Parenting – Page 6 – Mediocre Mum

What to do when your Hamster is Dying

When a Hamster Reaches the End

The guilt is setting in

One day I will tell my daughter the truth…..

Upon returning home from our annual trip to Canada for 3 weeks we noticed a considerable difference in our 2 year old hamster, which is equivalent to a person in their late 80s, she had aged visibly. Her eyes were dull, she lost a tooth and was moving very slowly. In the past, you wouldn’t dare leave her on the floor for a minute or two or she’d be gone, now she just waddled around like a little old lady, often toppling over.

The End Is Nigh

However, a couple of weeks ago she really started to go downhill. Caramel, the hamster, had stopped grooming herself, her bottom teeth were excessively long, her abdomen was swollen along with one of her eyes, she was incontinent and cold to the touch. Some thought her lethargy may be down to going into hibernation, but we know our hamster well and she was definitely on the way out.

After a bit of Googling, I learned that hamsters of this age, are susceptible to tumours, which would have explained the swollen abdomen and the swelling could also be an indication of impending heart failure. I was torn about what to do. I had a long conversation with a mobile vet and she said there is very little a vet could do besides, euthanizing her and disposal.

Decisions, decisions

After reading, When a Hamster Reaches the End by David Imber, as she did not appear to be in pain and it seemed imminent, I decided to keep her at home and care for her giving my daughter the opportunity to learn about the cycle of life and caring for the elderly. Plus, I felt that her natural surroundings would be less stressful than putting her in the car and taking her to the vet.

She could no longer feed herself, we hand fed her water, yogurt and the juice from crushed grapes several times a day. We used cotton buds and olive oil to clean up her bottom, baby wipes to clean her fur, gave her extra bedding and I often kept her in my coat when working at the computer to keep her warm.

‘It’s just a Hamster for Goodness Sake’

This went on for about a week. Each morning, I would secretly hope that she would have passed away in the night, but she didn’t. I really couldn’t watch it anymore so arranged to have the vet put her down while my daughter was at school. It was all very swift and professional, using an injection, I brought her home in a box and told my daughter a white lie, that she had died naturally in the afternoon. I couldn’t believe how upset I was, I couldn’t even speak to the vet as I would have started blubbering, which I put down to worrying about my daughter being upset.

But when I told my daughter, she asked to see her, went up stairs, gave her a quick cuddle and then quickly said, ‘can we bury her now?’ The actual burial was more humours than sombre. The area she chose to bury it was laden with tree roots and dry soil, but with the help of a neighbour and an axe we managed. Plus, I never realised what a busy thoroughfare the area was, full of cyclists, dog walkers and commuters all looking at us suspiciously but with a quick over the shoulder remark ‘Hamster’ it appeased their curiosity and they carried on.

In the end, I’m glad we did keep her at home for a time so we could care for her and keep her as comfortable as possible and I think it gave my daughter a chance to say goodbye properly and made it all a bit less tearful.

Would you have done the same?

How to train your hubby to do the School Run!

7 Simple Questions

We started back to school last week, thank god as I was on my knees and desperate to have routine back! As I work in teacher training the first couple of days back are usually busy form me, with INSET days, so I left hubby to do the school run. It’s one of the positives of him working from home, so he’s able to help out and often does the morning run.

As always, the night before I set everything out; a new Asda George School Pinafore, pristine white socks, Polo Shirt, brand spanking new Kicker School Shoes from Cloggs (no need to polish), Cardigan, the correct Days of the Week Pants (Wednesday), Book Bag and PE Kit. I thought I was fail safe, it was all strategically placed in the lounge so no need to find anything, all he had to do was get her dressed, brush her teeth and hair and make sure she didn’t have any toothpaste on her chin a baby wipe would have sufficed.

To the untrained eye, it will look like he did a pretty good job, she’s all smiles, dressed and at the correct classroom. However, I asked him to snap a photo of the momentous first day of Year 2, which he text to me during the day. But after closer scrutiny I noticed a few things.

The socks were fairly obvious and made me chuckle, they’re called knee socks for a reason and it isn’t that difficult to say ‘pull your socks up’. The headband is a dead giveaway that he didn’t brush her hair and in fact, I’m confident she must have done it herself. She often does this to avoid the dreaded mats, by simply pulling it into a pony tail and taming her fringe with a hair band, which really isn’t a problem, but makes it doubly hard to brush the following day.

As for brushing her teeth and washing her face, you can’t tell from the photo, but he hasn’t done it in the last two years so right in assuming it wasn’t done that morning. It’s not the end of the world, but with new teeth coming in it’s important she learns to care for them as she won’t be getting a new set.

I also noticed that there is no sign of her new School Bag, it really isn’t hard to miss, that we have for her PE Kit, sadly our required PE kit will not fit into a drawstring bag. Our kids have PE twice a week, one indoor and the other outside so we have quite a kit list and needed a slightly larger bag. And what happened to her book bag, it took me ages to find the damn thing?

To be fair, I wouldn’t have expected him to iron her polo shirts, but they had come straight out of the bag and when she took her pinafore off that evening it still had the ‘just out of the package’ creases on it.

I shouldn’t give him such a hard time. He did manage to get her there on time. Bless! I’m just sad I missed her first day of Year 2! Where is the time going?

Things to do with Kids in Hampshire

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and The Spinnaker Tower

If you haven’t been to Portsmouth in awhile you really should!

I’ve only ever been to Portsmouth once before and that was to take a ferry to France, so really didn’t have any prior experience of it. When we were planning on making an overnight trip a few weeks ago, I asked online about Portsmouth and places to eat, a few people were negative about the area.

I can’t tell you how wrong these people were, I’m guessing they haven’t visited for awhile.

Getting There

Pending traffic, the journey is less than 2 hours away from St Albans, Herts. We decided for ease sake to use the Park and Ride system and from the moment we parked up we were extremely impressed. Buses run regularly to the Harbour and take less than 12 minutes, whizzing passed all the traffic via the bus lanes and cost as little as £2 for a return journey. Once you are at the harbour everything is in easy walking distance.

The Gunwharf Quays

We arrived a bit later than expected so food was first on the agenda. We headed to the Gun Wharf Quays, which boasts 90 premium outlet stores and any a huge selection of restaurants, bars and cafe’s everything from Burger King to Jamie’s Kitchen to Loch Fyne. We wanted something fairly quick so we opted for Wagamama’s. The location and facility was impressive in itself, with commanding views of the Sea or Canal depending on where you choose to eat.

Spinnaker Tower

Our first stop was the Spinnaker Tower, all 360 feet of it, it’s Portsmouth’s Prominent Landmark and overlooks the Harbour, Gunwharf Keys and Historic Dockyards. I’m terrified of heights but glad I persuaded myself to go up in the lift as the views were incredible, we had a clear day so could see for miles. I wasn’t brave enough to stand on the glass floor, unlike my daughter, but did make it up to the 3rd Open Air Deck.

Portsmouth Historical Dockyard

The reason we went to Portsmouth in the first place was my Husband, he has a love of anything nautical and when he was at University he was in the University Royal Navy Unit, a volunteer program which provides high-quality sea training. He was very impressed with how much the area had changed and saw his old Patrol Boat.

A Great Day out for the Whole Family

The rest of the day was spent at Portsmouth’s Historical Dockyard. We could have spent two days there. To humour our 6 year old daughter, we made a quick stop at Action Stations, an interactive play centre for kids but we were really there to see the ships. She had a quick go at the climbing wall, experienced a Helicopter Simulator and engaged in some physical combat.

We then explored the HMS Warrior, (1860) Britain’s first iron-hulled armoured ship, The HMS Victory, Best known for her role in the Battle of Trafalgar and the Mary Rose Museum, where you can learn about the restoration of Henry VIII favourite Warship which was raised from the seabed in 1982 and get a glimpse into Maritime Life, some great interactive displays for kids. Being able to physically walk through the first two really gave you a feel for what it must have been like to have lived aboard these great ships for months. My daughter found the whole experience fascinating.

Half a day really didn’t give it justice. We could have spent 2-3 days there. If you do decide to visit you can save up to 40% off by buying a family ticket, which covers 2 Adults and 3 kids from Amazon Local, plus it’s good for 12 months so you can go back again, which we definitely will be. We also had tickets for the Royal Marines Museum, which would have been very interesting, but simply didn’t have time. There was so much to see and do, we will definitely be going back.

If you’re planning a trip to the area check out the full list of Attractions in Hampshire .

Things to do with Kids Outdoors in Dorset

Go Ape, Moors Valley near Bournemouth

I don’t know who had more fun, the kids or the adults. We were recently camping at Eweleaze Farm in Dorset and thought we’d take the opportunity to check out Go Ape, The UK’s #1 Forest Adventure. One of my friends always wanted to take her daughter and as we were in the area, approx 30 miles away, we thought ‘why not?’.

I stayed on the ground and supervised the 3 girls aged 6 and 7 on the Tree Top Junior Adventure, while the two adults, I use the description ‘adult’ loosely as you will see by the photos, went on the main Tree Top Adventure.

The Junior Adventure is suitable for children aged 6 and up but they have to be over 1m. They have an hour to clamber around the site, navigating wobbly crossings and zooming down the zip wires. The nice thing about the Junior Adventure is that they are connected the entire time via a cable so incredibly safe. The girls absolutely loved it and charged around like loons and got 5-6 ‘goes’ on the two routes, even though it was rather busy.

Once the girls finished we tracked down their mums on the Main Tree Top Adventure so we could watch/laugh at them from the Forest Floor. There’s takes a bit longer 2.5-3 hours with 5 different circuits, is higher, scarier and more physically challenging (suitable for 10+) but by all accounts they loved it!

One of the mums said ‘she can’t remember the last time she had that much fun!’

How to build a simple den with kids

How to Make a Den

You know when you see something so simple and genius and have to share…….

As a child I spent hours building Dens which we call Forts in Canada

We went to Lollibop UK last weekend at Hatfield House in Herts, a lot of it was targeted at younger children but we noticed an area on the map for Den Building and Bear Grylls Survival which we thought would be great for slightly older children. We eventually found ‘ Den City’ (clever name) tucked behind the main tent. My initial reaction was ‘is that it?’ as it was just a series of ropes tied to the trees.

Den Building for Small Gardens

But boy was I wrong, the girls aged 6 and 7 were supplied with a series of sheets and clothes pegs. The girls were completely engaged and spent a good hour or hour and a half building dens.

How to build a den

I was inspired and have now hit the local charity shops for sheets and curtains, Wilkos for clothes pegs and the local DIY shop for some rope and tent pegs. We now have a basket of den building supplies, perfect for keeping kids entertained during the school holidays. Our garden is tiny but we do have a tree so this should work a treat. I’m all up for anything that gets the kids outside and develops their imagination.