness’ to family or peers; whilst demonstrating one yourself.

Read the full report published by PLOS ONE

My Nametags review by A New Addition

Wednesday, 24 October 2012

Tag your it..

As it is coming up to half term and you may be preparing for the buying of new larger uniform I thought I would share with you what I same sent from My Name Tags.

My Name tags are Beautiful quality name labels for clothing and equipment. The labels are perfect for children going to school or nursery.

-Design nametags in 2 minutes
-Get them in 48 hours
-Easy to use
-Guaranteed to stay on (There is a 10 year washproof guarantee! Wow!)

Iron-on name tags
The iron-on name tags are perfect for ironing onto clothes and school uniforms. The iron-on labels can be used in washing machines and dryers.
Sticker name labels
The stickers can be used in shoes, on lunch boxes, PE bags, CDs and thousands of other places! They can be used in dishwashers, sterilisers and microwaves.

For a set of 75 Iron ons and 75 stickers it is the cost of £9.95 a set my opinion is that they are an absolute bargain especially compared to that lost Moshi Monster bag because it hasn’t got a name in another child has ‘mistakenly’ taken it So far K has had his on his jumper since the start of term and it is like they promise absolutely perfect I think I may even buy myself some, yay Hannah stickers

My Name Tags Website
My Name Tags Facebook
My Name Tags Twitter

http://www.anewadditionblog.co.uk/2012/10/mynametags.html

Help your child love reading – book giveaway!

One of the first things your child will learn at school is to read. It’s a wonderfully magical moment when they read those first words. Keeping up that enthusiasm for reading is one of the best things you can do for your child as they will use (and hopefully enjoy) this skill forever. Penguin Children’s, who also publish Puffin and Ladybird books, have given My Nametags their top tips to help parents encourage their children to read. We’ve three sets to giveaway of the first four books in Steven Butler’s the The Wrong Pong series aimed at children aged 6+ who are just starting to read on their own.

Lead by example Demonstrating your own enthusiasm for books is possibly the best start you can give your child when learning to read. Reading is contagious. Show your children that you love reading too. Make time to sit down and read your books together. Read anything from posters to sign posts to demonstrate what an important life skill it is.

Read, read and read to them Hearing you read to them at bedtime and associating reading with pleasure will give your child enormous benefits throughout their education and beyond. Reading a book to your child at bedtime is such a lovely way to end the day. If they always want the same book, don’t worry, being able to predict what’s coming next is confidence building. Suggest variety by saying to your child we’ll read your favourite book first and then try a bit of this new one…

School reading Once your child starts school, ten minutes each day spent together enjoying a short story from a good reading scheme is a fantastic investment in their skills. Enjoyable, regular and short practice really does make perfect! Look for a scheme, such as Ladybird’s Read it yourself books,  that are especially written for home use and check with your child’s school if you’re worried. See www.ladybird.co.uk for more advice on reading schemes.

Easy does it Learning to read should be an exciting, happy experience. Children need to build a set of skills before they are ready to read (such as retelling, sequencing, predicting and matching). It’s best not to hurry children to read words before they have grasped these foundation pre-reading skills. Remember that anxious children can’t learn, and that early enjoyment of books and stories lasts for life.

Try Ladybird’s new phonics app! We (mum and 4 year old Jasmine) tried out Ladybird’s brand new I’m Ready for Phonics!, a phonics app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, specifically for children learning synthetic phonics at school. She loved hearing the letters and sounds, and of course collecting stars. While Mummy found the parent’s guide to phonics very helpful. The I’m Ready for Phonics! app is available for £4.99 from the App Store or at www.itunes.com/appstore.

The My Nametags Book Giveaway! Three lucky readers to email My Nametags will win the first four books in the The Wrong Pong series. Puffin’s The Wrong Pong series is written by Steven Butler, who brings his own hilarious tales from the stage to life as he’s has just recently starred in The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium. See www.puffin.co.uk for more information.

Thank you for all your many entries, this competition has now closed. Three lucky winners have been drawn at random and will be contacted very soon.  We will announce the winners in our next e-newsletter.

Have you just found out, or might you be pregnant?

Have you just found out, or might you be pregnant? Are you due in March? or does your son or daughter have a birthday on March 23^rd?

If the answer’s “yes”, then the BBC News story ‘Want to give birth to an Olympian?’ might be of interest to you.

BBC News reports:

“Searching through the birthdays of the pantheon of British gold medallists shows the date [23 March] cropping up time and again.

It is a birthday shared by distance runner Mo Farah, cyclists Sir Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny and the rower Sir Steve Redgrave.

The first man to run a sub-four-minute mile, Roger Bannister, was also born on 23 March.

However, statistics can be deceptive. You need to put just 23 people in a room to have a 50-50 chance of a shared birthday.

And yet there are some suggestions that when you are born can have a big impact on later success” says the BBC News report.

Click here to see the full story on BBC News (this link will take you to an external website).

There’s also a very interesting bestselling book on the subject correlating your month of birth with how well you do in sport – in school and beyond.  See Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, a US author (this link will take you to the Amazon.co.uk site).