Treasure Island Toys Review

Treasure Island Toys (www.treasureislandtoys.co.uk) has been a popular online store for many parents in the UK since 2008, but as of November 2011 the site became an entirely different sort of online experience.

Treasure Island has created what they like to call a ‘Fun and Party Search Engine’ and is unique in the fact that not only can parents buy toys, furniture and birthday presents from the website, they can now arrange parties and days out for the kids, by finding children’s entertainers, party venues, kids attractions, evening classes, workshops and much, much more - all in one place!

 By entering a postcode or place name, parents can find a whole range of child friendly activities and more which are in their local area.  They then have the ability to refine their search by using hundreds of different keywords ranging from Ballet, Balloon Modelling and Paintball, right through to Peddle Boats, African Drumming, Theatres and everything inbetween.
The website uses the latest technologies to make it super quick and utilises great features like ‘Favourites’ lists, videos of entertainers, date ranges for events, reviews, social networking (Facebook/Twitter/Google+) integration and much more.

The website is also what is known as a ‘wiki’ site, meaning that anyone can add a listing to the website for FREE, quickly and easily by themselves.  So if you are an entertainer or are a parent that knows of any great kids’ attractions and local events in your local area, you have the ability to add them in seconds and let other parents benefit from your knowledge.
With thousands of listings already on the website, and more being added each day, we are confident that Treasure Island is the place for parents to go when in need for some great ideas to keep the kids entertained.

For parties see www.treasureislandtoys.co.uk/parties.aspx
For fun days out see www.treasureislandtoys.co.uk/fun.aspx

I had a bit of a look for our area, which is usually a challenge - most "what's on" type wesbites don't manage to turn anything up around here.  I was really impressed to see that it has about ten results for the area.  There's a few missing, but that's something that will grow in time as people use the wiki function to add their own favourites, and sadly one (my favourite) that closed down a few months ago, but honestly, I was impressed.  I was fully expecting to say "Oh, it's great if you live in London, but there's nothing for the rest of the country", so I shall happily admit I was wrong on that count.

Adding a listing (I did that as well) is fairly easy, though it took me a little while to figure it all out. That said, it's not 8 am yet, and I don't have enough coffee in me.  It's a great resource, and brilliant to be able to find everything in one place, but it's only going to be as good as the listings added to it and maintained accurately, which is always my concern with listing sites.

My Red House

MyRed House is a recently launched website from RedHouse, the children's book publisher.  It's an interactive website, designed to provide an online home for parents who want to encourage a love of reading in their children.

That sounded like my kind of thing, to say I'm a book lover is an understatement, books take up an awful lot of my house (and time), and I really want to encourage Squeaky to enjoy books in the same way.  I try to mix up the books that we read together, so there's new books, modern classics, and older stories that stand the test of time (or sometimes don't!)  Variety is the spice of life, so they say, and it keeps me amused to move from Peppa Pig to Hans Christian Andersen!

MyRed House is a little bit of everything.  There's live interviews with children's authors, including big names such as Jacqueline Wilson who is joining them on 7th February, and the opportunity for children and parents to send in their questions to the authors.  The interviews are streamed live, and available to watch on demand if you miss them on the day.  There's a blog, a what's on guide for book events in your area, a forum to share your own questions, thoughts & experiences, and the chance to ask the Red House team for suggestions of books for you & your children, whatever their interests or reading levels.

My favourite section though, is Learn, a whole online resource of advice & information for every stage of your child's reading journey, with activities, advice, recipes (yes, recipes) and book suggestions for both parents and children. There's even suggestions relating to specific life events that children may be going through at that age (potty training & fussy eaters are both very relevant in this house!)

The site is still fairly new, so elements such as the forum are quite sparse at the moment, and the number of events local to you varies depending on where you live - you're fine in the South-East, but as is often the case it's a bit quiet over in Wales, Northern Ireland and the South West.  That said, again, as the site grows events will come up.  Keep checking!

MyRed House is a site that will continue to grow, but an interactive resource is only as good as the users who interact with it.  I posted recently about parents turning to the internet for advice rather than more traditional sources such as family & reference books, My Red House is a link between old and new. Sometimes a book is more rewarding, but it can't have the answer to everything, which is where the interactive element comes in.

Where do you go for advice?

Where do you go?  Every mum has questions, niggles, worries.  Who do you turn to for advice, support, or a reality check?

Every child under 5 in the UK should have a named health visitor.  They're specialists in children's health & development and are trained not to laugh when you ask them daft questions (I should know, I've asked some corkers!)  But the reality is, each health visitor has a big caseload, they've got loads of families to see, and they're only available certain times.  And while some of them are fabulous, they're human, and there can be clashes, or other reasons why they're not always the first port of call.

Our own mums and families?  A generation or two ago, Granny would have been there, on the doorstep, any time night or day.  People move though, I live about 150 miles from my mum, and while she's on the phone, she's got her own life to lead as well, so mums can't always turn to their families for help.

Local Mums?  Mum & baby groups can be a huge source of support, and coffee!  They're not for everyone, and they're not everywhere, but groups can fill the gaps left by moving away from family.

Where does the 21st century mum go, then?  Here's a clue... you're doing it right now.

The Toddler Census revealed that an amazing 80% of new mums turn to google, facebook, and online forums for parenting advice!  That's incredible!  Sites such as Netmums & Mumsnet have a wealth of reference materials as well as advice forums, chat (and a bit of gossip), it's just a case of finding the site that best fits your personality, or preferred amount of swearing!

There's a few differences among us, though.  71 % of older mums (like me. I'm ancient) - those over 35 - were likely to turn to the internet for advice, but more under 25's use Facebook for their queries than any other group (15%, the average a mere 9%).

I'm not sure what turning to Facebook really entails - and that interpretation could well apply to the answers in the census too - does a status update of "Oh For Goodness Sake child, SLEEP!" constitute seeking advice, or is it just venting?  Depends on whether you get answers, I guess!

Apparently 75% of Southampton mums turn to their own friends & family for support, while 47% of their Plymouth sisters turn to forums.  21% of Brighton mums seek help from their Facebook friends, and 10% of London mums rely on YouTube.  And apparently that's not relying on YouTube for videos of the Tombliboos brushing their teeth, Mr Bloom singing Meet The Veggies, or a cat falling off a washing machine.



So, tell me.  Who do you speak to?  Me?  A little bit of all of them.  I work with a couple of Health Visitors, even though they're not my daughter's named HV, so I do ask them.  I ask my mum, my mummy friends that go to the same groups as me, forums, blogs, parenting books, magazines.  There's plenty of advice out there, just find the ones that fit you.

More info can be found at  www.growingupmilkfo.com  pop along, they're lovely!


Cow & Gate Growing Up Milk are sponsoring me to attend the CybHer conference in May 2012.  The statistical data in this post came from The Toddler Census, a questionnaire answered by over 1000 parents in July 2011.