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FREE TAKE ME HOME Thames Valley West IN THIS ISSUE Kids Party Special! RECRUITING NOW Perfect Party Ideas Successful ‘business mum’ is seeking 5 working partners to work Local Party Directory part-time from home, alongside & Mind Map your child’s Party! without compromising family commitments or current career. If you have a supervisory, PLUS managerial, sales, marketing, recruitment or self-employed Does Gender Matter? background, or you wish to develop Beautiful Berkshire Bluebells an extraordinary lifestyle, Summer Camps & Classes please call Diana Page 01235 533362 Independent School Open Days 07747 086518 Issue 95 May/June 2018 familiesonline.co.uk 2 • Henley • Reading • Wokingham • Bracknell • Newbury • West Berkshire familiesonline.co.uk ...endless ideas for families of young children in Henley • Reading • Wokingham • Bracknell • Newbury • West Berkshire Families® Thames Valley West • Issue 95 • MAY/JUNE 2018 Visit us at www.familiesonline.co.uk In This Issue... Don’t Miss these great offers 4-6 News and Views • Child goes FREE at The Look Out Hello from the Editor Discovery Centre – see p10 7 Does Gender Matter? 11 Independent School Open Days • Two week trial at Stagecoach – see ad below • FREE trial class at Perform – see front cover • FREE trial class at Monkey Music – see p.29 • FREE trial class at diddi dance – see p.29 13 Are you carrying the Mental Load for your family? • FREE trial of new parenting app Kandoo – see p.6 14 Summer Camps preview – book early to get the best deals! • Try a FREE Busylizzy class – see p.29 17 Party Special – Mind Map your Child’s Party Advertise with us! If you’re reading this, so are your customers! We can 18 Ideas for Fabulous Children’s Parties! help you reach over 45,000 parents in Reading, 20 Local Party Directory Bracknell, Henley, Wokingham, Newbury, Thatcham, If you’re planning a children’s party in the Crowthorne, Sandhurst, Twyford and West Berkshire towns & villages. Call us on 01235 751 888 or email next few months you won’t want to miss [email protected] for more information our Party Guide, starting on p.17. If the thought of all that planning and preparation The Families Team leaves you anxious, read our guide on how Editor: Lucy Heather to use ‘mind mapping’ strategies to plan the Designed by: perfect party. There’s lots of ideas for party Ridgeway Press Ltd, 01256 300 420 themes on p.18-19, plus we’ve picked the 22 Beautiful Bluebells and Where to Spot www.ridgewaypress.co.uk best local party venues and suppliers in our Them Next Issue: Party Directory on p.20. 24 What’s On over May/June and July/Aug: – Summer Holiday Special! Summer With summer just around the corner, you Half Term Camps & Classes plus the biggest What’s On Guide might want to get your childcare sorted to keep the kids entertained in the school holidays. 28 Clubs and Classes nice and early. Many of the local summer Advertising deadline: Book by 1st June. camps and classes offer ‘early bird’ discounts and are also booking for May half term – see p. 14 for more details. If you’re looking for a new school in September, there are Open Days at many of the independent schools this term – see p.11. To advertise here Finally, our What’s On Guide starting on p.24 is absolutely packed with ideas on please ring places to go with the kids, including over May half term – so there’s no excuse to 01235 751 980 hear the words ‘I’m bored!’ See you in July! Lucy Thames Valley West NOW BOOKING HOLIDAY WORKSHOPS familiesonline.co.uk Email: [email protected] • Tel: 01235 751 980 Families Thames Valley West • 3 News & Views Challenging Vocabulary Market leaders Farquhar’s Vocabulary Flash Cards are pleased to announce a new addition to their range. The grammar school 11+ entrance exam is constantly evolving, with advanced vocabulary increasingly appearing in the exam, particularly in comprehension passages. This new Level 3 pack draws on feedback from a wide range of tutors and teachers about commonly confused or misunderstood words, and on the latest 11+ materials, to help students keep pace with Mental Health Issues Starting Early the changes and excel in the exam. One in 10 children aged five to 16 - or three in This extension pack includes: every classroom - have a diagnosable mental • unusual and old-fashioned words, such as health problem and 75% of mental illness starts ambivalent, trifling, tirade . before the age of 18 according to statistics. • complex homophones like Place2Be, a national charity providing complacent/complaisant, elicit/illicit . emotional support to children, advises that it's • commonly confused words such as never too early or too late to start thinking trait/trite, perpetuate/perpetrate . about your child's mental health. The cards are