Copyright Erica Hughes 2021 Affiliate links means that sometimes if you click through to a website and register or purchase something, I get a commission from that sale at no extra cost to you. All opinions and reviews are my own.

Nine to Three Thirty

Family Life With a School Age Child

Scooter Giveaway with Skates.co.uk #Ad

 

 

Blazer Pro Outrun FX Complete Stunt Scooter - Blue Chrome
Skates.co.uk is a family owned company based in Romsey. Skates.co.uk sell a wide range of wheeled products from Heelys, through inline skates, roller skates and skateboards, to a  comprehensive range of scooters.  Scooters have become more and more popular in recent years, with stunt scooters being particularly sought after by tweens and teens.  Learning stunts on a scooter is a lot of fun, plus it’s a great way of getting your child off the computer and out in the fresh air.

For a child just starting out on stunt scooters, it’s best to start with a beginner’s model.  They are generally less expensive which is great whilst your child is learning and it means it’s not an expensive hobby to get into.  A good place to start is the Blazer Pro Outrun FX Complete Stunt Scooter which is suitable for 7-14 year olds. As you can see it looks very sleek with its black and blue good looks.  It doesn’t just look cool though as it has a bar that spins 360 degrees to allow tricks to be done.  It’s currently reduced on Skates.co.uk and you can get it for £99.99.

I’ve teamed up with Skates.co.uk to offer one lucky reader the chance to win a Blazer Pro Outrun FX Complete Stunt Scooter of their own.  Enter via the Gleam widget below.

Competition Terms and Conditions

1. No bulk, third-party or automated entries allowed.

2. Entrants must be aged 18 years or older and resident in the UK.

3. The winner or winners will be chosen by a random draw using the competition widget.

4. Promoter is responsible for fulfilling the prize and full contact details of the winner will be passed onto the promoter to enable prize fulfillment.  Please be aware that prize fulfillment may take a little longer in these uncertain times.

5. The winner’s name may be published on this site.

6. Competition closes 30th May 2021.

Blazer Pro Outrun FX Complete Stunt Scooter

6 Essential Tips for Creating a Safer Home

Our homes often serve as our protection from the outside world. They keep us secure when we sleep and protect our belongings while we are away. With many burglaries, break-ins, and other malicious activities happening every day, keeping our homes as secure as possible is a necessity. After all, there is nothing worse than feeling unsafe inside your home.

What’s more, when it comes to house security, even potentially insignificant things like your roof lighting can sometimes make the difference. If you are looking to boost your home security, you came to the right place. Here, you will find essential tips for creating a safer home for your whole family. Following them will allow you to protect your loved ones from harm and keep your prized possessions from thieves. Here is how you can do it.

Keep Your House Safe Inside

Before protecting your house from thieves and burglars, you have to make sure you’re safe inside. After all, the robbers won’t be your main problem if your child slips on the floor and falls on a sharp edge. Or if you trip over something and break the TV accidentally.

To avoid dangerous situations inside the house, remember to baby-proof the furniture and choose the right materials when renovating or remodeling. For example, check the difference between vinyl and laminate flooring and install the one that suits your (and your child’s) needs. And when your home finally feels safe inside, you can think about the security.

Make Sure That Your Home is Well-Lit at All Hours

One of the most common mistakes homeowners make is not using adequate lighting for their property. They believe that it will cost money to get a professional to install lights or LED lighting for them. They couldn’t be more wrong.

The truth is that not having adequate lighting may cost you much more in the long run. This is because you are more likely to suffer from a break-in. Make sure that your home is well-lit all the time – for example, check these rooflights for flat roofs or put your home lights on timers, so they turn on when it starts getting dark.

Look for the Right Home Security Company

The first step to protecting your home is to partner with the right home security company. Unfortunately, many people assume that they should go with the cheapest option. However, it is not always the case. As a matter of fact, you should be ready to spend a significant amount on a home security service.

