Thanks to Nixdminx for passing on this lovely award to Glamumous! I was thrilled to bits to receive my first award for this blog :)

When in Tunisia, one of my favourite beveraes is strong Arabic coffee flavoured with rose-water. Sounds odd, but trust me, this is one of the most divine drinks ever!

As per the concept of this Lovely Blog Award, I would like to nominate 10 blogs which I've recently discovered as new receiptants of this award:

1. Susanna of A Modern Mother, because I read your blog everyday and you post such interesting topics about motherhood in Britain.

2. Esther, Courtney. Michela and Emilie of Babyccino, a site of wonderful things for mums, kids and tiny tots too. I loved the recipe for preserving children...

3. Miss Thrifty, the ultimate money-saver for helping us learn to live for less (and love it!)

4. Reccessionista, who posts wonderful money-saving tips and bargains galore.

5. Nadine at Time Management Mum who writes about juggling a busy life with children. She's just published her first book on time management, which truly looks an interesting read!

6. Becky and Linda over at You've Got Your Hands Full who blog about their experiences with twins and triplets...

7. And another shout for their new travel blog, Have A Lovely Time, where you can find reviews on days out and holidays for families with children (well worth checking out!).

8. Experimental Mum who has a gorgeous design for her blog, and offers loads of wonderful science experiments which my son truly loves!

9. English Mum in Ireland, who I discovered after reading about her wonderful escape to Disneyland (ooh, I'm soooo jealous! But we may yet escape to Disneyland Paris this year...)

10. Are we nearly there yet Mummy, because as Laura rightly points out, parenthood is the longest journey we could ever undertake!

For those who I have nominated to receive this award, I'll be in touch soon through your blogs to let you know. If you choose to accept the reward, here are the rules:

Post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.(You can save the award image to your computer and upload to your blog in the usual way).
Pass the award to 10 other blogs that you have newly discovered. Remember to contact the blogger to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

I hope you enjoy reading the blogs I have posted here! These are all new additions to my RSS reader (which is now becoming so long to read) but are wonderful bloggers whose posts are well worth a look.

If you're a blogging mummy (or are considering starting a blog sometime soon) be sure to check out Blogging in Pink: a women's guide to blogging by Michelle Mitchell, author of the popular blog, Scribbit.

This 24-chapter guide gives you tips for organizing yourself, getting started, focusing your efforts and taking things to the next level. Plus you get some pret-ty darn spiffy illustrations to boot.

I've been reading Blogging in Pink all afternoon and am very impressed with Michelle's advice. This really does offer some great advice for bloggers, including loads of information I wish I'd had to hand when I first began blogging, such as dealing with comment spam, which blog host to use and "The Ten Commandments of Blogging".

Did I mention this ebook is completely free to download?

Pay a visit to Scribbit to learn more and download this outstanding guide to blogging, and while you're there, check out some of Michelle's other posts too - she really writes an interesting blog about her adventures in Alaska...

Way back when I first started writing Glamumous, it was difficult to find and network with other British parent bloggers. Luckily, blogging has become a much more popular pastime, with many mums starting blogs and writing of their experiences as parents and even the occasional book deal has sprouted from the new-found British love of blogging.

But what about the "Daddy Bloggers" among us? Surely they also deserve a place in the limelight?

So here are my favourite 5 British "Daddy Blogs": written by fathers who blog about their children and family life. I hope you will enjoy reading these blogs as much as I did while researching them!

Lemon Drizzle

This hilarious blog is written by Paul Collins: a lone man in a house full of girls. I love reading a daddy's perspective on the naiive and wholly entertaining interactions with his daughters.

Lemon Drizzle is such a curious name for this blog. At first I wondered if the inspiration had come from a recip (and checked); in fact the name derives from a friendly discussion about blogging, in the same way which many of the greatest ideas do.

Visit Lemon Drizzle

Single Parent Dad

Single Parent Dad is written by Ian: a 30 year old widower, "and parent to the most brilliant young boy in the world".

