Five Reasons Why my Marriage is (Currently) Working so Well

By The Tale of Mummyhood | July 23, 2018 | Comments 22 comments

Recently we attended a friend’s wedding. The venue was an old barn purposely converted for these kinds of events. It was picturesque and its rooms were filled with loved up couples, all fighting to hold back tears of joy. There’s nothing more romantic than a wedding celebration. Even for the stone hearted among us, it’s hard not to soften even just a little.

As we sat down to the wedding breakfast, the father of the bride stood up to give his speech. The poor guy was finding it so hard to hold it together in front of his radiant daughter, but he managed to part with some good advice for a long and happy marriage. My better half and I have been married for a while now and so I couldn’t help but think about the advice I could give about staying happy in marriage. After some thought, I decided that the recipe for the perfect marriage is difficult to concoct.

What I do know, is that being married is a lot of hard work. It involves a lot of give and take, as well as being incredibly frustrating on occasion. There’s all the good stuff too; having someone to come home to every night, sharing your thoughts, worries, hopes and dreams with someone you love is never to be taken for granted. As much as I can’t give you the recipe for a perfect marriage, I can tell you how we’re currently nailing being wed:

I stay at home to look after the house and the kids –

I imagine this statement will resemble the equivalent of a red rag to a bull for some of you, but one of the reasons our marriage works so well is because I’m always here. Ever since having our first child, I’ve been at home. Granted I’ve managed to carve a career out of writing, but initially it was intended that my role should be ‘stay at home mum‘. This wasn’t forced upon me, it was a mutual decision and it works.

My husband has a very successful career. He works hard and he continues to climb the ladder. All of which would be made much more difficult if I decided that I was going to go back to work full-time, outside of the home. There would have to be a lot more give from his side and that could really affect his progression. That’s something neither of us want to happen. I might be a housewife 70% of the time but I’d rather that, than have my actions impact seriously on the goals of the person I love.

We’ve learnt to communicate adult to adult –

I want you to be aware that no couple is ever perfect, we all have our moments. What my husband and I have learnt over the past few years though, is that to make sure our marriage stays on an even keel we need to make sure we are communicating adult to adult. We don’t play games, we don’t purposely wind each other up out of the realms of jest and we work hard not to raise our voices. Turning disagreements into a rational discussion saves wasting a lot of time and energy.

We’re a team before all else –

Since having children especially, we’ve become a solid family unit. We are a team and we make important decisions together, before any outside factors are considered. Have you ever heard the saying ‘teamwork makes the dream work‘? It’s cheesy, but it’s one of my favourites! We bring up our family together, we graft together and we take time out together. Et voila, teamwork at its best!

We’ve learnt to accept each other’s bad habits and how to let the niggles slide –

We all have bad habits, yes even you. I for example, am a chronic over-thinker and I’m hard work because of it. My husband is a perfectionist and he’s hard work because of it. There have been times in the past where we have completely and utterly clashed as we can be so different, but frankly behaving that way has never gotten us anywhere. Accepting bad habits really is essential for a happy marriage, niggles will always be there – you’ve just got to let them go.

We do go to bed on arguments –

How many times have you been to a wedding and the best man advises never to go to bed on an argument? I’m pretty sure I’ve heard this bandied around at every wedding we’ve been to. Well, I completely disagree! How many times have you woken up after having a total barney the night before and thought, what the hell was the point in that anyway? So often things seem brighter in the morning, which is why I think putting disagreements to one side and getting some kip is a far healthier approach to marriage.

I don’t think it’s possible for anyone to have a marriage that’s perfect, as we get older and wiser though I can’t help but think there are certain ways to go about making life as simple as possible. I can only recommend that you compromise, reassess how you communicate, work together, accept bad habits and don’t waste time on pointless arguments. Maybe I do have a good recipe for marriage after all?

Does Staying at Home with the Kids Mean I Lack Ambition?

By The Tale of Mummyhood | July 16, 2018 | Comments 26 comments

My husband and I had a conversation recently, mainly about the family life of professionals. He told me that one of his colleagues had informed him that he does so well at work, because his wife ‘lacks ambition‘. What he meant was, his wife had given up her professional role to stay at home with the kids and that it was the right choice for their family. It would seem that he appreciated this ‘lack of ambition‘ though, as he felt it allowed him to progress swiftly in his own career. As you can imagine, I was a little taken aback by his admission.

