The Toughest Job

Motherly love 'breeds confidence'

Babies whose mothers shower them with affection are better at coping with stress when they get older, researchers say.

Motherly love 'breeds confidence'

Gooseberry Jelly

Beth - "What's that?"

Me - "Gooseberry Jelly. It's like jam but without any bits in it."

Beth - "Can I try some please?"

Me - "Sure"

Beth (whilst pulling a funny face) - "Hm".

Me - "What's wrong?"

Beth - "It's a bit similar."

Me - "A bit similar to what?"

Beth (sounding exasperated) - "To the gooseberries!"

Autistic babies can be identified by the sounds they make

Research has shown that the babbling of infants with the disorder is not the same as that of children without.

Autistic babies can be identified by the sounds they make

LORRAINE CANDY: My face painting at the school fair was a load of Jackson Pollocks

when the list went up for school fair volunteers, I thought 'why not?' If I was a more organised working mother I'd help the school out more, but I'm not, so this was the least I could do wasn't it?

LORRAINE CANDY: My face painting at the school fair was a load of Jackson Pollocks

Learning difficulties: Three mothers talk about the challenges they and their children face

At 18 a child is usually on the threshold of independence; but what if they have learning disabilities? We talk to three mothers about the issues they and their children face.

Learning difficulties: Three mothers talk about the challenges they and their children face

Mealtime confusion

I found my 4 year old daughter using a bar stool to climb up to the kitchen cupboards. When I asked her what she was doing she said "I'm getting breakfast for my lunch".

How many times?...

The littlest one (16 months old) was 'helping' me to hang up the laundry on the indoor airer. I was once again saying "No Millie. Put the laundry ON the airer." When my 4 year old daughter stuck her hand on her hip and piped up "Now Millie, how many times does your mother have to tell you....?" :-)

What A Nasty Trip.

Little one was running from the dining room into the lounge and tripped over a toy that she had left on the floor.

Daddy was on hand to give her cuddles and a kiss, so he asked her "Where did you hurt yourself?".

She points to the archway between the two rooms and sobs "over there".

Face Paint Pirate

This design is simple and quick, so handy for younger children. To make it even easier supply a cardboard eyepatch and just use brown and black face paint to create beard, mustache and bushy eyebrows.

TOM UTLEY: I dreaded my kid's parties. But at least we didn't host the one where the cat savaged the magician's

Children’s birthday parties have come a very long way since the fish paste sandwiches and musical bumps affairs I remember from my own childhood in the post-war austerity years of the Fifties.

TOM UTLEY: I dreaded my kid's parties. But at least we didn't host the one where the cat savaged the magician's rabbit

Hang Out The Home Made Bunting

Brighten up your garden for a bank holiday barbecue with a classic string of bunting. Perri Lewis shows you how to make it

The last thing anyone wants to do on a sunny, sticky weekend is to elbow their way around B&Q, trying desperately to stock up on stuff to spruce up the garden. But how do you brighten the place up for (fingers crossed, touch wood and all that jazz) next weekend's big summer barbecue if you can't take the heat of the superstore?

The sweet little tin can lanterns that Sally Cameron Griffiths showed us how to make this time last year are a brilliant place to start, and, of course, there's the Guardian's own gardening blog for all kinds of green-fingered ideas. But once you've managed all that, then perhaps you can have a go at a quintessential British garden decoration: a classic string of bunting. Easy-peasy to make and hang up, it's an excellent way to brighten up even the most dreary of back yards.

But do remember - it's a bank holiday next weekend. Perhaps we should hold off cracking out the barbecue and the sewing box for a few more days. No one wants to jinx anything …

What you need

Card
Pencil/tailors' chalk
Ruler
Scissors (for cutting card)
Pinking scissors or scissors suitable for cutting fabric
Fabric
Pins
Needle and thread/sewing machine
2m ribbon (wider than 2cm to make it easiest)
Iron

Step one: Make a template

To make sure all the triangles are the same size, cut a template from card to draw around. I reckon long triangles are better than short stubby ones.

Step two: Draw the triangles

Draw around the template on to your fabric using a pencil or piece of tailors' chalk. Remember to rotate the template each time you draw another triangle so you can get as many pieces as you can from your fabric.

Step three: Cut out the pieces

Use pinking scissors to cut around the triangles - this gives them a zigzag edge and stops the fabric from fraying. If you don't fancy investing in any new tools, use normal scissors to cut out and:

a) Put up with the fraying (really, this isn't ideal).

b) Use felt - which doesn't fray - or strong upholstery material

c) Overlock around the edges with a sewing machine

Step four: Attach the triangles

Take a long piece of ribbon and fold it in half, lengthways, so it is just as long but half as wide. Iron to keep the fold in place (this makes the next bit easier). Pin the fabric triangles on to the ribbon at equal distances from each other.

Step four: Sewing up

With the triangles pinned in place, sew all the way along the ribbon, at least 1cm from the edge, making that sure when you stitch, the needle goes through the triangle and both sides of the ribbon. A sewing machine makes this easy, but if you don't have one, hand-sew using a backstitch.

Alternatively …

• Make double-sided bunting. The easiest way to do this is to buy double-sided fabric. If that's too pricey or difficult to track down, use fusible webbing to stick two pieces of fabric together before step two, then cut triangles out with pinking shears. Another way - which is more time-consuming - is to cut out triangles with normal scissors, pin two together with the right sides facing, sew together along two sides 1cm from the edge, turn inside out, then iron flat, all before proceeding to step four.

• Mix it up and use contrasting fabric triangles: not everything has to match, y'know.

• Make triangles from coloured paper instead of fabric, and attach them to a long length of ribbon using a stapler: it's not waterproof, but it never rains on a bank holiday, right? This is a good project for older children.

• Perri writes about making stuff at makeanddowithperri.wordpress.com

• Craft
• Gardens

Perri Lewis

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Hang out the homemade bunting

The Kids Weren't There

Daddy was in the kitchen emptying the dishwasher and Carrie was watching what he was doing.

"Do you remember when I was working for the council in Africa..." says Daddy.

Carrie stands with head tilted to one side and hand on hip (dunno where she gets that from :)) "Of course not Daddy. I wasn't there was I?"

Oh gawd, I wish I has a quid for all the times I felt like saying that. PMSL. :D

Daddy's Gone!!!

My four year old came into the kitchen "Everybody shush. Daddy has gone". I asked "Gone where?". She replied "to get a piece of quiet!"

Penguins

My 4 year old has been watching Happy Feet on DVD with her big sister. It's obvious that one of the older girls has decided to teach her to tap dance.

"Look Mummy", she says, "I can dance like a penguin. Toe. Heel. Toe. Heel. Toe. Heel. Shovel."

I suspect the shovel must be needed because of all the ice. It must be a bit slippery to 'shuffle' on!

Neurotic? No, I'm just hypersensitive: How one in five is us are overwhelmed by the stresses of modern living

I wonder how much this behaviour prompts ASD labelling!

According to a new book, some people are born with a more sensitive nervous system - and are more easily stimulated to panic, intolerance and general over-reaction to modern living.

Neurotic? No, I'm just hypersensitive: How one in five is us are overwhelmed by the stresses of modern living

Human Beans

The children were sitting aroudn the dining room table eating their dinner and I could here my 4 year old starting to get a little agitated. It definitely sounded like an argument was ensuing.

I wandered into the doorway to hear Beth shouting "no we're not. We're not beans". I asked her what the problem was.

"We're peas" she said, "Human peas". "Oh Beth hunny" I replied, "we're human *beings*."

Obviously this was not the correct answer! "No Mummy. Human Beans are grown ups, us little people are human *peas*"