Intentional parenting

Tag: activities

  • Hello May 2024

    Welcome to the incredible and amazing month of May. Join us here at intentionalparenting as we celebrate maternal mental health month.

    We have a few programs and events lined up for you as below:

    1-Walk and Meditation

    In a bid to encourage better mental health, we are encouraging MIGRANT parents to participate in the 10k steps a day challenge. You can add this up through jogging, skipping etc. As parents the struggles of raising children in diaspora can impact greatly on your overall well being. For those of us who are migrants, the challenges with our mental health is even greater. The stresses of travel and living in a different culture and society cannot be under estimated. World Health Organisation advocates for good mental well being for migrants and refugees, WHO.

    Walking as a form of exercise is well researched to aid good mental wellness. We have chosen walking as its low impact and we want to incorporate meditation into that walking space. More details on the benefits of walking are here

    There is an opportunity to connect virtually via whatsapp group call every Monday- Friday 7-7:30pm. GMT. This is a space for encouragement, meditation and connecting with each other. During that time we will be meditating on the things we are doing well, celebrating and amplifying these. We also want to take time exploration the parenting issues we can do better. Furthermore we want to come together in a safe space to share some of our struggles and the stuff that keep us awake at night. In the last couple of years, May has been an incredible month here at Intentional Parenting UK.

    If you have any questions, requests , you can send these to the whatsapp group admin and will make sure that we stand in faith with you for your request. To join the group, click here

    You can join the walking challenge from anywhere. We encourage you to find times that suit you and share your step count with us for motivation and encouragement. You can also join our Facebook page if you prefer something not too intimate as a whatsapp group.

    On the last Saturday of the month which is 25th, we are going to a local mountain here in Buckinghamshire to celebrate and give thanks for all that we would have accomplished in us this month and beyond! Remember faith celebrates before seeing because faith in itself is a confident assurance that God is a man of His word! Paul said this in the book of Hebrews chapter 11 :

    “This is what it means to trust God: We will be sure about the things that we hope for. We will be sure in our minds about things that we cannot even see.”
    ‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭11‬:‭1‬ ‭EASY‬‬

    2- Meditation Journal

    Yes we have taken to journaling this month as well as part of mental health first aid. We are really excited to be embarking on this remarkable journey in May as we look at maternal mental health. Click here to download the 31day journal that we will be using throughout this month.

    The journal is there to prompt you to take 5mins and jot down how the day went for you. Please use this as part of self care. It’s key to CREATE that 5mins to write down how your day has been.

    We want to demonstrate to our children how we take care of ourselves and that we take mental wellness seriously. Identifying and naming your feelings and emotions is paramount in taking care of your mental health.

    3- MEET UPS

    The community and village is key to our overall well being. We have cluster meet ups to share and encourage one another. These meet ups are an opportunity to meet like minded parents and if you join the Whatsapp group this will be a great way to put a face to a name. Virtual meetings are great however in person meet ups are the best.

    We are kicking off with the Buckinghamshire cluster, being the home of Intentional Parenting 😍

    We are meeting up at this incredible gathering of wise women in Milton Keynes. It’s going to be a refreshing time of learning, empowerment and growing. You don’t want to miss this. Be sure to join our whatsapp group so we can connect and coordinate. Do invite your mom friends too.

    We have clusters all around the world primarily;

    Africa:

    -Zimbabwe, South Africa, Tanzania ,

    Middle East:

    -Kuwait

    USA

    -Texas, Atlanta

    Europe

    -UK, Scotland, Ireland, Poland

    4- Prayer Mountain

    Join us on the 25th of May at the Coombe hill here in Buckinghamshire as we take our prayers and petitions to the Mountain.

    Why on the mountain, you may ask:

    Matthew 14:23, “And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.”

    Exodus 24: 12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain. Stay there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the teachings and the commandments I have written for the people’s instruction.”

    We are excited to be embarking on this and our cluster groups will be undertaking their activities in those respective areas.

    To join the community, use link below: click here

    Intentional Parenting is home to BOLD and courageous parents. Women who are awakened to the call of God in raising Kingdom children. Women who love to walk in the TRUTH. Our 6am club is a place of growing and drawing strength from the giver of all that is good is perfect. We believe in creating SAFE spaces for mothers to flourish and that takes intentionality and a willingness to WORK! We welcome women and mothers with a heart of service, open minded and who DARE to live unapologetic in their convictions and beliefs. General blessers. We are not a platform for people who want to watch/ observe or just sit, be prepared to put in the work and this means engaging with other sisters, contributing to this growing community. For majority of mothers, our facebook page or blog is the best place for you where you can engage with the content at your own pace and time.