I’ve previously written about my marriage and I’ve commented on the main reason it’s working so well. That reason was the fact that I stay at home to look after the kids. Yes this is so my husband can progress in his career and yes it meant I had to leave my first business behind. Does it mean I lack ambition though? Am I forever destined to be mother and housewife, with no desire to follow my dreams? I think not.

Ambition doesn’t always wear the same mask –

The thing about ambition is that it means different things to different people. From being a teenager, it was always my ambition to work for myself. I knew I wanted to be my own boss and a lot of hard work got me there. My husband always dreamt of working as a medical professional, he continues to work hard in this field and he will go far. This demonstrates ambition in two different ways, but both are ambition nonetheless.

Stronger than my ambition to build a business, was my desire to become the best mum I could be. It was my ambition to become a stay at home parent, that was and still is the environment in which I want to raise my children. How can that not be ambition? It’s a dream and it takes a lot of working towards, I believe I have succeeded. I have have fulfilled my ambition.

I do always put my husbands work needs before my own, but that’s because I want to, not because I have to. Just because I want him to achieve his goals and because I’m happy to work around his aspirations, doesn’t mean I’m faltering on the ambition front. Ambition doesn’t just have to be associated with career prospects, it covers life as a whole.

There’s more than one way to skin a cat –

The comment this guy made frustrated me most, because my ambition to be self employed will never disappear. That’s why I built up a blogging and freelance writing business from home. Just because people don’t always fulfil their ambition by taking the traditional route, doesn’t mean it’s not achievable. I know from my own experience that anything is possible if you put your mind to it. Referring to your loved one as ‘lacking ambition’ is entirely unacceptable, given that there’s so much to be achieved without leaving the comfort of your own home.

So whatever your ambition may be, whether it’s to rise through the ranks of your company, to be a stay at home parent or to build a business of your own. Never, ever believe that you are lacking in ambition. Never let anyone tell you that you don’t aspire to do anything or be anyone. You are you for a reason and you’re already achieving so much.

Smoking in Public Places and Why it Makes me so Mad

By The Tale of Mummyhood | July 8, 2018 | Comments 26 comments

As you can probably tell by the title of this post, I’m a non-smoker, as are all of my immediate family. I do think smoking is a dirty habit and I do get annoyed when people think it’s OK to smoke around myself and my children. I do understand that smoking is an addiction. I’m aware that once you’ve started, it must be terribly hard to stop. However, I also think that just because you have an issue that you can label as an ‘addiction’, it doesn’t automatically give you the right to make other people suffer along with you. Especially when they don’t consent.

My inspiration for this post came from a recent visit to a children’s play area with both of my girls. On one the hottest days of the year, we donned our hats and sun cream and headed to the park. The perfect Sunday morning jaunt. After we’d been there a little while, we were joined by a toddler and her grandmother. The issue was though, that the grandmother thought it was entirely acceptable to smoke on the playground. She showed absolutely no concern for the health of anyone else’s children, never mind that of her own granddaughter.

Smoking and health –

This blatant act, of what I believe to be anti-social behaviour, made me so angry. If she really couldn’t wait until she was in the privacy of her own home to smoke, the least she could have done was taken herself away from the children’s play area. I will never think it’s acceptable to smoke around other people and their children, public area or not.

It’s a well know fact that smoking is a contributing factor to many serious health concerns. According to the NHS, smoking is responsible for a whopping 90% of lung cancers, as well cancers of the mouth and oesophagus. Smoking can also cause significant damage to the heart and blood circulation, increasing the risk of strokes and heart attacks. Not to mention an array of respiratory diseases.

What about our children though? What are the effects of passive smoking? Well, children that are exposed to cigarette smoke are at far greater risk of developing health problems than those that don’t. Illnesses such as meningitis, persistent coughs and an increased risk of cot death are all associated with second-hand cigarette smoke. Asthma can also become worse if sufferers are exposed to smoke.

No excuses –

The thing is, in this day and age we have been so well-educated on the risks of smoking. Steps have been taken to protect the public to a certain extent, there really are no excuses for smoking. There are NO benefits to such a destructive habit. I’m absolutely sure that some people will disagree with my opinion, I’m sure there are people who believe that they can do as they please. To me this just shows ignorance, a lack of education and a lack of empathy.

How do you feel about smoking in public areas?

HomeDNA at Home Genetic Testing Review – GPS Origins Ancestry

By The Tale of Mummyhood | June 17, 2018 | Comments 0 Comment

*This post was written in collaboration with HomeDNA.

