Category: Weekly Geeks

Weekly Geeks – Social and Political Issues

This week’s challenge is to choose a political or social issue that interests you, and explain a little bit about it.

I’m a member of The National Childbirth Trust (NCT), and I’m a big believer in educating pregnant women as much as possible. They can can then make informed decisions on their birth, and be free from fear.

Childbirth is a natural process, but many women are so fearful of it that they opt for caesareans (major abdominal surgery!) or drug themselves up so much that they’re not really aware of what is happening. I know that there are some medical emergencies where these things are needed, but in the majority of cases intervention is unnecessary.

I was lucky enough to have two natural births, with no medical intervention. I think this is down to the fact that I had read so much on the subject that I knew exactly what was happening to me, and so was not scared.

There are lots of great books out there, but these are two of the best:

So if you’re pregnant, or planning to have a baby please read as much as you can on the subject. Don’t be scared about the birth – it’s a natural process that ends in a beautiful new life!

This weeks Weekly Geeks task is to interview our favourite character from a book.

There are lots of characters I’d like to interview, but it would give away too much of the plot to those people who haven’t read the book. So I decided on my favourite children’s character – The Gruffalo.

I love The Gruffalo, and the sequel The Gruffalo’s Child. If you haven’t read them, then you should really try to have a look at a copy (or buy one for any toddlers you have in the family). They are the cleverest picture books I have ever seen.

• Are you really scared of the mouse?
  When I was younger I was really scared of the mouse, but now I’m older I realise how clever that little mouse is, and we just tell the story to our children so that they don’t wander off into the dangerous wood.
• Do you have a favourite book?
  Gruffalo can’t read. We love telling stories to each other though. Our favourite stories are ones about our clever ancestors, and how we tricked other animals into getting what we want.
• What is your favourite food?
  I’d love to say mouse ice cream, but really we just eat nuts and berries.
• How many Gruffalo are there?
  I don’t know. There are lots of us, but we’re very hard to find, as we are very good at hiding.

 

I think I’ll stop there! I feel really silly doing this – it was great to give it a try though. I look forward to seeing what all the other ‘weekly geekers’ have come up with!