The Umbrella Pathway Referral

This is something that has been a long time coming. 

The Umbrella Pathway Referral.

It's something that I feel that I have had to really fight for, really stamp my feet for and very almost throw my toys out of the pram for. 

Finally Leo is going to be seen and assessed by a team of people.

 They will be able to look at Leo's needs and they will be able to tell us if there is an official diagnosis for why Leo struggles academically. 

Before I go into this latest update, I wanted to re-cap on just how far we have come, the hurdles we have had to clear and the frustrations we have faced.

Below is the series of posts I have written about our journey over the years, I would give an account right here off the top of my head, but these posts say it all, and in a way that I don't think I could re-capture if I tried, because all of these posts were composed in the wake of events in real time, so the emotions and thoughts captured are completely raw.

The Two and a Half Year Check

The One with Leo's Hearing Test

Frustration

The Health Visitors Assessment 

The Second Nursery Meeting

Speech Therapy

Outside the Box

Take Your Time

Year One Transition

Dyslexic?

Global Developmental Delay

Ready To Learn

Our Journey with Global Developmental Delay

What is The Umbrella Pathway Referral? 

The Umbrella Pathway Referral is a Neuro-developmental assessment that helps to assess, manage and care for children and young people who present signs for developmental delays and disorders. 

The pathway provides an entry point (the initial referral), an assessment process, a diagnostic process and management plans with support once a diagnosis has been provided at the end of the assessment process. 

The Umbrella team is made up of:

- Paediatricians 

- Clinical Psychologists

- Child Psychologists

- Educational Psychologists 

- Speech and Language Therapists 

- Occupational Therapists 

- Integrated Specalist Support Services 

How to Refer

 - GPs 

- Health Visitors

- School Nurses 

- Community Paediatricians 

- CAMHS Professionals 

-Speech and Language Therapists 

-Occupational Therapists 

-Local Authority Specialist Teachers (ISSS Service) 

-Educational Psychologists 

This is where it starts to get interesting, especially if you have read the above posts, because you will have seen how many times I talked about getting a pediatrician referral. The Health Visitor at Leo's 2 and a half year assessment put it off in the first instance. She failed to follow up, I was going to book a Doctor's appointment but the Health Visitor said she would re-visit with Leo (a year later than she was supposed to) and if a referral was needed, then she would do it. 

Guess what? 

She REFUSED to refer him.  

Since 2014 Leo has been under the care of Speech and Language (Right up to December 2016 when he was discharged), why didn't they make the referral? 

It seems that despite concerns from all over the board, the health visitors original report, nursery, school,  I have had to really push to get a referral.

A GP Umbrella Pathway Referral 

This brings me up to Friday 16th June when I pulled Leo from school and took him to the doctor's surgery, where I had booked an appointment with our GP. I gave a very brief overview of where we were at now and handed over the latest Educational Psychologist report along with the Learning Support Report I had received very recently.

I had seen my GP about Leo's development before, at that point I was told to give him time... and I did just that. I guess part me just hoped that it wouldn't actually come to the referral and Leo would catch up before it was essential. Yet here we were back in her office, and I had told myself that this time I would not be fobbed off. This time I was going to be walking out of that door with the referral in place.

The GP said that this referral should really come from the school, she said that it was a faffy process to go through at the surgery. Of course by now I couldn't care how faffy it was for anybody, I just wanted it done. 

So I posed the question 'but can you do it!?' To which she replied 'Yes, I can but it would be better coming from the school as they have more evidence and know Leo.'

In the next breath I asked her to do it, because the school had pointed me in the GP's direction, and again it felt like the book was being passed. No one wanted to be the person to refer Leo. Why it all has to be such a battle I will never know, why people want to keep seeing me banging my head against a brick wall is beyond me. 

I had come prepared with up to date evidence and had more PDF's  ready to go on my phone if they were needed. The doctor made a call and had a lady prepare the forms for me to sign. I went along to the waiting area and signed those forms there and then, I handed over the evidence I had brought along with me and the referral was made.

Both the GP and the lady who walked me through the application process commented on how lovely Leo was, how well behaved he is and told me that it was obviously not a behavioural issue, and that's precisely it. Leo is golden, his behaviour is impeccable and I cannot fault him, he's one of the most caring little people that I know (and that's not just because I am biased).

