This week has been a massive learning curve for me, my 5 year old daughter has been embroiled in the classic girl dynamic of being left out and trying to stay in the heart of the group. For the last 3 weeks she has been getting increasingly upset and relaying tale after tale of being isolated, lonely, friendless and picked on. It's been heart breaking. The rationale part of my brain said that she would work through it, that it was all part of life and getting through school but the emotional side of me just wanted to fix it.

This year we went to the first ever Wilderness Festival in Oxfordshire and we loved it. If you are sceptical about how much fun camping in the UK and going to Festival is with little children then I can reassure you that it can actually be a laugh, relaxing and brilliant for the kids. I did have to do something which I am not very good at, which is to totally let go of any sense of kids time, adult time, day/night and just let the kids hang out with us and go to bed when they passed out. Once I relaxed into this it was actually really nice.

My boy returns from pre-school saying that a boy both spat in his face and punched him (yes I know...its south London) and asked if it is OK for him to hit him back. It was one of those frequent parenting moments where I was lost for words. I am a pacifist at heart and would love him to get through school and life without ever hitting or being hit but as I am already learning that is unlikely.

I first heard about this a year ago when a friend of my husband’s house swapped with a family in Venezuela. They came back raving about how well it had gone and the bonuses of swapping with a family was all the new toys available and  not having to bring any. Then I read about [...]