That is because most of the cheapest providers use unreliable equipment and services, meaning they will use the cheapest means to protect your home, which will likely leave you vulnerable to burglars and other criminals. Get some recommendations and go for a reliable service like Alarm systems UK to get peace of mind.

On the other hand, hiring a professional home security company will allow you to enjoy the benefits of high-quality equipment. You will also be able to enjoy 24/7 monitoring, so you never have to worry about not being able to reach help.

Maintain Clear Sight Lines Around Your Home

Another common mistake that many homeowners make is obscuring their sightlines around their homes to save money on lawn care. It can be tempting for those who want to save money while still keeping their lawn looking nice.

By obscuring sightlines, you are making it difficult for people driving by your property to see if anything strange is going on. That may increase the chance that criminals will be able to sneak into your home undetected.

If you are looking to keep your family safe, it is important that you avoid this mistake at all costs. To do so, you should make sure that there are no bushes or other obstructions in the way of your sightlines. You should also ensure that your yard is well-lit if you have a long driveway or if you live in an area with crime problems.

Install Motion Sensor Lights Around Your Property and Driveway

Motion sensor lights serve various purposes in keeping your family safe and keeping criminals away from your property. These lights will only turn on when someone or something passes by and automatically turn off after a few minutes of no activity. Thus, these lights serve as an excellent deterrent for criminals looking for an easy crime.

Make Sure That You Regularly Change the Locks on Your Doors and Windows

While you may have high-quality locks installed on your doors and windows, there still may come a time when you need to change them out for a new set. Doing that may be the right idea if you hear rumors about burglars in your neighborhood.

If you want to stay on top of home security, it is important that you stay up-to-date on any new security features that are out there. By doing so, you significantly decrease the chances of being caught off guard by people trying to break into your home.

Arm Your Garage With Security Features

Your garage door is arguably your home’s biggest security threat. That is because most criminals can easily break into a garage door unnoticed. From there, they will be able to find an easy way into your home, all without raising too much suspicion.

If you want to protect your home from such threats, you should invest in a good security system for your garage door. While the exact type of security system that you need will vary based on your budget and needs, it is good to remember that nothing beats an automatic garage door opener with security features installed in it.

The Bottom Line

Choosing the right home security service and taking advantage of these tips will help prevent everything from burglaries to vandalism. Of course, there are various other things you can implement. However, the practices we mentioned are your best shot of increasing your home security the best way possible.

Also, keep in mind that once you implement your security features, it’s crucial that you keep them up to date and in the best state possible. Arming your home is one thing. The other is ensuring everything works as it should.

A Parents’ Guide to Mental Health in Young People

This lockdown has really highlighted the growing mental health problems among young people and children. Most parents have known for a while that the pressures of being young can be tough but adding social media into the mix online bullying, gaming addiction and the plain fact kids don’t have the freedom they once had all go to make a rather negative mix. However, it really isn’t all bad because there are things parents can do to help and support the mental well being of kids of all ages so here is a simple guide to some positive steps all parents can take as well as some handy sites that might help too.

For the purposes of this article young people covers children of all ages up to 18 and even into university age. Mental health and well being can be fostered at a young age and continued through out the teens and beyond.

Talking and Being Open

One of the big things we can do as parents is to create an atmosphere of openness and being able to talk about mental health. This doesn’t mean chatting to a 5-year-old about depression but it does mean creating a home where being sad is OK, being scared is OK as well as being happy. Creating a space where young boys are not told to “stop crying” or “man up” if they are frightened of something. Sometimes school isn’t fun, sometimes going to football practice might make a child nervous for example…these feelings are important so being able to talk about them is really healthy. It can also be quite positive to say that adults feel sad sometimes too or scared and explain how we deal with it. The challenge with being open like this is trying to make sure, as parents or carers, that we say the right thing. There are lots of very positive UK websites that offer help with this like https://youngminds.org.uk/find-help/for-parents/

Encouraging Self Discover and Learning About Mental Health

As young people get older they should be encouraged to explore their own feelings and, if they have concerns about their actions or mental health, to be able to speak to parents as well as look for information on their own. It is crucial they are guided to positive places for this kind of information. Just Googling mental health issues like depression can lead to some bad advice at best, and dangerous information at worst. Sites like Hidden Strength good places to suggest looking, the content is reviewed by professionals and it’s a UK based site which gives confidence to parents it is legit. Be wary of young people getting into a YouTube spiral about mental health and joining Facebook groups, sadly there are people out there offering information to actually enable negative behaviours like self harm so be vigilant and once again…talk about things. If the home is a place where mental health is talked about openly then young people are less likely to explore in secret.

