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toxic masculinity

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How Frank Helped Hank
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Anyone else have a Tween who makes them feel posit

Anyone else have a Tween who makes them feel positively ancient sometimes?! 👵🏼

I was clubbing in Ibiza in the 2000s kid!!

For context, tonight’s Saturday night movie will be either Clueless or Mean Girls. If anyone has any other old fashioned movie suggestions feel free to pop them in the comments… 🙄

#tweenager #parenting #oldfashioned #meangirls #clueless #mumlife #2000s #year2000

Or when they hear the words: no, don’t or stop ,

Or when they hear the words: no, don’t or stop ,right?! 🙈

#toddlers #kids #mumlife #dadlife #parenting

Did you see this? Let me know what you think!⁠
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@Barbie have announced a one-of-a-kind doll in recognition of The Queen Consort's leadership of @wowglobal which is a global movement of festivals celebrating women, girls & non-binary people. Camilla has been the president of WOW since 2015.⁠
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Now. I'm not particularly a royalist, nor a major fan of Camilla, but it was the comments section that got me thinking:⁠
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"Yes let’s teach our daughters about infidelity and scandal"⁠
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"A mistress barbie. Didn't know this is a thing that inspires."⁠
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"You can be ANYTHING! Including a married man’s mistress!"⁠
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Are you seeing a pattern here?⁠
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I googled the word 'mistress': a woman (other than the man's wife) having a sexual relationship with a married man. "Elsie knew her husband had a mistress tucked away somewhere."⁠
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Then I googled, is there a male equivalent of the word 'mistress', and there isn't.⁠
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Some websites suggested 'paramour' but it's a gender neutral word and it doesn't carry the same historical & societal connotations as mistress; it's not seen as pejorative.⁠
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Labelling Camilla as a mistress, puts blame squarely on her shoulders. It's what the word does, it blames the woman for the actions of a man. And frankly, I'm getting rather tired of women being held responsible for the way men act.⁠
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For far too long the phrase 'boys will be boys' has excused the poor behaviour of boys; bullying, teasing, fighting... It's often met with shrug and a wry smile, but it allows boys to grow into men who believe they have no control over their actions. In the playground it's used when a boy pulls a girl's ponytail, in the locker room is used for much worse....⁠
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It's part of the reason why I'm writing my next children's book about consent. I hadn't thought about including the term 'boys will be boys' but I'm thinking that I should be!⁠
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Should Barbie have made a doll of Camilla? I don't know, I not sure I care. But should we still be calling women 'the other woman', 'the home wrecker', or 'the mistress' while casually dismissing the actions of men..? No. No we shouldn't. ⁠
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I'd love to know what you think; comment below 👇🏽⁠
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#barbie #camilla #misogyny

I do want to celebrate the women in my life. The

I do want to celebrate the women in my life.

The women who made me, held me, continue to hold me, guide me, and play a huge role in my life.

I do want to think of the women who inspire me, those who work and campaign for change. To make the workplace more flexible. To give women bodily autonomy. To make the streets safer. To teach boys that girls are their equals not objects.

I want to celebrate all of those women.

But I also feel conflicted, and a huge amount of sadness. The theme for this years IWD is inspiring inclusivity. And being inclusive means including all women.

So when I think of the many thousands of displaced women in Gaza who are grieving the loss of their children, or birthing children under the daily sound and threat of being bombed, I can’t say happy international women’s day to them. They don’t need a happy day they need a ceasefire.

When I think of girls in Niger, in Chad, or Central African Republic where over 60% under the age of 18 are married (75% in Niger) and nearly 30% of them are married under the age of 15. They don’t need a happy day, they need a childhood.

When I think of the girls, and women in Afghanistan, where girls cannot go to school and women can’t work. Where edicts, orders, and restrictions, regulate where a woman can go and how she should dress. They don’t want a happy day, they want their freedoms back.

When I think of women in numerous American states, who no longer have bodily autonomy. Where their embryos have more right to live than they do.

I want to inspire inclusivity. It’s why I write the books I write for children.

So I do want to celebrate women today. Women are amazing. But if I’m being inclusive, I need to think about all women. Everywhere.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

#iwd #iwd2024 #iwd24 #allwomen

Here’s the thing! Being an author here at @the

Here’s the thing!

Being an author here at @theachopsbooks can be a bit lonely. I normally work from home.

Don’t worry I’m not asking you to get a tiny violin out and play for me and my loneliness! 😂

But because I often work alone, one thing I do love doing is going into primary schools, and doing author readings!

And the week surrounding World Book Day is always brilliant for being invited into schools. But! An author reading is not just for World Book Day, it’s for life! 😂📚

I can come into your school any other time of the year!

So why not tag all the primary school teachers you know, all the key stage 1 teachers, and let them know that you’d love this little author to visit your child’s school.

Teachers of Instagram, get in touch and let’s find a date for a book reading. Oh and as I said in the Reel, I take my hat off to all educators everywhere!! It’s exhausting! And I was only in there for a couple of hours!! 😂

What a lightweight! 🙈😂

So, whether it’s World Book Day or any other school day, tag a teacher below!

