Raise and Shine

What a day: friends, smiles, colour, celebration and acceptance 😊 Proud to value love ❤️🌈 #

Just a quick follow up on the Mother’s Day bake sale on Sunday to thank everyone SO much for your generosity in donating time, homemade bakes and jams and for turning up in the chill 🥶 to support us. Think I may have mentioned it before 😆 but I ❤️ living in Peckham … this community is the brightest, most brilliant and colourful tapestry of humankind and is the very expression of tolerance and openness and is why we must stand against those that wish to oppress freedom. I appreciate that Peckham doesn’t care where you come from, how old you are or what you look like so long as you are also happy to live and let live. To all the passers by who stopped to buy our goodies, I am so grateful and it really was a joy to meet you. I have just had the pleasurable job of transferring £568.90 to the DEC Ukrainian appeal, which will be matched by the bank making it … drum roll …£1,137.80 going to help our friends in Ukraine 🇺🇦😃 We are with you Ukraine

Well, hello! It’s been a while. Fancy one of these bad boys?! Well, good news - I am just popping back on here to let you know that we are having a Mother’s Day front-garden bake sale to raise money for Ukraine 🎂 🇺🇦 🍪 tomorrow from midday and you are invited to come along to say hello, maybe have a cuppa and buy a treat or two 😋 Maybe a Mother’s Day gift? The kids and I have been busy 👩‍🍳 So have our friends and neighbours 😊 Everything we make will be donated to DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. If you want to find us we are on the stretch of Peckham Rye just after The Angel Oak pub (formerly The Rye) - handily on the way to Peckham Rye park. Look out for some Ukrainian flags 🇺🇦

Just a little hello! As I imagine is the case for many, lock down for us has been intense: with some real stressful, testing lows (not least Honey burning her hand badly on the wood-burning stove on week one of lock down 😩 requiring us to be in A&E just at the worst possible time 😳especially as I am in high risk group 😧) but also some really wonderful highs with the chance to set our own agenda, go at our own pace and spend lovely, honest time with each other at home with some of the outside pressures removed (for which we feel a bit guilty given the circumstances!).Throughout all this though, one of the real highs for us has been PE with Joe 💪🏽 thanks to which we have done all together every morning. It’s brilliant as it’s made us laugh, sweat and grunt (well that’s just me really - much to the boys amusement 😂) plus it’s made a lot of money for the which fills my heart with joy. Because they have enjoyed it so much the boys decided to write this poem of gratitude for Joe Wicks ... but in all honesty it’s true to say that they have developed a burning desire to catch a glimpse of Nicky, Joe Wick’s brother who we hear about every day but never see so I suspect this is their real motive 🤣 Does anyone else want to ???

Welcome to ‘The Beyblade Peckham Primary School’ - as named by its three pupils Flint, Jackson and Honey 😀 We are just three days into our whole family-isolation and it’s already been a huge learning curve. There has been improvised home-ed, an 8th birthday with a wonky chocolate cake made with much love and chocolate and a birthday meal (party cancelled 😕), there has been lots of cooking and domestic chores for everyone, there have been stories, games, discussions, bike rides, a bit too many screens, some laughs and there have been tantrums, tears and frustrations. The thing that stands out and makes it feel good is that the last three days have been about focussing on being a ‘we’ more than a set of ‘me’s’. Based on this experience and my knowledge as a parent educator, my first tip for parents dealing with family coronavirus isolation is to start by creating the sense of your family as a TEAM where everyone has a vital part to play. Involve your children in planning and decision-making (from ‘school rules’, timetables for the day, allocation of the chores etc) so they feel a sense of ownership. Listen to their ideas and concerns so they feel heard, valued and validated. By creating a ‘family team’ each team member feels a sense of belonging, responsibility and security - the kind of grounding we all, but especially our children need during uncertain times. This is a lasting gift. And remember: being a parent is not always easy. Being a perfect parent is impossible. But being a parent is good. You’ve got this.