It was just the other month that I went along to a meeting in regards to the EHCP (Education, Health, Care Plan) process, Leo had come out in a rash on that day so I couldn't send him to school. Instead he came along with me to this meeting, where he sat patiently for 2 and a half hours (there might have been a number of biscuits and the use of my phone) while this meeting took place, and he was incredible. In fact everyone else in attendance said so.

The Umbrella Pathway Referral and the EHCP

I am hoping that this referral will go hand in hand with the EHCP application that is currently ongoing. I am hoping that the assessment within the Umbrella Referral will give us answers and enable me to cater more support to Leo and his education. 

The EHCP evidence will all be submitted in the Autumn Term (some point in September 2017). Leo will be a Year 2 by this point and the developmental gap widens yet again. I need all of this to happen so that I can set Leo up to succeed in wake of the health visitor setting him up to fail. 

The health visitor was supposed to be the pillar I could rely on, the pillar that Leo could rely on, but when she dropped like a domino she caused a ripple effect that has continued to fall until there was nothing left standing. 

No support, no guidance.

It was just the blind leading the blind.

Going through a similar experience?

The best advice I can give anyone who is in the position I was in, or continues to be in, is look at your options. If you aren't being provided with any support or you have no idea what the next step should be, this could be a good starting point:

- Speak to nursery/early learning environment about concerns. If your child is still under the care of the Health Visitor arrange a meeting between the nursery and HV so that they can liaise with each other and come up with the best strategy moving forward. 

- Don't be afraid to chase people - Keep phoning/emailing until you get the result you need.

- Speak with school SEN teacher about how they are catering to your child's needs and what they could be doing, mention an EHCP and see what they think.

- Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) - This involves a process of gathering information from the relevant people or agencies, including the views, interests and aspirations of the parents and child or young person. The needs assessment will help to determine whether additional provisions need to be made through an EHCP. These plans replace statements of SEN and Learning Difficulty Assessments (LDAs) for children and young people with the most complex needs, from birth up to the age 25. 

If like me this has never been recommended to you, you can apply for it yourself if you have copies of the evidence to demonstrate that it is necessary. You would need to notify the school of the application as they will need to collect and provide the additional evidence. 

You can find out more about your local EHCP offering by visiting your local Council Education Department for your area. If you put 'Council Education Department' into Google followed by where you live, you should be pointed to the right place, and the EHCP's usually fall under the SEN (Special Educational Need's) category. 

I will be doing a post all about EHCP's in the coming weeks.

- Push a Pediatrician Referral Through -  If you have concerns, or people involved in the education of your child are highlighting concerns, you can do this yourself. Book a doctor's appointment, go armed with all the evidence you can carry and insist that they make the referral.

I just wish I had stamped my feet a long time ago, I have always been afraid to nag or stand on anyone's toes, but the reality is that keeping on top of people and sometimes going over their heads is the only way to move forward. 

I will be sharing a post all about EHCP's in the coming weeks, and I will put as much information as I can to try and help you with your own applications. 

At the end of the day we just have to keep fighting the good fight, and provide our little people with everything they need so that they can achieve the very best of their abilities.

The Mitsis Laguna Resort and Spa Review - Anissaras, Crete

Big family holiday's seem to be becoming a bit of a tradition within my family, and at the end of May 10 of us headed out to Crete for a much anticipated week in the Greek sunshine. We stayed at the Mitsis Laguna Resort and Spa, a 5* Hotel based in Anissaras.

A Friendly Welcome

We arrived late at night but that didn't stop Leo being incredibly excited upon arrival. The hotel looked spectacular from the outside as we pulled up out the front in our private car, and we were greeted straight away by a man who was more than happy to take care of our luggage for us. 

The reception area was beautiful, and it definitely made you feel like you were somewhere very special. The floors shined and everything was spotless, the late night receptionist had a big smile for us all even at gone 3am. He took the time to issue us all with our all inclusive wristbands and provided us with the information that we would need to navigate the hotel, and most importantly provided us with the free wifi code!

We were delivered to our rooms by the means of a buggy, which was especially welcome at such a late hour, and the man chauffeuring us even kindly lugged all of the bags into the prospective bedrooms. The team had even thought ahead and left us sandwiches in each of the mini fridges in case we were hungry. I loved this touch because when you have been travelling as long as we had, and you arrive so late there is never anywhere to get anything to eat, so this little embellishment alone added up into one that was much appreciated and did not go unnoticed.

