parenting - Polly Jemima

Keeping Learning Alive Through the Summer (Without Making It Feel Like School)

The summer holidays are a time for slowing down. For muddy feet, lazy breakfasts, ice creams that melt too quickly and evenings that seem to last forever. They’re a chance...

a person holding a ceramic cup while reading a book

Finding Little Moments of Me Time During the Summer Holidays (Without Feeling Guilty)

The summer holidays arrive with so much promise. Long, lazy mornings. Adventures together. Ice creams in the sunshine. Bare feet in the garden. Memories waiting to be made. And they...

How to Create a Summer Journal with Your Children (A Keepsake They’ll Treasure for Years)

There’s something about summer that seems to slip through our fingers. One minute we’re celebrating the last day of school, and the next we’re buying new shoes, labelling uniforms and...

The Best Summer Family Offers in Cheshire & North Wales (2026)

Summer holidays are magical… but they can also become expensive very quickly. The good news is that there are lots of brilliant ways to make your family budget stretch further,...

30 Easy Ways to Entertain Your Children at Home This Summer

Long summer days have a lovely way of stretching out in front of us… until about 10am, when someone announces they’re bored. The good news is that entertaining children doesn’t...

Mindfulness for Mama: Finding Peace in the Pause

If you’re a mama in the thick of raising little (or not-so-little) ones—possibly juggling school/home education, work, meal prep, housework, and all the emotional labour that comes with motherhood —you’re...

Those tricky toddler days

Toddlers. I’m sure there are a thousand memes about toddlers, tantrums and surviving them. I’ve done these years 4 times already… though no two children are ever the same. I’m...

Now I’m the Mama of an adult…

Saturday saw my eldest daughter turn 18. 18!!! I managed to raise an actual adult. As I sat writing her card the night before her birthday, I was struck with...

The importance of one-on-one time for kiddos & 5 tips for special time

Kiddos thrive on connection and attention. With only one child, that’s easy to figure out – when I had just one, we had so much time just the two of...

Be kind to yourself Mama

One thing I’ve learned over my sixteen years of parenting is that I have to remember to be kinder to myself. Especially when I’m pregnant and have just had a...

When adulting sucks

Yesterday was one of *those* days. I woke up too early, tired, naggy, hormonal and just not really feeling it. I’d just poured a cup of tea when Beastie woke...

Burnt toast and cold coffee

This week has been one of those weeks. The ones when the kids won’t stop arguing, you’re a huge hormonal, emotional mess, you’re super tired and stressed and everything seems too...

6 tips to help when you’re feeling overwhelmed

I don’t know if it’s the weather, sheer exhaustion or just taking on too much, but this past week I’ve been feeling majorly overwhelmed, a little burnt out and seriously...

Summer Reading Challenge

We’re a family of book lovers. G and I have always loved to read, and I’m so glad we’ve passed that love on to our kiddos. People who visit our...

Summer Bucket List {and free printable}

Summer is finally here, we’re wrapping up a few homeschool projects and the like before we head fully into summer mode. While obviously we’re not tied to school holidays, we...

Tag: parenting