Archives for April 2011

Hope you're all having a lovely Easter break and enjoying the unseasonally good spring weather - long may it last! Here at CBeebies HQ we're all looking forward to winding down for the bank holiday weekend and to celebrate, we've lined up a fantastic selection of Easter and Spring themed treats on CBeebies for the holiday.

Our favourite little lamb Timmy is back with some brand new epidodes this weekend, (there's a super-rabbit featuring in Saturday's and on Easter Sunday he's off on an egg hunt) and we have specials about spring and nature from Charlie and Lola, Something Special and Mighty Mites who are going tree-planting on Saturday and pond-dipping on Sunday.

 As it's a bank holiday we've also extended the spring celebration fun into Good Friday and Easter Monday so a weekend schedule will be in place both of those days.

Saturday is also St George's Day and the Let's Celebrate episode that day follows twins Sam and Matthew getting ready for their St George's Day celebration, and of course on Sunday Let's Celebrate is all about Easter. If you haven't seen them before, please make sure you check them out, they do a really fantastic job of teaching children all about our celebrations and festivals and are lovely to watch.

You can check all the details of what's on over the weekend here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/grownups/about/whatson/tv/

Or if you miss anything, you can always catch up on the CBeebies iplayer:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/cbeebies/

Our spring celebration isn't constrained to sofa-bound activity though, CBeebies has lots of amazing ideas for taking the fun outside and things you can make and do this Easter. Look out out for the presenters getting crafty onscreen or check out the CBeebies website https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies for some great spring ideas like planting seeds with Mr Bloom, making Balamory Easter Eggs or making a spring chick with the presenters.

As always, of course the website is crammed full of awe-inspiringly educational and fun games that are the perfect way for children to learn through play if (heaven forbid) the weather should break and we get a rainy day!

Don't forget, we always love to hear your thoughts about what we're doing here at CBeebies so please do leave me any comments or questions you have here on the blog.

Right, we're off to kick off our work shoes, don our Easter bonnets and enjoy the weekend! Hope you and your family do too!

Why would a grown man spend over two years of his life making a preschool series about a band of four singing potatoes? Hmm. This is a good question and I have been struggling all day to come up with a suitable answer.

I am Josh Selig, founder and president of Little Airplane Productions. Parents of preschoolers may recognise us as the creators of "3rd & Bird" among others. But with "Small Potatoes," our newest show on CBeebies, we have taken a sharp turn into the surreal. 

"Small Potatoes" follows the musical career of a band of four adorable potatoes who are modelled (very loosely) on the four lads from Liverpool. We chose potatoes for this series because there is something very universal about a potato. Potatoes are, arguably, the least glamorous of all the vegetables. They put on no airs and yet they can do quite extraordinary things given the right conditions and the right opportunities. And everyone likes a potato.

In fact, we could think of no better metaphor for a young child than a cute, round potato. One of our songs actually addresses how potato-like we humans are: "Short potato, tall potato, light or dark, we're all potatoes at heart."

But the real answer to the question, "Why a band of singing potatoes?" is that we found the idea to be very funny. And the families who watch the show seem to find this idea very funny, too. So, even though it is unlikely that children will be able to add or subtract any better after having watched "Small Potatoes," there is a good chance that it will make them laugh. And I suppose there are worse ways that one could spend a few years of one's life than writing songs and animating characters that make children happy. In fact, it sounds like a very good use of one's time.

I should also mention that I am very grateful to Cbeebies for supporting our efforts on this series and for providing encouragement and gentle guidance every step of the way. Thank you, CBeebies! And we hope everyone enjoys our show!

I am a Specialist Midwife for smoking in pregnancy and was lucky enough to be involved in the BBC Three series Misbehaving Mums to be, part of the Bringing Up Britain season. The season is a collection of factual programmes looking at the experiences and difficulties facing young parents in Britain today. And as anyone with children knows, becoming a parent can be one of the most stressful things you'll ever go through, but for the youngest parents, who may not have strong support structures or emotional and financial security, the experience can be even more difficult.

Misbehaving Mums to Be follows a group of midwives, like myself, as we try and help pregnant women - who are drinking alcohol, smoking and over eating – and encourage them to get back into shape before they give birth.

During the series I worked with a group of mums-to-be using cutting-edge intervention that is part of my role when helping mums-to-be to stop smoking. It is important that I see the hardest to reach women and get across the key facts and risks of smoking in pregnancy. They need to understand the harm they are causing their unborn baby. The consequences of continuing to smoke can be catastrophic. Women often feel very emotional and guilty when they learn of the damage they are doing to their unborn child. However, for some, facing the facts doesn't make it any easier to give up and the right help and support is very important.

I tried to demonstrate this during the series. As an outsider, it would be easy to judge some of the mums on the show but the important thing to remember is that they are the ones seeking help. And that’s the crucial first step in making a change.

I see women like the ones on the series on a daily basis and a lot of them are in unimaginable situations. They may have mental health problems, be lone parents or are trying to cope with highly stressful situations and this coupled with the fact that pregnancy itself can be a difficult time, means it is actually harder for them to give up than any other time in their life.

But whatever your situation - don't despair! If you are pregnant, here are my top tips for giving up smoking:

Although it’s always best to stop smoking as soon as you find out you are pregnant, stopping at anytime will benefit the baby so it is never too late. If you stop it will also help the baby during labour and birth and reduce the risk of an instrumental delivery or caesarian section.

Get some help - your chances of giving up are much, much higher if you do than if you try to do it by willpower alone



Contact your local NHS stop smoking service https://smokefree.nhs.uk/%28mention that you are pregnant as soon as you speak to them - they may have a specialist service like ours)

They will give you both pharmacological help (nicotine replacement therapy in the form of patches, inhalators, gum or lozenges), and help to change your behaviour - they'll look at identifying what are going to be the barriers to you giving up and help you build coping strategies to help overcome those barriers.

If it's your partner/sister/friend who's giving up, there are lots of things you can do to help too: ask them every day how they're doing, are they having problems you can help with? Maybe you could give them incentives like plan to take them out for dinner or to do something nice if they last out another week. Most importantly, don't smoke around people who are trying to give up.

Lastly, just take one day at a time - be prepared for those trigger situations and think about what you will do if you do crack and have a cigarette.

Being involved with the series was an amazing experience. I think anyone who sees it will agree the resolve shown by the women featured was really inspirational and illustrates how sometimes hope can triumph in the most difficult circumstances.

Good luck if you're giving up and I hope you enjoy the programme

Misbehaving Mums To be starts on Thursday 14th April at 9pm. For more information on the Bringing Up Britain season click here bbc.co.uk/bbcthree