Brighton - UK - http://joannemallon.typepad.com/joanne_the_coach/
An experienced life coach and journalist, published in The Guardian, Daily Express, Daily Star Sunday etc. A mother of two, she regularly comments on parenting issues for UK and international readio and press. Her eldest is 9, she's a trained life coach and NLP practitioner and is interested in children's behaviour, offering practical support and advice for parents. She blogs at http://joannemallon.typepad.com
Here's our regular weekly roundup of what's new for families. This week the accent is on fun, but if you're a little stressed out we can help with that too.
For children aged 5 and over Earlier in the year we brought you the launch of Lego Minifigures, and this week sees the release of Series Two in the range. What's lovely about these toys is the entirely random nature of the sixteen figures - this time round you get everything from a vampire to a Spartan warrior to a disco dude.
These figures have been a runaway success since their release, though some parents expressed disappointment with the unexciting female figures. Well, series two almost redeems itself with a fabulous Wizard of Oz style green-faced witch. A great pocket money toy or alternative to party bags. Lego Minifigures Series Two launches on 1st September at retailers including Tesco and Toys R Us - look out for the blue packets. RRP £1.99. Each pack contains one figure - last time some websites printed the bar codes for all the various figures, so look out for that again if you're completing a collection.
As we welcome the Camerons' new daughter, I wonder how long it will take Sam Cam to start a blog. We're just disappointed she didn't go for Cornish names like Tamsin or Tamar (Tam Cam) or even Camilla (Cam Cam).
Everyone's at it. This week BBC Newscaught up with something we could all have told them quite some time ago - mummy bloggers are fast on their way to becoming the new Masters of the Universe.
And brace yourself for more bloggers in the news as the Blogladesh trip starts next week - read more about that and see which bloggers are taking part here.
At home, WAHM-BAM! is braving the mess fest of baby-led weaning, and this post is a useful guide if you're thinking of doing the same. Plus you can check out WB's super-cute cleaning machine.
Congratulations to Two Become Four, who's celebrating a year full of ups and downs. Let's hope that next year is all up.
Welcome to our regular weekly roundup of cool stuff for families. And we start with a new range of baby products that's so cool, it's absolutely ice box.
For babies with attitude
What do you buy the baby who's got everything, apart from a dummy designed to look like a pirate tattoo? Why, something from the Rock Star Baby range of course.
Designed by Bon Jovi drummer Tico Torres, this range of baby accessories is for parents who are too rock 'n roll for the usual pastels.
Newly arrived in the UK, the Rock Star Baby range starts at £7.99 (the bottle and dummy gift set shown here is £32.99), and is available from online retailer Mummy's Online Baby Shop.
What do you think of this? Is it the ultimate in cool baby gear, or too grungy for words?
There's no stopping mummy bloggers when they get behind a charity campaign. Recently we followed the efforts of the Hadrian's Walkers, who raised over £20,000 for their cause.
Now charity Save the Children is harnessing some of the power of the parenting blog, as they've announced plans to take a group of the UK's leading mummy bloggers to meet fellow mums in Bangladesh.
The trip - dubbed #blogladesh - kicks off a campaign to pressurise world leaders at the UN Summit in New York to deliver on their promises to make life better for mums and children around the world.
Mummy bloggers taking part (and pictured here with Liz Scarff from Save the Children) are: Josie George AKA Porridgebrain of Sleep is for the Weak; Sian To of Mummy Tips and Eva Keogan of Nixdminx. They'll be tweeting, blogging, vlogging and creating photo galleries live from Bangladesh.
This week on ParentDish we brought news that spread a chill in the heart of every mummy and daddy blogger.
Friends, our worst nightmare has come to pass, as the children have started blogging about us. Luckily I am a fine upstanding citizen with nothing to fear, but the rest of you better hide the wine.
Also in these parts, this week saw the largest ever number of comments on a ParentDish story, as over 900 of you were moved to vent your feelings about the jobless couple having their 12th baby.
This week I was very inspired by All Baby Advice and her fitness routine. ABA is challenging others to do the same, but frankly I had to have a sit down and a cup of tea after reading that post.
I'm also green with envy at Susanna of A Modern Mother, who's been having a most bodacious holiday. All About Us has been on a trip too - in mind as well as body.
My ten year old daughter approached me with that pleading gleam in her eye. What was she after this time? Money? Sweets? A phone? I steeled myself to say no to all three
Mummy can I have a blog?
Well, I wasn't expecting that one. With the rise of mummy blogging over the last few years, perhaps it's inevitable that our children will start looking over our shoulders and want a piece of the online action. And blogging technology has become so simple now that a child can and will do it.
Last year a study by the National Literacy Trust claimed that children who blog have improved literacy skills.
Hello and welcome to our regular weekly roundup of what's new for families - and this week, it's all about the oldies, reborn.