The hotel boasts 351 guestrooms and is directly across the road from the shingly beach. There are 5 saltwater pools to take your pick from, which worked out perfectly for our large party of 10 people who all had different necessities when it came to swimming. Travelling with Leo (5) and my nephew Josh (4) meant that we could frequent the child's pool with the water slides, and of course avoid annoying the people who didn't want to be around our splashy children (especially when armed with water pumps!). This gave the children more freedom and I didn't need to worry too much about irritating people who didn't have children. 

Our Room
I was really pleased with our room, we were a short walk away from the hustle and bustle of the entertainment, but far enough away so that it wasn't right outside our window all night long. The room was very modern/chic looking and I absolutely loved the blue dresser. We were on the First floor and we had a balcony with a patio table and chairs so that we could sit outside and watch the world go by.

The bed happened to be two singles pushed together, ideally it would have been nice to have a double but it was comfortable none the less. Leo had a sofa bed in the one corner which he was really pleased with, and the 3 of us shared the one room for the week. It wasn't a huge room, in the past when we have travelled we have had a lounge room with a separate bedroom, but this worked fine for us and I know that there are rooms available  

5 Swimming Pools

The children's pool is great (Leo will be the first to confirm this), and it gave Leo so much more confidence in and around the swimming pool (this has been confirmed by his swimming teacher!), and by the end of the week Leo was up and down the water slide all on his own and getting a lot braver in the water. 

My parents spent the week by the main pool, as this is the only pool that my Mum could get in and out of due to her Arthritis. The main pool has a more accessible front with a sloping effect and gradual steps on the sides as opposed to the ladders, which allowed Mum to go for a dip herself (and enjoy it all the more as both of the kids were being entertained at an entirely different pool!). 

Rifles by the pool

We did go over to the main pool with the kids on a few occasions, it was while I was here that I was literally stopped dead in my tracks. 

I had just got back from the pool bar to my sun lounger when I glanced up and saw a man with a rifle walking around by the pool. I literally just froze and looked at him like a cat caught in the headlights. For a few seconds I couldn't move, I just looked straight at him half expecting him to open fire as people lay on their sun loungers. 

It turns out that it was just a member of the animation team encouraging people to go rifle shooting with him... Call me crazy but I was not expecting to see anybody with a firearm by the pool front, and with everything that happened in Tunisia back in 2015, and with the current climate here in the UK after Manchester (the week before we went away), I couldn't see how this was a good idea, although I was the only one who looked a bit shaken after this unfolded and when it became clear (after what must have only been a few seconds in hind sight) I let it go and eventually my heart rate slowed back down.

The main pool is the one that is most photographed, and it's right next to the pool bar and creperie (Which you have to visit if you ever holiday at the Mitsis Laguna), it's part of the all inclusive perks and you can literally just go and take a seat and place your order. The Creperie is right next to the waterfront with the boat (which makes a lovely back drop while you're eating).

Eating at the Mitsis Laguna 

I was very impressed with the amount of places you could eat on your all inclusive wristband. There was the main buffet and then 5 a'la carte restaurant choices:

- Italian

- Asian

- Cretan

- Mexican 

- Sushi

We tried everywhere but the Sushi restaurant as it was only myself who really wanted to go along,

the children's favourite was of course the Italian where they could have a very impressive pizza 

(and this is why we went back Twice during our stay!). The food was really tasty in all of the restaurants 

but my personal favourite had to be the Asian. 

If you are travelling with children then there wasn't a great scope for what the children could eat in the 

a'la carte establishments, but they did have Spaghetti if you asked (there wasn't a specific menu for children),

but this meant that Leo got to try lots of new things that he wouldn't ordinarily have eaten.

Booking the A'ala Carte's
To book the a'la carte's you had to be organised, this involved getting up early and going to join the line
of people who were already lining up at the Italian restaurant. You can only make reservations for the a'la carte's
on the morning of the day you wish to eat there, whether that be for lunch or dinner. This can be rather annoying
and if you are not an early riser, then it could mean that you won't get to enjoy the other eating options available 
at the Mitsis Laguna.

The Main Buffet

The main buffet was always well stocked and there were fresh dishes being added regularly, in the morning 

there was the option of a omelette that would be prepared for you with ingredients of your choosing.