Ian's posts make for wonderful reading, and it's easy to tell his writing comes from the heart. Going back through the archives to read of his emotional journies as a widowed dad is highly recommended!

Visit Single Parent Dad

Man About the House

Alasdair, writer of "Man ABout the House" is a stay-at-home-dad: "an over-educated father of two who spent the first 25 years of his life attempting to achieve everything that educated people are ‘meant’ to achieve".

His posts have a definite political overtone, but as written from the perspective of a dad, these offer interesting insights for parents into the political state of Britain.A really entertaining post from Man About the House is The Peasant Princess … and why Pastor Mark Driscoll is an idiot, where Alasdair offers his fiery feedback on a video interview with the pastor (and his wife) condemning fathers who choose to stay at home.


Visit Man About the House

Bringing up Charlie

Bringing Up Charlie offers us a glimpse into the life of a stay at home dad who cares for his young son, complete with CBeebies, Pram Rage and parents evenings at school.


Tim also writes about his wife and school age daughter in his posts which are often funny, sometimes emotional and always entertaining. I discovered this blog through browsing the sites listed on the British Mummy Bloggers network, which now makes me wonder why there are no such sites listed for British dads...



Visit Bringing up Charlie

WorryBomb

Worrybomb is the "blog of a baby, kept by her father", which was started even before Amelia was born!

While Worrybomb was created as a means for friends and family to keep track of Amelia's progress through life, it is positively endearing and there's no wonder this blog was listed as "Dad blog of the week" on the MyChild site!

Visit Worrybomb.

I hope you enjoy reading these British Daddy blogs too! Please let me know if there are other Daddy blogs you recommend by leaving your comments below.

As anxious parents we are all too aware of the dangers posed to our children on-line. From concerns of sharing personal information to accidental splashes of unsavoury images while our children research material for their homework. How can we ensure our children are safe on-line?

The answer dawned on me when I took my daughter to nursery last week. Staff had just installed a dedicated "Kids Browser" to their child-friendly computer and were testing the effectiveness (and fun-value) with the kids. I thought this was just amazing: the browser prevents unsavoury sites from being accessed at all, instead offering a colourful cheerful approach which encourages safe, responsible learning.

Now this particular software is reserved for nurseries and educational establishments (therefore it's quite costly), but I was intrigued and after a little research discovered several wonderful free browsers for kids which I would recommend to other parents too.

These browsers are probably better suited to young children (my 9 and 12 year olds think these are way too "babyish"!), but offer a safe environment for your little ones' first encounters with the internet.

In no particular order, here are my top 5 (free) Internet browsers for kids:

1. Kidoz

This bright and colourful browser offers a completely safe environment for children and prevents access to any unapproved content.


Younger children can simply "point and click" to access their favourite content, while the "Parental Control" section enables parents to monitor and control the content available to their children.

Content is restricted only to approved sites (these are moderated by humans and updated daily) or by manually adding your seal of approval in the Parental Control area.

Kido'z operates using Adobe Air and ensures browsing is both fast and reliable. You may need a fairly recent computer to use this browser effectively (Pentium 4 and above is recommended), though this is an otherwise beautifully designed browser which you and the children will enjoy equally.

Visit the KIDOZ site for more information and to download

2. Kidzui

This browser offers more features and seems appropriate for a slightly older audience. Using a tabbed menu at the top of the screen, children can quickly navigate between the Web, Videos and Photos and have a vast range of visual prompts to be clicked which help them find the content they want to view.



One huge advantage of this platform is the parental controls. You can change settings for Kidzui to prevent the browser being closed without entering the parental password which helps protect your desktop and other files being accessed or accidentally deleted.

Kids can design their personal Zui avatar; make "parent approved" friends online and chat in a safe environment.

There is also a premium version of Kidzui which offers such features as unlocking more clothes for avatars, a homework helper and favourites folder.

