Blog : Little Lilypad Co

  Tweet

Ten, maybe fifteen years ago, if you had told someone that you were going to do all of your shopping online, they would have probably looked at you strangely because shops opened on a Sunday, they had late night opening times, why would you want to order online? The reality is, our lives have got busier, we want accessibility at the touch of a button and we want to be able to get everything we need, from the comfort of our own homes.

In 2013 you can quite simply get almost anything delivered to your front door, no more traipsing round shop after shop, no more paying exorbitant parking fees and no more sore feet. The only problem now is selecting the right online retailer. Now we run our own boutique here at the Lilypad but it is a very specialised niche and we sit comfortably in our little corner of the internet, but what if you need to appeal to a wider audience? What if you are looking for an extensive range of branded products but not necessarily mass produced by the major chains? We were therefore delighted to be asked to look at the Internet Gift Store and found that it has a fabulous range of gifts to cover most genre's, occassions and tastes.

On the subject of taste, getting the right lunch bag for your child is certainly not child's play and with so many different characters and styles available, tempers have certainly been frayed in our house when choosing a lunch bag but the Internet Gift Store has a massive range of kids lunch bags to suit every age ( I am particularly fond of Elmo myself).

The world wide web provides a huge resource for consumers like you and I but with many big companies going into administration, maybe it is time to place confidence in the smaller boutiques and stores and give them a chance to shine. 

Tweet

I recently read about the MyFamilyClub Parent Pledge and couldn't help but be inspired. The principle of the campaign is easy, all you have to do is tell them how you pledge to spend at least 30 minutes each week doing something different, fun and thrifty with your children.

It got me to thinking about the time I spend with my girls and the "quality" of that time and I decided that there are small changes I could make, to make a difference to my children. Anyone that knows me, will know that I am never far from some form of technology, whether that be a laptop, tablet or phone. This love of technology is echoed by my own girls, even the little one has her own toddler apps but I never had those as a child, the closest I got was a Fisher Price wooden phone .... which is not really the same thing.

So here is my pledge:

I pledge that for 30 minutes a DAY (not a week) I will turn off all the apps, phones, laptops and tablets and enjoy reading an actual book, rather than an electronic one, we will do some physical drawing, rather than with a stylus and we will bake delicious cakes that we can actually taste, rather than look at on a screen.

Technology is fantastic and making sure that my children are competent in using it is a great skill for them as they grow up but it is easy to forget that there is life in the real world, waiting to be discovered. This weekend we may even go to an "actual" farm, not one that has been created online!

Don't get me wrong, we are not always stuck in an electronic world but it is easy to forget that the simplest things are often those that create the very best memories.

So will you consider making a pledge? If you do, don't forget to share it with MyFamilyClub as if they love your idea you could win a prize. Their favourite Parent Pledge will win a luxury family break in Cornwall, courtesy of the beautiful Sands Resort Hotel & Spa. 

What do you pledge?