Cockney in the Countryside

Author of www.cockneyinthecountryside.com Magazine Editor Wife of an Irishman Mother of 3 Autism advocate ☘️

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Self Publishing Poetry

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Lockdown with Additional Needs Children

The build up to any half term or school holiday is, for a lot of autistic children, well prepared for. Perhaps a week or so of social stories, new timetables, discussions with your child etc. will begin on the lead up to the break up of term. Even then half terms bring such a change in routine that many autistic children or children with additional needs find the transfer from school 5 days a…

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AD - Blume Baby Pops and Blume Dolls

AD – Blume Baby Pops and Blume Dolls

An exciting treat arrived for the children today in the form of our package from Blume Dolls. The dolls are brand new to the UK and the children were so happy to be playing with them today.

The packaging was bright and vibrant full of exciting ideas on the front of what may lay inside the plant pot type toys. The theme of the toys are flowers and plants and each Blume Baby and Blume Dollcame…

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The Truth about Pets and Children

It is inevitable that as a parent one day your child will ask if they can have a pet. As a child I constantly asked for an array of different animals that I could call a pet to which my mother denied me the chance sending me to desperate measures such as keeping caterpillars in jars in my room. As it happened “Slimy” the pet caterpillar metamorphosised into a beautiful butterfly on my 6th…

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Safer Internet Day - Social Media

Safer Internet Day – Social Media

This year on Tuesday 11th February we have National Safer Internet Day. A day in which the aim is to inspire a national conversation about using technology responsibly, respectfully, critically and correctly.

As a parent the Internet and social media in particular scares me. Therefore days like Safer Internet Day are indeed very much needed to have those important conversations with our…

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Blippi UK Toy Launch - Review

Blippi UK Toy Launch – Review

The world is fast changing and the average children’s TV programme and channels such as CBeebies, although still popular, have some competition. Birthdays and Christmases have been hard to cater for when my youngest’s favourite thing to watch became You Tube star Blippi’s channel. With his catchy songs and colourful educational videos he quickly became a firm favourite in our house a couple of…

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Christmas and Autism

“He looks so happy and excited” That’s how the majority of people have seen my son through the build up to Christmas. In the first week of December alone I myself was becoming overwhelmed with the sheer amount of events and Christmas activities I was adding to my calander both from the school and my own plans. Happy and excited he did indeed appear but the new “ticks” he was beginning to develop,…

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AD: Schwartz Seasoning and Blends - Classic BBQ

AD: Schwartz Seasoning and Blends – Classic BBQ

Schwartz have sent me (this product) for review, but all views are my own.

Winter is definitely well and truly here to stay with dark cold nights finding us earlier and earlier. However one thing which is sure to make my family and I feel a lot better about a chilly winter’s night is coming home to a plate of comfort food.

Schwartz Seasoning and Blendshave always been firm favourites in…

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Toy Review - Magic Box - Mini Pops

Toy Review – Magic Box – Mini Pops

Christmas had came early in our house with the arrival of the Moji Pops from Magic Box. The wonderfully fun collectables are the perfect stocking fillers this year with their blind bags with over 90 Moji Pops to collect. The Moji Pops are everyday objects such as shampoo and other household objects transferred into superheros and supervillians.

The Moji Popsbring hours of fun and imaginative…

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Christmas Decorating with Children

One of the first conversations my husband and I discuss when moving into a new home is… Where will the Christmas tree go? However now with three children in tow discussions around Christmas decor are more along the lines of “how will we save the tree this year?”

Posing a series of questions over at my Instagram account I was happy to find that the majority of parents have the same Christmas…

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Lying to my Husband and Acqua Alta - Venice

Lying to my Husband and Acqua Alta – Venice

The Lies

It started in January, the secrets and the planning. I began to search the Internet extensively, reading forums and finding the best possible outcome. I squirelled money away for months in my son’s shoe box under the bed and made countless secret phone calls making arrangements.

As the date to leave came closer it was harder to keep my secrets and my plans. My husband started to ask…

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Clubs and Hobbies - A Parent's Guide

Clubs and Hobbies – A Parent’s Guide

I see them on Saturday mornings on the playing fields opposite my house, troops of muddied children accompanied by their bitterly cold parents waddling back to their cars due to the sheer amount of extra padding necessary to protect them from the elements of a 10am October morning. I sigh a contented, warm sigh of relief and carry on playing with the children at the table. “Can I go football like…

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Toy Review - Bandai Bananas Series 3

Toy Review – Bandai Bananas Series 3

We received a lovely treat today when a package arrived with a rather posh looking hamper from the Bananas Collectibles range from Bandai Toys. The toys are all themed around pieces of fruit therefore the hamper was full of fresh fruit and packaged beautifully. The children loved delving into the hamper and finding the hidden fruit underneath and most excitingly the toys! The whole hamper smelt…

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My Marathon Journey - Weeks 1 - 4

My Marathon Journey – Weeks 1 – 4

https://www.justgiving.com/Cockneyinthecountryside

I would love to be able to tell you how I applied for the London 2020 Marathon and wrote out my well thought through application but the truth is I can’t remember. The first I knew about my marathon application was when a man from the National Autistic Society called offering me a place.

After several requests for him to repeat what he was…

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Rainbocorns Big Bow Surprise

Once again the children were uncontrollably excited about the arrival of a package from Zuru Toys. This week we received two Rainbocorn eggs. A Rainbocorns Big Bow Surprise which my daughter was very eager to open with its beautiful gold casing and sparkling bow on top and a smaller pink Rainbocorn Sparkle Heart Surprise. You can see live action of the unwrapping over at my Instagram and Facebook

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Through the eyes of an Autism Parent

Today was the school’s Harvest Festival in the local church. I find my place seated a couple of rows back, actually early for once! The children begin leading in, smartly dressed brandishing their tins of beans for donation to the local food bank. Parents and grandparents around me adopt the meerkat position, desperately scouring the lines of identically dressed pupils for their own creation.

My…

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Failing the School Run

Here we are about to embark on week four of the new school year. During the six weeks holidays I had the usual comments from random members of the public who basically thought I looked like I was at the “near breakdown” end of the holidays: “Don’t worry they’ll be back soon” However in all honestly I had a great six weeks holidays and was dreading September coming around and them returning to…

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