Short and Sometimes Sweet

So, It has been known from time to time, that I come on here to have a rant about stuff that annoys me. Believe me, lots of stuff gets on my nerves. Anyway this time it's about a comment that a child in school made the other day. Don't get me wrong, I don't blame her and I didn't let her see that it annoyed me, but it did so here I am!                      We had just finished our small group activity and we were cleaning up. The small group activity was colouring work sheets, using crayons and pencils. One little girl was watching everything I was doing. I decided to wash down the table as there was some crayon on it. I rubbed it with the cloth, but the crayon didn't come off. Quick as you like, she says " You can't do that, you need a Daddy to do that" Now she's only four years old, so this remark wasn't really something that she could have made up herself. It was obviously something that had been said to her outside of school. Well, I was

This time of the year, all younger children can think about is Christmas. It's a lovely time of year, full of celebrations etc. It's not the same for me since my kids grew up, but I enjoy it all the same. What drives me mad about Christmas? Advertisements on the tv. From what kinds of food we should be having, to what kind of clothes we should be wearing. The worst of  all being toy advertisements on tv. In particular the way they are aimed at children in a sometimes stereo typical gender specific kind of way, i.e. girls play with so called "girl toys" and boys play with so called "boy toys".               Indeed, it can be found in most toy shops. Whether we realise it or not, everything is segregated into "pink and fluffy" or "blue and red" departments. In my job I have to buy new equipment from time to time, and recently I needed to buy a play kitchen. Do you know how difficult it is to try and find a toy kitchen that is not pink or p

I haven't written a blog for a couple of months, because I've been busy with life and school. Yesterday though a report was published in Ireland that kinda made me angry. So I'm goina vent it here. I have been working and teaching in the Early Years sector in Ireland for nearly 16 years. In that time, as you can imagine I have come into contact with lots of families. The families I work with are mostly from disadvantaged backgrounds. They have little or no income to speak of, in spite of the fact that my town is considered posh! There are a lot of rich people living here, but also there are pockets of disadvantage. I chose to teach children in this area as I am from a poor background myself. Indeed I was given a chance to escape, and due to hard work and dedication I'm doing ok!                        Over the past few years our Government have been putting together a report into "growing up in Ireland". Some of the results were published yesterday and they

“ It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped ” In my job we use a method to teach the children called “Highscope”. A characteristic of this method is a heavy emphasis on choices. We believe that by giving the children the means and ways to make their own choices, we can empower them to become independent individuals. Many parents cannot comprehend how a child of two and a half can make an informed choice. It requires a lot of patience and understanding, as well as the correct training. Through learning about this method, I have actually grown in my own understanding of life. That is to say, I have learned that we always have a choice.   The choice we would like may not be available, but the fact is, we all have free will.                                                          At this time of the year, it can be difficult to persuade the children to sit at the table at certain times of the day. So we offer them a choice. They can sit on their chair, or sit

“Memories are the treasures that we keep locked deep within the storehouse of our souls, to keep our hearts warm when we are lonely.”         How many times have you smelled a smell and instantly been reminded of a memory that you thought was long gone? Or caught sight of a TV programme you used to watch when you were younger and immediately found yourself transported back there as if it were yesterday? The power of the mind never ceases to amaze and astound me.               A long time ago, when my children were very young and I was all caught up in the day to day trudge of things, a very wise person gave me this advice....”Children are a blank canvas, be careful what you paint”. I asked her to explain this further and she told me that we are our children’s first teachers, we are their role models, and as such we are making their memories. She said that every activity that we share, however menial, has an impact that may only become obvious in later life. For example, adults may get

So, I’m relatively new to all this Twitter and Blogging stuff, but for ages my friends have been trying to get me to join Facebook. I really don’t like it, it’s my prerogative to not like it, and I don’t intend joining any time soon. I am however on twitter, dailybooth, and blogger. I joined these social networking sites to alleviate the boredom I felt while recovering from an operation.                              I find it amazing that I can have friends all over the world, in different time zones to chat to. Sometimes we share songs, videos, jokes etc at the mere press of a button or two. Indeed, we sometimes share bad moods and rants too. I have also met up with most of my followers, or had skype conversations with them. I really love the social side of life and chatting about stuff. I have even been accused of being addicted to twitter.                                Recently I have been wondering though, do people actually believe everything they read on twitter? I mean I could

“We shall not cease from exploration.   And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” T.S. Elliot This is one of my favourite quotes. A while ago I read “The Alchemist” by Paolo Cohelo. To cut a long story short, it’s about a man who is in search of a particular place and the journey he takes to get there. It really made a lot of sense to me.                                                        Lots of people say “Life is a journey” and how many times do we nod and raise our eyes and think “Yeah, yeah” But you know what? Life is a journey, a journey on a bumpy road with lots of turns and choices to be made but a journey none the less.   Ultimately some of the path will be alone, and the burdens will be ours to carry. We shouldn’t be afraid to ask our friends for help with these choices and burdens.   It is often said a trouble shared is a trouble halved.                                                                   

This is my first ever foray into blog writing. I feel like I have lots of information floating around my head and that it would be good to put it out there so to speak. I’m going to start off by talking about my favourite subjects-me and my family!                                I’m a mom of three......I hesitate to call them “children” because at 21, 19 and 15 I regard them more as “adults in training”.  I am a pre-school teacher, having studied early childhood education in college for six years. I have worked my way up from ground level to now owning my own school. I am married to Pat, whom I met when I was 15. He says it was love at first sight but I don’t know if I believe in that crap! I just know I didn’t even like him when I met him first! I actually tried to set him up with a friend of mine at the time! He was having none of it, so we became friends. I was completely unaware of his feelings for me, and one day another friend asked would I go on a blind date with someone. I thou