Welcome to Mums Advice

Category: Our stories

  • Here’s Why You Don’t Add Strangers On Facebook

    Well this is f*** scary!A guy sends you a friend request. He looks nice enough, so you check him out on FB before accepting. Awe, he’s got a wife and just the Cutest Kids. You don’t know him; but, he’s a Family Man and his profile and info is all good; so you accept his friend request.

    It’s your baby girl’s first day of school. She looks SO cute in her new outfit and you just have to take a picture and post it on Facebook so all your friends and family can see.

    You’re so excited dropping her off that you ‘Check in’ to her school on FB saying…”I can’t believe how big she’s gotten. Time sure flies. One proud momma/daddy right here.”

    Meanwhile, the mystery guy whose friend request you hurriedly accepted previously, is saving that photo you posted of your daughter in her cute new outfit, to his phone and texting it to 60 other grown men across the world with the caption – British Female, Age 8,
    Brown Hair, Blue Eyes, ID# R8000.

    Not only did you provide a picture of your little girl to a child trafficker, you’ve handed him the name and exact location of her school on a silver cyber platter.

    You go to pick her up at 3:00 this afternoon; but, she’s nowhere to be found.

    Little do you know, your precious baby girl was sold to a 43 year old pedophile before you even stepped foot off the school grounds this morning; and, now she’s on her way to Asia with a bag over her head, confused, terrified and crying.
    A strange man she’s never seen before, snatched her up from school in less than 10 seconds. She doesn’t know where her parents are, where she’s going, or what’s going to happen next, it’s hard for her to breathe and she’s all alone and terrified!!!!! And, YOU did this to her, unknowingly…
    But, now you know 😳

    STOP ADDING STRANGERS ON FACEBOOK!!!
    A N D
    STOP posting everything about your Life and Kids on FACEBOOK!!!

    Avoid posting children’s photos, or on profiles! Change your Hometown! Don’t post Towns or Locations! People who know you, know where you live!

    Please share this for the sake of all kids and parents!!!

  • Girls Shouldn’t Have To Walk In Fear

    We live in a world where ‘no’ means ‘convince me’.
    Where girls walk home with keys between clenched fists.
    Where a skirt defines if she’s asking for it or not.
    Where girls are slut shamed and men are seen as kings.

    When out at the club, guys respect ‘I have a boyfriend’ more than my ‘no’.
    It’s a lie, but vital for female survival.
    The bullshit we do to not get raped…
    While men are excused for the culture they create.

    “Not all guys”
    Tell that to Meagher or Dixon, oh wait, they’re dead.
    My heart bleeds for the millions of victims.
    But right now my veins burst fury red.

    Because it may be ‘not all guys’
    But it’s every fucking woman.
    Don’t tell me how to dress or when I can leave.
    Teach men how to be a decent human being. 🤬

    Artist: Roseanne ‘Dozy’ Hanson.

  • Appreciate What Others Do For You

    *** This is food for thought ***

    One evening my mother made dinner after a hard day’s work. She put a plate of eggs, salad and burnt toast in front of my father …

    I immediately noticed, the burnt toast …. And, I was waiting to see if he was going to complain about it, but my father started to eat them, smiling and asked me how I spent my day at school …

    My mom apologized to my dad for the burnt toast. I will never forget his response to her: “Honey, I love burnt toast!”

    Later when I went to bed and my dad came over to kiss me goodnight, I asked him if he really liked the burnt toast?

    He hugged me and said, “Your mother has had a difficult day and she is really tired. She went out of her way to prepare this meal for us, why blame her and hurt her.
    Burnt toast never hurt anyone; but words can be very painful! “

    We have to know how to appreciate what others do for us, even if it’s not perfect, because it’s the intention to do well that counts, and no one is perfect …

  • Alton Towers You’re A Disgrace

    Dear Alton Towers,

    On the 28th September 2020 I spent my Birthday at your theme park. On your website, it states Alton Towers wants to “help guests with additional needs have a fabulous and unforgettable experience”. It certainly was an “unforgettable” day for all the wrong reasons. I went with my girlfriend Lucy and my sister Hannah. Hannah has Cerebral Palsy and is in a wheelchair, but that is all. She is completely aware of her surroundings, understands everything you say and communicates non-verbally.

    Through this letter I will: (1) Briefly explaining the day we had and why we were so upset followed by (2) Our suggestions to you about how Alton Towers can do better so we can make this world a more inclusive place. Please note, I have done my research, can see it from your side and understand health and safety comes first. This is not a slanging match, but due to seeing how upset my sister was yesterday, I feel I have a duty to approach this subject in a positive and enlightening manner to ensure other people do not have the same experience.

