This term, we’ve welcomed a whole host of teachers from nearby prep and primary school to Two Hands. They’ve come to visit the children who will be starting school with them in September, to meet them in a familiar environment and to talk to their preschool teachers about them. Overall, these visits have affirmed what we already knew; our first cohort of children to leave Two Hands are heading off to school more than ready for their next adventure. Starting school is still a big transition for the child and indeed the whole family, so as our term draws to a close, here are 5 tips to prepare your child – and you!

Do you struggle with feeding your kids at mealtimes? Unsure if they’ll dive into what’s on the plate? Say goodbye to mealtime stress. In this article, Laura Matthews, a Registered Nutritionist, food consultant and early years nutrition expert, reveals the mealtime rules and phrases to avoid and the secrets to creating a smoother mealtime experience.

How do you feel about sugar? Do you worry about how many sugary foods your children are having? Do you understand the difference between natural and added or free sugars? In this article, Laura Matthews, a Registered Nutritionist, food consultant and early years nutrition expert, answers all your sugar-related questions.

There is a reason that the early years are known as the foundation stage in education. For it is now beyond dispute that how a child learns and develops in their early years is critical and has a lasting impact on their future in education and beyond. The attitudes and dispositions that secondary school teachers strive to develop in the children that they teach can be learnt in a child’s early years. So what can your child learn in their early years that, if built on rather than dismantled during primary years, will stand them in good stead for academic and personal success as teenagers?

Ever wondered why your child seems to eat well / follow instructions / cooperate with adults / do things for themselves / regulate their emotions (delete as appropriate) at nursery and save all their most difficult behaviours for home? If so, you are most definitely not alone. This is a really common observation by parents of preschoolers. In this article, our headteacher, Alex, looks at the reasons why this might be happening.

Contributing article by Dr Sarah Taylor, paediatric registrar in West London.

We all worry about our children becoming unwell when they first start attending nursery. And with good reason. Children attending group settings have been shown to contract more infections than those looked after at home. Of course, this needs to be weighed against the numerous educational, developmental and social benefits of nurseries for children, and the ability that they give to parents to return to work. But not all nurseries are created equally – and this article is also going to explore what settings can do to limit the spread of infections and keep illnesses to a minimum.

With our busy lives it can be difficult to make time to cook with little ones, but if you’re taking a pause over Christmas it could be a good time to get children involved in some food based activities around the kitchen. Offering them simple tasks builds their confidence and increases their familiarity with a wide range of foods, textures and flavours and increases the likelihood of them trying new foods at mealtimes and becoming more adventurous eaters! It’s good to talk about food away from the dining table, where the pressure to eat is removed.

Fussy eating (also known as picky, faddy or choosy eating) is usually classified as part of a spectrum of feeding challenges. It is characterised by an unwillingness to eat familiar foods or to try new foods. There is no single widely accepted definition of fussy eating and so there’s little agreement about its assessment and prevalence. The NHS reports that babies’ growth rate does slow after the age of 1 which can be seen by a decrease in appetite and a greater lack of interest in foods. This stage is often noted by parents as a very tricky phase around food and mealtimes, but it’s also very common and there are tactics we can employ. I hope some of the tips below are useful and you can practice and apply them at home.

Every parent wants their child to have a balanced, nutritious diet. Many instinctively believe that this needs to include plenty of meat and fish. This creates a conflict with the trend towards plant based diets, which are increasingly followed for environmental or animal welfare reasons. In this article, Laura Matthews, a registered nutritionist, food consultant and early years nutrition expert, answers your questions about following a plant based diet with your child.

Across the globe, parents tackle toilet training using a range of approaches and start their child at various ages. There is no single method of potty training that has been proven to be more effective than others and no specific age that makes it easiest. If someone claims they know a particularly effective method or a best age to start, what that probably means is that it worked really well for their child(ren) in their family or for people they know. Although it can be daunting to have so much choice about when and how to potty train your child, what this really means is that you get to choose the best time for your family and your preferred approach.

The benefits of independent play at home for parents do not need extolling. Your child being totally absorbed with their own play allows you to finish off some work, get dinner on the table, tackle some life admin or just catch a break. The good news is that independent play is also good for your child, so don’t need to feel guilty that you aren’t engaging with your child at every opportunity.

The holy grail of parenting is having a child who seems well-rested throughout their waking hours and then is tired enough to fall asleep easily at bedtime and stay asleep until morning. Even if you are lucky enough to have a toddler like this, there is one last milestone to get through: dropping the last nap.