    Check out the rest of our blog on all thing intentional Parenting.

    📌For 2025 it promises to be amazing. The challenge is loading and more details will be available this Friday 25th. Do express interest here

    Every blessing

    Fadzi x

  • Summer 2023

    Join us for an epic summer as we look to have fun with our families. The activities we have chosen are either FREE or cheap to do over the 6 weeks break.

    These are some of the activities we are encouraging you to do with your families. What do you think?

    More easy to do activities as well. Share with your children. Let them identify the things they would like to do.

    Our challenge to ALL our families this summer 2023, is for you to visit your local MUSEUM and WOODLAND. Our research shows that black families rarely visit these places. That may be different for you and your family and that is good. For the rest, during this 6week school break, let’s visit our local museum, parks, woodlands, walking trails etc. Most of them are free and may have subsidied activities for children of different age groups.

    When you have visited the Museum, or Park, tag us in your photos with #intentionalparenting #IPsummer23

    We also would like you to visit your local woodland. Did you know that only 1% of visitors to UK national parks are from Black, Asian or ethnic minority backgrounds according to the research here.

    More walking trails and ideas here as well.

    For a bonus week, how about a visit to a farm? Check Odd farm here. You can check your local area for farms where you can visit.

    Or even better this AMAZING and super packed FREE activities in Milton Keynes!

    Most of the activities at the Milton Keynes Festival you need to book tickets, so use think link here

    OPERA!

    Have you been to see an opera with your child/ ren? Again this is another activity where black families are usually under represented. Yes opera’s and theatre can be expensive sometimes. Below is a very good offer that families can take… Let us know if you will be going to theatre/ Opera this summer.

    The offer is here

    And we have gone further afield with incredible deals and affordable day outs. Check out these places. First is this amazing paradise with everything to cater for every child hobbledown heath. If you are near Northamptonshire, a visit to stanwick lakes especially on a hot summers day (when the weather decides to play ball) will be great fun. Check them out as well!

    In Windsor there is this incredible park as well.

    How about an EPIC summer camping? Check this event here . This is packed with amazing activities for all ages and it’s in Kent! Let us know if you will be attending.

    This 👆🏾programme is a GAME CHANGER for all 16-18year olds! Look out for their summer program next year and be sure to involve your teen. Click here for more details

    To participate in this SIX weeks summer challenge, join our whatsapp group running from 24th of July to 4th of September. This will be a place to encourage, inspire one another and also share further ideas. Let’s kill the ‘I am bored mantra’ by being prepared and organised parents. Here is to Summer 2023!!

    Link to join us via here whatsapp

    Subscribe to our mailing list below so you are kept up to date with activities and events that we are up to:

  • Safeguarding and parenting

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-61248055

    As parents we need to be assured that these clubs and places that our children spend time are safe.

    How are you making sure that your child/ ren are in safe hands when you are not there??

    I do appreciate we cannot be everywhere as parents but we can take steps to make sure that our children are reasonably safe.

    📍Community groups/ clubs etc can be exploitated by unscrupulous people.

    🌻In our upcoming webinars in June, we explore the role of parents in safeguarding children.

    🌱Be sure to join in June

  • Growth

    Just realised that I have a lot of growing up to do 😂

    What about you? Which areas are you currently strengthening? Which ones do you feel/ think you are doing well?

    ✨If you have young adult children, senior teens, use this as a conversation tool. Review those areas together and formulate an action plan. For example:

    💹Financial life… there is lots of apps to use with young people around being financially savvy, eg Natwest money sense.

    📌How is s/he managing social life, screen time? It’s good to measure this with evidence. Screen time usage is readily available on iphone and androids.

    🍀Having a break from the phone/ screen makes room for creativity thereby tackling number 10.

    🤸🏾‍♀️How about physical activity. How do you keep motivated? Do you use the apple/ smart watch to see how many steps you have taken? Do you have a gym/ exercise buddy?

    Let us know if you find this useful or there is smelting you can add.

    With blessings

    Fadzai x

  • Summer-saults.

    Musings of a transnational mama:

    Two weeks of summer holidays already gone, time flies indeed. Summer holidays are fun.