    An explanation of the day we had and why we were so upset
    We have been to Alton Towers every year for many years, and have had NO issues. Hannah has previously rode on every ride she wanted, and has had the best experiences. Arriving at Alton Towers around 12 noon yesterday, we went straight to the customer services to gain our disability access band and head off to have fun! We got given a leaflet for our virtual queue but at no point was any explanation on what rides we could go on given to us, or Hannah’s disability questioned further.

    Starting off the day we headed to the Smiler. Seeing Hannah in her wheelchair (looking pretty obvious Hannah cannot walk unaided), we were shown to the disabled access entry point, then met by two more workers who showed us up in the lift. Once getting to the top of the lift we were greeted by a miserable woman. I noticed a sign saying to ride the rollercoaster, the individual must have to walk 25m unaided. Once I had noticed this, I told the woman Hannah wouldn’t be able to do so, in which she replied ‘yeah she can’t ride’. The lady then turned to her coworker and shouted across ‘SHE CAN’T WALK’, and shut the door behind us. My issues with this situation is that Hannah is a human – please speak to her directly. Do not embarrass her by shouting out her insecurities across the ride for a crowd of people to hear. We passed three lots of workers, and not one of them thought to explain the rules of the ride before we got up there and had to turn around.

    We shrugged this off as we understand the importance of health and safety. Off to Rita we went. Hannah loves Rita, this will cheer her up. We got straight onto Rita with no wait time which was a BONUS. The train before us got delayed due to someone pulling their phone out, meaning that the ride had to be restarted. This resulted in a 30 minute wait. During this time, no-one questioned Hannah’s level of disability or if she could she transfer unaided or if she could walk. Nothing. When the time came, two different workers watched me carry Hannah onto the ride. We both sat down and were strapped in by the workers. Ready to go – how exciting! Until… a worker came up to me (not Hannah) and asked if Hannah could walk. They continued to ask if Hannah could walk off the ride if it broke down. I calmly explained they had just seen me carry Hannah onto said ride, so obviously she could not. At this point, the crowd of people waiting for the next train and in the queue were looking at us. The girl said Hannah could not ride due to health and safety. I began to cry due to being so angry. They had embarrassed us by letting us get on to then be publicly removed from the ride. When I asked to speak to someone about this, I was consulted with the most rude, uninterested member of staff. I have never experienced such a horrendous level of customer service.

    Hannah, unconsolable at this point, was angry and fed up due to the ignorance of your staff. We headed off to the customer service centre to try and turn the day around. Alton Towers – your life saver of the day was the lovely and empathetic man we met next who explained health and safety considerations and the rides Hannah could go on. Why was this not done at the start of the day? The staff member then gave us a refund and also managed to stop us all from crying. At this point, we decided to draw a line, look at what we could go on and set off again.

    The Teacups… surely this had to go smoothly right? We enjoyed a lovely little ride, Hannah started to smile. When we asked if we could stay on for another go, we were told we had to have a two minute break between each ride so we had to get off to get back on. Considering the fact it took us over three minutes to get the wheelchair and get Hannah off, please explain to me, with NO queue (and I mean no queue) how we couldn’t stay put for a second ride? This is a perfect example of how an adaptation could be made to meet the needs of a person with a disability.

    We then went to Duel, as the leaflet specifically said this ride had disability access, and spent five minutes looking for the disabled access entry point. When we couldn’t find it, we asked a staff member. The reply was, ‘Oh yeah we used to have disabled access, but we don’t anymore’. At this point, all we could do was laugh from the shock. Due to the ridiculousness of it all, we decided to leave. Why did the leaflet say Duel was an accessible ride when there was no disabled access?

    After spending £40 per ticket, driving for one and a half hours, and wasting my Birthday, we went on two rides – The Runaway Train and the Teacups. If you know Hannah, she is the biggest adrenaline junkie and these rides are known as ‘children’s rides’. She isn’t wrong. Wheelchair users want the same experiences as everyone else.

    Our suggestions to Alton Towers about how to become more inclusive
    Ok so what is wrong with all of the above? There are two separate topics I want to address:

    (1) Ride accessibility
    Alton Towers claims, “We are committed to providing an enjoyable and safe visit for all of our guests” and “We reserve the right to refuse admission to certain rides should we feel there is a danger to an individual for whatever reason”. I accept all the above, however we are in 2020, and other parks have been able to make real adaptations for wheelchair users.

