Holidays and how to survive them

Last week I went on my holidays. For the first time in a long time it was just our little family, with no grandparents to help – me, my husband, our three year old daughter and our 10 month old son. We went to a cottage in Mull – a little place on a farm, just near Tobermory (or Balamory, as it will always be to my daughter!). The weather was mostly lovely, the views were incredible, the cake was served in massive slabs with steaming hot tea. Marvellous.

My goodness, but it was hard work. And it made me think a bit about people that must visit Edinburgh with their children – is the information we give them useful and accessible? How easy do we make it for them to visit our city as a family?

Mull is really geared to tourism and there were some great resources in the Tobermory tourist information centre, including a Balamory trail and a list of ideas for things to do in Mull. We went to a castle one day, Iona another. One day we had a walk in a forest which had adventure equipment for children to play on. At Calgary Bay they had an amazing Art in Nature trail that you could follow in a wood, with fantastic sculptures made from natural materials – that really was a highlight.

But I must confess that after a visit to the great Harbour Visitor Centre in Tobermory, when our three year old threw a screaming tantrum after being dragged away from an interesting computer game about the sea, it was the new soft play that had just opened in the middle of town that saved our bacon. Spotlessly clean, just the right size for our daughter, with nice plastic toys for our son to chew on too, it was a brilliant distraction. Tea and coffee were served for the parents, healthy snacks for the kids. We visited it twice and were very grateful for it. After all, cafes are great, but can be expensive (we should know – we visited three on one wet day!) and not always the most relaxing with two little ones. Our cottage was beautiful but had a stone floor, which was actually quite stressful with one child deciding that this was the week he would start to pull himself up onto the furniture. And as the same child really dislikes the car and screams unless ‘Twinkle Twinkle’ is sung loudly and continuously to him during a drive, we couldn’t just cruise around and enjoy the scenery for long, either.

Our holiday made me realise that parents and carers who are away from home and trying to enjoy themselves need to know about the places that they can go to and just let the children run free a bit before all heading off together for the next worthy outing. Otherwise it all gets just a little bit much! I’m sure Edinburgh for Under Fives has a part to play here. I’m not saying we should ask tourists with young children to buy the whole book, but maybe we can produce a helpful digest for them – from one set of parents and carers to another. Let me know your thoughts by emailing me at efufeditor@gmail.com

Until next time!

Cathy

Editor

Things to do in and around Edinburgh with kids

So just when I think school is back and my five year old is under the careful watch of his lovely teacher I am faced with another local holiday Monday in Edinburgh that has crept up far too quickly. With my husband at work and a 10 month old to entertain, my mind is racing with how to keep two active boys busy without tearing my hair out. 

The solution to my problem....Mini Miners Soft Play at the Scottish Mining Museum! A fairly new soft play with mining theme activities and just £2 an hour (free for those aged 1 and under) I think I have discovered a great little gem. The website says suitable for babies up to children aged 8, but being on the smallish side, I would say it's more for babies, toddlers and children aged around 5. 

My baby enjoyed the ball pit and the soft building blocks so that was him sorted. My five year old had a great time bouncing on the giant balls and climbing ropes. However, the big bonus was the free interactive mining room which my elder son loved. Packed with information about coal mining there's also heaps of things to touch and feel, like an energy bike and bridge building blocks. 

The down side, well there was none really. The parking was great and the toilets were super clean. The cafe is next door, so if you are on your own it's a bit tricky to get a coffee, however you can bring in drinks and snacks from the cafe if you wish, or there are some snacks available in the soft play itself.

So next time you're stuck for something to do I can recommend the Mini Miners Soft Play in Newtongrange for something a bit different and also educational. 

Until next time,

Kellie

Member of the EFUF committee

Mum of two boys who loves coffee and chocolate

Festival fever

It's really pervading Edinburgh now - all that cultural activity that makes August an amazing time to be in our city. And the great news is that children are catered for really well too. On Monday my three year old went with her father to the 'Tiddler' show at the Udderbelly, a dramatisation of some of Julia Donaldson's lesser-known (than the Gruffalo) children's books. She loved it so much, she was upset when the time came to leave. Since the show we've been reading the books that were covered and she's asking all sorts of fresh questions about them - so she's obviously seeing them in a new light. Her father was impressed too - particularly with the show's value for money. 'Amazing energy for 55 minutes - we definitely got our money's worth', was his verdict. So, a real family event.

Next week Edinburgh for Under Fives itself appears at the Festival - not putting a dramatisation of the book (I think we'd be OK with Edinburgh Castle, but not so much with Leith Library or Loanhead Leisure Centre), but taking the storytelling slot 'Are you sitting comfortably?' at the Book Festival. It's a free event and completely sold out (gulp!). We're really looking forward to it. Hope to see you there!

