Review: Bioglan Vitamins - The Range For SmartKids

As any busy parent knows, getting your kids to eat a balanced and healthy diet can be a bit of a challenge.

Not only is there the daily challenge of coming up with an exciting menu, you may find you also have to deal with picky eaters and the vegetable averse child (step forward Ieuan!).

Then there's the problem of food intolerances and allergies which means ensuring your kids get their daily quota of vitamins is often anything but easy.

And all this is at a time when their bodies are rapidly growing and changing and being put under pressure from an often large variety of sports and extra curricular activities.

I have always taken a good multi-vitamin to stave off as many bugs as possible and also a pro-biotic for gut health.

I think it is only relatively recently that Western medicine has understood how important gut health is to the functioning of our bodies and, in particular, our immune system.

Caitlin and Ieuan regularly have chewy multi-vitamins so I was interested to discover that the company that makes the pro-biotic I take, Bioglan, has created a brand new range, SmartKids to meet the key needs of a developing child.

There are four products in the range which are priced from £9.99 and the products are specially designed for fussy eaters, since they contain nutritious fruit, vegetables and super food ingredients, and are enhanced with essential vitamins and minerals.

We were sent two of the four products in the range to try.

Bioglan SmartKids Brain Formula, available in a citrus flavour, is especially designed to help support healthy brain function, giving kids the best support possible.

   

This supplement contains Omega-3 fish oil which is especially high in DHA, the fatty acid best known for its role in brain health.

The formula also contains several B vitamins which contribute to a normal nervous system and Iron which plays a vital role in oxygen transportation to the brain and the rest of the body, as well as contributing to the normal cognitive development of children.

This supplement comes in a chewy 'burstlet' - a liquid containing capsule which releases the contents when bitten.

Whilst the outer capsule was pleasant enough, it is quite chewy and although the liquid inside has a lemony taste, there is the unmistakable flavour of fish oil.

Caitlin was happy to take these but Ieuan was not so convinced.  I think these are probably better for a slightly older child who has a fuller appreciation of the benefits of taking the supplement.

We also tried Bioglan SmartKids Happy Tummies which are strawberry flavour yoghurt balls, each containing 1 billion good bacteria - Lactobacillius acidophilus and Bifodobacterium lactis - two well known and researched strains often found in yoghurt.

Both kids really enjoyed the flavour of these and they are an ideal supplement to help ward off tummy bugs - which are doing the rounds here yet again.

The other products in the range are the Bioglan SmartKids Fussy Eaters Multivitamin, especially designed for fussy eaters. Obviously it is better to get your vitamins straight from your food but this supplement contains a wide spectrum of essential vitamins and minerals, together with a high ORAC blend of fruit and vegetables. These are chewable tablets which come in blackcurrant and strawberry flavours.

Lastly there is Bioglan SmartKids Superfood Shake, a chocolate shake packed with hidden fruit and vegetables which Bioglan suggest would be ideal for an after school snack or before dashing off to swimming, ballet or Tae Kwon-Do!

The shake does not contain added sugar, artificial sweeteners or flavours and is easily added to milk, smoothies, cereal or yoghurt. 

Bioglan originated in Australia over 25 years ago and all its products are formulated by qualified naturopaths and are based on only the strongest clinical trials and long-term evidence.

The SmartKids range is available from Holland & Barrett.

Now that the NoroVirus is doing the rounds again, and winter coughs and colds are in full swing, I like to think of these as an extra insurance policy for the family's health. 

Because you can guarantee that anything the kids come down with will be passed swiftly on to the parents!

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Spring Bags 2016 I'm Loving

There are sooo many fabulous bags out there to choose from and what better way to freshen up your wardrobe without too much of a splurge (although sometimes your heart leads you astray).

These are my current favourites.

Bow Handle Cross Body Bag, Floozie By Frost French At Debenhams

I love the colour of this bag from Floozie. It features a bow handle on the top, a fold over popper fastening design and a detachable shoulder strap.

Vivienne Westwood Bunny Shopper £170 - Vivienne Westwood Bags

How cute is this bunny shopper from Vivienne Westwood Bags?  As you'd expect from Westwood, there is plenty of quirkiness which ensures that any of her bags automatically become investment pieces you want to keep and revisit year upon year.

River Island Structured Tote Bag - £45

This is a striking mustard yellow suede structured tote bag from River Island. With white top handle and white side tassel details, I think it's great value at £45.

Antonello Woven Tote - £295

This is a really unusual bag with a bit of a 70's vibe about it. Antonello took inspiration from hand weaving techniques from Sardinia for this bag which has a beautiful tribal pattern adorning the front.  This bag would look fab matched with a white outfit to make the colour pop.

Marc Jacobs Embellished Backpack - £712.18

This statement backpack combines casual graffiti-print cotton canvas with nickel hardware and has backpack straps, looped top-carry handle, zip-around closure and front zip pocket.

Simply Be Tweed Shoulder Bag - £20

This bag with pastel colours and a gold chain is an absolute bargain from Simply Be.

Micro Sidney Fringe Bag From Whistles - £85

The bucket shaped bag has a drawstring closure with fringes and a metal chain.  Very bohemian!

So there you have it.  Which one is your favourite?

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I'm A Useless Feminist

On a day when we celebrate women and their achievements, I find myself silently berating myself for my less than glowing feminist credentials.

By that I mean that whilst I know with every fiber of my being that women are equal to men and that no woman should come second because of her gender, I still struggle with the concept.

I grew up in the 70's and 80's at a time when there was a definite sea change towards a kind of social and economic freedom our mothers never knew.

But the backdrop to this was still a world in which to truly succeed it seemed as if conformity was the quickest and easiest route.

And many of us who wanted to strike out and defend a woman's right to be everything she wanted to be with no limits, found our mothers had a completely different idea.

Two examples often heard from women during my upbringing - women were worse drivers than men and that unemployment levels would be immediately reduced if women would only stay home and look after their children, thus freeing up jobs for men.

In the Legal Profession in which I found myself quite accidentally, women were still less likely to be made partners.

I hope that this is no longer the case but I seriously doubt it.  

My friends and I used to joke (although it really isn't funny) that women would make manager and assistant manager positions but directorships and partnerships would usually go to the men.

And less talented men at that.

So I learned that conformity was the thing.  Keep your head down, don't make waves, don't disagree. I was a single girl and I needed to keep my job.

This is not the image of the ballsy, go-getting feminist who wouldn't be talked down to in meetings and would never accept the task of making the tea.

I would watch from the sidelines as the male employees would get invited to sporting hospitality events, dinner with the partners, an afternoon of golf.

Men seem to have an easier way of relating to one another.  They argue, swear and cuss at each other and then move on.

With women, it is often an endless war of attrition where sweetness and concern cloaks a fierce and ruthless ambition.

It seemed that women could not compete 'openly' with one another but had to resort to a set of tactics which would make Machiavelli look like a novice.

Apart from one, I can't think of any female boss I enjoyed working for.  

They were, by and large, power-dressing, mint crunching, bobbed hair types who, when they were not 'delegating'  (the responsibility, mind you, never any authority) nebulous projects, were just as likely to be found doing their weekly grocery shop online.

Do I sound bitter?  Damn right I am.

This was not how it was supposed to be.

I read frequently of sisters who support one another. Female managers and co-workers who build each other up, look out for each other and celebrate each others' triumphs.

As I get older I wonder if this is some sort of feminist myth and whether, for example, in the hot-housed enclaves of the partitioned office environment so popular in Wales this ever actually happens.

I really hope, for the sake of young women today, that it does.

I find myself wondering what to tell my own daughter when she enters the world of work.  If the current economic climate does not improve, getting and keeping a job may well be more important than challenging any barriers.

Does that make me a hypocrite or a realist?

I'm afraid it probably makes me a useless feminist.

In the end, it's all about the easiest route to self-preservation, the quickest way to secure the pay rise, the least threatening way to fit in.

Looks are still currency.  This seems to be the main belief of our selfie generation, encouraged by the Kardashian clan in their endless pursuit of reverence.

There are thousands of young women working hard to gain qualifications and skills in fields such as medicine and science.

Yet, Kim Kardashian takes her clothes off, posts it on the internet and makes millions.

And there's the central problem.

I can't bring myself to agree that this is the definition of empowerment, but in the face of her vast wealth, I really struggle to call it anything else.

As I said.  Hypocrite or realist?

Certainly a useless feminist.

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Review: Kiss The Cartridge Goodbye! - The Epson ET-2500 Ecotank Printer

For many years, it could be argued that investing in a printer was a luxury.  Times have changed of course and now many home offices boast a printer of varying levels of sophistication.

The Husband has a home office where he works when not travelling the globe and his work requires the production of complex, technological documentation for clients and for sales presentation materials such as hand-outs and printed slides.

The Epson ET-2500 Ecotank Printer

My printing needs are simpler - the odd e-book (I still love to read hard copy!), maps, e-tickets, order confirmation slips and invoices.

Our existing printer, a small Samsung black and white laser printer, has worked well, if temperamentally for over 5 years.

You can bet that it will have a paper jam when you really need to print out something urgently - an e-ticket or map, for example - or that it will announce it needs a cartridge change on a Sunday at 4 pm.

According to Epson, we're not alone - with 56% of us having had 'printer panic'.  I don't know about you but I have quite enough to worry about as it is!

We were recently given the opportunity to review the Epson ET-2500, one of Epson's new EcoTank printers which can save you up to 70% of your printing costs due to its integrated high capacity ink tanks.

The Epson ET-2500 is a 3-in-1 inkjet printer with print, copy and scan features.  It's the first time we have had a photocopying facility at home, having previously had to trudge over to our local library with a pocket full of 5p pieces and a prayer that the machine was actually working.

Finally, a photocopier at home!

This printer also comes supplied with 2 years of ink having four colour 70ml Epson genuine ink bottles in the box, which make it easy, clean and quick to fill the ink tanks.

The printer comes with four bottles of ink to add to the tank

Best of all you can say goodbye to ink cartridges.

The ink supplied is sufficient to print up to 4,000 pages in black and 6,500 pages in colour at just a fraction of a penny per page.

Because the ink tanks are high volume and refillable, the ink should last you far longer than the traditional ink cartridges.

The printer also has mobile printing.  It is equipped with Wi-Fi, so that you can use the Epson Connect features.

These allow you to print quickly and easily over Wi-Fi from a smartphone using the free Epson iPrint app, print remotely or email the ET-2500 a print job from anywhere.

The ET-2500 uses Epson's own Micro Piezo technology for excellent-quality print-outs.

Mono prints are delivered at a rate of 9.2 pages per minute while it can issue 4.5 colour pages per minute.

The Epson ET-2500 retails at £229.99.

So we gave the Epson ET-2500 a thorough road test over the period of one week to see how it compared with our old printer.

What we loved

• Compact
• Easy to maintain
• Pulls in paper without a hitch  (unlike our old printer)
• Good quality printing in both mono and colour
• 3 year extended warranty
• Lots of ink compared to other printers and cartridge designs - will last a long time 
• Refill costs currently look well priced making this a cost effective printer 
• Connects over Wifi - no need to use cables
• Reasonable speed for an ink-jet
• Multi-function printer - In built scanner and copier facility

What we loved less

• Slower than a laser
• Does not automatically wake up once the printer has gone into sleep mode (Wifi) 
• Needs manual intervention to print duplex 
• Slow print time for detailed graphics
• Long set-up time - 20 mins to charge the ink.
• Needs Epson driver

This is a great multi-functional printer which would suit a home office where bulk printing is an occasional, rather than a constant event.  If you need to print out a set of hand-outs and produce a high-spec technical document, it is ideal.  Having the photocopying and scanning functions included is an added bonus.

I think that if you are constantly churning out multi-page documents then you may be better off considering a laser printer - and possibly asking your boss for an office!

There is an Epson Easy Photo Print tool which allows you to correct and position your photos, plus add frames but I was unable to print out a photo of suitable quality using normal copying paper (not surprisingly).  Ultra glossy paper is recommended so this function was not fully tested.

The price of the Epson ET-2500 is very reasonable, in our view (£229.99), especially when you factor in the savings you'll make from not having to buy and replace ink cartridges.

It's a great, economical and environmentally friendly home office printer, best suited for daily correspondence, small scale bulk printing and family printing.

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My Sunday Photo - 06/03/2016

My Mum, Kay and I About 50 Years Ago

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Kidsitter.co.uk - Reliable Childcare In A Hurry

One of my regular frustrations is finding a babysitter.  In the old days, all you would do is rope in the nearest adolescent and pay them a couple of pounds whilst giving them full reign of your biscuit cupboard.

I remember spending many happy hours babysitting for my neighbours.  Whilst their children slumbered upstairs, I would be happily ensconced downstairs accompanied by an extensive pile of magazines and an equally large pile of custard creams.

Today, though, we live in a different climate and parents are much more concerned to find appropriately qualified, professional and capable babysitters.

Easier said than done.

You can bet that when a function arises, your babysitter will be busy.  If you're anything like me, you'll find the number of sitters available generally dwindles down to just the one.

There's a new answer to babysitter woes for those in the London area (and hopefully, later wider across the country) - Kidsitter.co.uk.

Founded by London Business School and Harvard alumni, KidSitter is a secure and curated online marketplace, with a mission to connect parents with trusted babysitters in London.

KidSitter uses a thorough 5-step vetting process to ensure they work with only the very best babysitters, most of who are nannies, childminders, nurses and teachers and, they say, only 1 in 10 will meet their criteria.

KidSitter babysitters are all DBS checked, paediatric first-aid certified, reference checked and interviewed in-person.

The in-person interview is worth its weight in gold to me.  There are a couple of other online babysitting services which operate much like a dating site.  You can create a free profile and input a 'job' and then wait for the responses to roll in.

But you then have to pay to respond to those messages (currently around £20 per month or £100 per year).

The vetting and interviewing are left to you which means that your chances of finding a babysitter at short notice are slim.

I have also found that the babysitters who use these other sites are not always amenable to meeting you and your kids either.

Often they are as young as 16 and their experience is solely looking after their younger siblings. Sometimes they don't even live in the same county as you!

Kidsitter launched in Islington in October 2015 and has now increased their service to the whole of London.

They can send you a trusted babysitter in as little as 2 hours at a very reasonable price of £12 per hour with no joining fees, booking fees or added extras.

They also offer a scheduled babysitter service so that if you have a regular exercise class or brunch date (I wish!), help is always on hand.

For mums like me whose partners work away most of the week and who have practically zero access to childcare, this could well give you some of your freedom back!

At the moment, I can't commit to a regular evening out because I never know where the Husband will be and, since my parents are elderly, I can't really ask them to sit late in the evenings.

With Kidsitter you can book as much as a month in advance to two hours before you need a sitter, if the booking is made between 9 AM and 6 PM, on all days of the week.

There is a three hour minimum for each booking but if your plans change full refunds are offered for cancellations made from the time of the booking until 24 hours before the sitter is due to arrive.

The other thing I like is that you don't pay the sitter directly.  Usually sorting out payment for our babysitter involves a dash to the cashpoint and, occasionally (don't tell them!), a riffle through the kids' money boxes (of course we put it back!).

At the time of booking, you will be asked to provide your credit or debit card details. 24 hours before the booking, KidSitter will charge your card for the amount of the booking. Once a sitter has completed her work successfully, KidSitter will pay them directly.

At the moment I have at least two upcoming events I need a babysitter for and I have a lot of vetting and interviewing I need to do urgently.

So if you need to find a babysitter in London, why not give Kidsitter a try and save yourself a lot of the extra stress of just having a night out?!

I really hope they come to Cardiff soon!

*collaborative post

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If We'd Had World Book Day In The 70's, I'd Be Taking These

Today is World Book Day which is now in its 19th year. World Book Day celebrates authors, illustrators, books and, a subject close to my heart, reading. In fact it has been designated a worldwide celebration of reading by UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation).

World Book Day - Thursday 3rd March 2016

The main aim of World Book Day in the UK and Ireland is to encourage children to explore the pleasure of reading by giving them the chance to have a book of their own. And to help with this, participating schools have been sent packs of book tokens and age-ranged World Book Day Resource Packs with lots of ideas, activities and display material.

When I learned to read, we had the old Janet & John books ("Look Janet, the dog has the ball" - it's ingrained now!) and fairy tales came in the form of the classic Ladybird books.

World Book Day has got me thinking about those books dear to my heart and that I'd want to talk about in school.

These are just some of them - and I've specifically listed the paperback versions because, much as I love my Kindle, it is never quite the same reading experience.

And I believe our kids have far too much 'screen time' as it is. On the other hand, of course, if you wanted to read these to your kids as a bed time story, many fabulous children's books are downloadable free of charge.

Heidi by Johanna Spyri - £6.99 at Amazon.co.uk

Young Heidi goes to live with her grandfather in his lonely hut high in the Swiss Alps and she quickly learns to love her life there. Her strict aunt decides to send her away, back to the town. Heidi can't bear being away from the mountains and is determined to return to her happy life with her grandfather.

Milly-Molly-Mandy Stories by Joyce Lankester Brisley - £4.37 at Amazon.co.uk

These are stories of little country girl, Milly-Molly-Mandy who lives in a tiny village in the heart of the countryside. She is a busy little bee, whether earning money to give a party, minding the village shop, having a picnic or going sledging. Despite the stories being nearly 80 years old, they are still enjoyed today.

What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge - £6.99 at Amazon .co.uk

Katy Carr is a tomboy who dreams of being "beautiful and beloved, and amiable as an angel". Unfortunately Katy is untidy and always getting into mischief. When a terrible accident threatens her grand plans for the future, she needs all her courage and humour to see her through.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett - £5.24 - Amazon.co.uk

Mary Lennox is sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle and everybody says she is the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen. Pale, spoilt and quite contrary, Mary is also horribly lonely. One day she hears about a garden in the grounds of the Manor that has been kept locked and hidden for years. And when a friendly robin helps Mary find the key, she discovers the most magical Secret Garden.

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell - £4.94 at Amazon.co.uk

This is one of the best selling books of all time, selling over 50 million copies. Although ostensibly about animal welfare, it is really an allegory about how to treat people with kindness, sympathy and respect. Narrated by the horse, Black Beauty, each chapter tells of an incident in Black Beauty's life and contains a lesson or moral.

The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton - £5.10 at Amazon.co.uk

Actually the second in The Faraway Tree series, this is about Joe, Beth and Frannie who find an enchanted wood on the doorstep of their new home. This is the start of many magical adventures with characters such as Moonface, Saucepan Man and Silky the fairy. Blyton is arguably the most famous children's author of all time and her stories still sell thousands of copies every year.

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame - £4.99 at Amazon.co.uk

The Wind in the Willows is a children's novel by Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. It is the story of kind, sleepy badger, brave and lively ratty and irresponsible Toad, together with the sinister weasels and stoats who capture Toad Hall when Mr Toad is in jail.  It is up to his friends to, as Ieuan (and Captain Adorable) would put it, save the day and save Toad Hall.

Incidentally, my mother used to say I drove my car like Mr Toad.  Hmmm.

Which children's classics would you add to this list?

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