I've been obsessed recently with kids savoir vivre. I am just looking around and I don't like what I see. I have to admit I think I wasn't consistent enough with my own kids and I was giving up way too quickly. Partially because I was too tired to fight and talk them into doing things they just didn't want to do and partially because somehow I couldn't see the long term effect of "just letting go" today. But I feel back on track and heavily educating myself now!

Surprisingly enough there is not so much on the market which specializes for kids only. Lots of general articles that are just a common sense but the question is - HOW to break it down for a 5 year old? Or even for a 1 year old? Its a hard work I must admit but if we set right examples and mostly show them what needs to be done big chance is they will follow us. Eventually. Or at least it will be engraved in their subconscious and will come back when they are adults. Let's hope for it!

Today I am going to talk about my first challenge with my first child. She was taken care of by a nanny as I was a working mum back then so her first 18 months (I returned to work when she was 4 months old) was spent with a caregiver. I hate to blame anyone and I have to say that our nanny was this sweet Philipina having her own grandkids already. She absolutely adored Maja and I was perfectly satisfied with her work. My daughter was always happy with her and missed her on the weekends. However different culture brings different traditions and standards. Especially when it comes to eating habits. I knew for fact that my daughter was constantly fed in front of the TV, in her high chair or she was chased on the playground by a nanny with a spoon so she will just take another bite. Not to mention that she would never see her nanny eating with her so she would never know how it should be done. Our weekend attempts to go out and eat in a restaurant were never successful as Maja would just not eat anything and then cry to demand TV to be on. Being a hard working mum I was just telling myself that as long as she is fed and happy no harm done. But now I see the long term effect of that and it took me a little bit more that 2 years to turn it around. Can you image? 2 years of fighting and kid tantrums and her refusing to eat for 2 weeks just cause I wanted her to sit at the table without a TV on. Ahhhh....Good thing is that I was successful and I am so proud for both of us! Maja is almost 6 years now and she can hold a small talk with a stranger at a table which makes my heart jumping up and down. She is a naturally shy girl so that is a fantastic achievement!

Now I can easily advise your mothers to start etiquette lessons with their children as soon as possible. It is never to early to teach a little one table manners, how to look good or how to take care of your own hygiene. I strongly believe it is extremely needed in the present society when people just generally don't care and the highest value is just to be happy and have a lot. But its our job as mothers to ensure that our kids will be respected adults with many people around them who can then become their business partners, friends or husbands/wifes. I would like to highlight the importance of raising a polite person who knows how to use good manners in the right situations to benefit them. Its all about basics but that requires time spend with your child and its never ending education. As they get older there is more and more to learn as how to throw a tea party for your friends for example. How to attend a sleep over? Gift receiving and giving? How to respect adult conversation and do not interrupt? Greetings and magic words like "thank you" and "please" which are basics but how about adding "nice to meet you" at the end of a conversation? You progress with your child as they get older and build on it. Cause really - what are we teaching our kids these days? Only math and science won't help if they won't be able to treat their boss with respect in order to get a promotion, right?

There are so many subjects that can be taught to a young human being but setting an example is the best way. Kids always copy us - especially young ones. So why not using this opportunity to teach? Sounds easy, right? Maybe we can learn something along the way?

Watch this space as I will bring more topics and solutions which are tested on my own kids!:)

Last week my son experienced his first face painting ever at a friend's Bday party. He is almost 4 years old so some may think its late but I have some mixed feelings. My daughter had her face painted for party at about 3,5 years old and also she was not that interested at first. I think it had something to do with invading her personal space and touching her by a complete stranger. When you really think about it it is weird for a young child to have all that funny make up done  and where is the fun if they can't even see it! Anyway its all very personal and subject to professional face painter as some of them are using such an old materials that it should be banner, quickly recognized and stopped. My daughters first face painting gave her some serious rash for 3 days! I had no idea that I should check the cosmetics myself and react properly. We all learn on our mistakes!

Its really popular in Bahrain to hire face painter for a kids Bday party and it costs around 35BD to have dedicated person doing it to all the kids and even adults if they want to. Some of mums are choosing the same pattern as the child to encourage them and take memorable pics. It gives kids great warm up at any party and eases them to the next part which is usually games. Children can choose their favourite character or theme from a book and good talented face painter should be able to draw pretty much anything. Small kids are getting hand painting if they don't feel comfortable with real face painting.

