A blog about being a pretty average dad… and stuff (formerly Henry's Blog)
Our house has been taken over by chocolate fever, and it shows no sign of abating. Sweeties are causing a rumpus, chewing gum has elicited gasps of excitement and you can’t even imagine the delights caused by gobstoppers… It’s not the Christmas leftovers that are driving my children mad, though – it’s a lot more…
With the big day fast approaching, and a trip to see Father Christmas still not ticked-off our seasonal ‘to do’ list, my wife came across an interesting new option last week. It seemed to fulfil all the criteria: a fun day out, a chance to meet the big man and do some other Christmassy stuff,…
Story time at our house is often a source of inspiration for my blog. The other night was no exception! With bath time done and dusted, we sat down to read the usual stories before bedding down for the night. Rather than pick one of the more ‘modern’ offerings on the shelf, Freddie opted for…
I think I just bribed my son. I didn’t mean to. I had intended to create a reward program which would be mutually beneficial to both him and us, his parents. I wanted to reward him for doing something which will be good for him, will encourage him to try new things and step out…
Today I realised that my son is unlikely to be the next David Beckham. I also realised that, unlike a lot of my fellow fathers, this doesn’t bother me in the slightest. This story starts back in the Spring. Whilst playing in the park with the other children looked after by our child-minder, Robert began…
As I’ve reviewed a few family days-out now (all at my own behest, I hasten to add – though if anybody wants to send us anywhere nice, just shout!) I decided I might as well make a bit of a feature of it and review some of the other days out that we have as…
New York. It’s an enormous place, and if you ever have the opportunity it’s a wonderful place to visit. It’s also surprisingly child friendly, they’ve got a fantastic safety record and it’s no problem at all to come back after the sun has set. One of the hardest parts is finding places to visit that…
Back in April, we reviewed the BoomCo ‘Twisted Spinner’ blaster – you can read it here, or just watch the video we made at the bottom of the post. We must have done something right, because the latest release from BoomCo has arrived, and we were once again asked to review it. Much like the…
The Elliss family were on the brink of a developmental dental-disaster this evening… It all started when my wife picked Robert up from school. He’s had a wobbly tooth now for several weeks – possibly months. We’re talking the most hotly-anticipated teeth-based incident for decades. This was Robert’s first foray into teeth-losing, so it took…
Today I learnt (to much amusement, I’m ashamed to admit) that somebody I know has an unusual phobia. Now I’m not going to name names here, because I don’t want to see the person in question suffering from unnecessary anxiety (though part of me is quite curious to see what happens!) but the phobia got…