Raising kids around the world W
PRODUCTS
DAVID ALMOND could have stopped with Skellig, his debut novel that features a man with creaking wings who had a penchant for Chinese food, but fortunately he didn’t.
Two decades on, and the Newcastle-born writer is still producing children’s books that soar across the page, and sear themselves on your brain.
It’s the summer holidays and young Davie has a bag packed with snacks, pens and paper, and is sent off outside by his mam.
The day takes a sinister turn when a boy’s body, crumpled and bloody, turns up and sets Davie’s community alight. Thinking he’s got an idea of who the killer is, we follow as Davie’s day unfolds – from furred fruit pastels and first kisses, to blazing gorse in flower and tall tales of buzzards told by wizened neighbours.
Almond, as he always does, slips and slides between what we know, and the realms of ghosts, fairies and memory, making one day in Davie’s life bitter-sweet with loss, longing and the shocking beauty of the natural (and supernatural) world.
The Colour Of The Sun is really, really something. CUDDLEDRY handsfree kids’ towels are set to make a splash with the launch of two new designs. The muchloved Cuddleroar (above) will be joined by two new characters – the Cuddlebunny, left, and the Cuddlepanda, below.
Fans of the super soft and cuddly bath towels will love the new range, which caters for children aged 1-3yrs and 3-6yrs. Cuddledry use a signature bamboo and cotton mix to create a silky soft fabric. The new toddler towels will cost £29.99 for 1-3yrs and £34.99 for 3-6yrs. They are available from the end of this month from cuddledry.com HETHER it’s infants being looked after by other children or avoiding eye contact with a crying baby, some everyday parenting practices in other countries are unusual in Britain.
But just because we’re taught to parent in a certain way doesn’t mean other child-rearing techniques are wrong. They’re just different.
Parenting coach Sue Atkins says: “A child needs proper amounts of sleep, food, and nurturing to bloom. But how parents meet those necessities varies wildly, depending on where we live.”
Here are seven intriguing ways children are often raised in other countries – and Sue’s thoughts on whether more parents here should try them out. bring up their children. Many parents in other countries – including Spain, Greece, India and Italy – also believe youngsters are better off when the extended family helps raise them.
Sue says there is no reason why this wouldn’t work in the UK, but we might need to readjust our thinking.
“We live increasingly further away from our families than a generation ago, so have lost that ‘it takes a family’ mentality, fearing criticism from others,” she observes. seven years old, while in Finnish daycare centres, the emphasis is on creative play.
Sue says schools there also provide frequent breaks for outdoor time, shorter hours and more varied topics than UK schools.
She adds: “While we in the UK seem to be eating into playtime to teach more formal academic lessons and cut funding to subjects like art and music, Finnish educators emphasise that learning art, music, home economics and life skills is essential. Frequent breaks between learning would work in the UK.”
MANY children in South Korea are taught that food is best when enjoyed as a shared experience and, Sue says, kids often have to wait until it’s time for the whole family to sit down before they eat.
This practice is thought to have numerous benefits – teaching delayed gratification and, as Korean children eat the same food as adults, they tend to be less fussy too.
While busy lives might make it difficult to always eat together, Sue says it would, of course, work for children in the UK too.