It would have been nice to see a few more child friendly meal options at times, as some of the meal times
lacked easier choices for the children, we always managed to cater for them with Spaghetti, but it wouldn't hurt
to have some chips/pizza or something else along these lines for the fussy eaters of the world. 

                                                         Dress Code                                                               

I have read a lot of reviews that have said they were not informed of a dress code,  as I didn't book this holiday personally I cannot say whether this was the case or not, but I expect to dress up for an evening meal, especially in a 5* hotel, I mean why wouldn't you?

The men need to wear long trousers or smart shorts and my understanding is that flip flops/open toe shoes are not allowed. I did hear of people during my stay who were turned away from the restaurant for this very reason.

Women on the other hand can pretty much wear whatever they like.

The Beach

We didn't really spend much time by the beach, I have to be honest here and say that I wasn't entirely blown away by it. It was a gravel type man made beach and it wasn't overly picturesque, but thankfully the pools made up for this.

Being abroad was the perfect time to put my Maui Jim Baby Beach Sunglasses to full use. 

The hotel description on the websites state that the Mitsis Laguna is 'on the beach', but it is actually out of the hotel gates and across the road. It is only a short walk, but it is not directly on the beach.  

Conclusion
Overall we had an absolutely lovely week and the hotel was the perfect setting for our large family break. The kids loved their time at the Mitsis and quite simply did not want to come home, they loved everything from the water slides to the food. Leo is still asking me if he can hop on a plane and return to Crete for another week!

I would say that the Mitsis Laguna is a fantastic family retreat and we would have no second thoughts about returning. 

Thank you Mitsis for a fantastic week!

Disclaimer: I have not been compensated for this review. All views expressed are completely my own.

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

• 
  

Male Pattern Baldness - Theradome & Finasteride Tablets

Over the last 2 years my partner Luke has been sharing his journey with the Theradome LH80 Laser Helmet, and this is something that I have been rather proud of him for. Hair loss can be quite a daunting and personal thing, and that remains the same whether you are Male, or Female. 

When it comes to hair it is one of the first things that you notice about someone, and that is what makes it so personal. Luke would be the first to say that this hasn't been an easy journey for him, and I know that he would say that it has felt like a losing battle at times. You can read more about how Luke has been tackling his hair loss here.

Over the last couple of years we have looked into a number of hair therapies, from the Theradome Helmet, Finasteride hair loss tablets and even looked into a Hair Transplant. One thing is for sure though, and that is that there are a whole range of lotions and potions targeted at the male with thinning hair. 

I once worked in a small office that was entirely populated by males, aside from myself of course. It wasn't the friendliest environment to be in and being only 18 years of age, I have found the whole experience to be less than pleasant. Two of the men in that office were rather rude and made my time in that workplace awful. They themselves suffered from thinning hair and I heard so many conversations about the range of different products that they had tried. 

They used to bring their latest purchases into the office to discuss amongst themselves, if memory serves one was more like a spray hair dye to try and make the thinner less visible hairs more prominent on their heads....

Anyway... I digress. 

 The most recent advancement that Luke has been pursuing is in the form of using the helmet and combining the Finasteride tablets alongside it, but even with these measures Luke still finds numerous stray hairs in the bathroom sink. 

Finasteride is sometimes used to treat pattern hair loss (androgenetic alopecia) in men, it supposedly slows any further hair loss down and can provide up to about 30% improvement after 6 months of treatment. The effects of the drug are only known to improve and continue if you continue to take the tablets, and if you stop then any benefits that you may have seen will more than likely reverse. 

Luke has been taking these tablets for almost a year now, and we decided that the time was right to take the next set of photos to highlight how Luke's hair line has been changing over the past 2 years. 

As I mentioned above Luke has been using the Theradome Laser Helmet and combined this treatment with Finasteride tablets. 

The photos have been positioned into 3 grids of 3 photos. 

The top Left photos are dated April 2015

The top Right photos are dated December 2016

The bottom Left photo is May 2017

I personally think that I can see a more hair growth in the latest photos, Luke is not so sure. What do you think? Is there a positive change in the latest progress photos? 

Dog's Birthday's and the Lily's Kitchen Birthday Surprise Box

Having a puppy has quite honestly been one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life, but equally it has also been one of the most rewarding, did I think it was going to be quite so challenging? Nope. Even after all of the breed research I did, was I mentally and physically prepared for all that having a dog really meant? 

Honestly... Nope.

