By Kate Hodges
20th July 2023
DO AND RECIPE GET YOUR VITAMIN SEA
It’s National Marine Week. Organised by The Wildlife Trusts, it’s actually 15 days of all things salt-watery. Why not search for natural treasures, go mud-dipping, or join a night-time rock pooling safari near you? Find an event near you. Alternatively, take action nearer home and organise your own beach clean, or join the Great Egg Case Hunt.
Find our favourite rock pooling beaches here and how to clean up your local beach here. You might take the opportunity to collect shells and driftwood to make this super-stylish mobile, or forage seaweed to make seaweed and citrus cordial or seaweed and chocolate cookies.
Why not set up your own family complaints choir? It’s a good way to share domestic peeves and air grievances in a low-stress (if ever so slightly passive aggressive) manner. Find out how to set up your own choir here, and dive more deeply into the minds behind the complaints choir movement here.
Music has a beneficial effect on our children’s development; find out more here, read our tips for musical fun with toddlers here, and discover how to use music to engage with your children here.
DO SING IT OUT
We have become a little obsessed with the worldwide Complaints Choir movement, a community art project that invites people to sing about their complaints in a choir with fellow grumpards. Find out about a recent Northampton Complaints Choir performance here.
EVENT FIELD DAY
Tower Bridge is a bustling, touristy part of London, but this weekend’s new free festival In a Field By A Bridge celebrates the local community living in the super-central area. Taste signature dishes at Feast in a Field, make models inspired by the animals and plants found along the Thames, join Timberlina’s Rock n Roll Nature Revelation, listen to the extraordinary music of the London Vegetable Orchestra, or browse brilliant junk at Wayne Hemingway’s Suitcase Sale in Potters Fields. Part of the celebrations for four years of London National Park City.
DO WASTE NOT
Many of us are giving up single-use packaging this month. Plastic Free July is a global movement that helps millions of people be part of the solution to plastic pollution. Find out why going low-waste is a great idea and how to start here, read ways in which Kathryn Houldcroft tackled the challenge here, discover ways to ditch plastics in your cleaning routine here, how to reduce waste during your baby’s early years here, and read Bea Johnson’s tips for getting closer to a zero waste lifestyle here.
Folk by the Oak Festival
An uplifting, family friendly summer festival of the finest folk, roots and acoustic music in beautiful leafy parkland - More...
DO YOU DO YOU
Sunday is International Self-Care Day. We are big advocates of trying to carve time out for some self-love. The more supportive of ourselves, the easier parenting can be (read why here). Many of us feel guilty for making time for self-compassion, but Nina Armstrong believes it’s not selfish to look after yourself. Find her suggestions for how to integrate a daily practice of self-care here.
We asked four self-care queens for their top three self-care tips:
Alyssa Cockerell created The Thriving Cycle Method to help women get in touch with their hormones and sex drive. “Stress levels, imbalanced diet, not sticking to your personal boundaries and not living in alignment with your menstrual cycle can all affect our sex drive. I have three daily tips to help you get in a serious relationship with your body.”
Sarah Ryan is the founder of Mama Moments – helping mums put themselves first and make time for self-care. “What you need when your baby is two months old, will be different to what you need when your child is two years old. We need to get curious and notice how we feel after different activities to discover what self-care is for us. Does meditation help you reenergise? Or maybe it’s a run listening to your favourite music?”
T’era Burton, mum of three, is a mental health advocate. “Children need to see us being open and honest about how we feel. If we create spaces of openness it will help them to view and process their own emotions in a healthy way. It’s natural to want to hide those parts of us but, when we take the steps to be real and even heal to be healthy in our emotions we are showing that there’s strength in vulnerability.”
And Erin Erenberg, founder of Totem Women, writes about three simple self care habits that you can start today. “The phrase “self care” is so overused that it’s more likely to evoke an eye roll than it is to inspire a positive change in routine. But there’s nothing like the loss of our familiar structures and routines to wake us up about the importance of looking after our health and happiness.”
WHAT WE’RE DRINKING Cucumber and Ginger Smoothie Harvesting a cucumber is one of our greatest garden joys – once you try a freshly picked cucumber, the supermarket ones will never suffice again. The crunch and sweetness of a homegrown cucumber are delightful, but you can also turn these green wonders into a super refreshing and tasty smoothie. Try this smoothie on a warm summer’s morning, and you’ll be hooked. Find the recipe here
WHAT WE’RE READING The Benefits of Boredom: What kids can learn from handling more free time: “Kids often complain about being bored. But boredom can actually help them develop skills, creativity and self-esteem. Both little kids and older ones often need some help coming up with things to do with unstructured time. But once you’ve got them going, they can take the boredom ball and run with it.” Read more here