Until next time,

Cathy

Defining the little touches that make a big difference.

Yesterday we pitched up at the Scran & Scallie on Comely Bank Road. My sister’s in town and is seven months pregnant, needing fed on a regular basis. So after a play and a walk in Inverleith Park, we were looking for somewhere nearby to eat by 11.30. Having heard great things about it, I’d been meaning to go to Tom and Michaela Kitchin’s new venture. It was a good opportunity for a treat for our guest, plus we hadn’t had the chance to celebrate my husband’s birthday, which was last week.

We were given a very warm welcome and shown where we could park our buggy (the place absorbs them pretty well – two more came in while we were there and were easily found a place). There were lots of staff milling around who were all lovely and liked children (or at least did a good impression of it). A clean, nicely designed highchair was provided at once for our eight month old. They didn’t mind when I got out his food and started feeding him immediately. While this was going on our three year old was delighted to find the play area, complete with two boxes of very clean toys and books, beanbags for sitting on and a DVD player. It was behind a glass wall so we could watch her every move from our nearby table.

The food was Scottish posh-pub fare – simple, amazingly fresh, with some great ideas on the menu. I would have liked to try the Sheip’s Heid Broth but went for the chowder which was lovely. The fish and chips and the burger (which they provided well done for my sister) were also delicious. There’s a limited children’s menu (fish and chips, burger and chips, sausage and mash) but the ‘scallies’ can have half portions of whatever’s on the main menu, too. For the children, the food wasn’t the main event really, although my three year old enjoyed her sausage (which was a proper one, with a high proportion of meat in it). She also loved the little pink cup she was given for her water. For the adults, however, the food is obviously pretty important if they're visiting a gastro-pub, and the place’s child-friendly features and touches ease their with-kids dining experience. When our eight month old got a bit fractious, we just took him into the play area for a bit of variety and so as not to disturb the other diners. By the time he got out, after 10 minutes of playing and a quick feed from me (the beanbags are great for breastfeeding) he was asleep on my shoulder. The three year old honestly would have stayed there all day, which isn’t what you can say of every restaurant. And, as you’d expect of a venue with a child-friendly slant, the nappy changing and toilet facilities were just great and absolutely spotless.

It really was just what we needed and we left happy and refreshed. As you should every time you spend your well-earned money on a meal with the children, right? Well, as we all know, it’s not always that simple. But my trip to the Scran & Scallie made me think about the little, as well as the big, things that make a child-friendly venue. It’s one of those venues that do it really, really well, through the attitude of the staff, the buggy parking, the great play area – which wasn’t all that big, it doesn’t need to be – the spotless toys, the consideration of where parents should be seated, the bits and pieces that children love (like the special cups just for them). It’s just about putting yourself in the parents’ position (and Tom and Michaela are parents). It’s not rocket science, it’s not even very expensive to do, but too many venues do it in a half-hearted way. And that’s a shame, because when there is somewhere that does these simple things well, they really do become the stuff of legend amongst parents and are visited again and again. Sometimes the argument is made that if places become too child-friendly they’ll attract hoards of screaming kids disturbing everyone else. But keep the kids happy and catered for, and there’ll be less opportunity for screaming (of course it won’t be ruled out altogether, but …). There were certainly lots of child-free diners at the Scran & Scallie, and they seemed to be having a lovely time too.

I’d say the Scran & Scallie was outstanding for child friendliness – in that it stands out from the rest. We’re on the search for similarly outstanding places in and around Edinburgh, as case studies to show other businesses how it can be done. If you have any ideas about stand-out venues we could include, drop me an email on efufeditor@gmail.com.

 

Until next week, happy exploring!

 

Cathy

Editor's week: Reviews are rolling in ...

We’re coming now to the exciting part of the book's production cycle – well, I suppose actually getting it to the printers is the most exciting part, technically, if you thrive on mind-numbing stress … Well then, perhaps we’re coming to the most enjoyable part. In April we started assigned a bunch of venues to our intrepid researchers – a set of wonderful parents and carers, currently numbering 63, who have kindly volunteered to visit venues and try activities for us and write about their experiences. Now the reviews are starting to come in at a steady pace. At first it was a trickle of about two a week, but now we’re getting around four a day.

We now have 50 reviews (out of around 600 we’re hoping to get), and I’m starting to read them, which is the best fun. The tone of the reviews varies from a business-like few sentences, through a chatty couple of paragraphs, to a complete story-telling narrative of all the details of what went on during a day out. Although we provide editorial guidelines, we want the parents’ and carers’ voices to come through in their reviews so that each is like a personal recommendation from a friend or from someone you’ve just got chatting to at a toddler group. This edition we’ve added a ‘Top Tips’ section on the review forms so that researchers can record little quirky details or things to consider for other parents and carers following in their footsteps – from ‘Wellies are useful!!’ (Craigie's Farm) to ‘Interactive rock pool displays are worth a look’ (Deep Sea World, North Queensferry), you heard it here first!

