Both kids and grown-ups have started taking gummy vitamins instead of pills and capsules, but there is some concern that they might be harmful for our teeth. How big a problem is this?

In short, it depends on the gummy. If it contains glucose syrup or other forms of highly-refined sugar, then it can be as damaging as candy with similar levels of those ingredients. Gelatine can stick between teeth until dissolved by the saliva or brushed away, but this is little cause for alarm, despite being uncomfortable for a few minutes.

Choose a gummy that has good ingredients, brush shortly after eating it, and your teeth will be fine. The best supplements are in pill, powder, or droplets, as these have the fewest added ingredients, however one of the newer vitamin gummies are from Yumi Nutrition.

Should You Take Supplements On The Keto Diet?

Any diet that is based on eliminating a major food group – and the Keto Diet is one of these – puts you in danger of missing out on the beneficial, necessary ingredients that come from that food group. If you can’t eat apples and bananas, for example, you need to make sure you get the nutrients that you would normally get from those fruits. Supplements might be the best way to go.

So, should I start taking supplements on the keto diet?

You’ll likely want a multivitamin. It should contain folic acid, as this is something we normally get from certain enriched breads and cereal products. You’ll also want to make sure you get chromium, B5 and B7, and calcium into your system. These are usually gained from eating grains.

You’ll probably also need to add some electrolytes to your diet. These will help you get through the first few weeks of the diet, which can leave you low on energy and feeling terrible. Some sodium and potassium will help to minimize this effect. One of the first things that happens when on a keto diet is that your body flushes out a lot of water. This happens very quickly and can leave you in need of more electrolytes, quickly. Luckily, taking electrolyte tablets or powders is easy, and quickly keep you in balance.

There are other things that you may not get in your diet as well, but it depends a lot on what you do eat. If you eat fish, you won’t need to supplement with omega-3 fatty acids, for example, but if you don’t, it’s a good idea to add some of these in supplement form. Many people know very clearly what they aren’t allowed to eat on a diet, but make sure you educate yourself about what you can eat as well, and that you are taking in the vitamins and nutrients you need.

Are there any supplements I should steer clear of on the keto diet?

Since most gummy vitamins are packed with sugar, they are usually a no-no on the keto diet. Sugar is a form of carb, and therefore not allowed. They may be small amounts, but they will take up space that you could use for much more satisfying and beneficial calories, like leafy vegetables or grains.

If you’re looking for gummies to improve hair and skin, then you should look for gummies that contain biotin.

Here we have our parents guide to helping your child to pass the all important 11 plus entrance exam, which is a requirement to get into any top standing grammar school in the UK.

Keep Them Motivated

Keeping your children motivated is really difficult. Sometimes they simply won’t want to do what you say they should, and if they’re at the age where they cannot understand logical arguments, you’re in for a tough battle.

That being said, with revision, it’s important to use small rewards as incentives, and help get your child into the routine of practice. Another great way to keep them motivated is to not overwhelm them by rushing things too late, give them plenty of time to get into the learning before the exam.

Cover All Topics

It’s highly important that your child understands all of the topics involved in the test, so that no surprises throw them off and upset their rhythm for the rest of the exam paper. You can view a brief list of topics below, but make sure to research your particular paper before finalising your list:

• Verbal reasoning
• Non-verbal reasoning
• English
• Essay writing
• Mathematics
• Numerical problems
• Shuffled sentences

Use Practice Exam Papers

The use of practice exam papers is well known to help children prepare for exams. That combined with mock exams are a sure fire way to make sure your child is comfortable and ready to go into the exam hall.

For the 11 plus exams in England, there are two different exam boards that offer two slightly different tests, and so you should look for your local grammar school website and check which test they will be offering.

CEM Practice Papers

The CEM exam paper is thought of as being the most difficult, and so is definitely one where you should invest in the most practice papers possible. One of the best providers of CEM 11+ practice papers is 11 Plus Leap.

GL Practice Papers

The GL exam board actually provides papers for you to browse on their website, which you can see here.

Practice with a Tutor

If your child is struggling, or you simply want to ensure that they perform well in their exam, then hiring a local tutor can really help accelerate your child’s learning. You can search Google for an 11 plus tutor near me here.

Let’s be honest, getting children to do anything is difficult these days, even getting them outside to play can provide it’s own challenges, however today we will be specifically talking about how to get children into learning about gardening, and getting into garden designs.

Getting Started and Introductions

The first thing to make sure you do is to try and keep it novel and fun, which will help keep your children’s attention, making them engage with you more and concentrate better on the things you will be doing and saying. You could use a chart, or some sort of points system to gamify the whole process and keep them entertained.

Designing a Play Area Into It

Nothing will grab your child’s enthusiasm more then the promise of a play area in their new garden design. You’ll have your very own little bob the builder ready to help with any task you need. This is a great compromise, and is especially suited to gardens with a large lawn that can take multiple structures without looking lost. The video below has some great ideas for children’s play areas in your garden:

Specifics and Designing

As you can see some of the best garden design ideas that are good when you have young children include:

• Strict form play set (square or rectangular)
• Raised beds (hard to trip over)
• Bright coloured flowers (engaging)

This combination of techniques can help create a child friendly environment in your garden, while maintaining a modern and elegant appeal for the more mature members of your family, including your guests! You can find out more about specific garden design ideas for children on the Middle Sized Garden.

Choosing Child Friendly Garden Furniture

For a child friendly set of garden furniture you need something that can withstand some serious abuse, and generally be left outside in the rain all year, stuck in some damp muddy patch of the garden, and not be too damaged by stains from food and drink. The Winawood garden furniture range is perfect for this, because it’s completely weatherproof, and so can be left outside all year, any stains can be sanded down to reveal a fresh material layer below, and they can survive the hardest of knocks, being very heavy duty.

For more information about these garden chairs, benches and sets, see the video below by Garden Centre Shopping UK, a premium retailer of garden furniture sets in the UK, who are the largest stockist of Winawood, including the popular cushions, and have some fantastic reviews to go with it.

This style of garden furniture comes in benches, chairs, love seats, bistro sets, and dining sets. You can also purchase coffee sets, which are simply 2 chairs and a table, with some also coming with a 2 or 3 seater Winawood bench.

Some popular retailers for Winawood furniture include GardenFurnitureUK.co.uk, Buildwinawood.co.uk, and Winawoodfurniture.co.uk.

Your Thoughts on Child Friendly Garden Design?

We would love to hear your ideas and thoughts about what makes a great garden for young children, please feel free to contact us in the comments and let the discussion commence! Find out more about us here.

One of the most important issues at the moment is the growing number of obese children in the UK, and this is a direct result of their low activity levels during the week. They will often be seen watching TV, playing video games, while snacking on high fat, high calorie foods and drinks, such as crips and coca cola.

This is a growing trend that will cause harm to your children’s future, and impact the NHS in future years, with growing numbers having heart disease, and diabetes.

If you want to do something about your child’s health, and to encourage healthy eating habits in your children, then use the resource list below to educate yourself and your children in an exciting, educational, and fun way.

http://directory.islington.gov.uk/kb5/islington/directory/service.page?id=wqtGCAQU_Dk
http://fis.wandsworth.gov.uk/kb5/wandsworth/fsd/family.page?familychannel=2117
http://www.swansea.gov.uk/kids
http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgnl/education_and_learning/parental_support/parents_advice_centre_pac.aspx
http://www.wokingham.gov.uk/sports-and-activities/activities-for-children/wokingham-active-kids-discount-card/