Break out your red stripy jumper, because the latest Dennis and Gnasher DVD compilation of their popular animated BBC show is released today.
Retailing at £7.99, Dennis and Gnasher - School Rules? Highly Over-rated! features six episodes of our prank-mad anti-heroes. They battle grown ups, wimps and their nemesis Wet Eared Walter. Yes Walter the Softy is no more in this updated version of the Beano stories.
And speaking of updates, did you know that the classic board game Monopoly has been reinvented for its 75th anniversary? Manufacturers Hasbro have just launched their Autumn toy range, and new age Monopoly was the star of the show.
The biggest change is that all the dealing is done via credit card. So no more battling over who gets to be the banker, and no more multi-coloured Monopoly money to flutter around the board. The value of the property has been updated too - now a slice of Mayfair will set you back a cool £4million.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a man in possession of a family must be in need of a blog to moan about them. And since you don't have to be female to be a mummy blogger, this week we take a look at what some of our favourite dads have got to say for themselves
My Daddy Cooks blows a big raspberry at the assumption that men can't multi task: He cooks, he films, he blogs - often simultaneously. But he's not totally perfect and is prone to the occasional disaster.
The Life and Times of a Househusband is on a quest for knowledge - he should talk to Just A Typical Dad, who's giddy with the thrill of blogging via iPhone.
So we're in that late summer lull - the weather isn't what it was, and a tidy bedroom is a figment of everyone's imagination. With rain clouds on the horizon, you may be in search of some indoor entertainment, so let's take a look at what's new to keep your family occupied this week.
Toy Story 3 has been the big family movie of the summer - you can read our review here. But now there are some fresh contenders making their way to your cinema screens.
Cats and Dogs 2: The Revenge of Kitty Galore is out now in cinemas, a sort of animal James Bond spoof, where the aim of the game is to stop an evil cat (voiced by Bette Midler) from taking over the world. This has had some 'ruff' reviews, so pack plenty of popcorn to keep you going.
A much better bet for children aged 10 and over is The Sorcerer's Apprentice. It stars Nicolas Cage and is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, so that means high concept action adventure and amazing CGI special effects, but not too many explosions since it's a PG.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice opens around the UK on 11th August. Check out the trailer below, it looks totally amazing:
Be brave friends, only a few more weeks (or days if you're in Scotland) before those small people who ate all the crisps will be safely incarcerated in school again. In the meantime, settle down for our regular weekly catchup of the best of the UK's parent bloggers.
Right now the BlogHer conference for women bloggers is happening in New York. Sian from Mummy Tips is there for the UK mummy bloggers so check out her blog for updates. I bet the cakes are bigger (but not better).
This week on ParentDish we raised our eyebrows and said "You sure about that one?" to the news of the pole dancing classes launched for nine year olds.
Elsewhere, trauma for Adventures of an English Mum, who's been dealing with rudeness And another type of rudeness is on the cards for Artistically Nuts, who's got a dilemma involving her lady bits
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 is a qualified newspaper journalist with five children and two blogs.
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 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 is an experienced journalist and life coach, published in The Guardian, Daily Express, Daily Star Sunday etc.
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 is a British ex-pat living in Germany with her husband and young daughter Finje.
Felicity Quigley
Felicity Quigley is a freelance lifestyle writer and blogger. She has contributed to various magazines and websites including Grazia Middle East.
Emma Cossey
Emma is our resident fashion specialist, having worked as a blogger and writer on a number of fashion and beauty websites.
Parentdish.co.uk, the ultimate guide to celebrating the joys and challenges of parenting. Updated daily, Parentdish.co.uk will offer the best advice, entertainment, news, opinions, and reviews for mums and dads who want to be informed and encouraged to be great parents. It documents the trends, hits, misses and anything of interest happening in the parenting world.
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Parentdish
An experienced life coach and journalist, published in The Guardian, Daily Express, Daily Star Sunday etc. A mother of two, she regularly comments on parenting issues for UK and international readio and press. Her eldest is 9, she's a trained life coach and NLP practitioner and is interested in children's behaviour, offering practical support and advice for parents. She blogs at http://joannemallon.typepad.com
As we welcome the Camerons' new daughter, I wonder how long it will take Sam Cam to start a blog. We're just disappointed she didn't go for Cornish names like Tamsin or Tamar (Tam Cam) or even Camilla (Cam Cam).
There's no stopping mummy bloggers when they get behind a charity campaign. Recently we followed the efforts of the Hadrian's Walkers, who raised over £20,000 for their cause.
My ten year old daughter approached me with that pleading gleam in her eye. What was she after this time? Money? Sweets? A phone? I steeled myself to say no to all three
Gia Milinovich
Debbie Webber
Jenny Cornish
Sarah Powell
Joanne Mallon
Katie Lee
Suze Nowak
Felicity Quigley
Emma Cossey