On the 9th June, Lux turns One year old. The little puppy I brought home back on the 6th August is substantially bigger, stronger and more head strong than ever before, and you certainly know that you have him.

In the 9 months since we brought him home (It's only 9 months!? Wow it definitely feels like longer) he has caused some real mischief. He's chewed up shoes, pants, socks, doormats, toys, and oh yeah... He also ate a hole in my vinyl floor. 

Thanks pup.

This is just what goes on in the house... Outside the house he has never managed to nail the 'walking to heal', he does however do a great impersonation of a freight train, maybe you have seen us fly past you at speed in the street, and by fly I mean that I have been hanging on for dear life behind him like one of those parachutes on the boats you find abroad. 

Let's just say, there is never a dull moment. 

Never.

It was just over this weekend that I was told by someone that they have never seen a dog who is so excited by the world. Lux literally loves to experience everything. Other dogs, people, children, you name it, Lux wants to be involved. This can make walking him an experience no matter how you choose to look at it. 

He doesn't have an aggressive bone in his body, but his sheer size combined with his energy can make some people understandably feel uneasy.

With Lux turning One, Leo has insisted that he has his own Birthday treat. Leo loves Birthday's and apparently his puppy's is no different. There was talk of me getting into the kitchen and baking a dog friendly Birthday Cake. No kidding... Leo meant every word. 

Turns out that Leo is not the only one who wants to celebrate his canine friends special day, 75% of pet owners celebrate their pup's birthday's! This is why Lily's Kitchen have responded to the growing demand with the launch of their Birthday Surprise Gift Box.

The Birthday Surprise Gift box is gorgeous, it is hand illustrated in golden Yellow and Red. Of course it has been Inspired by a steak frites dinner, it means your dog can enjoy real steak with potatoes, broccoli and herbs. It’s the kind of birthday cake every dog really wants on their birthday – nourishing, wholesome and tail-waggingly delicious!

Lux was lucky enough to be sent his very own sample to taste, and from the above photos you can see just how happy he was to take part. He automatically knew this feast was for him and his tail was wagging even more than usual.

What’s inside the gift box:

400g Steak Dinner with organic potatoes and broccoli

50g Organic Cheese & Apple Treats with apple and farmhouse cheddar

A birthday card all about your wonderful dog

Lily's Kitchen only use the best ingredients, it's proper food that’s easy to digest and deliciously nourishing so you don't need to worry about any nasties being included in your dog's diet. The Lily's Kitchen recipes never include overly processed ingredients, added fillers, artificial flavourings, preservatives or sweeteners, and never any meat derivatives or meat meal.

The Lily's Kitchen Birthday Surprise Box costs £9.95.

Body Shaming - It comes in all shapes and sizes

I am a supporter and I like to help build people up. If someone asks me for help or advice then I will take the time to talk to them about what it is that they want to do. I believe in raising people up and watching them fly, call me crazy but I like watching people succeed. It is for this reason that I just cannot get my head around anybody promoting anything less than that. I cannot understand body shaming no matter which perspective that I look at it from. 

Body shaming is everywhere.

Body shaming is anything negative that is said about ANY person, and body shaming is not just directed at women, it is directed at the entire human race. Body shaming is pointing out specific qualities on a person and viewing them as a negative, body shaming is using the qualities about what makes them who they are, against them. 

I have been targeted in the past for being 'skinny', and the ironic thing is that the people who have made comments about me, have never once considered that what they say is exactly the same as comments that are made about larger people. Of course when people say horrible things about bigger framed ladies, this is rude and is referred to as fat shaming, but those same comments targeted at smaller framed girls are equally as damaging, and should be seen in the same light.

One of the main points directed at me is my small chest. I have small boobs, and do you know what? That's ok. As a teenager I felt very self conscious about this fact, I willed them to grow but not even with all the wishing power sent their way did they ever really blossom past a B cup. It's taken me well into my late 20's to really accept them and realise that even though they aren't as big as I once wished them to be, they are still part of who I am and that makes them beautiful.

I finally realised that I am in proportion, I am slim and so are my boobs, and I am happy in the skin that I am in.

You only have to look to the tabloids to see body shaming in it's finest form, whether Victoria Beckham is being ripped apart for her slender physique or if Lady Gaga's incredible voice takes a back seat as fans go into a frenzy over her supposed 'flabby tummy', the everyday likes of you and I are surely in for serious trouble!

