2020-06-01_Mother_&_Baby

F

orallitsmanyjoys,let’sfaceit,

parentingcanbea challengeat the

bestoftimes.Andnevermore so

thanrightnow, whenroutinehas

beenhurledoutthewindow,and

we’realljugglinground-the-clock

childcare, whilepotentiallyworkingfrom

home,too.StepforwardDaisyUpton,author

ofFive MinuteMum:Give MeFive. ‘Despite

havingbeen a stay-at-homemumforsixyears,

I’mfindingtheseunprecedentedtimestricky,

too,’saysDaisy. ‘Havingsmallchildren

athomewithouttheusualsavioursof

softplay, parks,orfarmsto breakup

thedaysis intense.Andhavingkids

athomewhenyoualsohavea

full-time job is virtually impossible.

With that in mind, Daisy’s first

piece of advice is this: re-set your

expectations of both yourself and

yourchildrentozero. ‘I’ve beendoinga

loopof five-minutegames,independent

free-playtimeandthenscreentime,withmy

children,Florence,who’sthree,andEwan,

who’s five. I set up thenext five-minutegame

whilethey watchTVandthenwe startthe

loopagain.Fornow,it’s working,but

I amaware that it is a learning

process forusall,andI’ll need to

continueto adaptandbendas

weworkourway throughthe

weeksahead.Myfavourite

sayingforthisageis ‘playing

is learning’and,quitefrankly,

if allwe dois play ourway

throughthesecrazytimes that’ll

bemorethanenough!’

SogiveDaisy’s gamesa go,

lettingyourchildrenplay

independentlywhenyou’retied-

upwithwork, enjoyingfamily

funwhen you’renot. And,

oncenormalityresumes,

wepromiseyou’ll

turnto themagain

andagainto help

youcopewith

themadnessthat

is motherhood!

Save

your

sanity

while

you’re

stuck

at

home,

with

these

boredom-

busting games from

Five

Minute Mum blogger

Daisy

Upton

MEET THE

EXPERT

Daisy Upton is a

formerteaching

assistant,a blogger,

authorofGiveMe

Five(£14.99,Penguin),

anda mumof two

Life&Kids

imme five!

motherandbaby.co.uk | June 2020 | 83
EXTRACT TAKEN FROM

GIVE ME FIVE

BY DAISY UPTON (£14.99, PENGUIN), AVAILABLE TO BUY NOW. FOLLOW DAISY ON INSTAGRAM @FIVEMINUTEMUM PHOTOGRAPHY ISTOCK