Recently I reviewed the healthy weight at home genetic testing from HomeDNA. I was so impressed with the in-depth results I got, that when I was asked to review their ancestry test it was a total no-brainer for me. History has always been my thing and so the chance to find out more about my own ancestors and ancient family history, was something I just couldn’t pass up.

As with the first test I did with HomeDNA, they sent out a test kit to complete at home and send back to them. The test kit came with four swabs that I used to collect cells from the inside of both cheeks. It’s so easy to complete the swabs and all I had to do was seal them in the envelope provided, fill in all of my details and send them over to the lab for testing. The process is super simple, then all I had to do was sit back and wait for my results to arrive in my inbox! Once my test had been analysed, I received a report with detailed explanations into each area of my genetic origins.

GPS Origins genetic test –

This test is designed to uncover your ancestral lines, including the journey of your DNA. Once you get your results, you’ll learn about so much including; genetic communities that share your origins and you’ll discover why your ancestors settled in particular places. All of this information is gathered from a unique algorithm that has been developed by a team at Sheffield university, headed by Dr Dr Eran Elhaik.

Gene pool percentages –

The results that I found particularly interesting were my gene pool percentages. These are the percentages of different gene types that make me who I am!

My top three were;

Basque Country – from my ancestors based in Europe.
Fennoscandia – from my ancestors based in Norway, Sweden, Finland, a part of Russia known as Kola Peninsula and Denmark during the Viking Age.
Orkney Islands – from a small group of Islands located off the North Coast of Scotland.

Before I took this test, I had no idea that my ancestors were located so far and wide! It’s so interesting to know how vast our gene pools really are.

DNA migration routes –

Once you’ve learnt all about what makes up your gene pool, you can then use the interactive map provided to find out more about the migrations routes of your ancestors. You can explore what was happening to them at specific times and places in history. Through this tool, I found out that my ancestors lived alongside the Swedish Vikings and that they lived through the 1349 Black Death in Sweden. There’s still so much more I have to read through, but I’m already so amazed at everything I’ve learned so far!

Theses reports from HomeDNA contain so much information, that initially it can all seem a little overwhelming. What’s great though, is that every report includes a guide to understanding your results. This really helps you to enjoy reading through your report, enabling you to gain a full understanding of who you are and where you came from!

Cosy Club – New Menu Review

By The Tale of Mummyhood | June 7, 2018 | Comments 0 Comment

*We were given a complimentary meal at Cosy Club for the purpose of this review. As always, all thoughts and opinions are our own.

As parents, it’s not very often that we head out into our local cities. In fact, it’s a very rare occurrence! Before we had the girls, Hubs and I were suckers for a night out on the town with some great food thrown in for good measure. Alas, the littles have changed our ways, so these days when we get the opportunity to go out, we grab it with both hands and run like the wind! So when we were invited to our local Cosy Club to try out their new menu, you guessed it, we definitely didn’t say no.

The week that we visited Cosy Club was a particularly busy week for us. We had the biggest’s birthday and she had her first day at school. As you can imagine, I was a tad stressed throughout the week. Starting school has been so easy for our girl, but for me it’s been more trying than I imagined it would be. Letting your first born head out into the world is really difficult to get your head around, so a nice chilled out meal with Hubs was a real treat for us to regroup and catch-up.

Cosy Club –

Having never visited a Cosy Club venue before, I wasn’t sure what to expect. They describe the experience as ‘Mansion splendour meets village hall eccentricity’ and as it turns out that’s the perfect way to envisage a visit to Cosy Club. When we walked into the unassuming entrance we were met with a real treat! The doors open up into a large entrance hall with a big staircase, that heads up to the bar and restaurant. There are grand paintings trailing all the way up the staircase, flowing into the lounge and bar area which is full of big leather sofas to sink into and relax!

My favourite part of this venue was the huge restaurant area. This room looked really amazing with high ceilings, tall windows and it even had the original balcony still in place. This room just oozed history and the decor complimented this perfectly. From the deer heads on the wall, to the sparkling chandeliers and the quirky tables and chairs, this place just felt incredible to relax and enjoy a yummy meal in!

The food –

We were invited to Cosy Club to sample their new menu, which includes some of the most amazing food. We really were spoilt for choice!

Hubs and I had a good selection between us, take a gander at some of the great food we got to try;

Overall, we had the best afternoon at our local Cosy Club. The food really was gorgeous and our puddings were to die for. The next time we get the chance to go out on a date night, we’ll definitely be heading back!