We have to ask ourselves what gives us the right to comment? What gives us the right to an opinion on the way that somebody looks? No matter how hard I press myself to think about it I just cannot come up with an answer that would validate the comments and the hate that body shaming generates. 

We live in a generation that puts girl on girl, boy on girl, boy on boy and girl on boy, there is an expectation to how we are supposed to look, an expectation on having the 'perfect body', but what even is a perfect body? Does such a thing even exist? Surely if you are happy in the skin you are in  then it does not matter how everyone else around you looks, all that matters is that they too are happy in their own bodies, and we provide the support and guidance in order to help the rising generations feel accepted and loved for exactly who they are.

I can only imagine the damage that today's judgement and hate for one another will have on our children.

As a Mother I am raising Leo to understand that people come in all shapes, colours and sizes, it's what makes us all so unique and so different from one another, and that's ok. Can you imagine if we all looked the same? How boring would that be. We are diverse and not one person is the same, whether we have birthmarks, different skin colours, one leg, we're big, we're small, one eye, no eyes, big hair, flat hair, big boobs, little boobs or ANYTHING that makes us stand out from the crowd, they are things that we should be promoting and CELEBRATING!

They are the things that make us who we are, and the things that make us beautiful.

Body shaming is pointing out specific qualities on a person and viewing them as a negative, body shaming is using the qualities about what makes them who they are, against them. 

I put myself in the public eye, I share my fitness journey, and I accept that I won't be everybody's cup of tea. The reason that I share my fitness journey is not about vanity, it is not about putting myself in the limelight. It is to showcase that anybody can make a change if they so desire. I get messages everyday asking for advice on how people can live a healthier life, and I love that I get to try and help so many different people from my own personal experiences, but then equally I get my share of negative comments...

I have thick skin, and I am very proud of that thick skin. I can read the negative comments about myself and smile. I can laugh it off, but then I think about it.... Not everybody is as thick skinned as I am. Why should they have to feel inferior about comments that are made about them in public? The answer is that they shouldn't. 

The internet gives everybody a voice, and they use that voice to say things to people that they would ordinarily never say to somebody's face. The internet provides a comfortable setting for people to literally say whatever pops into their heads, and I don't really think that these people give much thought into what they say.

The time has come for people to stop and think, because the things they say will have repercussions, maybe not directly on themselves but almost certainly to the people that they address them to.

It's time to remember that kindness has the power to make you the most beautiful person in the world, no matter what you look like.

Homecooked meals

I spend a lot of time in my kitchen, I think it is fair to assume that most people do, because after all the kitchen really is the heart of the home. 

I love cooking, and I can only really say that this is a hobby that has come around in recent years because of my passion for health and fitness. I discovered that by cooking from scratch, I could eat tasty food that I enjoyed, and also know the exactly ingredients of what went into the recipes, and in turn this helped me to achieve my personal fitness goals. 

I think the beauty of preparing your own home cooked meals is that you can be that little more adventurous, you can spiralize some zucchini noodles to throw into some home made pesto or you can cook up a lasagna using butternut squash slices in replacement of the pasta sheets. The possibilities really are endless, and it puts you in complete control of what goes into your body.

As I cook up to 3 times a day, and it has to be said that I'm not the neatest chef in the world, I am prone to dropping things all over my freshly cleaned stove or splashing sauce up the back of the cooker and inevitably the wall behind it, and this does not sit very well with my inner neat freak. I have been looking at getting some acrylic  kitchen splash-backs from Simply Plastics to sit behind my stove, so that I can easily wipe away the daily mess that may land there (thus saving my magnolia wall).

It was only a few years ago that I was ordering ample takeaways each week, and I thought preparing my own food meant grabbing a shop bought jar of pasta sauce and boiling some spaghetti in a pan. Somewhere along the way I found a love in cooking healthy wholesome food that now feeds the whole family, and none of us have looked back.

Takeaways are a rarity these days as I much prefer to cook a healthier curry at home, where you get all the taste of a takeout, but none of the bad bits. I realised that you don't have to compensate on taste when you eat healthily, but you can cut all of the bad bits out and still enjoy your meal. 