So it all looks great on birthday party photos and kids can have fun role playing  but is it really all that safe on young skin? And for girls it must be an early introduction to make up which can only result in your daughters going through your make up bags the very next day!

Share your thoughts on face painting and your experiences. We all agree its fun and looks pretty but if its done on a weekly basis is it still so special?
Can't wait to hear your thoughts!

So that is it. Its over. Before we know it - it is all finished. Was it really 2 months? Is it possible time passes so quickly? It scares me to be honest with you all. And it sucks. It sucks big time. Especially that we've made so many plans for the summer and didn't manage to tick them all off the list.



And we were busy! It is not that we sat in front of TV entire time and did nothing. We drove miles to run errands, we visited friends and family, we shopped, we did some things for the first time, we showed kids so much of our childhood and shared memories with them. I thought I will have all the time in the world to blog and nothing:( Days were passing one by one and we just talked and drank wine! First 3-4 weeks were completely taken by my son sickness and hospital stay. But that is a topic for another blog post. We've spend quality time with our families but it is all not enough. Many of my friends are shocked to hear that I am coming to Poland for 2 months. I am lucky to be a stay home mum at the moment and therefore I can afford 2 months holiday but it is an absolute eyebrow raiser for so many working mums who manage to squeeze 2 maybe 3 weeks tops with their kiddos. They think I have all this time in the world and still complaining it is not enough - am I crazy? No, I guess it is never enough just like with money. You can never have enough time spend with your loved ones. Plus all the exciting things to do in Poland and in Europe! Can't wait until June 2015!!!



It is back to school mood now - at least for me. I don't think kids are super excited yet as they got used to freedom of summer:) Plus the language....when I try speaking English for the past few days I hear - STOP IT!!! SPEAK NORMALLY! Well it is going to be "normally" from Monday onwards!:) Again it will take about 2 weeks to all come back to normal routine here. It is just so sad to leave family behind knowing that I will see them only after another 10 months. Expat life can be really lonely....Do you agree? On the other hand I just went to local shopping mall and spend 3 hours chatting to people as it seems that everyone I know in Bahrain were spending time at the same place! Well, don't blame us - it is still 43C outside!



Wish everyone great come back to your resident countries, schools, husbands, routines, etc. It is going to be a fabulous school year with so many adventures, performances, homeworks, tears over reading tasks, uniforms, lunch boxes headaches, etc. HAVE FUN!!!!

I just completed my 4th trip from Middle East to Europe with two kids and no husband. Each of those trips were different and they are not really getting easier or more difficult. It does not depend on kids age at all! Small kids are sometimes much easier to handle than answering all the millions of questions from a 4 year old. I wouldn't really say that a night flight is better either as tired kids not being able to fall asleep properly are turning into very cranky kids. Anyway that is a great topic for another post. Today I would like to write about all those very important positives that we should be focusing on when preparing for a long distance trip with your kiddos. I've tested then and it looks like I know what I am talking about:) It is really not that bad overall!

1. Less is more....and much easier
All those toys, gadgets, details, Princess or Elsa water bottles, cuddly toys and pillows are just creating mess and chaos. Try to take as little as possible for few reasons. First is that you have less chance of loosing this favourite Winnie The Pooh who is absolutely irreplaceable and once gone will throw your kid on the floor screaming and kicking. Secondly de-clutter clears your mind and you can focus on finding the right gate at the airport and being on time instead of worrying if everything is taken and not left in the public bathroom. These days everything is available at the airport so even if your kids get hungry you can always get a nice treat at McDonalds or Donkin Doughnuts instead of dragging that yoghurt half the world. Take money in different currencies, credit card and have fun! Travelling should be a positive experience and fun activity and not a horror!

2. Be open and friendly
I am amazed how helpful people are during my journey. There is always someone to talk to and there is always someone offering me help. And I never say "no". Why? It is not easy to go down the stairs from the plane with two kids holding my hands and the hand luggage. And it never happen to me that I actually had to do it! There is always a helping hand around but you have to look open and try catching an eye contact with someone. It helps if you already made friends during a flight. Maybe another family that is travelling with daddy and one kid so they have spare hands? Perhaps a gentleman sitting behind you? We've met a really nice man this time who helped me to teach my daughter what to do if your ears get blocked during landing. Somehow she didn't believe me but listed to him! Maybe she needed to get a second opinion:) Also if there are other kids on the plane they may hit it off. Time flies when they play together and you can easily avoid moaning "when are we landing mummy?". Just stay open and try to reach out - it is worth it! 