Learn more and download Kidzui

3. KidRocket

KidRocket is a simple hybrid browser and activity centre for the kids. Featuring a desktop lock (to prevent access to your important files) and optional email service (where you control whom emails are sent from and to your kids), it's quite useful and makes browsing fun.


Rather than being "installed" like a regular program, KidRocket is a standalone program which is launched through a desktop icon to prevent conflict with your regular (grown-up) web browser.

Access to websites is limited only to those which have been approved by KidRocket, such as CBeebies, Crayola and Disney. Simple "art" and "maths" programs add offline interest for curious kids, while you can control how the program functions using the "admin" section.

Learn more about KidRocket and download

4. Pikluk

This browser is completely controlled by the parent dashboard where you choose which sites your child is allowed to access, and with whom they can correspond by email.


No URLs are displayed, and access is restricted to any sites which you have not deemed as "safe". Your desktop is also safe from prying eyes and accidental deletion as Pikluk cannot be closed without parental consent.

Learn more and download Pikluk

5. Buddy Browser

Buddy Browser is a very interesting application. Functionally it's close to "Mum and Dad's" browser in terms of appearance and functionality, though rather more colourful and child-orientated.


Navigation is made easy using descriptive buttons at the top of the browser, with individual sites linked in the sidebar. School-age children can easily access sites to help with homework, while a dedicated "Toddlers" section offers games and education suitable for pre-school ages.

Kids can chat safely using a messaging service which parents control to ensure they are totally aware of who their kids talk to online, while "favorites" can be added in just a couple of clicks (a feature sadly missing in other free kids browsers I've seen).

Learn more and download Buddy Browser

What do you think?

Have you encountered any other free kids browsers which you'd like to recommend? Which of these browsers do you prefer to install for your own children?

Please share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below.

Image credit: Computers and kids by Tanya Ryno (top right).

Over at Totsy's Place, Tracey and Lisa have meticulously compiled a list of the top 100 most influential parent blogs in the UK. Using "currency", "influence" and "popularity" as the basis for a scoring system, over 250 blogs were discovered, analyzed and ranked.

The Tots 100 Index will be updated regularly, including details of movement up and down the ranks in future editions.

Here are the current top ten Brisith parenting blogs:

1. Petite Anglaise
2. Wife in the North
   
3. Jo Beaufoix
4. Alpha Mummy
5. My Boyfriend is a Tw@t
6. Crystal Jigsaw
7. Babyccino
8. A Modern Mother
9. Single Parent Dad 
10. Notes from Inside My Head

I'm thrilled to see this list has been published, not least because this offers an opportunity to connect with more British based parent bloggers ;)

Take a look at the complete list, especially if you're looking for interesting, funny and entertaining blogs to read!

The NSPCC's newest venture, YourFamily.org.uk, offers an invaluable resource for parents with young children.

Honestly, this site is wonderful! It's wonderfully designed, offers easy navigation to articles of interest, and - most importantly- it includes the most helpful interactive parenting feature I have ever seen: a digital nanny!

A digital nanny?

The Digital Nanny feature can be found on the home page (near the bottom) and on most internal pages in the sidebar to the right. To use this, type the name of your child and their age, then use the drop-down menus to choose the specific advice you would like for your child. Once you're done, you'll receive personalized advice specifically geared towards helping you with your problem or question.

Things to do with the kids

YourFamily offers loads of fun and creative ideas for things to do with your children, from days out in your area to creative crafts and healthy recipes the kids will love to help make.

There are loads of videos you can watch on the site too which are fun to watch with your little angels before trying out these ideas for yourself.

Go take a look for yourself!

If you have young children, you really ought to check YourFamily.org.uk out for yourself to see what's on offer and how this site could be useful for you too. The site is regularly updated with new features, tips and videos and also includes a forum where you can discuss parenting issues with other mums and dads in the UK.

Visit YourFamily.org.uk