School ‘Merry-Go-Round’

It’s not even July yet, the kids haven’t yet finished this school year, and already the ads are appearing on TV advertising back to school deals. What’s gone wrong with the country! Can we not even let the kids and parents enjoy their summer holidays, without reminding them that the school merry-go-round is about to start all over again.

For many young parents, the madness of school hasn’t yet happened for their kids, for more of us we’ve been spinning around on the school merry-go-round for a while now. School Uniforms, School Books, Back-to-school ‘Arts’ money (that’s a joke if I ever heard it), afterschool activities, parties, packing lunches, glorifies taxis for the kids… will it ever stop!

At least give us the summer off guys, give us parents the chance to bask in the ‘glorious’ Irish weather, and forget about school for five minutes.

Back To School Before Summer Starts!

Killarney Lakes & The Ring of Kerry

Holiday in Kerry

If your plan is to Holiday in Kerry

Then a hotel in Killarney with a view of the lakes is a must! Have you been? Gorgeous! The lakes of Killarney on a misty day as the fog rolls down from the mountains – what a sight. Amazingly Kerry has a number of breathtaking sights – whether it be Conor Pass on the way to Dingle where you feel like your’e floating in the clouds overlooking Castlegregory and Brandon Point, of the lakes in Glentenassig outside of Tralee where you meander through the trees overlooking the lakes with Mount Brandon casting shadows over you.

But a holiday in Kerry must be planned, because at this stage there’s so much to see and do!

ACCOMMODATION IN KERRY: If your plans include a Holiday in Kerry this year, you are going to be spoilt for choice with where to stay, you have your choice of many fine hotels in Killarney, of choose from self-catering accommodation or hotels in Kerry’s capital town of Tralee with it’s all weather attractions on your doorstep. Or choose from one of the fine award winning campsites in north and west Kerry along the shores of Tralee and Brandon bay.

WHERE TO SEE & WHAT TO IN KERRY: This is a tough one, purely because there’s genuinely so much activities in Kerry for all age groups. So the easiest thing I can recommend in when you’re in Kerry on Holidays swing by the Tourist Office or even into us in Toby World in Tralee and our guys will help you plan your break in the area. But if I was to suggest one must do (aside from ourselves that is!) then you have to experience one of Kerry’s gorgeous Blue Flag Beaches, we have so many to choose from in North, East and West Kerry you will be spoilt for choice.

See you soon!

Do People in France Love their Children?

When I heard it, like most people, I just laughed and laughed – How could anyone come out with such a nieve and idiotic comment? “Do people in France love their Children?”

I just couldn’t stop laughing – The Apprentice on the UK’s BBC has thrown out some muppets in their time, I can’t think of the girls name right now, but how that one keeps escaping beggers believe. But she did try at the end of last night’s programme to justify her comment, by saying what she meant was do parents in France spend a lot of money on their kids, and to be fair to her, she has a point to make. But it’s a strange way of asking the question, and does it mean that you need to spend money to show your kids that you love them?

A recent survey (http://www.uow.edu.au/~sharonb/children.html) shows that of the ‘big’ nations out there the average ‘income’ businesses earn per child in France is much less than the norm (France $377/annum versus Germany their nearest neighbour at $569/annum), so maybe she’s not that daft after all.

To bring the topic home a bit, how much do you spend each week / month on your children? And once you’ve answered that question, ask yourself what would your kids do if you didn’t spend that much on them – The answer, is there’s very little they could do. Consider for a moment that the childhood poverty rates in Ireland (http://www.cpa.ie/povertyinireland/childpoverty.htm) puts over 1/4 of our children in poverty or at risk of poverty – and those statistics are now 2 years old, how much have things worsened since then!

All I can say is one thing, whether you have the money or not, spending it has nothing to do with loving them – there’s loads of other, far more important and memorable ways!

Setting up a School Book Rental Scheme

After watching the news yesterday I was compelled to find out how to Set up a School Book Rental Scheme, so here’s what I found out:

Here are links to a few schools who run school book rental scheme and who have details about how they operate on their website. It might be worth contacting a couple of these schools directly to enquire about how to go about phasing it in.

http://www.cabinteelycs.ie/pdfs_and_word/book_rental_sfai.pdf

http://www.colaisteca.ie/parents/book_rental.htm

http://www.knockeans.ie/default.htm?http&&&www.knockeans.ie/ParentsAssociation/BookRentalScheme/Overview.htm

The first two schools are at secondary while the third school is primary. I note the primary school only provides the book rental scheme for a few of the subject areas so this might be one way of phasing it in.

Hope you find the information helpful, and if you’re interested in having a School Tour in Kerry check us out!

Watch Your Language!

DO YOU WANT TO BE FAMOUS?

RTÉ is making a new series of its brain-teasing quiz show Watch your Language in July 2011.

They’re looking for contestants aged between 10 and 12 who are good at spelling and who like word games and puzzles. Click http://www.rte.ie/trte/watchyourlanguage/ to watch the last series. To take part you must be in, or have just finished primary school.

Teams of three contestants can be made up of schoolmates, friends or members of clubs or other groups. Teams can bring up to 20 friends to be in the studio audience as supporters.

Where’s the heatwave? Another Rainy Day in Kerry

Kerry Weather

It’s happened again, we put our faith in Kerry Weather, only to be let down!

So where’s this heatwave we’ve been told is hitting Ireland? Certainly the kerry weather has been only so so this week. Luckily there’s plenty to do in Kerry when it rains, otherwise we’d all have cabin fever at this stage.

If you’re spending your days looking out waiting for the weather to clear up, then you’ll find your whole summer wasted staring through a soaked window pane. Put on the kid’s raincoats and jump into the car now! Head for Tralee in Co. Kerry where the huge amount of indoor activities and all weather attractions will surely satisfy the kid’s needs for fun this summer!

Here’s hoping that the weather forecast for Kerry improves over the Summer – One way or the other at least Toby World is as much fun outdoors as it is indoors with its new all weather outdoor sports area!

Look, the Kerry Weather might not be all we hoped for, but at least there’s something to do in Kerry when it rains.

How to get kids (and other picky eaters) to eat their veggies.

How to get kids (and other picky eaters) to eat their veggies..