pr, copywriting & social media for small business
Over the last century it’s thought that over 80,000 chemicals have been introduced into our daily lives. They are toxic and they are everywhere… in the atmosphere, in our cleaning products, in food and drink, cans and bottles, in our toiletries, furniture, toys, clothes, house paint, drinking water and even in our computers. We actually even make toxins ourselves through our own stress. Continue reading “How to live a “cleaner” family life”
A recent news story on the USA’s Today Show revealed how party plan and direct selling is skyrocketing with the advent of social media and giving mums the opportunity to create an at-home direct sales business and make big bucks.
Scott Morrison’s new families package is likely to throw part-time working mums into a spin in terms of child care subsidy, with a minimum working hour requirement to get any sort of rebate.
So many mothers are now looking for alternative, home-based arrangements that allow them the flexibility to work, while also being at home with the kids. Direct Selling is one of the most popular solutions.
And with ever increasing child care costs and lack of places, many mums are simply unable to go back to their previous employment and looking for alternative opportunities. Direct selling (which incorporates Party Plan) offer mums huge flexibility and financial opportunity while reducing…
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And have you agreed the boundaries?
One in four grandparents are looking after their grandchildren on at least a part-time basis. They have become a generation of carers. With the cost of child care, the lack of places, and if you have a parent who’s retired, willing and available to step up to the task, it’s easy to jump in and accept their offer to “help out” without thinking the situation through completely. Continue reading “Are your parents up to the job of carer?”
Sticks and stones may break their bones, but weird names can break their spirit…The old rhyme about name-calling not being able to hurt a child may not be true after all. Children whose parents have given them ridiculous names are susceptible to bullying, ridicule and confidence issues. Continue reading “Giving your child a ridiculous name can have serious consequences”
Rocking Horse Man Crafts Old School Toys To Give Philippine Prisoners New Hope
This week I came across a truly inspirational man. Chris Woolcock is an Australian master craftsman, whose carved wooden rocking horses have received international acclaim and now fund what he calls “his most important work” – teaching his skill to prison inmates in Bilibid prison, Philippines.
Chris sells his beautiful rocking horses to clients all over the world. They have become collectors’ items, family heirlooms and exhibition pieces, having been displayed in London and New York, with one of his prize pieces currently on show at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney. He has even been the subject of Australia’s prestigious Archibald Prize.
Chris started his career at an early age when he learned the art of woodcarving from his grandfather and developed a lifelong love of making wooden toys.
On leaving school, Chris trained to become a teacher…
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Get your child to pick up a book today.
International Children’s Book Day (today, 2 April) celebrates the wonder of children’s books everywhere. The day is designed to inspire children to pick up a book and get reading. We desperately need that inspiration these days, as children are far more inclined to pick up an iPad or iPhone and start playing Crossy Road or Flappy Bird than pick up a book and start reading.
April the 2nd was chosen to mark this day for young literature lovers, because it’s Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday. Andersen was the author of many famous children’s stories, fairy tales and poetry, like “The Little Mermaid”, “The Tinderbox”, “The Ugly Duckling”, “The Snow Queen”, “The Nightingale”, “The Emperor’s New Clothes” and many more. His stories have inspired plays, ballets, and both live-action and animated films.
Organised by the International Board on Books for Young People (or IBBY), the aim of International Children’s Book Day is to promote books and reading to young people and this is becoming increasingly important.
Not only are children losing interest in books, but so are adults, and the book industry is in a very difficult place. Much like the media, everything is going online; bookstores are under threat, with chains such as Borders already falling victim. Books are no longer treasured like they were, and they seem to have become largely disposable items.
It was sad to see recent news that a library in East Bay, Alameda in the USA had been criticised for putting 100,000 books into the trash. Not even the recycling either, but the regular trash!
While angry residents showed up at a special meeting to express their outrage, the Alameda County library director said they just wanted newer, updated books.
She said about 172,000 books had been discarded over the past two years, due to the need for more shelf space after spending about $3 million on new books.
While some of these books may have been extremely tatty, most would have been gratefully received at local schools, child care centres, preschools, infant schools, family day care centres, playgroups and crèches.
So let’s put a little more thought back into books this month. Give gadgets and TV the heave-ho for 30 minutes a day. Encourage children to pick up a book for this time instead. Do this every day for the whole of April if you can.
Many kids aren’t natural bookworms, but once they find a book they enjoy and get into the habit of reading, they start to really enjoy it. