I’m a self confessed scrooge. I resent the absurd amounts of money spent over Christmas, the extra kilos gained, the waste created and the multiple lies I feel obliged to tell my children. But you know what, I’m trying. Now that I have children I have to get on it. Our family just do it our own way – the …
Our day in Belém – an itinerary of choux pastry, coaches and a horse called Fandanga
Ah, what a day in Belém district this was! We started with a little elevenses (a mid morning snack) at Versailles Belém, followed by a trip to the Museu Nacional dos Coches (The National Coach Museum) and a tour by horse and carriage. We finished with a late lunch at Rui dos Pregos. Pastelaria Versailles Belém Versailles is an iconic pastelaria (patisserie) established in Lisbon …
Flying alone with small children – a sequel to Die Hard II – Die Harder?
I’ve dreaded this moment for the past 4 years: travelling alone with my children while they’re still little. I put if off as much as possible but I could do it no more and here I am, on a 4.30pm Easyjet flight from London Gatwick to Portugal. Every child is different and the whole family dynamic changes depending …
Going home for Christmas – 7 things to make the most of this trip
We’re going back home for Christmas next week and I’ve not prepared anything – a very southern European trait. We keep being told that the best way to encourage bilingualism in any age is immersion – the longer the exposure to the target language, the better. So this year we booked a trip to my home country – Portugal. …
4 classic tricks to make Story Time more fun
Do you rather have children begging you to read to them, or the other way around? If the latter, it helps to make the experience fun and engaging. This is particularly important if the child is not keen on reading or on being read to. And specially if you’re trying to nudge them into taking an interest in the minority …
What does Brexit have to do with it?
Around the world, especially in Britain, Europe and the United States, there’s been a surge in extreme populist movements, selling a “back to past values”, protectionism and with it, anti-immigrant sentiment. The last 18 months marked a shift in the world as I knew it. As we know it. The aftermath of the Brexit referendum saw a surge in racist hate crime …
The start of our journey – v 2.0
Strictly speaking this is not really the start, we’ve been intending to bring the girls up as bilingual all along, but life got in the way. We never really planned much the whole bilingual thing. We thought it would just happen! My partner asked if I’d speak Portuguese with the girls, I said yes, and that was it. The commitment had been …