Where’s the Best place to Bring up Kids? –

The Answer is Surprising

It can’t have escaped your notice that life seems to be ever more tense and being a youngster can be seen as a bit of trial rather than ‘the happiest days of your life.’ When I was growing up I was never home, I went out to play football at the crack of dawn and only returned home to get fed and even that changed when I was a teenager. Then I ate at my mate’s house a lot of the time. These days the mobile phone and the various internet megasites dominate kids’ lives. Whether it is young ‘uns spending time on Fortnite playing Battle Royale or Instagramming away like crazy it can all get a bit heavy. But now there is good news as Orkney has been ranked as the best place in Britain to be a girl by a kid’s charity: Whilst East Renfrewshire and Shetland were also in the top five, according to the study. But they were less optimistic about equality between the sexes. And for girls bottom of the class was Dundee which is in the bottom ten in Britain and ranked last in Scotland.

And Alice the smiling Donkey!

Now I’m not terribly familiar with the stuff to do on the Orkneys so I looked up what to do and I was surprised to see so much, admittedly a lot of it is tourist stuff like the Tomb of the Eagles, but I was fascinated. Access the tomb is via a low tunnel 3 metres long and visitors lie flat on a wheeled trolley as pull themselves through and then stand up in the interior of the tomb.  Although I am not sure how much kids would get out of the Queen Mum’s house, The Castle of Mey, despite the attractions of Alice the smiling Donkey. Well it takes all sorts to make a world. Across the board the top ten places in Scotland to be a girl, according to the report:1 Orkney Islands  2 East Renfrewshire  3 Shetland Islands  4 Aberdeenshire 5 Stirling  6 Perth and Kinross  7 Argyll and Bute  8 Scottish Borders  9 Highland  10 South Ayrshire. That’s quite a lot of the nation that is a great place to grow up.

The Best of the Nation

 If you want some more of the best of Scotland then you have come to the right place at James Pirie. Have a look at handcrafts and the Just Slate Company - Slate Stag Place Mats which are a set of two and can be matched with stag slate coasters to create a fantastic Scottish place setting for you, or your loved ones. They are hand crafted and the slate is eco friendly and many millions of years old. Clean them with olive oil to keep that just new look. There is money off too!

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