Find your local Cosy Club

GreaterSkies Star Map Review – GIVEAWAY!

By The Tale of Mummyhood | May 28, 2018 | Comments 5 comments

When Hubs and I were organising our wedding, I remember being so nervous on the run up to the big day. I’m not one for being the centre of attention anyway, so walking up the aisle in front of so many people was a terrifying thought. It was a difficult day too, as my grandfather had passed away just two days before. He had been ill for a while and we had booked the wedding within a short time, with the hope that he would be there. Unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be and our wedding day will always be a time of sadness and happiness, rolled into one. So when I was approached by GreaterSkies to review one of their star maps, I knew exactly which sky I would want to remember.

The GreaterSkies Star Map process –

Looking through the GreaterSkies website was a real treat. You choose the date, time and location of the sky you’d like to remember. Then you’re presented with an amazingly intricate image of the stars at the exact place and time you chose. The ordering process couldn’t be more simple!

You also have the option to add text at the bottom of the image. Ours states that it’s the sky over our village on the day of our wedding. I get a little sentimental each time I look at it!

Choosing your design –

Not only can you choose your preferred time and location, you can also choose the design that suits you best. I chose the night sky view, which is a predominantly black piece with white text. You can also choose the classic star map with a white background, or maybe their floral design is more up your street. There really is a design to suit everyone, which I think is great if you are giving the star map as a gift. It makes it even more personal.

Your GreaterSkies package –

GreaterSkies offer packages to suit everyone. The package we received is the night sky star map, which comes with a quality aluminium frame. It looks really sleek and has been a real conversation piece since it arrived. If you wanted to frame the print yourself, you can simply purchase the printed map and personalise it yourself. Alternatively you can purchase the download package and print your star map at home. This is a good option if you need your map in double-quick time!

The guys over at GreaterSkies would like to offer one of my lucky readers the chance to win a framed star map worth £118.95! All you have to do is enter using the form below, please do check out the terms and conditions…good luck!

Win a Framed GreaterSkies Star Map Worth £118.95.

Father’s Day Special – The Gourmet Chocolate Pizza Company GIVEAWAY!

By The Tale of Mummyhood | May 25, 2018 | Comments 0 Comment

Father’s Day is just around the corner and to celebrate we have a very scrumptious giveaway for you! Earlier on this week, the guys over at the Gourmet Chocolate Pizza Company sent us a super yummy, Father’s Day Belgian chocolate pizza to try out. Hubs was delighted with his delivery, as were the girls and I!

The Gourmet Chocolate Pizza Company make delicious chocolate gifts for all occasions, including wedding favours and gifts. They are so reasonably priced, they deliver quickly and they are the perfect gift to make any occasion extra special. We have a few birthdays coming up and a couple of weddings, I’ll certainly be adding a chocolate pizza to all of their presents!

The Gourmet Chocolate Pizza Company would like to offer my readers the chance to win a Father’s Day pizza! All you have to do is enter using the form below, please do check out the terms and conditions…good luck!

Father’s Day Gourmet Chocolate Pizza

Our Family Holiday at Bluestone Wales

By The Tale of Mummyhood | May 7, 2018 | Comments 28 comments

*We were gifted a mid-week break at Bluestone National Park resorts for the purpose of this review. As always, all thoughts and opinions are our own.

Recently, we were lucky enough to be invited to enjoy a mid-week break at Bluestone National Park Resort in Wales. My husband has wanted to holiday at Bluestone for some time now. He’d heard so many good reports from friends and colleagues about the place, so needless to say he was so excited to finally get to stay. Holidaying with two toddlers is never easy, but Bluestone promised so much fun and something to do whatever the weather. We had high hopes for an extra special family holiday!

Perusing over the Bluestone Wales website before we went, I noticed that there were many activities that we could book before hand. Including hiring bikes and golf buggies for the week. There were also tonnes of activities included in our holiday, such as the Blue Lagoon swimming pool and a large activity centre. As it was our first time, we didn’t know what to expect and so we didn’t book anything beforehand. When we arrived though, we decided that we would hire a golf buggy for the week. The Bluestone site is huge and quite hilly, as much as our girls love to walk sometimes it proved a little too tiring for them. The golf buggy helped us get around the site with ease and our girls thought it was so much fun!

