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You are here: Home / MOTHERHOOD / Snow – are you a lover or hater?

Snow – are you a lover or hater?

January 19, 2013 by Molly 18 Comments

Boots in the snow

When I saw the weather forecasts predicting SNOWMAGEDDON earlier this week I sighed. You see, where snow is concerned I am both a lover and a hater.

The child in me loves the snow. It brings back memories of snow days and hot chocolate, building snowmen and sledging in the park. Being the fully fledged southerner that I am, snow was rare in my native Bristol. To wake to even a light sprinkle of the white stuff would mean HUGE excitement.

Now though, I have to go to work. One of my sources of income is working on a breakfast radio show. This is fun. Massively so. But on snow days the fun is ever so slightly squeezed out by the stress of dealing with hundreds of school closures and the pressure to get it completely right. I’m a mum, so I know how important it is that other parents get the right information when they’re tuning in to see if their kid’s school is closed.

When you work as a presenter or a news reader, you don’t have the option to work from home if you’re snowed in. You have to make it in. End of. This often means a night in a hotel near the studios before a show, or getting up three hours early (1.30am) to dig your car out of the snow and push it out of a snowy carpark, before driving to work at 3 miles an hour. I’ve experienced both of these scenarios.

But, buried deep down, there’s a big snow lover in there. Mainly because of this:

Playing in the garden after a scary journey home that took more than three hours because of the snow. Seeing my husband safe through the door after his car came off the road in the snow. Watching my toddler experience the first snow she’ll remember, making snowballs and throwing them onto the roof with her dad to see them roll down and splat on the floor.

Making a snowwoman. A snowwoman my daughter has named Louise:

Sledging. Not on a fancy sledge (because we’re far too ill prepared to bother with one of those), but on a floral tray from Poundland:

I’m a snow lover AND a snow hater. What are you?

Filed Under: MOTHERHOOD Tagged With: family, fun, Parenting, Snow, toddlers

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Comments

  1. sarahmumof3 says

    January 20, 2013 at 8:10 pm

    I love how pretty everythign instantly looks in snow, I love how you can trudge through it without getting dirty feet, because everything is white. I like making snowmen but I am not very good at it, and I like watching the children play in it, so yep i’m a snow lover.

    Reply
  2. Knitty Mummy says

    January 20, 2013 at 8:01 pm

    The child in me suddenly realised today that if I had been in the countryside at my Mum’s with her massive garden (and had she had the same amount of snow that we had) I could have made the most enormous snowman EVER.

    Reply
  3. Melksham Mum says

    January 20, 2013 at 12:55 pm

    Firstly, your tray sledging video clip was fab! Secondly, I love the snow when it is fresh, white, thick and enough to keep me from work so we can go out and play in it. Now that it’s turning to a brown mush in the garden where the kiddies have tried to scrape up every last square inch of it? Not loving it so much! Back to work tomorrow for me. BUT it looks like more heading our way on Tuesday!! Oh, my daughter sat and listened to you desperately waiting for her school to be read out on Friday 😉

    Reply
    • Molly says

      January 20, 2013 at 6:22 pm

      I’m SO with you on the state of the snow affecting whether it’s fun or not. And I love the thought of your little girl waiting to hear about school closures – hope I didn’t disappoint her! x

      Reply
  4. looking for blue sky says

    January 19, 2013 at 9:29 pm

    Exactly the same here: get all excited and tell the kids it’s snowing and then remember what a nightmare it is actually trying to get anything done in the snow – but then one of my most precious photos is of my big girl and her brother on a sledge together in Wales Christmas 2010 🙂

    Reply
  5. mummymummymum says

    January 19, 2013 at 9:06 pm

    I love, love love it! Fab photo’s of Frog and her sledge is cool!

    Reply
    • Molly says

      January 19, 2013 at 9:13 pm

      Luckily she didn’t realise she was the pauper of the village on her £1 tray!

      Reply
  6. anna tims (@ageingmatron) says

    January 19, 2013 at 8:59 pm

    Oh boy, I’m a LOVER!

    Reply
    • Molly says

      January 19, 2013 at 9:13 pm

      I’m not surprised at all – you trampolining in the rain woman!