    Having been to Disney World, Universal Resorts, Blackpool Pleasure Beach and EVEN Alton Towers two years ago… how can this theme park claim to be inclusive for people with disabilities when a fully grown adult can only have fun on a teacup ride. As a family, we are also part of a charity which takes large groups of children with disabilities to Disney World every two years. Disney World claims, on their website, that for ALL rides the individual must be ambulatory OR assisted by members of their party, i.e. any ride is accessible as long as there is another party to support them. The same goes for Universal Studios and Blackpool. Why is this the case in the biggest theme parks in the world, but not one local to us? Furthermore, as an example, at Disney World there are 45 rides over 4 parks which are available to wheelchair users, with 6 even having transfer devices available.

    Please learn from the above, this is incredible. As a family, we have helped Hannah to achieve her dreams and not put any limits on her. We know this is not always possible, due to health and safety, but believe me we try. My advice to you Alton Towers, is if you wish to be as big and as inclusive as other theme parks, and provide amazing experiences for all people, please look at what you can do as an organisation to better yourselves. This includes larger changes, e.g. investment in transfer devices, plus smaller adaptations (e.g. as referred to above with the Teacup ride) to provide a better experience.

    (2) Employee attitude and awareness
    Taking out the fact most of your rides are unavailable to certain disabilities, the way we were treated and the lack of awareness and training with disabilities was the biggest issue here. It was disgraceful. Examples include not speaking directly to Hannah, going through numerous staff members and gateways without them checking our ability to use the rides, rudely shouting “SHE CAN’T WALK” in front of everyone, the lack of awareness of the disability restrictions, the not being able to make very small adjustments (i.e. at the Teacups), and causing a very distressing and embarrassing scene in front of a crowd at Rita and not opening the safety bars promptly to let us off the ride.

    This is the reason we are taking this further – Alton Towers needs to invest in clearer guidance for guests with disabilities, needs to train staff on this guidance, and then needs to provide behavioural training for staff to prevent these issues from occurring again. Please let Hannah and me to offer to personnally come and train your staff on how to speak to people with disabilities, expose your staff to awareness and build positivity around this. Not one person spoke to, or apologised to Hannah herself. She had to sit and listen to you argue with me around how her disability has effectively ruined our day. Not our fault, yours.

    Best wishes
    Becky, Hannah and Lucy.

    https://www.change.org/p/alton-towers-disability-awareness-training-for-public-facing-staff-members?recruiter=46994629&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition&utm_term=G%3ESearch%3ESAP%3EUK%3ENonBrand%3EExact

  • Domestic Violence Killed My Son

    Today at 3:00 pm one year ago…. I walked into a funeral home a day before Coltons wake … collapsed in the front parkway outside of it and threw up and scream cried before Frank Bucaro and John Brust the mortician brought me to my feet and navigated me to the back vistitation viewing room and I had to walk up to my baby laying lifeless and preserved in front of stained glass windows with music playing softly in the background as if he was sleeping.

    I remember seeing him there laying his face beautiful wearing the last outfit I choose for him to wear (blue jeans, a grey long sleeve shirt with dinosaurs on it , little white socks and a hat that my friend had to go choose for me that was at the request of the funeral home to cover his shattered skull they pieced back together with prosthetics.

    His hat was a sleeping bear 🐻 hat that fit so perfectly that I knew he was meant to be laid to rest eternally in this exact outfit in this exact hat and he was standing there saying it’s perfect momma. The men carried him over to me in a rocking chair set off to the side and placed him in my lap on a changing pad they had created to make sure his fragile head and body were kept safely but so I am as Coltons mom could rock him, sing to him and kiss and hold his hands one last time before the next days wake.

    I promised Colton and myself that I would not cry in front of him because he deserved to have the same momma who laid next to him everyday breastfeeding him to sleep and just rubbing his hands and feet and kissing on his cheeks. I didn’t want to “wake” him and I didn’t want him to have anything but peace and love with him in these moments like I had always given him. I could feel him wrap his beautiful wings around me and it felt like he was rocking both of us in these hours.

    After I held him for about 4-5 hours they told
    Me it was time to let him rest till tomorrow because I was warming his body too much….. (as a mom that was so hard to hear-my once beautiful, healthy baby who was sleeping in a bed with breast milk in his belly was now gone and his cold preserved body was left behind) The hardest moments was looking down and knowing that after the next two days one being his wake and the next his funeral his casket was going to close and I would never ever see him or feel him ever again in the human form I grew and nurtured for 8 months in my belly and almost 19 months in my arms.

    Today was the first time one year ago I got to see my baby whom I hadn’t seen in 4 days which before then I had never been away from him for more that a couple times for 3 hours maximum time – and those four days seemed like eternity ……. and now this year feels 1,000 times worse and absolutely endlessly infinite minutes that have passed by living here on earth without half my heart and half of my soul. It was holding him then that I knew I had to make sure another mom or dad never sat at a funeral home holding their baby saying goodbye forever because their abuser decided to kill their family.