    For many parents it’s a lovely break from the school run and early mornings. They can be a blessing summer holidays. A time to reflect and renew together as a family. A time to mellow on the memories of yesteryear. For some families summer is the transitioning from either early years to primary or even primary to high school. What an emotional roller coaster! We have been there and done that a few times. 
    Thankfully, we are on hold for now. Next year will be a totally different story. Big brother will be completely done with school, did I say that? Yes, and heaven knows how I am going to cope.

    Until then, I am focussing on now, the present. At the beginning of summer our two completed the comprehensive list of things to do for summer. This includes play dates with whom, when and where.

    I have since learnt that school holidays, teenagers and their friends can be a conundrum. Actually, the lack of planning from a parents’ point can be very detrimental. This is an area that has been challenging for me since our two have transitioned into adolescence and being in high school.

    With big brother, it wasn’t much of an issue as the group of ‘lads’ he hung out with seemed pretty ok. Big brother went to a local well resourced and sought after selective high school. Being a social butterfly that he is, he befriended 5boys, fondly known as ‘the lads’. Me and hubby had the privilege of meeting these pedigrees and their parents at big brother’s 12th birthday, 6months into high school. A lovely bunch of parents with sound moral standards, good careers, positive and firm aspirations for their children. Typical authoritative parents, sensitive, intuitive and insightful. We fell in love with them and felt motivated and encouraged. Easily done we felt.

    During the school holidays, throughout the 4years of secondary school, the lads met quite often outside of school. These meetings varied from the adventurous sleepovers, camping in the garden, playing in the woods, cinema trips etc. We did not have a problem with the long tracks to their residences and back. We got to know the lads, and they enjoyed our company, the take aways, sleep overs at our house as well as banter with little sis. What more could you ask for?

    Fast forward to our darling daughter starting high school. The dynamics are a labyrinth. She is a winter baby and her birthday was a few months after starting high school. The poor girl wanted to hang out with her old primary school friends, catch up over some warm cheesy pizza, ice cream and ofcourse shopping. She was as good as gold. What a missed opportunity for us to meet her future bffs, squad and gang!!  These are young women who have now become the centre of her world, aspirations and dreams. She now gets invited to sleepovers, shopping sprees, cinema, restaurants on every school break. And that is hard, hard for me as a momma bear assigned to protect her cubs. ‘ I don’t know these people, I tell myself.’ How do I trust them with my jewel and treasure? My job in safeguarding children doesn’t help at this stage.

    I recall a few years back when my cherubs were 6 and 18months and family friends with older children were anxious about the summer holidays. I couldn’t fathom what the drama was all about. For us, it was a longed for break from early school runs and pick up. What a perfect time for lie ins, late nights movie binge, picnics in the garden, bike rides in the cul de sac, impromptu braai with friends, trips to the museum and maybe a day or two in London. Life couldn’t be perfect. We even caught the infamous Nottinghill carnival.

    IMG_8207

     

    Anyway, now with two teens in the house, I find myself rather unsettled and concerned about these loooooong school holidays. Why can’t they just stay in school? Right now I am a cruel, insensitive mother, you can judge and call me that.
    I would implore you to keep your judgment until you understand my anxieties. Summer holidays are tricky in terms of managing the time effectively and giving your teens a sense of direction whilst maintaining a level of sanity and a decent bank balance. Don’t mention big brother needing encouragement to revise for the all important A’levels.
     I now appreciate that these results aren’t that important in the grand scheme of things. I deal with teens suffering significant mental health due to pressure from peers, parents and society at large. My heart goes out to them. And with that, the pressure has come off our two, not completely.. but we are working on it and very mindful 😊

    The unavailability of extended family in diaspora can present a lot of challenges in terms of childcare and socialising. In most cases, our children socialise with their friends and it is a good thing. However, I cannot seem to break away from the longing of playing with cousins and making memories that endure the test of time. You know those visits to the rural areas, during the school holidays, tending to the fields, fetching water from the well, sitting around the fire waiting for the running chicken drum stick whilst having teary, stinging eyes from the smoke?. And the epic, taking a bath by the river. These kind of experiences is what I long for, for my two.

    There is a significant part of me that feels I should package my children neatly and send them off to be with grandparents for the summer. Once I have done the number crunching, it becomes apparent that the sums do not add up. So we are stuck right here for now. Moreover, I have now learnt that evenings with grandparents nowadays are spent watching Isindigo or Muvhango 😳🤓

    How is your summer holiday panning out? Share some love and ideas. Don’t forget to comment and share article with loved ones.

    Enjoy the summer break, make memories and look after each other. Be hopeful always ❤