      Reply
  7. TheMadHouse says

    January 19, 2013 at 8:54 pm

    I am the same as you. We rely on being able to get out of the village and at the moment it isn’t easy, but we make the most of it the good and the bad,

    Reply
  8. Katie @mummydaddyme says

    January 19, 2013 at 8:36 pm

    I am exactly the same, I love it for about half an hour when we go out in it, and then I hate it the rest of time! x

    Reply
    • Molly says

      January 19, 2013 at 9:12 pm

      When it goes all wet and sludgy – that’s the worst!

      Reply
  9. Gramndma from the North says

    January 19, 2013 at 8:29 pm

    Definitely both! Depending on whether you can enjoy or have to get through. xx

    Reply
    • Molly says

      January 19, 2013 at 9:12 pm

      I’m with you on that!

      Reply
  10. Mum in Meltdown says

    January 19, 2013 at 8:11 pm

    I LOVE the snow and am very jealous that we didn’t get as much as you have!! Not even enough to scrape a snowman together LOL here’s hoping we get some more 🙂 Kids are hoping for a school day off!

    Reply
    • Molly says

      January 19, 2013 at 8:20 pm

      Bet they are! Still remember the excitement of a snow day!

      Reply
  11. Ms Xpat (@MsXpat) says

    January 19, 2013 at 8:04 pm

    Wow you guys certainly had a healthy helping… now that I’m a SAHM I like it, when I worked I hated it and the chaos it causes. My son is now at an age to enjoy snow and I love the joy in his eyes when he sees it falling from the sky.

    Luv her lil wellies and snow suit!

    Reply
    • Molly says

      January 19, 2013 at 8:21 pm

      Ah that’s so sweet, I can just imagine his excitement. Her wellies and snowsuit certainly helped today!

      Reply

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Hello and welcome! I'm Molly Forbes - podcaster, presenter and blogger with a passion for positivity, confidence and body image chat. Regularly writing and vlogging about empowering female issues from a motherhood angle, I also cover lifestyle and fashion topics for like-minded mums who want to rediscover themselves after having children. Thanks for stopping by! Read More…