    Abuse it abuse no matter how small
    One hand in heaven one hand on earth
    Healthy love is safe love

    This picture is how he slept everyday in my bed next to be breastfeeding- this is the exact position that his “father” shot him 10+ times in.


    Domestic violence is real and it’s deadly .

    It was almost three caskets lined up that day….. but God gave us voices again for a reason and it’s to change the world so this doesn’t happen again.

    Credit https://www.facebook.com/coltonslegacy2019/

  • Covid Spread Science Not Lies

    A Quote From Dr. Fauci:

    “Chickenpox is a virus. Lots of people have had it, and probably don’t think about it much once the initial illness has passed. But it stays in your body and lives there forever, and maybe when you’re older, you have debilitatingly painful outbreaks of shingles. You don’t just get over this virus in a few weeks, never to have another health effect. We know this because it’s been around for years, and has been studied medically for years.

    Herpes is also a virus. And once someone has it, it stays in your body and lives there forever, and anytime they get a little run down or stressed-out they’re going to have an outbreak. Maybe every time you have a big event coming up (school pictures, job interview, big date) you’re going to get a cold sore. For the rest of your life. You don’t just get over it in a few weeks. We know this because it’s been around for years, and been studied medically for years.

    HIV is a virus. It attacks the immune system and makes the carrier far more vulnerable to other illnesses. It has a list of symptoms and negative health impacts that goes on and on. It was decades before viable treatments were developed that allowed people to live with a reasonable quality of life. Once you have it, it lives in your body forever and there is no cure. Over time, that takes a toll on the body, putting people living with HIV at greater risk for health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, diabetes, bone disease, liver disease, cognitive disorders, and some types of cancer. We know this because it has been around for years, and had been studied medically for years.

    Now with COVID-19, we have a novel virus that spreads rapidly and easily. The full spectrum of symptoms and health effects is only just beginning to be cataloged, much less understood.
    So far the symptoms may include:
    Fever
    Fatigue
    Coughing
    Pneumonia
    Chills/Trembling
    Acute respiratory distress
    Lung damage (potentially permanent)
    Loss of taste (a neurological symptom)
    Sore throat
    Headaches
    Difficulty breathing
    Mental confusion
    Diarrhea
    Nausea or vomiting
    Loss of appetite
    Strokes have also been reported in some people who have COVID-19 (even in the relatively young)
    Swollen eyes
    Blood clots
    Seizures
    Liver damage
    Kidney damage
    Rash
    COVID toes (weird, right?)

    People testing positive for COVID-19 have been documented to be sick even after 60 days. Many people are sick for weeks, get better, and then experience a rapid and sudden flare up and get sick all over again. A man in Seattle was hospitalized for 62 days, and while well enough to be released, still has a long road of recovery ahead of him. Not to mention a $1.1 million medical bill.

    Then there is MIS-C. Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children is a condition where different body parts can become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs. Children with MIS-C may have a fever and various symptoms, including abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, neck pain, rash, bloodshot eyes, or feeling extra tired. While rare, it has caused deaths.

    This disease has not been around for years. It has basically been 6 months. No one knows yet the long-term health effects, or how it may present itself years down the road for people who have been exposed. We literally do not know what we do not know.

    For those in our society who suggest that people being cautious are cowards, for people who refuse to take even the simplest of precautions to protect themselves and those around them, I want to ask, without hyperbole and in all sincerity:
    How dare you?

    How dare you risk the lives of others so cavalierly. How dare you decide for others that they should welcome exposure as “getting it over with”, when literally no one knows who will be the lucky “mild symptoms” case, and who may fall ill and die. Because while we know that some people are more susceptible to suffering a more serious case, we also know that 20 and 30-year-olds have died, marathon runners and fitness nuts have died, children and infants have died.

    How dare you behave as though you know more than medical experts, when those same experts acknowledge that there is so much we don’t yet know, but with what we DO know, are smart enough to be scared of how easily this is spread, and recommend baseline precautions such as:
    Frequent hand-washing
    Physical distancing
    Reduced social/public contact or interaction
    Mask wearing
    Covering your cough or sneeze
    Avoiding touching your face
    Sanitizing frequently touched surfaces

    The more things we can all do to mitigate our risk of exposure, the better off we all are, in my opinion. Not only does it flatten the curve and allow health care providers to maintain levels of service that aren’t immediately and catastrophically overwhelmed; it also reduces unnecessary suffering and deaths, and buys time for the scientific community to study the virus in order to come to a more full understanding of the breadth of its impacts in both the short and long term.

