Tagged: children

Top tips to get a good night's sleep l www.FranglaiseMummy.com l French and English Parenting and Lifestyle Ramblings

Top tips to get a good night’s sleep

I’ve found that as I get older, and since I’ve had kids, I relish a good night’s sleep more and more. If I watch TV in the evening and see someone all cosy in bed, all I can think is “ooh, doesn’t that look lovely?”

So how do you go from wanting a good night’s sleep to actually getting it?… Read more

When did we lose the dream? www.FranglaiseMummy.com l French and English Parenting and Lifestyle Ramblings

When did we lose the dream?

When we were children we told our parents and teachers that when we grew up we wanted to be astronauts, pilots, deep sea divers and more. The world really was our oyster.

Brother and sister musical instruments 1980s l When did we lose the dream? www.FranglaiseMummy.com l French and English Parenting and Lifestyle Ramblings

Maybe Baby Brother and I dreamt of being musicians…

As teenagers these dreams changed to footballers, actors, dancers, singers, doctors, vets, chefs and yet more.… Read more

Toddler playing with Barbies l Why it's good to ignore your kids l www.FranglaiseMummy.com l French and English Parenting and Lifestyle Ramblings

Why it’s good to ignore your kids

I don’t know why or when it happened but there’s been a massive shift in parenting styles over the last 30 odd years. Growing up in the late 1970s and 1980s I clearly recall my friends and I being left to our own devices by our parents. Don’t get me wrong, our parents were present but they weren’t constantly hovering over us.… Read more

Can you afford to take risks when you’ve got kids?

During the World Cup Final at the weekend Hubs reminded me of where we watched it 4 years ago. We were in Praz de Lys, a hamlet/village in the French Alps (Haute Savoie), enjoying a final French holiday before packing up our French life to move to the UK.

Father and daughter in the French Alps in the summer. www.FranglaiseMummy.com

Hubs with a 3 and 1/2 year old L in Praz de Lys, July 2010.

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Where’s the pause button?

When I was a child I longed to be older – I wanted to be 11 and go to big school like my sisters. Then I wanted to be 15 to get into films with that age restriction. Next it was 16 to do all the naughty things you could legally do at that age.… Read more

Is Thorpe Park any good for younger kids?

I have such amazing memories of Thorpe Park as a teenager, and I have no doubt about how incredible a place it is for secondary school age kids, but since we got our Merlin Annual Pass a couple of years ago, I’ve been wondering whether it is any good for younger children.… Read more

Top tips on raising your child bilingually

Quite a few readers have asked me how we manage to raise our two daughters bilingually, so I thought it was time I shared what has worked for us, raising our two daughters with two languages.

Before I start here’s a bit of background about us:

Mum
I’m English. I have a degree in French (and Spanish).… Read more

The secret to decorating rental accommodation for kids

Since we relocated to London in 2010 we have been living in rental property, which we have mostly loved, having been home-owners in France – it’s so liberating contacting the landlord when something breaks rather than having to pay to get it fixed/fixing it yourself 🙂

However there is one thing that I really miss, and that is having the freedom to put my own stamp on the place.… Read more

You can only tell a boy from his privates

This is what L had to say to me on Friday upon returning home from school. So rewind a bit, where did this all come from?

L’s French Mamie (granny) came to visit last week and brought L a gorgeous new jacket from la Belle France, which has a zip that is – stylishly – off-centre.… Read more

Proud mummy of a French reader

Our eldest daughter, L, is now 7 years old. She lived the first half of her life in France, with French as her first language. Since the age of 3 years and 7 months she has lived in the UK with English becoming her first language (she has always been brought up with both languages).… Read more