A little over a year ago I heard a phrase that I immediately fell in love and has certainly been true with my boys since. The phrase goes something like this: ‘If the children are climbing the walls, take away the walls.’ Basically, if the kids are going crazy inside, take them outside.
After a long summer of being inside a lot due to my husband and I being busier with work, the boys – my eldest in particular – were certainly presenting some challenging behaviours for me to deal with. So, on the bank holiday at the end of August I decided to ‘take away the walls’ and go for a jaunt at a favourite local spot. Obviously I took my camera and took some photos along our jaunt.

Usually, we take T’s bike with us and stroll around the lake, but this day I was feeling the need to do something a bit different. We headed for one of the walking trails, which has some beautiful views across the valley. If you’ve ever been on a walk with small children then you will know that having a bike or scooter is great for keeping them entertained and on track. It was a bit of a risk leaving the bike behind but the promise of an ice lolly at the cafe did the trick this day.

As we turned a corner and started our journey to the cafe, I saw a very picturesque log that I thought would be perfect for a small child to sit on and have their photo taken with some out-of-focus heather in the foreground. Cue, photographer mother sending her child to sit on the log… until small child has had enough of his photo being taken, declares we’re finished now, gets up and walks away from the log 🙈

I’m not quite sure why going outside helps but I’ve certainly found it easier to go out with my boys than to keep them inside all day.