Having grown up in a house with a father for a teacher, I was involved in education and school life from a very young age. It seemed logical that I should study to be a teacher. Once I qualified, I taught ages four to eleven for 8 years in primary school, both in South Africa and in the United Kingdom.
At some point in my teaching career I came to realise how little ‘real’ information there was for parents. I would get the same questions from friends and parents mainly about keeping the children learning and engaged and this only increased when I gave birth to my daughter.
Suddenly I was propelled into the confusing world of toddler groups, art clubs, music and sport clubs … the list was endless, each one proclaiming to be the best thing for my child. How would I choose, what was really the right thing and how could I be sure that I was doing the right thing as a mother?
So I set about researching a variety of topics that either I or friends wanted to know more about … and after almost 3 years of collecting information and talking to other parents I found that there was not really a site dedicated to this age group.
And so ToddleBabes was born. What better than to have ONE place for all the information a parent might need about raising their child …
Areas I explore in my posts include;
- Physical Development: Part of child development is how our toddlers discover the wonder of their bodies. Including physical activities such as basic sports and dance. Information on potty training and gender development.
- The World: How toddlers learn about the world around them. This includes looking after the planet, planting and growing as well as reuse and recycling activities.
- Emotions and Behaviour: Find out about self-control and dealing with emotions. Learning how to interact with peers, adults, caregivers and other members of the community.
- Creative Activities: Encouraging and supporting self-expression and developing a love for art and crafts. Creativity and self-expression is vital for your toddler's self-esteem. Activities to help your child be creative and to use self-expression. Art and crafts ideas.
- Educational Activities: Articles about how your toddler learns to communicate and express himself verbally. This also includes reading and phonics information. Help your toddler to solve problems and learn at the same time. This includes mathematics, numeracy and thinking and organisational skills.
Now a mother of a gorgeous 13 year old girl, a precious 11 year old boy and a sweet 8 year old boy, I have created this space for other parents, just like me, to meet, chat, share ideas, get advice and find out useful tips and ideas. My aim is to save you time by giving you everything you may need all in one place.
I also have a passion for making beautiful things for my home, so you may find a random post about up-cycling a bit of furniture or making a decorative piece for my home. I will unashamedly admit, that I am a serial pinner with many boards of "things" I will one day attempt.
It's been a few years since I started this blog and I'm getting older..yes I'm now in my forties, so I intend to write about aging gracefully (or not) and since I'm always chasing that elusive yummy mummy status I've added health, beauty, fitness and style posts to help us all be the best we can be.
I do hope that you find this a useful tool and I look forward to chatting with you on the blog.
Happy parenting!
Carla
Some of the courses I have attended over the years:
- Paediatric First Aid Level 3
- Effective Safeguarding Practice
- Level 2 Food Safety and Hygiene
- Prevent Training- Channel Awareness
- Speech, Language and Communication
- Supporting Children with SEND in the Early Years
- SEND Code of Practice
- Understanding and Addressing Behaviour in the Early Years
- Understanding Behaviour in the Early Years
- Being Safe-Effective First Aid management in your setting
- Equality and Inclusion in the Early Years Setting
- Being a Key Person in an Early Years Setting
- Safeguarding Children certificate
- Cycle Training Tutor
- Identifying and Managing Preferred Learning styles
- Bringing Science Alive Primary Science conference
- National Numeracy Strategy Developing Mathematics in Years 4,5 and 6
- RFU community coaching Tag Rugby
- Netball Coach certificate
- St John’s Ambulance First Aid
- Using Drama in the Literacy Hour and Beyond
- Poetry Class
- London Learning Programme of ICT Training Inclusion
- International Swimming Coach
- Conflict Management
- Bronze Medallion Life Guard certificate
DISCLAIMER AND TERMS OF USE OF THE TODDLEBABES PARENTING BLOG
The owner and publishers disclaim any warranties (express or implied), merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose. The author and publisher shall in no event be held liable to any party for any direct, indirect, punitive, special, incidental or other consequential damages arising directly or indirectly from any use of the materials on this blog, which is provided “as is”, and without warranties.
As always, the advice of a competent professional should be sought.
The owner and publishers do not warrant the performance, effectiveness or applicability of any sites listed or linked to on this website. All links are for information purposes only and are not warranted for content, accuracy or any other implied or explicit purpose.
