All posts tagged: family

Why running a marathon is a team event

Marathon number six is only five weeks away for me now and it will be swiftly followed by number seven, five weeks after that. What I’ve learnt from my past marathons and current training is that me running a marathon is NOT just about me. Yes, I’m the one who has to put one foot in front of the other but this wouldn’t be possible without an enormous number of other people. It really is a team event. Here are some of the members of my team and how they’re helping me. I really wanted to give them a shout out and thank them because without them I wouldn’t be able to do this.

How to get your kids active

Published by Dr Juliet McGrattan

My last #activekids blog was all about the benefits children gain from being active. It proved very popular and set my stats on fire! I admitted that it can be hard to tempt my own children away from their screens sometimes, especially my older boys. There are however tricks I use to help me and I wanted to share some of them with you. They’ll be blissfully unaware that you have a plan! It’s always best to be one step ahead of children, isn’t that always the way with parenthood?! So, when you want to be active as a family, how do you get them to switch off, leave the land they’re building on Minecraft and put on their trainers and join you?

Slow Down, Stop, Look and Listen.

Published by Dr Juliet McGrattan

We can learn so much from children. When I say, “Stop, look and listen” I’m not talking about how to cross a road; I’m certain adults know more about that than children. No, I’m talking about something entirely different. Are you like me? Always so busy, rushing around, trying to cram as much into each day as you possibly can? A successful day is one when everything is ticked off on the long to-do list? Children have an entirely different agenda, they see the world through completely different eyes. Today was a good reminder to me that we all need to slow down, stop, look and listen. We’re missing so much …

Kayaks, kids, waterfalls and a nervous mum

Published by Dr Juliet McGrattan

How adventurous are you when it comes to family activities? On our recent holiday to Croatia we signed up for a day trip kayaking through a gorge. At the start, all kitted out in life jackets and helmets we gathered to get the brief from the skipper. He told us with glee about the waterfalls we’d kayak over and how one in particular was really BIG. I started to wonder whether the whole idea was crazy, especially with three kids and seriously considered just retreating to the safety of our lovely swimming pool.