Can’t believe this is all happening really 🤔 but just a quick announcement (to add to the ever-increasing stream of announcements 😬): it is with a heavy-heart that I have decided to postpone the next Raise and Shine 6 week positive parenting with mindfulness course (due to start on 26th) until further notice. The decision comes because some of my clients have understandably expressed concern about meeting as a group during this period. Also, as you may or may not know, I live with SLE and Hypogammaglobulinemia (get your mouth around that one 🤣) and have lung damage as a result, so believe I may fall well and truly into the ‘high risk’ category (but I will confirm this with my consultant next week). I am hugely fortunate to receive IVIG treatment every three weeks thanks to our wonderful NHS so am able to manage an (almost) ordinary life these days, but I don’t want to push my luck, or be responsible for putting anyone else at risk. Keep safe everyone & I will be sure to keep in touch with latest news

So, about last night. Firstly, I enjoyed veggie sushi in a restaurant all by myself WITH NO ONE CRAWLING ME and I even enjoyed A TRIP TO THE LOO ‘toute seule’ - this was all a bit of a novelty as Honey is currently at the ‘limpet’ stage of development! Then I relaxed while I listened to explain that there science shows that any kind of ‘wakeful rest’ (ie any activity you enjoy and find relaxing) is beneficial to mental health, physical health and productivity. She explained the paradox that resting actually makes you more not less productive. Good news eh?! Time for yourself is totally justified. I kind of knew that anyway but somehow having the science helps offset the unjustified guilt we parents tend to feel when taking time to focus on ourselves. After the talk I treated myself to an Uber home and gazed out the window enjoying the remarkable, awesome inspiring city of London that I am proud to call home (I also learned that according to research short periods of day-dreaming, window gazing and doodling - ie all the things you are told NOT to do at school - are excellent rest options!) and was back home and in bed by 10pm 👍 So, date with self = great success. I feel my own night out at ‘The Art of Rest’ was ‘proof of the pudding’: it’s amazing how just a few hours of ‘time out’ reignites the joie de vivre. I was even jolly with the children this morning 😂
Ps the best thing taught me was that for various reasons a tea break ☕️☕️☕️ is one of the most ideal breaks you can have (I promise this is actually true 😃) ... and, as those of you who know me already know, I never say no to a cup of tea (or two 😉) so I am just off to pop the kettle on!
@ Conway Hall

At the start of half term I co-hosted, with the truly professional , what turned out to be an excellent (though I say it myself 😉- although I promise to share some comments from our lovely participants soon to show it’s not just me 😆) workshop. One of the important areas we discussed was the necessity for parents to make time for, pay attention to and care for themselves. Although not always easy to achieve, it is a vital necessity if you are to be a happy, fulfilled person and an effective parent. Remember: the more you give to yourself the more you can expect from yourself! As the ‘emotional and physical ‘engines’ of our families 🚀 we need to fuel and service ourselves effectively if we are to stand any chance of staying on top of things. As such, I have decided to ‘practice what I preach’ and have scheduled a date with myself this evening to go and see speaking about her new book The Art of Rest 🧘🏽🏖 thanks to one my very favourite organisations . I will be sure to report back & let you know how I get on!

After a busy week today we enjoyed a super relaxed lunch with old friends and super talented artist Magda Wynne-Griffith who generously made me this gorgeous, unique plant pot

This workshop is perfect for those of us parents trying to keep things going for everyone and feeling a bit defeated by the post-festive winter gloom!

Ali will work her magic using her coaching expertise to help you realign with your purpose and vision, and I will be supplying some Positive Parenting and Mindfulness tips that are guaranteed to make home life a lot less fraught.

Please join us if you can - you will leave with some new ideas feeling refreshed and motivated (and, at the very least, it's a few hours away from the kids and a chance to drink lots of tea and eat cake 😅)