    I reject the notion that it’s “just a virus” and we’ll all get it eventually. What a careless, lazy, heartless stance.”

    Spread science!!!!

  • Women’s Empowerment Has Taken A Turn

    For some reason, women’s empowerment has taken a turn.

    When Cardi B’s songs “Twerk” and “WAP” (If you don’t know what WAP stands for…I’m gonna let you look that up yourself) are #1 songs in the world, something is backward. For some reason, our culture has taken to glorifying women like Cardi B who have lyrics that are so vile I feel like my ears and eyes need to be washed out when I’m done reading them (again, I’ll leave it up to you to look that up). I give Cardi B some grace because I believe she’s a broken person, but something needs to change.

    I consider myself a smart, capable, strong, empowered woman.
    I also like to have a man open the door for me.

    I like to have a man take out the trash, fix things around the house, and take care of our property.

    I don’t feel threatened or “less than” by a man who takes charge; as a matter of fact, I appreciate it.

    I find no greater joy than cooking my husband a homemade meal and placing it before him.

    I’m incredibly satisfied that we sacrificed financially for 14 years so I could stay home with our kids.

    I’m also equally satisfied that I was called back into the workforce and that I have a job that fulfills and challenges me nearly every day.

    I find it an honor to be called “mom” by five kids.

    I embrace my femininity.

    I love to smile.

    I like to act classy, and don’t need vulgar signs or profanities to get my point across.

    I am thankful for the gifts and aptitudes God has given me.

    I don’t feel a need to be more masculine and I don’t need my husband to be more feminine; I think we are perfect just the way we are.

    Our marriage is rock solid after 22+ years because we live in a true partnership and embrace our roles. We don’t compete with each other, he doesn’t try to control me, and I don’t try to control him.

    I believe a true feminist can embrace her femininity without feeling like she needs to circumvent her man’s masculinity.
    Being smart, capable, strong and empowered as a woman means all of these things. It doesn’t mean we need to discard our softness, our delicate natures, or apologize for allowing men to be men.

    True empowerment for women doesn’t involve getting half naked and sexualizing ourselves to the masses . In fact, it sets us back. Women who have gone before us have worked hard to gain us the respect and admiration we deserve; let’s not throw it all away by reiterating the idea that we’re just objects.

    Credit https://www.facebook.com/shantilandon

  • Covid Track And Trace SCAM

    😡😡😡 ………And so it begins!……
    ‘Good afternoon I’m calling from the NHS track and trace service. According to our system, you are likely to have been in close proximity to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. This means that you now need to self-isolate for 7 days and take a COVID-19 test.’
    ‘OK. Can you tell me who that person was?’
    ‘I’m not able to tell you that. That is confidential information.’
    ‘Right. Um… so ….’
    ‘But you do need to be tested within the next 72 hours. So can I just get the best mailing address so that we can send a kit to you?’
    ‘Ok (gives address)’
    I just need to take a payment card so that we can finalize this and send the kit to you.’
    ‘Sorry – a payment card? I thought this was all free?’
    ‘No – I’m afraid not. There is a one-off fee of £50 for the kit and test results. Could you read off the long card number for me, please, when you’re ready.’
    ‘No – that’s not right. This is part of the NHS so there’s no charge.’
    ‘I’m afraid there is. Can you give me the card number please – this is very important, and there are penalties for not complying.’
    Puts the phone down.
    This is how scammers work. And vulnerable people will fall for it.”
    Don’t fall for it…!
    Please share.

  • Klemen Slakonja as Jamie Oliver – Cooking with Bojan Emeršič

    Zadetek v petek, 1.3.2013 https://www.klemenslakonja.com https://www.instagram.com/klemenslakonja https://www.facebook.com/klemenslakonja …

    source

  • Some Friends Are Only Interested In The Drama

    I posted a picture on my snapchat story saying that I felt low and 3 out of my large group of friends popped up asking how I was and 1 very special one went out of her way constantly ringing to make sure I was okay. I posted a picture on my snapchat a few days later saying karma is a bitch and within 5 minutes every single one of them asked who and what’s happened🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
    Moral of the story is everyone wants to know what’s going on in your life and the drama kicking off but soon as you genuinely feel at your lowest and need a friend they’re all of a sudden not there or busy or don’t even have the decency to ask how you are after seeing your post.

    Not everyone wants to ask for help, not everybody wants to come forward and tell their problems but asking someone if they’re okay can go a LONG ASS WAY.

    Pay attention to the ones who are there for you in your darkest moments they truly are the special ones✨

    Credit https://www.facebook.com/amber.hanes.7