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ALL children have the right to feel good about the ALL children have the right to feel good about themselves and their body - not just the ones who “look healthy”. Children are being taught at a younger and younger age that their body is a problem that needs to be fixed. 
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The current climate of intense body shaming disguised as health concern is creating policies which actively damage the relationship children have with their bodies. There is a huge amount of evidence showing that the better kids feel about their body, the more likely they are to make choices that make their body feel good - like taking part in movement or eating in a happy, intuitive way. 
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Making health all about weight not only damages kids’ body image, making them either feel like their body is “wrong” or fear it becoming “wrong”, it also gives a free pass to the diet industry to aggressively market their products at children, under the guise of health. Ironically, encouraging kids to engage in dieting and habits which are actively bad for their health. This culture affects ALL children.
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And of course this version of health, and this focus on making kids’ bodies the problem, lets the politicians off the hook. Easier to put the nation on a diet instead of investing in policies which will reduce inequality and give everyone access to the things needed to live a full and healthy life.
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There is a silver lining though, because we can choose to be part of the solution. We can say no to diet culture at home and challenge it when it pops up in the spaces kids should be safest.
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If you’re a teacher our Body Happy Kids workshop is an intro to this subject with tools for creating body happy spaces for the children in your care. Find out more and sign up via my bio. ❤️ #BodyHappyKids
To lift the mood after the last week, here’s a t To lift the mood after the last week, here’s a throwback to this time last year when I roped my husband into filming me for an alternative Love Island title sequence. Out of shot: a packed beach full of people confused why a woman is doing multiple bikini changes under a towel and instructing her husband on different camera angles while her bemused children look on 😂. The video was an alternative title sequence for if Love Island was filmed in Devon and featured a mum the “wrong” side of 35 and the “wrong” side of a size 10. 🔥 HAPPY BLOODY FRIDAY you lovely lot 🥂🥂🥂 #BodyHappyMum #MumsGoneWild
[Stat from @themilitantbaker’s brilliant TED Tal [Stat from @themilitantbaker’s brilliant TED Talk] 
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Poor body image and weight stigma are serious public health issues. These are complex, far reaching issues that impact us on an individual and societal level in many ways. This thread isn’t to say that each of these things alone accounts for the fact kids as young as three are feeling bad about their body, but combined, they create an environment that makes it really tough for children (and adults) to like their body just as it is, regardless of what it looks like.
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If you care about health you need to be aware that weight stigma kills and poor body image has serious health implications. Want kids to eat more nutrient dense food and move their body? Stop shaming them and teaching them their body is wrong, because research shows body hate is NOT a long term motivator for treating a body with care or respect. 
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And then realise that even when kids ARE eating more nutrient dense food and moving more this will not guarantee their body will shrink. And this doesn’t mean they are unhealthy, despite what the headlines might tell you.
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Kids’ bodies don’t need “fixing”. Society needs fixing. Give every child access to good food and safe spaces to move and play. Eradicate inequality and discrimination, challenge stigmatising language. Raise awareness in the mainstream media of what many health professionals already know: health is complex, multi-faceted and is hugely impacted by socio-economic conditions. Saying it’s all down to “personal responsibility” lets the politicians off the hook. 
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Maybe then, as a nation, we can have a fair crack at good health. Until then I’d argue it’s not about health at all, it’s about money. 
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#bodyimage #BodyHappyKids
In an alternate universe I’d be packing for a ho In an alternate universe I’d be packing for a holiday to Cantabria in Spain right now. Yet here we are. This summer is brought to us by Argos (paddling pool) and Monki (cozzie). FYI I’m still bikini all the way, but prefer a cozzie for when I get serious doing lengths at the pool 🏊‍♀️🏊‍♀️🏊‍♀️ #bodyhappymum
Did you know that many of the health outcomes blam Did you know that many of the health outcomes blamed on being in a bigger body can be attributed to weight stigma and weight cycling rather than the weight itself? But despite a huge amount of evidence showing this to be the case it’s rarely reported in the mainstream media and doesn’t form the basis of health policy. 
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You know what’s also bad for health? Inequality. Again, not something informing policies that conveniently apportion blame and simplify weight as all being down to personal responsibility and “lifestyle choices”. 
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If this government really cared about the health of the nation they’d look at the impact of weight stigma and inequality and create health drives based on these things, instead of saying that putting calorie counts on food labels or telling people to go for a bike ride would make everything better. 
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I am all for people living in a healthy way, if they wish to and if they can. Eat nutrient dense food, sure! Move your body, sure! Just don’t assume this will automatically lead to weight loss, or that anyone in a bigger body isn’t already doing these things. 
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The latest focus on the weight of the nation makes me scared for how this will impact children. Will kids get put on diets and begin a lifetime of harmful weight cycling? Will it give yet another green light for bigots to go on national TV and say hugely discriminatory, offensive and uneducated things about people in bigger bodies, thereby perpetuating the weight stigma that we know is so bad for health? Probably. But who cares as long as £££ is being made and the weight loss industry is booming. 
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It’ll keep us all distracted from issues like the inexcusable number of children living in poverty and the many families in the UK struggling to access nutrient dense food.
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Look beyond the headlines and the health rhetoric, know that the shape of your body does not signify your worth as a person. And challenge any person or article telling you different.
#bodyimage
School’s out for summer! Effie did half a term b School’s out for summer! Effie did half a term back at school and to celebrate the end of a very strange school year she had a virtual party with all her classmates hosted by @partypeepsbristol on Zoom. It was the cutest, most relaxing kids’ party I’ve ever organised - no sandwiches to make, balloons to blow up or tidying up afterwards 😂 All Effie’s classmates joined in, even the ones who haven’t been in school the last few weeks, so they could all see each other. It was half an hour of interactive games, including treasure hunts, magic tricks and dancing. The only way I can describe it is like Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway for kids! 
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I’ve popped up some snippets on my Stories today so you can see, but if you’re looking to throw a safe, stress-free party for your kids I highly recommend it. I just wish I knew about it before Freya’s birthday back in June 😭 . 
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Big thank you to Jay from @partypeepsbristol for such a brilliant, innovative and interactive party ❤️ (See his skills in action on Stories - it’s something to behold!)
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[PS. This isn’t an ad but I’m very happy to share my thoughts here cos it was a smashing experience for Effie and might benefit other kids missing their mates too 💕]
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