Dads and daughters – Sharing a passion for football

Like many other dads of daughters, I don’t see the fact that my child is a girl as a reason not to share my hobbies, interests, and passions with her. When I was a child, I had zero interests in common with my parents and that has carried on to adulthood. For me, it’s wonderful to (so far) be able to bond with my daughter over shared interests.

But it’s not only selfish reasons why I do this. I see genuine value in the things I am encouraging her to engage in, that will help in her growth and development. Increasingly, Football is one of these areas where dads and daughters are bonding over.

SSE, sponsors of the Women’s FA Cup, shared with me the story of 12-year-old Daisy McGregor and her father Kenny. He is a passionate football fan, and has been taking her to see his beloved Peterborough United since she was 5. She loved it.

At age 6, Daisy was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome, a condition which causes her to to have various involuntary spasms such as coughing and twitching. It’s been a very stressful thing for her to live with – but Daisy found something that helped her cope with it: playing football.

Starting with simple kickabouts with her dad, he then encouraged her to join the local all-girls side Yaxley Football Club. The positive effect on her symptoms has been huge.

Check out more on their story in this video, the latest in the SSE Dads and Daughters series:

So what started out as simply a dad sharing his passion for football with his daughter, has developed into a life changing activity for her. Us dads shouldn’t feel uneasy about engaging our daughters in this way. Just because it’s something we as men love, which hasn’t been considered a ‘girly’ activity or interest in the past, doesn’t mean it can’t be something that girls won’t engage with fully too.

It’s great that Daisy was able to find a girl’s club near her. The girls’s game is getting a tremendous boost from The FA SSE Girls Participation Programme, with more than 60 clubs taking part around the UK, giving a much needed boost to the number of girls only football settings.

I’ll support any campaign with the goal to increase girls participation in sport, boost their confidence, break down gender stereotypes, and celebrate the positive outcomes when dads bond with their daughters.

For more on Daisy and Kenny McGregor, and the SSE’s Dads and Daughters campaign, head to their website.

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Disclosure: This is a sponsored post in collaboration with SSE, one of the UK’s leading energy companies, supplying energy to around 8.21 million customers throughout the UK and Ireland.

 

Kubo and the Two Strings – a stylish, classy and modern animated classic

A stop-motion animated movie, that combines Japanese and western storytelling, Kubo and the Two Strings is an epic, visually stunning kids film that treats its family audience with respect and intelligence.

The movie is from US animation studio Laika, who were behind dark children’s film Coraline and the more recent Boxtrolls among others.

Kubo is a one-eyed Japanese boy living on an island with his mother. The pair arrived there when he was a baby, running away from something terrible.

Magic runs strong in their family, and when their past catches up with them Kubo embarks on a quest to find pieces of a mythical armour, with an enchanted monkey and samurai beetle as guardians.

As the quest continues, we learn more about Kubo’s past, and see his own magical abilities grow stronger. His magic manifests itself via his guitar-like instrument, bringing to life sheets of paper in a kind of origami sorcery.

The film switched between intense action, comedy, drama, and some genuinely creepy set-pieces.

The villains are stunningly realised with a cold, menacing presence, and the scene when Kubo’s evil aunts are revealed is as mesmerising as it is frightening.

My daughter adored this movie – despite the fact she spent the majority of it cuddled up on my lap, frequently hiding her face and peeking out at the screen. The same thing happened with a dad & daughter sitting next to us. I heard more than a few upset kids elsewhere in the cinema.

But this is not to put you off from taking your kids – this is absolutely a children’s film, and one that I highly recommend. In terms of our experience watching Kubo, it’s worth noting we saw it on one of the biggest and loudest screens in the country (Empire, Leicester Square) which likely heightened the tension.

It’s great when a film comes out of the blue and blows you away like this. Stunning animation, sophisticated storytelling, fascinating characters and a great voice cast (including Charlize Theron, Matthew McConaughey, Ralph Fiennes, and even George Takei).

Go see Kubo and the Two Strings. Take your kids. They’ll be delighted, enchanted, and possibly a little terrified, and they will love you for it.

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Wicked Uncle Online Toy Store Review

Wicked Uncle is a site that helps you choose presents for kids who you might be struggling to find the right gift for.

To assist you do this, they have various categories to help you whittle down your choices.

It’s a great concept. While I’m happy with getting the right gift for my daughter, it can be tricky when it comes to choosing for other children I don’t know well.

Filters include age, and categories such as Outdoorsy or Engineer which as far as I’m concerned are far more useful than boy or girl in choosing the right gift.

Unfortunately, the most prominent categories on Wicked Uncle are still for Boy and Girl, which I feel is a bit of a shame – one of the fundamental principles that got me blogging in the first place is that there is no such thing as a type of toy for either girls or boys.

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I think the categories on Wicked Uncle are much more effective in choosing the right gift than boy or girl.

In Wicked Uncle’s defence at least they have an All category right next to it, as well as a picture of a girl dressed as a pirate. And some of the choices in the Girl section at least subverted the traditional stereotype, such a Astronaut and Firefighter outfits.

