Rewind back some 7 years and I don’t think there was anything than anyone could have said to prepare me for becoming a parent. It was like a bolt from the blue for me and in chaos I look for order and that is very hard to find as a first time parent. There was very little in the way of support networks out there. Due to reflux we struggled to get out, so I found solace in Twitter and a very lovely group of women who’d had babies at the same time.

I was glad I found that group of people and they got me through some of the most intense and chaotic months of my life. Fast forward to now and order has been restored and I would say I can’t imagine my life not being a juggle. But there are way more support networks than before. Through nursery and school I’ve found some really reliable friends who I can talk to for support for when those tricky parenting times arrive.

Sometimes the daily struggles are the ones that can catch you off guard and the Scottish Government have launched a new initiative called Parent Club to help support parents of primary 1-3 children include reading, writing and counting in daily activities. You can share tips with other parents of what works, from how to entertain them during those pinch points in the day, such as getting tea ready.

Our week can be a pretty hectic one, with school, clubs and work… Our pinch points are when we get home and we’re rushing trying to get dinner on the table. We’ve been looking for different ways to entertain them during this time. One thing we’ve found is that they really enjoy being given a challenge or task to complete. The Parent Club pack came with some excellent ideas, from story cubes to spark imagination to dominoes to support counting for Maisie.We even asked them to write down what they would taken on a jungle adventure with them (great for creativity and writing)

I recently took for granted that in today’s world we don’t every deal with money. Shopping online, contactless payments, so when the topic of money came up at school I felt like I’d let Liv down, because she didn’t really identify with coins and notes. We found a really simple solution using play money from Amazon and cupcake cases… By writing different amounts in the bottom of the cases and getting her to make up the amounts using the coins. I’m constantly amazed at how easy it can be to slot these things into the day to day busy schedules.

So next time your wondering how you can support reading, writing or counting, make sure you check Parent Club for ideas and support.

Disclosure: This is a collaboration with Parent Club