#worldbookday #worldbookday2024
#ks1teacher #primaryschoolteacher #teachersofinstagram #parentsofinstagram #schoolteacher #authoreadings #authorlife #authorsofinstagram #ukteachers #ukteachersofig #raisingreaders

Don’t panic parents! Just read this👇🏽 If

Don’t panic parents! Just read this👇🏽

If you’re like most parents, and you have just thought: how can there be only 48 hours until World Book Day 2024 and what on earth are they going to dress up as?!?

Fear not! I’ve got you! The Queen Engineer by me aka @theachopsbooks is here!

Take a look at Princess Flo, she’s a maths and science loving princess, who doesn’t want to be the queen when she grows up. She wants to be a great engineer!

Flo’s outfit is pretty easy to replicate for World Book Day, especially if you have either an old Elsa dress-up or a Cinderella outfit in the back of the kids’ wardrobe! Because really, it’s just a long blue dress and a pair of red wellies!

You could add a construction hat if you have one of those in the dress up box too. Chances are you’ll have a yellow one, and Flo’s is white; but we won’t tell anyone! 🤫

And if you also have a cape, and a sceptre, well Bob’s your auntie’s live in lover!

World Book Day doesn’t have to mean spending a fortune on a costume. Any blue dress would work just as well!

I haven’t put any links on that image above (the second picture) – this isn’t a sponsored post! I just did a quick google and found a couple of of reasonably priced dresses. But you might even have something suitable in the kids’ wardrobe already. There might even be a long sleeved T Shirt of your own that would double as a dress!

As an author here at @theachopsbooks I LOVE World Book Day. As a parent, it’s more a case of GAH!!! Helping our tiny humans with a World Book Day outfit can feel stressful; but it doesn’t have to be!

I really hope these suggestions have helped and as always, I would LOVE to see your pictures!

Don’t forget to tag me @theachopsbooks in your photos.

Happy World Book Day everyone! Have a good one. And keep reading!

#worldbookday #worldbookday2024 #keepreading #raisingreaders #parentsofinstagram #ukmumblogger #ukparentbloggers #ks1teacher #teachersofinstagram

Do you do this?⁠ ⁠ Take every opportunity to r

Do you do this?⁠
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Take every opportunity to remind our children, particularly our daughters, that they are the ones who are in charge of their bodies.⁠
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I've been using this phrase with Thea since she was tiny. If she asked me to stop when being tickled for example, I would stop and say, absolutely, your body your choice.⁠
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If we say these things over and over again, it will sink in.⁠
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Teaching kids about consent can be age appropriate. And can be easy to do.⁠
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You've said no I'll stop.⁠
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Your sister said no, stop.⁠
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Your brother said no, respect someone's no.⁠
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You can wave goodbye to Great Auntie if you don't want to hug.⁠

Consent is important. And it’s easy to talk about. I’m still gonna write a book about it though! Watch this space… sometime this year… 🫶🏽
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#consent #consentiscool #teachkidsaboutconsent #raisingfeminists #feministdad #feministmom #feministmum #equalitymatters⁠
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If you’re a parent of a primary school aged chil

If you’re a parent of a primary school aged child thinking, oh gawd, World Book Day is just around the corner, then panic not! I got you!!

Who hasn’t got either a striped dress or a adult sized striped top that could double as a kids’ dress?! A pair of white sneakers and a printed rosette and you’re done!

You could of course dig out that old dress up wig you have and go full Flo! Like @steph_dontbuyherflowers did a few years ago (swipe to picture 3) which was genius!

If you don’t have anything you could use I searched up a few options in shops (see pic2). These aren’t ads or affiliate links in any way. They’re just suggestions!

And if your child does go as Florence please do send me a picture! I can not tell you how happy it makes me as a little author!

#worldbookday #worldbookday2024 #parentsofinstagram #ukparentbloggers #ukparentblogger #parenthacks

Who else did this as a child? I could lose hours

Who else did this as a child?

I could lose hours in a book. Reading about fantastical characters in faraway trees. Or groups of kids picnicking and adventuring. Or sweet valley twins negotiating high school. Or girls named Margaret and, things named Ralph! 😳😂

Readers are usually read to.

We know that reading to children has huge benefits. It builds their vocabulary, feeds their imagination, expands their knowledge of people and the world, and you’ll often hear teachers say, if you do just one thing at home it’s read. Just a few minutes of sitting together allows both parent and child to slow down and connect with each other and talk.

The @nationalliteracytrust recently said that fewer than half of 0-2 year olds are read to by a parent. They also survey children each year on book ownership as a report in 2023 found that this is one of the top 3 predictors of a child’s reading performance. And an ability to read has lifelong academic and economic benefits.

The cost of living crisis has hit parents hard, and more than 1 in 3 told @nationalliteracytrust that they were buying fewer books as a result.

This is why libraries are amazing! Thea and I went to our local library on a rainy Saturday recently. I must admit, we hadn’t been for quite a while. She spent ages in there browsing books, and just sitting and reading. And when I asked how many she could borrow (for free of course!) a librarian told us 15!! Every month she can have 15 books at home; for free! How amazing is that!

So this post is a thank you to the libraries and the librarians! Tag yours below!

#libraries #librariesofinstagram #librarians #readingisasuperpower #readingtime📖 #readtogether #readbooks #readbookseveryday

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