Free range fun –

The guys at Bluestone are huge believers in free range fun. The landscape and the activities they provide encourage both adults and kids to get outdoors and enjoy being with nature in the fresh air. This kind of holiday is perfect for us as a family, so when we found out that our lodge was right on the edge of the lake, we couldn’t have been happier. The girls loved walking around the lake and into the surrounding woodland each day. I loved waking up to such a beautiful view too!

When the weather is bad, there’s still so much fun to be had at Bluestone. Our girls were fans of the Blue Lagoon swimming pool. It has two smaller pools, including a special baby and toddler area, which is ideal when you have little children. The large pool has a wave machine and a lazy river, so there’s something for everyone. Our girls loved that the lazy river took you outside, especially when the sun was shining!

I was amazed by the activity centre at Bluestone. There’s something for every age group, including mini golf, soft play, a bouncy castle and a climbing wall. There’s a cafe for the adults too, which serves a mean burger if you’re feeling a bit peckish! The weather on our first day was particularly bad, so the activity centre was an absolute god send. The kids had so much fun and were completely worn out. If we’d holidayed anywhere else we’d have been cooped up all day, which with toddlers is almost always a disaster!

Idyllic surroundings –

Every which way you turn at Bluestone, you’re met by idyllic surroundings. My favourite part of the site is Camp Smokey! It’s a restaurant down in the woods, just by a stream with a small ford. We went down there one evening when it was quiet and it was just perfect. The kids loved playing in the stream and throwing sticks into the water from the bridge. We found a bench and the girls had their supper surrounded by nature. It was one of those night where the planets aligned and we all felt utterly content.

The village area of Bluestone has two playgrounds for the kids. One for the older children and an area specifically for tots. As our girls are in between ages, they enjoyed both playgrounds thoroughly! There are tree houses with walkways that join the two playgrounds, each tree house has a fun activity in it which were a massive hit with our girls. The village also has a grocery shop, coffee shop, restaurant, spa and a couple of boutique stores. We had lunch in this area a few times over our stay, the girls even enjoyed an ice cream in the sun!

Returning to Bluestone –

Bluestone National Park Resort is definitely somewhere we’ll holiday again. It has everything you need for the whole family to enjoy their stay to the full. Next time we stay, I’m determined to book myself into the spa for a little pamper and Hubs would love to go to the shindig down at Camp Smokey. We made some amazing family memories at Bluestone, it’s a holiday that will take some beating!

Take a sneek peek into life at Bluestone –

When I Finally Realised that Things Really do Get Easier

By The Tale of Mummyhood | April 23, 2018 | Comments 20 comments

Every now and again I look back into the archives of this little blog of mine. Sometimes I Iike what I read. Sometimes I’m a little embarrassed about the thoughts and feelings that I’ve had previously and a lot of the time looking back helps me to recognise just how far we’ve come. When I started The Tale of Mummyhood, I was the mother of a nine month old and I was heavily pregnant with baby number two. I had no idea where I wanted my blog to go, all I knew was that stay at home parenthood was tough and I needed an escape.

In the early days I spent so much time writing about how hard I found being a mum. I felt like my world had been rocked and that it would never be the same again. I hated it for so long, the sleepless nights and the endless anxiety during the day was so difficult to deal with. For a time, I honestly wondered why people had children. Why would they do that to themselves? It’s a complete and utter shock to the system.

I remember being told ‘it will get easier‘ time and time again. In fact, I was told it that often that I got sick of hearing it. Things didn’t feel like they would ever get easier. How could they? Parenting is exhausting and relentless, it’s definitely not what I would ever have described as being ‘easy’.

Things do get easier –

At the point of writing this, my eldest daughter is approaching 3 and my youngest is approaching 2. I’ve spent a little time tidying up my blog and I came across those old posts from when the littlest was born. I remembered how raw those feelings were when I wrote them, but do you know something? That time feels like a lifetime away. Although I can remember it being tough, the pain of those feelings has long passed.

I’m not saying that my children don’t push my buttons on a daily basis. I’m also not under any illusions that there aren’t going to be tough times ahead. This year marks a huge change for us as our eldest starts nursery and that’s sure to bring with it more challenges for us as a family. Day-to-day, life isn’t the struggle it once was though. The world doesn’t implode if the girls don’t get fed every four hours on the dot. Our days aren’t dictated by strict nap times, that would have us chained to the house for the middle part of every day. Days out don’t have to be planned with military precision and if we’re not home for the 7 pm bedtime routine, I don’t feel like I’ve been cheated out of my own time.