Knowing They are Not Perfect

Mental health can be related to bullying but in a less obvious way young people can take out their own fears and problems on others to help them feel better. It is really important parents appreciate that young people can do the wrong thing and are not perfect. It is the right of a young person to make mistakes, grow and learn. So it is also the job of the care giver to be able to address this and talk about it. The transactional Analysis state of “I’m OK, your not OK” is really common in young people and recognising it from both sides is very useful. If your child is putting others down it may be because they are struggling, and if their friends are putting them down it may be the other way around. The point is, mental well being involves understand actions and reactions and helping young people decipher it all. If a young person is being negative to others is doesn’t mean they are a bad person, it means they may need some support!

Work on Your Own Mental Health

Nothing will cause problems in young people faster than parents with issues of their own. Many parents were born in a time when mental health wasn’t discussed, and people still used terms like “nervous breakdown”. Getting help may not have been an option, but it is now. Having obsessive issues, anger problems or anxiety can change our behaviour and it does affect those around us. Bringing up children with unresolved mental health issues can simply pass on your issues or cause things to express themselves in different ways. As a care giver it really is important to address any issues in order to create a space for a healthy young person to grow. But don’t beat yourself up, be positive and make some changes if you think it will help, you may well find you can fix things you just assumed were “just part of you”.

Making the Best of an Kitchen Extension

 

 

kitchen with glass window in roof
Photo by Tina Dawson on Unsplash

My kitchen is the area of my house that I want to make some changes to in the coming year.  A few years back we extended the kitchen by getting rid of an chimney breast and extending into an underused utility area.  It was great to see the kitchen completed and it was quite an investment in terms of money, time and effort.  As time has moved on though there are some areas I’d like to change and I’ve started to look around for ideas and inspiration to make the best of my kitchen extension.  Here are my ideas for making a real difference to the kitchen in your home.

  • Light is key feature of any room.  A dark room is so often unappealing and it doesn’t encourage people to linger.  Light makes people feel better as well as being practical, after all you need to see clearly to prepare your food. As a way of letting in maximum light, it’s difficult to beat glass roofs as they make such a difference. Of course you can try to recreate the effect with artificial lighting, but natural daylight wins every time with me and designing in natural light into a kitchen is key for me.
  • Make your windows focal points. We didn’t replace the windows when we did the kitchen and that may have been a mistake.  Choose carefully so that you have the right look of window for your home.  On a modern property one piece windows can look very smart, but on a period property you probably should look at ones with glazing bars to create a more in-keeping look.  A cold spot never makes a good focal point, so take the opportunity to upgrade your windows to double glazing while you are at it.  Your home will feel a lot more comfortable for it and you’ll save money on your heating bills.
  • Layout is another consideration.  Traditionally designers aim for a triangle for your high use parts of the room: having the sink, stove and fridge in close proximity, so you can move easily between them.  A little thought devoted to how you will use the room in practice is so helpful.  Often kitchen designers will be able to steer you in the right direction because they will have done all this before and will know what will work best. Listen to their advice, but don’t feel you have to take all of it.
  • If you are redoing a room from stratch, consider putting in more insulation in the floor or the roof.  It will make your house more environmentally friendly and will feel more comfortable to live in during the winter months.
  • Cheap ways to create a new look include a lick of paint for the walls.  Painting or even replacing the cupboard doors or just changing the handles can make a huge difference. Even a few new pictures and a new tablecloth can breathe new life into the heart of our home.