designed to build on the Some simple actions you can take at any age existing packs, which encourage children to to help promote positive mental health develop a rich bank of vocabulary, include: synonyms, antonyms and compound • Carving out time to be with your child one- words. Each card shows a target word with to-one. Put other worries to one side and a child-friendly definition and a list of actively listen to them and their feelings. synonyms. A sprinkling of idioms have been • Enjoying a quiet activity together can make it added where appropriate, as another way to easier to talk to your child and can encourage help tricky words “stick”. your child to open up naturally. Available as an individual pack or as part • Taking a step back from today's busy lives of a set. and enjoy some dedicated time listening and For more information visit playing with your child. www.vocabularyflashcards.co.uk • Creative activities such as art and craft can encourage bonding with your child. • Providing a stable and consistent environment, with clear boundaries helps children feel secure and better able to learn about and cope with the world around them. It’s National Mills • Be kind to yourself and look after your own Weekend 2018! mental health. This will have the most On Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 May, beneficial impact of all on the wellbeing of National Mills Weekend takes place across your child. the UK, with more than 300 windmills and For more information and advice, visit watermills opening their doors to the www.place2be.org.uk public. This annual festival of our milling heritage is a fantastic opportunity for everyone to explore their local mills. Participating mills include many not normally open to the public, with a range of special events and family-friendly activities. Until the advent of the steam engine, wind and watermills provided the only source of power for many different processes - from making flour, paper and cloth to hammering metal and extracting oils. You can explore mills that produced, or still produce these products, some restored to working order, some derelict, some still working commercially. To find a mill open in your local area, visit www.nationalmillsweekend.co.uk 4 • Henley • Reading • Wokingham • Bracknell • Newbury • West Berkshire familiesonline.co.uk News & Views Decay Rates Drop and Children Lead Adults ‘Grannannying’ is the Word More than three quarters of they come through. It’s never too The trend of grandparents many grandparents play in children aged 11 children now have early to start caring for your baby’s providing vital, day-to-day reducing the financial burden of no tooth decay. This percentage teeth. support to their grandchildren childcare, over half of has increased from 59% a decade Childsmile recommends known as ‘grannannying’ is more grandparents said their help had ago according to recent figures registering a baby with a dentist widespread than you may have enabled their own child/children from the National Dental soon after birth and taking them to thought according to a new to work more to support their Inspection Program (NDIP). YouGov poll for Age UK. family. the dentist for their first visit by the NHS dental registrations in time they are six months old. From Two-fifths (40%) of the nation’s But it’s not all one way. Nearly Scotland also show children are then on, parents should take their grandparents over the age of 50 all grandparents (88%) said they more likely than adults to visit an child to the dental practice every – 5 million – have provided enjoyed the time spent with their NHS dentist in the last two years. six months, or as advised. regular childcare for their grandchildren and half felt it kept However, oral health disorders are For more information, visit grandchildren, according to the them physical and mentally the most common reason for www.child-smile.org.uk survey. The vast majority did so active. elective hospital admission of once a week but a fifth provided children in Scotland, For more information about support 4 to 6 times a week. accounting for over 10,000 the survey, visit www.ageuk.co.uk episodes per year, according Revealing the pivotal role that to the NDIP. According to the national Childsmile programme it is important to protect your child’s first teeth against decay so that adult teeth have a chance to develop before The Coolest Way to Lose Fat In the last issue we met mum-of- The CoolSculpting procedure three, Claire, who decided it was works by delivering controlled time to tackle her mummy tummy cooling to gently and effectively with CoolSculpting. In this issue we target the fat cells underneath the take a closer look at the World’s skin while leaving the skin itself number one non-surgical fat unaffected.