I wish I could pin point when this happened, but it’s just been a gradual process. Slowly getting easier over the past year. Life has just taken its natural course and it seems that we are already reaping the rewards from all of the hard work we have put into our girls so far. I hate to admit it, but these days I even find my self telling new parents that it gets easier.

Time flies so fast. It’s true when they say ‘the days are long, but the years are short‘. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that, if you have small children and you’re finding things tough. Then don’t beat yourself up for feeling the way that you do. Just take each hour or even minute as it comes, because as much as I don’t want to dismiss how you’re feeling now, you do need to know that it will get easier.

Life Hacks – The Camping with Kids Edition

By The Tale of Mummyhood | April 20, 2018 | Comments 12 comments

*This post was written in collaboration with SimplyHike.co.uk.

Over the past couple of weeks, Hubs and I have set ourselves up with the ultimate camping kit. I decided on a whim that taking the kids camping would be a brilliant idea and still think it will be. In my rush to head off out into the wild though, I failed to fully consider just what camping with kids would entail. I’m a woman of routine and I do like my home comforts. In my haste to get our kit together, it didn’t occur to me that I would need all the tips I could get to make camping with kids as fun as possible!

Getting the right family tent –

After a little research, we decided that to make the whole experience as comfortable as possible then we would need to invest in the right tent. It would need to be big enough to fit in everything but the kitchen sink! It would also need to have a high waterproof rating and be strong enough to stand up to bad weather if we needed it too. With all of this in mind, we opted for the Coleman Mosedale 5 family tent. It has a huge living area, as well as two blackout bedrooms and we’re sure it’s the ideal home for our travels!

Coleman is a make that has been around for some time too. I’m always checking reviews on items before I buy them and this was no different. The reviews for the Mosedale 5 are really great, so many people said they’d made some amazing family memories in this tent and we want to be a part of that too. The best thing about this tent is that it’s so reasonably priced, perfect for families who need to get the whole camping set up without breaking the bank.

Getting the right equipment –

As well as the right tent, to make camping as family friendly as possible, I think it’s so important to get the right equipment. I did a little research through Simply Hike and I was gob smacked by how much high-tech camping equipment there is out there. We’ve invested in stoves, lanterns and so much more to make our tent a home from home. My absolute favourite piece of kit though is our cooler. It’s the ideal companion for any camping trip, perfect for keeping food and milk fresh all the time we’re away. We’ve even taken it on road trips, it’s ideal to keep drinks cool when you’re out on hot days!

Life hacks –

As much as having the right equipment makes for the perfect trip, there are many more hacks that you need to know if you’re going camping with kids. So to make your lives easier, as well as my own, I put it to my fellow bloggers to come up with the ultimate list of life hacks, the camping with kids edition!

Here’s what they had to say;

Sarah from Boo, Roo and Tigger Too: ‘Get shoe covers or old shower caps to pop over shoes as they come in and out of the tent to save getting mud/wet everywhere. As taking shoes on and off can be a pain, especially if you are the one who has to help each time’.

Nisbah from Five Adventurers: ‘Always set up the tent first at home before you go for the actual first camp! I have seen lots of families struggle with this. Always have loads of treats for camp fires.’

Janet from Falcondale Life: ‘We always buy a packet of glow sticks and use them as nightlights. We hang the big chunky ones inside the bedrooms. Outside we stick some garden solar lights in the ground so that there is no tripping over on the way to the loo in the dark.’

Louise from Pink Pear Bear: ‘Pack outfits rolled together (including pants and socks) so you can just grab an outfit for each child without having to rummage through the whole case. So much easier to just grab a roll and pass it to them to get themselves dressed knowing everything they need is there!’

Jennifer from My Mummy’s Pennies: ‘Take plenty of bin bags! They are super useful! Use them for muddy clothes or to put wellies on in the tent, even for sitting on wet grass.’

Claire from Wild Mama and Her Tribe: ‘Try a practice camp in the garden or locally to get used to the ‘its cold’ it’s dark’ ‘there’s a spider in my sleeping bag’ ‘it’s too lumpy’ ‘why are there no light switches’ – it’s a sanity saver.’

Fiona from A Mum Track Mind: ‘Camping with babies and toddlers can be hard work but what babies and toddlers are hard work full stop. They are also free-spirited, wild at heart and fascinated by the world around them, which are qualities that sadly we often lose as we get older. It’s best to switch your thinking from over-anxious parenting to a slightly more care-free style of parenting and let it go a bit. Rules, bedtimes and nagging can resume when you get home.’