Advice from my 11 year old Twins about Starting Secondary School

Photo by Matt Ragland on Unsplash

This time last year I had two very excited 10 year old's living with me. They couldn't wait (on the one hand) for their school year to finish and to be a step closer to starting at secondary school. But of course, they were also a little sad about losing contact with the friends who were going to go to different schools.

If you've got a child about to start secondary school this coming September you'll probably relate to what I've said and will know this is a time of change, worries and uncertainty, as well as great excitement.

I asked my girls to share their experience and give me some tips on what helped them make this transition and to settle into their new school. So here are tips from my tweens to yours, hand the laptop over now -

Before you Start

*  If your school has an option to attend some summer classes to meet other new pupils and find out how the school works, make sure you take the opportunity to attend as you'll be ahead of many others on your first formal day and will feel much more confident.

*  Make sure you get the right uniform. You might want something different to what they state but it won't be worth the defaults or maybe detentions that you could end up with.

Women Expecting Monochorionic Twins Need to be Aware of TTTS

I'm happy to share a guest post with you today, written by Kate Phillipa Clark, the founder of about-twins.com, a wonderful resource website for those expecting and parenting twins. In this artcile Kate talks about Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome, which can be a serious complication of having twins, who share a placenta. Whilst it's really improtant to educate yourself about this, I want to make clear that it is only a concern to you if your twins share a placenta, and even then it only affects about 8-10% of monochorionic pregnacnies (source), so there is no need to get unduly scared, just speak to your sonographer and doctor at your next appointment. 

Women pregnant with twins need to know their twins chorionicity. It’s extremely important to know whether or not you expect twins who share a placenta to be on the lookout for conditions like Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS).

It might not be the first thing you think about when you learn that you’re expecting twins. But knowing chorionicity in twins is extremely important. Chorionicity relates to whether or not your twins share a placenta. Twins who share a placenta are called monochorionic twins. A sonographer determines chorionicity by using ultrasound at the dating scan during your first trimester. If you learn that you are carrying monochorionic twins, you’ll need to be monitored more often than with dichorionic twins. Dichorionic twins have separate placentas and are not at risk of the same conditions as monochorionic twins.

Reasons to be Cheerful - Italian, Community Day and Bathtime Bliss

I've loved it being half-term this week but I can't believe how quick it came about, and how quick it is whizzing by!

It's been a fab week, we took it pretty easy over the weekend as my husband was with his cub pack at camp but the girls and I enjoyed lunch at Prezzo.

Monday was community day here where we live, so everyone joined in with fun and games together. Loads of laughs were had and Miss E enjoyed making loads of cakes with my husband ready for the Autumn feast, we enjoyed in the evening.

Back to School - Reasons to be Cheerful

Thursday has rolled around again, I’m not sure why this year seems to be going past in a whirl but it’s ok, that’s life I suppose. You just have to embrace every day and take what you can from it.

Last week saw my girls starting secondary school and I’m pleased to report that a week later they are still dead happy and loving being at big school. I think they’ve still being lulled into a false sense of security at the moment as they haven’t had much homework yet, but they are more than ready for the change.

Both of them have been talking about a new friend each, so I pray that those friendships grow and I’ve said to the girls they can have their friends over for dinner when they fancy. They also start at our church youth club this Friday and I hope that will be a place where they have fun and grow in their faith.

Model for A Day #MySundayPhoto

This is Miss E, she is normally behind the camera, as she is a keen photographer and is lucky enough to have herself a superb 4K Panasonic Lumix camera. 

When we were on holiday a couple of weeks back, we spent a day at Felbrigg Hall, a lovely National Trust site and quite promptly Miss E handed her camera over to her sister and told her she was her model for the day!

They had a lot of fun together, posing and snapping photos. 

So Many Things to be Thankful For #R2BC

Reasons to be Cheerful is back to 'business as usual' this week after the very untimely death of Kate last week. I don't want to sound course but Kate would have loved to know that she has inspired so many people to think again about how they are living their lives and that she is inspiring them to be the best version of themselves, whether that means in body image or getting out there and grabbing all the opportunities that come their way.

In the main it has been an exciting and wonderful couple of weeks for my family. So much has been going on and I have loads to share for this weeks #R2BC.