3. Light at the end of a tunnel
Remember that every trip is starting at point A to point B. That means it all will be finished before you know it. Even if it is 16h flight from Saudi Arabia to LA it will eventually come to an end. So whatever bad happens - kids tantrums, annoying questions, throwing up or screaming - it will be over soon! So just count those minutes and you are getting closer to finishing line! The funny part is that you can't possibly loose your kids and they won't throw you out of a plane so what is the worst that can happen? Few angry looks from other passengers? Big deal! You can handle that! Chin up!

Bon voyage everyone and have a fabulous summer!

In 1997 a researcher from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, studied 482 healthy toddlers between 18 and 30 months of age to see how long before they are potty trained.
Study findings reveal that:

• 4% of the children were potty trained by age 2
• 22% by 2.5 years
• 60% by 3 years
• 88% by 3.5 years of age
• 2% were not trained at 4 years old
• Boys tend to train later than girls. 48% of boys were not trained until after 3 years old compared to 30% of girls.

On May 4, 2000 the Wall Street Journal reported that, "children now wear diapers until they are 36 to 42 months old, some 6 months longer than they did 16 years ago." In that year (1985) disposable diaper manufacturers introduced the super absorbent gelling material in their diapers. The ad's new jingle was "even when they're wet, they're dry." This chemical gel is thought by some to be a hindrance to potty training.
Results of a 1996 national survey of diaper service customers revealed that babies diapered in cotton potty train much sooner - on average at 30 months of age.
These facts are taken from a Potty Training Concepts website and are quite interesting. We had that discussion with mothers attending our playgroup probably a million times. This topic is and always will be a controversial for so many reasons. First one would be that is actually really exhausting to train your child and the other main reason would be that we all are just simply afraid of handling a mess. And we are all right - we would rather have someone else teach our kid how to use a toilet....unfortunately this is not possible.

You will find so many articles and books about this subject. Having 2 kids myself I read tons of materials especially with my first kid. This is all new and we really don't know how to start. There are just a few things true and common to all:

• every child is different and there is no one golden rule to follow,
• what you need to worry about the most is YOUR ability to handle it,
• have all the necessary equipment ready so it is as easy and clean process as possible,
• be ready for a rough ride and you may be positively surprised! 

It may really take from 1 day (like my son!) up to months of accidents. You will still use diapers at night so don't get rid of them completely! Stay calm and it WILL happen! No adult is wearing diapers so it is all possible with some determination and proper products.

My kids never used traditional potty (it only served as a hat!). However there is plenty of other useful tools that you can and should use to help yourself and your child. What I personally found very useful was a travel potty chair and by travel I mean do a grocery run with a child in a car seat without a diaper! I was a strong believer that once we remove a diaper you should never put it back on as it only confuses the child. And a car seat is hard to wash every day! Can't tell you how many times I had to stop on hazard lights in the middle of a busy highway just to help my child and myself! Travel potty was extremely handy back then!
Also soft potty seats that go inside your regular toilet were used in my house for quite a while. Both my kids preferred to go to a "big people" toilet and act like an adult plus it was a great way to boost their confidence as they could do it themselves.
As a reward I was using potty stickers. Every time they were successful on doing it the right way they were getting a "potty sticker". Kids love that stuff! It is colorful and makes them feel awesome about themselves. This really helps to speed the whole training as they are looking forward to a next sticker. Sometimes they would just go and try just to be rewarded!

The best thing about potty training is that this subject is well covered online and you can get pretty much everything now on sale. However it may be a bit overwhelming to search everywhere and read everything. The best website I used and which covers all the aspects of toilet training starting from great tips and pieces of advice to selling all the products that you will need is Potty Training Concepts. This site is super fun to browse and you can find everything you need when it comes to potty training and all the tools that are necessary to make it an enjoyable experience for you and your child too.

Now I guess all there is left to do is to take a deep breath and START!  Remember to have fun together with your kid and it will happen! Trust me - there is light at the end of that tunnel! Good luck!