There is a good selection of toys on the site, and after careful browsing (and consultation with wife & daughter) we settled on a Kite and a Pocket Microscope.

It’s interesting to note that the gifts we did get did not show up as choices when ‘4-year-old Girl’ is selected as a category, so it’s worth exploring around the filters if you’re not entirely sure about your selection.

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We eventually choose this excellent mini-microscope and a terrific kite. Neither of these showed up when searching for a 4-year-old girl (like our daughter) so it’s worth looking outside the strict parameters of your search to find the right gifts.

Check out was simple, with a £2.95 delivery charge, and the nicely parcelled package arrived a couple of days later.

One thing that I do think is missing from the site are reviews. I am sure there are very good commercial reasons for not having them yet – but I found myself cross-referencing products with other sites that DO have reviews while making my selection.

I think Wicked Uncle is a great concept. But while I appreciate gender remains a category many people still like to shop with (Wicked Uncle say it remains a popular option from site users), I personally wish it wasn’t featured as prominently on the site as it is. I am of the opinion that the other great categories Wicked Uncle have are far more effective when choosing the right gifts for a child.

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Disclosure: We were offered £40 store credit to use on Wicked Uncle for the purposes of this review.

LEGO DC Heroes of Justice: Sky High Battle review (76046)

One of the (few) great things about the movie Batman V Superman was the big screen debut of Wonder Woman. Another great thing is the character’s increased visibility in merchandise, such as this LEGO DC Heroes of Justice: Sky High Battle set. Continue reading LEGO DC Heroes of Justice: Sky High Battle review (76046)

ASK Italian Amici Kids family dining experience

We were invited to check out the ASK Italian restaurant chain’s new children’s offering Amici Kids – as part of a family meal on them, at our nearest restaurant (conveniently just a few minutes walk away).

Italian restaurants have a reputation for being child friendly, and even a casual dining chain like this is no exception. The new kid’s offering is called Amici Kids, and as well as food it also encompasses a child friendly attitude – the kid’s meal is served first, on cool plates, with small cutlery, plus colouring and other activities as part of their table setting.

Overall, this offering will suit many families. Many restaurants claim to be child friendly, but this is often not reflected in the venue itself. That was not the case here. The manager and waiting staff were very friendly and welcoming. While we have moved beyond that stage, there are change facilities in a unisex bathroom.

But of course, the main aspect of a good dining out experience has to be the food.

Kids Menus at Restaurants

We don’t normally restrict our daughter to order off the kids menu when eating out. One thing I like about dining out is the chance to experience new dishes and flavours, and we encourage the same in our daughter . But kids menus are often far from exciting in their range of dishes.

With Amici Kids the child gets a soft drink, starter, main, dessert, and babycino for a very competitively at £6.95, so it is great value for money. But it only offers a limited series of safe options of the dishes.

Starter

Amici Kids has one starter – veg sticks (carrot and cucumber) with thousand island dressing and garlic bread. No complaints, but very little to single out for being more than adequate.

We grown ups had an excellent calamari, and a less successful Bruschetta (ice cold tomatoes).

Mains

The main dishes on the Amici Kids menu include a range of basic pizza and pasta dishes. Unfortunately, none of these enticed our daughter. She wanted seafood (there is no seafood on the kids menu) so preferred to eat off the main menu and I wasn’t going to stop her. She ordered a delicious Linguini Frutti Di Mare. ASK have an option to downsize mains to a half portion with the addition of a salad, which is what we did.

Our mains were sadly not as well realised as her dish. My Lobster & King prawn tagliatelle was pretty tasty – but the promised “hint of chilli” was in fact very strong, and overpowered the dish (I have a pretty high tolerance to chilli).

My wife’s Mushroom linguine was ok, lacking a little flavour punch – until she bit into a porcini mushroom that hadn’t been soaked enough. I’m afraid these taste disgusting.

It’s a shame – both these dishes were let down by execution on the day rather than concept.

Drinks

I asked the waitress to choose a white wine to go with my main, and her selection was perfect. My wife also had a tasty Aperol Sprtiz (Aperol, Prosecco, soda and ice). Our daughter had an apple juice, included in the Amici Kids price.

Dessert

Ice cream dominated our desserts. Our daughter had the Amici Kids dessert of ice cream with a selection of toppings, I had  2 scoops of ice cream, and my wife went for a gooey chocolate cake also with ice cream – all of which went down well.

The ASK Italian / Amici Kids offering

While it’s unfortunate our meal was let down by some cooking errors, Amici Kids offers great value for money and a restaurant embracing children to join the dining out experience is welcome for any family.

But I remain of the opinion that we need to be more ambitious in terms of the food and flavours we offer our children, and the selection of dishes on the Amici Kids errs too far on the side of caution.

I know many families struggle with fussy eaters, but that’s not all kids – and eating out should be an adventure, not just relying on the familiar.

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Disclosure: This family dining experience was provided free of charge by ASK Italian.

 

 

 

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