1.  Girls birthday - my little (not so little) twinnies turned 11 and Miss E chose to go out with dh and I for bowling and a meal. Miss M chose to have a Saturday shopping trip with some school friends, she spent a load of money, they had Pizza Express for lunch, frappes in the morning and ice creams in the afternoon. They all had a ball!

Easter Happy Holiday Days

We've had a lovely couple of weeks with the kids off school but I have to be honest, I am now ready for them to go back to school. I haven't really done any work and my house is feeling neglected BUT if you asked my girls I bet they'd say they've had a wonderful time and whilst JJ hasn't done half as much with me as they have I bet he'd say he was happy too, as I let him indulge his online gaming passion with his mates these last couple of days!

Easter was spent at home relaxing and we had a great early morning service up by the cross on Easter Sunday morning. Then Monday we headed to Bridgwater and stayed over there before a stop at the beautiful Dunster Castle.

The Bettybox Monthly Subscription for Tweens/ Teens

My twin girls are now ten, ten going on 15 that is. They really do seem to be growing up very fast and earlier in the year we had the big growing up talk. Miss M has the body of a 13 or 14-year-old so it can't be long before she hits puberty and gets her periods. 

I, of course, want my girls to feel ready when their first period hits, so we've already chatted, read some literature together and they even tested out some sanitary products with water so they felt reassured by the absorbency of them. I'm sure that when the time comes they'll be able to come to me and let me know what has happened for them but I love the thought of them already having some sanitary products that they can easily reach for if they need to and it was just my husband here with them.

Those products arrived this week in the form of the Bettybox, this is a subscription box, especially packed with young ladies in mind. You can pick the delivery date that your box will arrive each month and you have the freedom to choose a box with just towels (like we received), just tampons or a mix of them both. The sanitary products that come as part of the delivery are quality brands that we know like Tampax, Lil-Lets, Bodyform and Always and you have the freedom to choose the absorbency or your products too. I love that these boxes are not one size fits all, they really are personalised to what your child needs. 

Its so Important to Thank our Brilliant Teachers

Best teacher mage courtesy of Shutterstock

In 2013 our family moved from Hertfordshire to East Sussex and whilst this has been the right move for our family for so many reasons, it is the children's schooling where I have been most pleased. Our three children attended a big town school in Herts where there were 500 students and very high attainment levels. Of course that's not a bad thing in general but it led of our children being just another pupil and not being seen for the unique individuals they are.

When we moved to East Sussex we looked at a couple of schools local to our new rural home but one easily stood out for us. The children's new school is a small Church of England School in a local village, it has around 140 pupils and only five classes for the whole school from reception through to year 6. I worried at first that these mixed year classes might hold my kids back but it has actually proved to be completely the opposite.

In 2013 JJ was 10 years old and heading into year 5 at the new school and the twins were 6 years old and going into year 2 and it was amazing, especially for JJ, to be judged on his merits of who he was at that time. JJ had attended his last school since he was 4 years old and they had watched him develop from an oversized pre-schooler with spacial awareness issues, to a troubled young boy who struggled to make friends and deal with change, through to the gifted ten year old he was when he started his new school. But his old school seemed to have stopped in their assessment of him and he was painted as a kid with issues and one who was a challenge to have in class.

Within a week of being in the new school he had received a Head Teachers Award for how well he had settled in and they truly seemed to be able to see him for who he really was and not who he might have been a few years back. It was amazing and lifted my spirits so much. I don't know if it is because of an exceptional Head Teacher that you get marvellous teachers in general or if a small village schools attracts them but whatever it is, I need to give a big thank you to Mr Payne, Mrs Lloyd, Mrs Cleaves and Mrs Gill in particular.

Scottish Friendly's No Spend Weekend Challenge

Money just seems to disappear when you have kids, right? That is one reason I said yes to getting involved with Scottish Friendly's no spend weekend challenge and I think I did well. Come and read all the ways we had fun as a family without spending money.

My lovely friend Cass at Frugal Family often talks about no spend days and to be honest I had never heard of the concept before. So simple but yet completely alien to me and I kept meaning to give it a go but it never happened. So this weekend challenge was a good chance to put it into action and see if a spender like me could go cold turkey! I wasn't expecting miracles if I'm honest.

Friday After School - Pressing Fresh Juice!
Once a month all the families who live together in our community come together for an event to engage the children and we eat together.

