Here are Fink we believe that the family who plays togther, stays togther, so we decided to go on a quest to find the family that have the most fun and the most adventures.

We want to find the UK’s most Fink Fun Family……

No rules, no terms and conditions, just send us a paragarph and some family pictures, telling us why you think your family deserves this great acolade…

The prize, well it really is just a bit of fun but if you’re happy, we’re happy to feature you in our newsletter, on our website and put togther a video with your tips for having fun, for all the world to see…..

Just send an e-mail to sarah@finkcards.com

Closing Date 25th August

Do you talk to your children about alcohol? Do you know where to start?

A Department for Children, Families and Schools study suggests children from heavy-drinking households are more likely to use alcohol themselves.

It also found that eight out of 10 parents had no pre-planned strategies to tackle irresponsible drinking by their children.

While the majority of parents said they were fully aware of their child’s drinking habits, one in 10 said they were unaware if their child had drunk alcohol.

The research is being published as part of a campaign to tackle under-age drinking.

Schools Minister Vernon Coaker said: “Today’s research shows that parents underestimate their influence over their child’s drinking and attitudes to alcohol, yet a quarter of young people have never spoken to their parents about the issue.

“That’s why through the Why Let Drink Decide? campaign we are giving parents and young people the confidence to have open conversations about alcohol, to ultimately delay the age at which young people start drinking.”

We say talk to your children now and if you need some help of where to start check out our Teen Conversation Cards

Take our Online Survey

Hold onto your hats parents, brace yourself, because amongst everything else you have to worry about we now learn that teaching our children life skills early is a bad thing!

A BBC news article got my attention this week and I don’t think I have read anything so pointless for a long time. After reading the headline I was intrigued, not because children aged 11 were taking driving lessons but someone was fearful about it!

Now let’s get this straight, we are not talking about children whizzing round the roads where you live, reinacting their latest video driving game in real life. They are simply having the opportunity to learn driving skills on private land before the age where they are allowed on public roads.

OK, so let’s not panic too much, kids who live on farms and large private estates have been having this opportunity for decades.

But there must be some evidence that this bad thing, surely! Well, this fear generating article points to a Swedish study that er, actually shows that allowing young people to practise at an earlier age has reduced accidents by 40%.

Alright then, what are the experts are saying – Kim Stanton, from Young Driver, said: “We are teaching youngsters the vital skills they are going to need in later life to drive.

“We believe these skills will stay with them, and learning at this age, when they are very keen to absorb and retain a lot of what we teach them, will definitely make them safer drivers.”

But Insp Alan Jones, from the Police Federation of England and Wales says it doesn’t replicate the real world and spontaneous incidents and Rospa thinks it will make young people too confident and more likely to crash.

Does Alan Jones really think that someone who had a couple of lessons at the age of 15 will jump into a car at the age of 17 and pass their test immediately. Is he calling into question the driving standard agency, does he think driving examiners would not be able to spot someone who has no experience of negotiating traffic and responding to spontaneous incidents! And if Rospa seriously want to reduce the casualties amongst young drivers perhaps they should be checking out the Swedish research.

I am really cross with the BBC for scare mongering. Parents do have stuff to worry about – what about the fact that solvent abuse kills more under 16’s than all illegal drugs put together or what about that 80% of young people lose their virginity whilst under the influence of alcohol. This is the scary stuff we need to be addressing!

Come on, get a grip, we do have things to worry about in society but children confidently learning skills that are going to help them in life isn’t one of them.

A significant minority of children leave primary school without having their communication difficulties picked up and addressed, a charity claims.

Communication charity Ican said research suggested the problem was most severe in areas of social deprivation.

The claim comes as a survey suggests 50% of parents believe their children cannot communicate effectively.

The poll of 2,000 parents of children under 11 also found 54% felt they did not have enough time to talk to their children.

And one in four of these say they believe this impacted on communication with their child on a daily basis.

The survey suggests the most popular activity shared between parent and child was watching television, but only one in 10 felt this was a time when they communicated well with their child.

May be time to buy yourself a pack of our Family Communication cards