7 HRS AGO - You’re meant to shut up, keep still and pay attention at the theatre – but what if that’s a problem? We examine the rise of ‘relaxed’ spaces where anything goesIt started with the toes. Someone slipped off their shoes at a West End show, propping up their bare feet; their neighbour tweeted a photo in disgust. Joe Douglas, artistic director of Live theatre in Newcastle, popped up to say that he wasn’t bothered. “Our theatre IS your house,” he tweeted. “If your feet smell or the actors are pissed off with your feet being on the stage, we might have words. Otherwise, crack on. #makeyourselfathome”What does make a theatre feel like home? Negotiating mobile phones, sweet wrappers and chatty Kathys is a well-documented headache for theatre staff and spectators alike. The academic Kirsty Sedgman, in her book The Reasonable Audience, notes: “We may say we want audiences to feel at home in the theatre, but we are still not willing to go so far as to let them act like they are at home.” So can Collapse

1 DAY AGO - The mum posted a picture online of her five-year-old daughter's lunches for the week was heavily criticised, but she's not having it Collapse

2 DAYS AGO - Advertisement feature in association with Widilo Question: do you like getting FREE MONEY? What do you mean no? Hush. You’re just being awkward because you know it’s a leading question. Nobody actually wants to go out of their way to spend more money than they need to do they? If you could get exactly the same product and it cost you £100 or £90 then you’d go for the £90 wouldn’t you? Right. Thank you. That’s essentially what cashback is – getting the exact same product you were going to buy anyway, but getting some money back when you buy it. There are quite a few cashback opportunities around already, from cashback credit cards and offers through your bank account to dedicated websites curating cashback deals. It’s great to have… The post Earn cashback with Widilo + £5 free just for registering appeared first on Slummy single mummy. Earn cashback with Widilo + £5 free just for registering was first posted on February 24, 2020 at 6:18 Collapse

2 DAYS AGO - Advertisement feature in association with Darégal Do you remember last week how I expounded on the virtues of frozen herbs and showed you how to cook a cherry and thyme clafoutis? (I KNOW! Cherry and THYME! Herbs in a dessert. I’m such a renegade. I should probably write a groundbreaking recipe book right now.) It was because I’d just been to that Darégal cooking workshop and was all of a flutter about how frozen herbs were going to change my life. I’d basically decided, watching the Darégal chef make those amazing mussels in coconut milk, that from now on I was going to be the ultimate domestic goddess, conjuring up flavourful home cooked meals at least twice a day. It was only because I hadn’t had frozen herbs in my life until… The post Quick and easy prawn and coconut curry appeared first on Slummy single mummy. Quick and easy prawn and coconut curry was first posted on February 23, 2020 at 4:10 pm. Collapse

3 DAYS AGO - "Mummy, up. Mummy, up. Up, up, up. Mummy!" Pretty sure this one got a little confused in Tesco earlier thanks to their advertising posters. Collapse

4 DAYS AGO - This is a home without boundaries, says Annalisa Barbieri, and your daughter needs to take controlWe have two granddaughters, aged nine and five. The nine-year-old is bright and lovely most of the time. However, if she doesn’t get her own way she can be awful. She recently came to stay, with her mother and younger sister. The first day was fine, but the next day we had planned various attractions and booked tickets, but the nine-year-old didn’t want to go. We went anyway, as her sister did, and my daughter had to work. She then kicked off – was obnoxious, rude and disobedient.We came home early and tried to stay positive, cheer everyone along and distract her, but nothing worked. As a punishment, I didn’t let her use her tablet. (My daughter backed me up, but doesn’t usually take it away.) I gave it back before bed as my daughter says it settles her. (It keeps her quiet.) At home, she is on the tablet nearly all day and doesn’t want to go anywhere. Related: My partner and I tried a Collapse

6 DAYS AGO - [AD] The half term holiday is well underway - has it broken you yet? I've had my moments! As any parent knows, half term can be tough. For me, finding stuff to do and finding the extra money to do it are key challenges. Oh, and stopping the constant sibling arguments! To help us save towards the school hols for the kids, we've recently started using @OffspringSaving. This free app allows you to create savings goals, invite friends and family via email to contribute directly to them and track how much you've saved towards the targets. What's more, it connects to an existing savings account so people can contribute without knowing your bank details. People are always asking us what the kids want for birthdays, Christmases etc, but they have more than enough. We often ask for money instead of toys, then put into their bank accounts for the future. Although sensible, this can feel like it takes a present away from them and our families prefer to give "presents with thought rather than Collapse

7 DAYS AGO - We’d been incredibly close when I was a child. Then, in 1994 she went away and never came back. Now here we were, taking to the road with no real plan after her cancer diagnosis I had been sitting in the cafeteria of a hospital in Perth, Australia, for seven hours waiting for the phone to ring.Seven hours of drained coffee cups, watching families cry and cling to each other, wondering if they were tears of grief or relief, seven hours of slowly feeling the panic rise up through my body. Related: Adventuring while female: why the relationship women have with nature matters I felt bereft, abandoned, like I had lost her. The person I always turned to for guidance was gone Continue reading... Collapse

17/02/2020 - A five-month-old baby was left looking like a cartoon character from The Simpsons after breastfeeding as his mum forgot she was covered in fake tan at the time Collapse