This month we were focusing on harvest and how good God is in all He provides in our life. We all went down to the walled garden in the grounds of our home and gathered some fruit and veg and then set about cleaning, preparing and pressing the fruit to make fresh juice to have with our dinner. We ended up with apple, apple and rhubarb and apple and beetroot juice.

We had a great staff dinner of pasta or jacket potato with bolognaise, cheese and salad and of course the fresh juice and we finished off with melon chunks from melons grown in our green houses.  JJ and my husband headed off to church for his youth club and the girls and I had a game of monopoly before bed.

Fabulous Twin Fun - Micro Scooter Sprites - Unboxing at the Beach

As part of my girls being involved with the Start-rite back-to-school shoes campaign they were sent new Micro Scooter Sprites in the teal owl design. Start-rite want the girls to put their shoes through vigorous testing and to make sure they really can stand up to the beating that a normal 10 year old gives them. How better than by regularly scooting in their shoes and lets be honest, kids don't always use the brake on a scooter, they often do it with the sole of their shoe!

Both girls have had Micro Scooters before, they started with the Mini Micros when they were just toddlers and then moved up to the Maxi Micros when they were around 5 years and to be honest they have been moaning at me for the last couple of years that they wanted a grown up 2-wheel scooter. Well now they are super happy and their wish has come true!

The Micro Scooter Sprite scooters start from £89.95 for the silver, £94.95 for the coloured and £99.95 for the patterned ones. They are available in a variety of colours. My girls were sent the Teal Owl with a bell and flower accessory included in the box. I noticed it was on special offer last weekend so it is definitely worth keeping an eye on the Micro Scooters website and signing up for their newsletter, which will keep you informed of their current deals.

Have a watch of our video and see the girls unbox and set up their scooters themselves. I love it when a product is so easy that a 10 year old can take it out the box and do everything they need to make it ready to ride. Even putting their bell on the Sprite scooter is child's play.

Quickfire Reasons to be Cheerful - Birthdays, Anniversaries and Holidays!

Happy 10th birthday (not so) little ladies! I love the fact you are both so different but equally talented in so many ways. I'm proud to call myself Mum to both of you. 🎁🎁🎁 . Miss E, I love your tender heart, your creativity, your kindness and compassion. 💕💕 . Miss M, your confidence is a gift, you are so generous and loving and who can deny your friendliness? 💕💕 . Keep on rocking girls! Don't let anyone dampen your spirit or dull your light!

A post shared by Michelle Pannell (@michelletwinmum) on Jul 18, 2017 at 10:41am PDT

Good morning friends, how are you today?

All is good here, I am on countdown for the end of school and going away for a week to Poole/ Bournemouth from early Saturday morning. Hubby has to stay home and work but we'll have my parents and brother with us to keep us company.

In all it's been a good week and for this Reasons to be Cheerful post I'm going to do one of my quick-fire lists where I shout out about everything that is making me smile right now!

Seeing my Feisty Girl through your Eyes #R2BC

Dear Sarah,

I want to thank you, sincerely. You had me worried for half a minute but then I realised you wouldn't do anything crazy and it was just great to really be able to see my Miss M through your eyes.

I've always said to anyone who'll listen that Miss M might not be easy to parent but she'll be the one to do something world-changing when she is older as no isn't a word she's scared of. But I think, to be honest when you have a feisty child it can wear you down and it is good to have a reminder of just how special they are.

It was obvious to all from the moment you met Miss M on our holiday that you fell in love with her, not in a bad way but you were just swept off your feet by her larger than life personality and outward confidence. You kept telling me she reminded you of you as a kid and it's funny if you ask my parents, they'll tell you she is a little clone of me when I was a child. I know you found that hard to believe as I'm quite reserved now and won't get up to dance on a whim but people change and mature.

6 Top Tips for a Great #TeenTalk #Ad

Mother and Daughter image from Shutterstock

I know some people cringe at the thought of the conversations they need to have with their children as they grow up but I've actually found that having a very honest and open relationship with my children is the making of it. Unlike the 68% of parents (1) who find it hard to broach the subject of puberty I just dove right in and had a really successful chat with my near 10 year old twin girls a few months back.

I don't recall many conversations with my own Mum about growing up; how my body would change, getting periods, having the ability to do anything I put my mind to, choosing to say no, about becoming sexually active, about being responsible with money and all those sorts of things. This seems strange when I think back as I have a really great relationship with my Mum but thinking about it now I don't think she had anyone to do it with her and she wasn't the sort to read parenting manuals etc.

On the other hand, I love to read and to find out information and thankfully I like to talk as well, so I thought it would be useful to share six of my top tips for having those 'can-be' awkward #teentalks.

1.  Talk to your child shoulder to shoulder rather than face to face
I learnt this trick with JJ when he was younger, he would always open up when we were driving in the car. So I used this to my advantage and had some of the more tricky conversations whilst we were driving along.

The first one I can recall was picking him up from Scouts about three years ago (so he'd have been around 11) and there was a bumper sticker on a car that said something about pornography and he was laughing at it. I then asked him if he knew what it was and he mumbled 'not really', so I told him, in language that was appropriate to his age and he was really shocked but this then led on to a conversation about how his body will change and his mind and that one day he will start to find girls attractive. It was all going well and about 15 minutes in he said 'Mum, can we talk about something else now?' and that leads me into my second point

The Girls have gone Smiggle Mad!

If you have tween girls you must by now have heard of Smiggle. It is the Australian born stationary and gadget brand that is taking the UK by storm. It has only been in the UK since 2014 and already there are nearly 100 stores.

Go back a year ago and my girls had to wait until we went to a big town like London or Brighton to get their Smiggle fix but now even our local town, Eastbourne has one!

Smiggle isn't just aimed at girls though, it seems to be a hit with everyone. They have all sorts of colours, styles and images to suit girls and boys of all ages.

As a family we are loving Smiggle and here are 5 reasons why -

1. The styling of the products is super colourful and funky.

Just look at some of the latest products from the 'Smiggle Says' emoji range that my girls were recently sent to try out and enjoy. They seem to have received quite a blue selection and were totally thrilled with them but you can see from the picture below that there are lots of different colourways within this new range.

From top to bottom: Smiggle Says Double Hardtop Pencil Case £15.50, pack of erasers £4.50
and Scented Yay Pop-Our Pencil Case £15.50

Why I’m Starting to Prepare my Daughters for the 2018 Year 6 SAT Tests Now

Image Source: Mum in the Mad House

My twin 9 year old daughters will sit their SAT tests next May and I felt it was important to start the preparation now.

Why?

Well, I want them both to do well of course. It is important to me that they are fulfilled; attaining everything in life that they seek to achieve and that they do the best they can.

Does this mean I am employing a tutor to help them along? Or maybe sending them to weekend prep classes as I’ve heard a few schools run or maybe I’ll just be getting their (very clever) big brother to coach them into how to become a set one student?

No, my preparation doesn’t take any of those forms. The preparation I am doing is gentle and low-key. One of them asked me the other night if you can have a reader to help you do a SAT test if you have dyslexia, I told her I didn’t know but that we would find out if it would make her feel better.

I then got both my girls together and asked them what they knew about SAT testing and they told me how they had done some tests in year 2 and one of them had achieved the national standard and the other hadn’t.  The one that hadn’t spoke of having been upset at the time, as she felt stupid. I asked them how these tests they took three years ago have effected their lives. Was the one who had met national standard doing any better than the other? Was she happier than the other? Was she more fulfilled? Had she achieved more?

I loved watching the light bulb switch on when they both realised that the year 2 SAT tests had been really inconsequential in their lives. Nothing had changed as an outcome of them. We then talked about the year 6 SAT tests being much the same. Whatever result they get will be OK. Their test results do not define who they are or what they will achieve.  They will just be used along with the CAT tests they will take in the summer of 2018 to help their secondary school know which set to put them in and isn’t it better that they are in the right level for their academic ability?

One of them then asked me why they had seen year 6 students crying and getting stressed and why they had to be quiet around the school hall for the SAT week if it wasn’t important? I made sure they understood that to the school the tests are quite important, they are a measure of their teaching. Both girls then said how wonderful their school is and that they have fabulous teachers and I advised yes, they do and that is why they will do wonderfully in their SAT tests and how important it is not to worry.

So this year’s preparation will be about open conversations, reassurances that they are both accepted and doing well whatever the outcome of the tests are and that it will always be far more important to me that they are kind and loving above anything else. Over Easter one of the girls took it on herself to raise money for two charities and the other (I’m sure) was sent to sooth my soul when I'm having a tough time. Those things make me far prouder of my girls than their ability to pass a test with top marks.

My girls have all the wonderful life skills in them that they need to do well and whether their SAT scores say they have met the national standard or not does not matter to me.

You'll notice at the top of the page I share a screen print of a FB post from Jen at Mum in the Mad House. One of her sons took his SATs this year and she has made sure he understands that he is judged on the way he treats others and not defined by a test he takes at the age of 10.

I'm completely with Jen and I'll be reinforcing this message to my girls this year as well.

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A Beautiful Day for a Dog Walk on the Beach

One of the biggest benefits of having moved to East Sussex is being close to the beach. It is my go to happy place whatever the weather but especially when the sun is shining.

Earlier in the month my Dad joined my girls and I to take the dog for a walk down on Bexhill seafront and then have a bacon sandwich and cuppa at Kerry's cafe (you guessed it, it was pre-slimming world!). We had a wonderful couple of hours together before he had to head off on the long drive back home.

Both girls were wearing their new ECCO boots with built-in GORE-TEX technology to keep their feet dry and warm in these wet and wintry months. This meant when they walked on the stones, run towards the waters edge or climbed and ran I didn't bat an eyelid about how their footwear would hold up as I know I can trust any pair of shoes or boots that GORE-TEX have approved to work with. Their checks are super intensive and they only work with the best and most trusted shoe-makers.

Shrek's Adventure! London - Our Review

Shrek's Adventure! London
Last Saturday the girls and I set off to meet our friends in London for a visit to Shrek's Adventure! This is perfectly placed by the London Eye making it easily accessible to many main line stations such as Charing Cross and Waterloo and the District, Circle, Jubilee, Northern and Bakerloo underground lines. We had booked our tickets online and this meant we had timed entry and didn't have to worry about any queues, result!

My family had visited Shrek's Adventure! when it first opened back in July last year (check out my full review from then) and we had a good time but there was one big niggle for us and that was the queueing internally. Well I am super glad to say that this issue really has been sorted out and it meant that we were in the attraction about 70 minutes, which is pretty close to the 75 minutes that the attraction advertise it as.

Kidzania - A Kids Paradise in London's Westfield Centre

I've been dealing with a very tired 9 year old today, she didn't get to sleep until gone 11pm last night and now she is jumpy and hyper-sensitive. Thank the Lord that our 1pm arrival time has come around for entry into Kidzania as she may now finally calm down a little and settle in to her afternoon of fun!

At the beginning of the year my 9 year old twin girls came to Kidzania with their school class and loved it. It was all they talked about for a couple of weeks. So when it got close to JJ's 13th birthday and he said he fancied a visit too, I jumped at Kidzania's offer to host our family on a date of our choice. We visited on Saturday 8th October for the 4 hour slot commencing at 1pm and I expected it to be heaving but thankfully I was wrong (although the girls tell me it was busier than the school day they had last visited).

Arrival

As our tickets had been booked in advance for us we had printed tickets and this meant we could head straight inside Kidzania and go up the three floor to the British Airways departure lounge. Check-in was easy and the member of staff very smiley and friendly, he certainly knew how to relate to kids. He checked if the kids had any allergies or additional needs and fitted us all with a security bracelet. This meant the kids couldn't leave without my husband or myself and it also acts as a location tracker.

They were handed 50 kidZos each (money just available for the children to earn and spend in Kidzania) and the girls explained to their brother how he earns or spent them. Miss E had saved some KidZos from her previous visit and thus had enough to open a bank account if she wanted. This was the cause of great excitement.

Family Reasons to be Cheerful - Brighton, Smiggle and Twin Love

Happy Thursday friends. I thought I'd ask my family what is making them super cheerful at the moment. Here is what they said -

JJ - He came home with a letter yesterday to say he has won a prize for great work in ICT and considering computing is his first love, he was over the moon. Even more so when he found out he would get a £25 book token as a prize. It also means Hubby and I get to do our proud parents bit and go to the prize giving in November.

Here he is checking out the new Guinness World Records Gamers Edition to see if he is mentioned. He currently holds a Minecraft world record, don't you know!