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Debbie Webber

- http://www.carrotsandkids.com and www.knickerbockerglory.typepad.com/being ordinary

Debbie Webber Debbie is a qualified newspaper journalist with five children and two blogs. She writes a gardening with children blog at www.carrotsandkids.com and a general blog called The Ecstasy of Being Ordinary. She’s our outdoors specialist, with a knack for Top 10s.

Alternative gifts to Easter eggs

Toddlers, Kids+, Fun & activities, Teens

If you have a large or particularly generous family you can find yourself, come Easter Sunday, trying to calm down a sugar overloaded child.

And, at the risk of sounding like a bit of a party pooper, there feels something particularly wasteful about Easter eggs. All that packaging! All that money and they're hollow!

Instead, buck the trend and give a present this Easter that is different from the rest. Here's our list of alternative gifts.

School stops child of lesbian parents enrolling

Just for dads, Just for mums, Education, Latest news

A Catholic school has decided not to allow a pre-school child to enrol next year because her parents are lesbians.

Now the community has rallied to protest at the school's decision to uphold a policy not to let children of same sex parents attend.

The child already attends the school's preschool programme but it was recently decided not to allow her to move up to kindergarten next year.

Easy Mother's Day crafts

Toddlers, Kids+, Just for dads, Fun & activities

Mothering Sunday is coming up, and don't we know it. There are many adverts extolling us to "make mum's day" by buying her a jacket for £69.50 from a High Street store.

Now while I love being spoiled as much as the next stressed and under-appreciated mum, I'm guessing that most of us won't be opening a present like that.

Although Emma has highlighted some thoughtful presents sometimes money can be a bit tight. I reckon we should forget all that and say thanks with something home-made.

Do you have an Easter tradition?

Kids+, Fun & activities

We all know the drill -- as soon as we've packed the Christmas decorations up into the loft the supermarket shelves are groaning with Easter eggs.

It could be taken as another religious festival that's been commercialised, and yet another way of getting us to part company with our money.

Even if you're not a christian it's still a lovely festival to mark. After the long, hard winter we've had I'm looking at it as an excuse to celebrate spring with a handful of old and new Easter traditions on April 4.

Air traffic controller lets son direct planes

Kids+, Latest news

We've all heard of Bring Your Child to Work Day and maybe some of us have actually taken part with our offspring. Hopefully it just involved them spinning on our swivel chair and sharpening a few pencils.

Not so for an air traffic controller who apparently let his young son direct planes at New York's John F Kennedy Airport five times. That sheds a whole new light on taking your child to work with you.

Thankfully no one was hurt in the incident. But it does bring home to you again how much we actually entrust to those who control the skies.

Here's the tape so you can hear it for yourself:



Brilliant books for babies

Babies, Just for dads, Just for mums, Fun & activities

What is free, easy to do, takes just ten minutes a day, stimulates imagination and will help your child learn how to communicate and talk? Yes, reading to your baby.

It is never to early to start. You don't even need to go and buy any books (although it is nice to have a few around). Weekly trips to your local library will soon spark an interest and a love.

But a quick look on the library shelves or in a bookstore can leave parents scratching their heads. There are so many, which are best? With World Book Day upon us we've compiled a list.

Parentview: Clothkits clothing kits to sew at home

ParentView

I want to make my five-year-old daughter cute dresses. I once bought her a second-hand home-made dress from a nearly new sale and it was admired every time she wore it.

I'm tired of the grown-up clothes on offer to little girls and, around here, don't want her to look like all the other children sporting Mini Boden. So home-made it is then.

But there's a hitch. I can't sew. Enter Clothkits, offering skirts, dresses, jackets and dungarees in kit form but the question is, will I be able to make one?

School accused of spying on pupil at home

Education, Latest news, Teens

When a pupil was issued with a school laptop to use at home, little did he realise it would be used spy on him, according to a lawsuit brought against the school.

Student Blake J Robbins was told by the school's assistant principal that she had evidence from the webcam that he had been "engaged in improper behaviour in his home".

Talk about Big Brother watching you. I thought the school's responsibility stopped at the end of the school day when parents took over.



What to expect during your second labour

Pregnancy & birth

We've all probably read the reports on supermodel Gisele Bundchen, who apparently didn't find it painful giving birth to her first child Benjamin in December.

For us lesser mortals it's not quite the same. If you're thinking of having your second child, or are pregnant with number two, you will know only too well what labour is exactly like.

And the question uppermost in your mind might be: will it hurt so much second time around?

Which pregnancy books are best?

Pregnancy & birth

Recently, a newly pregnant friend asked me a question that had me stumped. Not that I'm an expert on pregnancy at all, but I can usually be relied on to recommend a book on the subject – most subjects in fact.

But the world of having babies has moved on considerably since I was a soon-to-be first-time mum. Although it was 14 years ago that I proudly sported my first bump, it feels like light years away.

Not only have buggies got funkier, but the pregnancy section in my local bookshop is positively bulging with weighty tomes on the subject. So, what are the best pregnancy books?

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Bloggers
  • Gia Milinovich Gia Milinovich
    Gia is a TV presenter, well-known blogger and web celeb with a large online following on her blog and on Twitter.
  • Debbie Webber Debbie Webber
    Debbie is a qualified newspaper journalist with five children and two blogs.
  • Jenny Cornish Jenny Cornish
    Jenny has worked on local and regional newspapers for 7 years, and is currently on maternity leave with her first baby.
  • Sarah Powell Sarah Powell
    Sarah is an award-winning journalist who has worked as a writer for lots of publishing corporations in the UK including emap and IPC.
  • Joanne Mallon Joanne Mallon
    Joanne Mallon is an experienced journalist and life coach, published in The Guardian, Daily Express, Daily Star Sunday etc.
  • Katie Lee Katie Lee
    Katie Lee was recently voted one of London’s most influential people by the Evening Standard. She also contributes to Look, Woman & Home and the Telegraph.
  • Suze Nowak Suze Nowak
    Suze is a British ex-pat living in Germany with her husband and young daughter Finje.
  • Suze Nowak Felicity Quigley
    Felicity Quigley is a freelance lifestyle writer and blogger. She has contributed to various magazines and websites including Grazia Middle East.