SSE: The Energy Behind Women's Football

Leo has recently been expressing an interest in learning to play football, at almost 6 years old I think that this is fantastic, and it is something that I have really wanted to encourage and nurture as I feel like this would be an incredibly beneficial experience for him. I have been researching local teams that I could enrol Leo into so that he can learn the rules of the game, get some experience out on the pitch and playing as part of a team. By chance I got talking to another Mum who was also trying to find a team for her child, only she was looking for a girls team for her daughter, and she told me just how difficult that task was turning out to be...

In the small town where I live in Worcestershire, there aren't as many women's football teams, and there are even less opportunities for younger girls to get involved in training or as part of a girl's team. According to recent research by the Football Association, only 36% of girls aged 10-16 play football, compared to 83% of boys. It also found that 42% of girls aged 10 who don't currently play football would like to.

Women's football although gaining momentum, is still not on a level peg with the male's equivalent and although I was aware that it wasn't as publicised as the male teams, I had never once stopped and thought about how accessible it would be for younger girls who wanted to get involved in a football team.

Being a parent in 2017 means that we need to be educated in gender equality, whether we are parents to boys, girls or even if we have one of each, because believe it or not, gender inequality is a still a thing, even today, and it really does affect us all. 

I for one would love to see this change, I have been looking into the fantastic sport that is Women's Football and it has been incredibly enlightening to see just how far it has come over the years and one of the biggest waves forward for the sport has to be the generous sponsorship from SSE, who are one of the UK’s leading energy companies and supply energy to around 8.21 million people throughout Great Britain and Ireland. 

Back in June 2015 SSE announced a four year sponsorship deal for the largest cup competition in women's football - The SSE Women's FA Cup. This partnership sends a precise and strong message to the world, and it is helping to strip away barriers and helping women and girls to reach their fullest potential in Women's Football.

This is a really exciting time for the sport, and SSE have got involved because of their firm beliefs that everyone deserves the same opportunities, regardless of gender. Every girl and every boy have the right to discover new skills and confidence, the opportunity to make lifelong friends, the opportunity to be inspired and the opportunity to walk out in front of a passionate crowd at Wembley Stadium. 

SSE are the energy behind women’s football and they are creating more and more opportunities for women and young girls to get involved, and it is really making a huge difference at all levels of the game, whether it is getting girls involved in coaching sessions in local parks or playing the big league at the SSE Women's FA Cup Final at Wembley!

The below film demonstrates three separate stories playing out in parallel across one day – A football match at Wembley. Each of the stories shows the shared experiences of girls involved in the game from grassroots right through to the elite. Despite all these stories taking place at different levels of the game, they are all brought together by their love for football. It showcases the power of the game and the opportunities it provides women, at every level.

Some of the way's SSE support Women's Football

- Dad's and Daughters

The Dads and Daughters campaign aims to get more young girls to start playing football with the support of their dads. It celebrates fathers around the country who have played a major part in encouraging their daughters to get involved in the sport. 

- The FA & SSE Link Up

The recent launch of SSE Wildcats Girls’ Football Clubs will provide girls aged 5-11 with regular opportunities to play football and take part in organised sessions in a fun and engaging environment created exclusively for girls. SSE continue to show their commitment to increasing participation in the women’s game through this new initiative. The clubs will run from spring through summer on a weekly basis and aim to provide a fun and safe space for girls to learn the game and make friends

- SSE Women's FA Cup Final: Kids go Free

The SSE Women’s FA Cup Final 2017 will be played at Wembley Stadium connected by EE for the third year running on Saturday 13th May 2017. The FA’s partnership with SSE means that all children can attend The Final for free. 

It has been really interesting reading more into the powerful sport that is Women's Football, and I am so pleased to see that the sport is becoming more accessible, and as for girls wanting to get involved, there has never been a better time to put on your boots and kick a football.

SSE Final Ticket Competition

If you would like to go along to the SSE Women's FA Cup Final at Wembley this Saturday (13th May 2017) then keep on reading because we have 5 tickets up for grabs so that you can take your whole family along!

It's a great chance to go along and cheer on Birmingham City and Manchester City as they go head to head for the first piece of silverware of this season! It is set to be a great turnout and I can only imagine that the vibe will be something to remember!

The winner will be announced before lunch this Friday 12th May 2017. As we have a pretty tight time frame to play with, I will get an email out to the lucky family as soon as the competition is drawn, and I will need a reply within a quick time frame so that I can make sure that the tickets are ready to collect at Wembley on Saturday 13th May 2017.

All you need to do is enter using the Rafflecopter widget below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck!