My Captured Moment; Downy Duckling Days!

Bringing Up Teenagers

There is no right or wrong...

This is not a how-to guide. I honestly don't think it would matter how many teenagers you brought up, you will never become an expert. Everyone is different, including children and young adults. You will not get it right all the time. Fact. You might as well accept it now. There is no room for perfection in any aspect of parenthood, but luckily, children don't actually care about perfection, they care about happiness and security. The good news is, you can give them that without being an expert, you just need to walk a mile in their stinky trainers now and again.

Sunday Photo; Fresh Baked Pain au Chocolat

My Sunday Photo; View from M-Shed Over the Harbour

Bristol Bits: M Shed

M Shed is somewhere we've been planning to go to for a while, but just haven't got around to it. The easiest way to travel into Bristol is by bus, but it's no fun if the weather is bad, so we haven't been into the city for a little while now. Hopefully, this is the first of many sunnier jaunts! Although it's a great indoor activity, M Shed has some outside exhibits, so it does help to have the weather on your side. There are a wealth of hands-on exhibits within, though, and something to interest everybody. This place really brings local history to life. It's very large, and very free, so you can while away as long as you like walking around, experiancing a bygone age. 

Why Pay More for Hot Chocolate?

I recently ran out of hot chocolate and was surprised to find out just how easy it is to make a really delicious hot chocolate, using just milk, sugar and Cocoa. This particularly appealed to me, because I don't get on well with dairy and try to avoid it if I can. The shop-bought hot chocolate I was used to was one you made with water, so the milk was already added. Not only does this mean you have to suffer the dairy content, but also, like all processed foods, there are lots of other ingredients too that aren't strictly necessary. Take this example from Tesco. This is a list of ingredients for their Value hot chocolate;

Space Age Strawberries; Making Fruit Exciting for Children!

My daughter has been the big sister to a fussy eating younger brother for years and during that time she has come up with lots of fun ways to encourage him to try new foods. I don't know why she is so good at it, I think it's partly the imagination of youth and partly the fact that she is close enough in age to him to still remember what it was like to be suspicious of food! Her latest invention is a novel way to jazz up some strawberries. This simple recipe makes them more appealing to little, and bigger, picky eaters and it involves a product I am a huge fan of. It's not especially cheap, contrary to my normal food posts, but it does last a long time, as a little goes a long way. Dr Oetker Shimmer Spray is so much fun, your food will never be the same again!