Unlikely friendship

Girls alone

An interesting watch!

A programme about a group of 10 young girls left alone in a house without adults and rules… it’s quite disturbing how horrible little girls can be to one another! It also shows how pre teens also need boundaries and adult supervision.

Enjoy!

When I grow up

I am an avid musical theatre fan and love nothing more than a trip to see a musical. I know you shouldn’t have favourites but for the past 5 years Matilda the Musical has been my number 1. I have seen the show 4 times at the Cambridge theatre in London (soon to be 5) as well as the performance on the TV programme “Surprise, Surprise” and numerous times at West End Live. There’s a sort of magic in the show that I feel applies to all ages, the story is beautifully written by Roald Dahl and adapted well by Dennis Kelly but most of all the music has so much meaning behind it, something I feel many modern musicals lack nowadays. Each song is so pure and clever and expresses so much emotion. You will laugh and cry and no doubt you’ll want to go back and see it again!

One song I like in particular is entitled “When I grow Up” written by Tim Minchin.

Please find below a YouTube video of the song being performed:

The song highlights children’s desire to grow up and become adults. We constantly tell children that they are a “big girl” and that “you’re so grown up” which perhaps encourages children to grow up too fast. The song however shows what children think it means to be a grown up for example, being tall, smart, eating sweets whenever you want, going to bed late and being brave and strong. It’s interesting to see what children think adulthood is really like and how exciting the concept of growing up appears to them. Maybe we should take a step back and enjoy adulthood. Sometimes the stresses of everyday life take over and stop us from enjoying our freedom to do what we want, eat what we want and go to bed late every night. So, my advice to you is to remember that children have some great ideas so listen to them more and enjoy being an adult because when you were a child it’s all you ever dreamed of.

Lyrics to When I grow up:

When I grow up
I will be tall enough to reach the branches
that I need to reach to climb the trees
you get to climb when you’re grown up.

And when I grow up
I will be smart enough to answer all
the questions that you need to know
the answers to before you’re grown up.

And when I grow up
I will eat sweets every day
on the way to work and I
will go to bed late every night!

And I will wake up
when the sun comes up and I
will watch cartoons until my eyes go square

and I won’t care ’cause I’ll be all grown up!

When I grow up!

When I grow up, when I grow up
(When I grow up)
I will be strong enough to carry all
the heavy things you have to haul
around with you when you’re a grown-up!

And when I grow up, when I grow up
(When I grow up)
I will be brave enough to fight the creatures
that you have to fight beneath the bed
each night to be a grown-up!

And when I grow up
(When I grow up)
I will have treats every day.
And I’ll play with things that mum pretends
that mums don’t think are fun.

And I will wake up
when the sun comes up and I
will spend all day just lying in the sun
and I won’t burn ’cause I’ll be all grown-up!

When I grow up!

When I grow up. I will be brave enough to fight the creatures that you have to fight beneath the bed each night to be a grown-up.
(When I grow up)

Children at heart

As we grow older Christmas’ and Birthdays become less and less exciting but sometimes you have got to unleash your inner child. 

Watch cheesy Christmas films, eat too much chocolate and laugh at terrible cracker jokes. We are all still children at heart but sometimes our adult lives take over and we forget to enjoy the magic and happiness of this time of year. 

What a joke

Politics is never something I have been particularly interested in or something that I followed on a day to day basis. I believe the reason for this was a lack of education in politics. At school, politics was never something that was discussed. My school did not offer Politics as an A level subject and therefore to this day all that I know is from my dad and from reading newspapers.

This vote has however felt different. As I’m sure many of you are aware Britain faced the decision of either remaining in the European Union or leaving. Like many of my friends, I actually took an interest in this vote as I felt that it would directly impact my future. I am therefore horrified how the majority of people of Britain have voted to leave the EU. A decision I feel will have nothing but negatives effects on my generation and younger generations. Children born today will grow up in a completely different country to which their parents have experienced.

Nigel Farage originally stated how the money we save from not being a member of the EU would be placed into our NHS fund. He has however withdrawn this promise just this morning. Our Prime Minister David Cameron has recently resigned and a likely candidate for the new PM is Boris Johnson, ex London major. Trade into the UK will also suffer and it is likely that the cost of living will increase drastically. UK farmers received money from the EU but of course this will be stopped leaving the farming industry in despair. As a 20 year old I should be focusing on university and thinking about what job I want to do, but rather I am worried about what the future of my country may hold.

What upsets me most is that it appears as though it is the older generation that have voted to leave the EU. They will live less years with the decision and therefore will not truly see the benefits/drawbacks of what is to come. The younger generation on the other hand, even with little political education, saw sense within the lies we were being told and voted to remain. What angers me further is that those who are younger than 18 are unable to vote when in reality they are the ones that will be effected most by this decision. I’m not saying children should be given the vote but I feel that they should be given more of a say on a decision that will significantly impact their futures.

It amazes me how manipulative politicians are and how easily people can be brain washed into thinking something is correct even when it’s blatantly just lies. I just hope that I am proved wrong and that leaving the EU is in fact a decision that will benefit my generation. Although I am doubtful, I hope the future is stable.

Museum of Childhood

Yesterday I visited the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green, London. I had never been before yet thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

It’s not the biggest museum but it’s certainly full of a never ending supply of toys, history and information. I’d also like to point out the attention to detail, on some of the blinds were quotes relating to childhood. Pictured below is my personal favourite stating “we don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing”.

As a 20 year old, my childhood doesn’t seem that long ago so it was interesting for me to see what toys were like when my parents, grandparents and great grandparents were young. It was fascinating to see just how much has changed. The materials used to make toys as well as the actual toys themselves are so very different to what the children of today are playing with.

Lego for example, is a toy that has been around for centuries. The contrast between new and old is insightful. The old box of lego was very basic allowing for children to express their imagination with the limited supplies they had, however, the new and ‘improved’ Lego box is comprised of many small pieces with an instruction manual describing exactly what to do with the Lego. Although I think that Lego is a brilliant company, I think more of an emphasis needs to be placed on children being able to build what they want with the bricks rather than following the instruction manual. Lego is a brilliant way for children’s imagination to run free.