These reviews will now be edited, put in an order that makes some sort of sense, laid out in designed pages, proofread and sent off to the printer, to be launched as the new book next May. It’s a busy time, but it’s brilliant to know that we’re capturing the really interesting and useful information that parents and carers need − to decide what to do on a particular day, to check details of places they’ve heard about, or (and this is where Edinburgh for Under Fives always does the most good I think) to act as an incentive to just get out of the house and go exploring.  

We're still looking for researchers (we never really stop!), so do get in touch if you're interested, at efufeditor@gmail.com

Cathy

Children's menus - food for thought

A report out this week from the Soil Association and Organix has a lot to say about the standards of children's menus in UK restaurants. More than half of the 21 restaurant chains surveyed had a children's menu that had an overriding emphasis on burgers and sausages. More than a third did not include vegetables or salad in the majority of children's main meals, and around half didn't include fruit in any of their children's puddings. Where the food was sourced was also a mystery in around half of the restaurants. Only four out of 21 made and cooked the majority of children's food in their own kitchens.

Top of the league of restaurant chains that feed children well are Jamie's Italian, Wagamama and Wetherspoons. All of these names will appear in the new edition of Edinburgh for Under Fives, out next year. They're not in the current edition (as they're relatively new to Edinburgh), but what we do have is a list of much smaller cafes and restaurants in Edinburgh and its surrounds that do manage to feed children tasty yet healthy food, some of it (as with Craigie's Farm Cafe for example) locally sourced. Vittoria's (in Leith and on George IV Bridge) serves yummy pasta dishes with a side salad. The 'Make up your own lunchbox' option, which puts you in control of what ends up on your child's plate, can be found in and around the city, including at the Botanics' Terrace Cafe, the National Museum's Balcony Cafe and Dobbies Garden World near Dalkeith. North Berwick's Cake Cafe serves little fruit and veg pots for wee ones that are part of a wider children's menu that is fresh and interesting.

Remember, you can always ask about getting smaller portions of what's available for adults, too, if you're faced with nothing but burgers and bangers when it comes to the children's menu. It's all out there - it's just about being informed. Which is hopefully where we can help.

Have you found any cafes that have a brilliant children's menu? Email me at efufeditor@gmail.com and spill the beans!

Cathy 

Editor's week - sun, sea and snaps

Well! It's been such a lovely week, weather-wise! Ironically the effect strong sunshine has on me is to make me want to stay close to home with the wee ones so we can be sure of shelter (my ideal weather for getting out with the buggy is cloudy - no rain, maybe a slight breeze ...) so we hung around the garden for a lot of the week. However, on Thursday the day began overcast so we decided to go to the beach!

It turned out that the clouds were only positioned just over our house. By the time we were 10 minutes into our journey to North Berwick it was blazing sunshine. Once we got there, it was nothing but glorious scenes of the UK seaside - families swimming and paddling in the shallow inland pool on the beach, a Luca's ice cream van doing a brisk trade, people wandering around in swimsuits. It was lovely. Our little girl had to make do with paddling in a skirt where a swimsuit would have been clearly preferable, but she didn't seem to mind. Then off for refreshment to Cake Cafe in the High Street, of which I'd heard good things. It was on my list for review so I was interested to find out what it had to offer.

Cake didn't let us down. We arrived hot, tired, hungry and thirsty, covered in sand, a bit noisy, but they dealt with our visit admirably, mopping up a spilt milkshake, providing lovely food for the wee ones from their extensive children's menu, putting up with a shrieking, messy baby, keeping our 3 year old entertained with their great play area. It was just what we needed and we left happy and ready for the journey home. (They get an extra star, too, for their nappy changing station, which even had wipes!).

On Sunday it was the EFUF 'Snack and Snap' in Princes St Gardens West. Our fab photographer, Susan Heaton of Clear Photography, a mum of two, turned up with her very impressive looking camera and took pictures of the children of committee members and researchers enjoying the play area in the shadow of the castle. There was a real holiday atmosphere and I'm hopeful we've got our Edition 14 cover shot (which, with its sunny scene, would be a contrast to last time, taken in the freezing weather of February 2012). Thanks to all those researchers and their families who came along, and most of all, to the unflappable Susan, who was a complete star throughout.

Who knows what this week will bring? Overcast today ... no, hang on, there seems to be a tiny cloud positioned just above my house ...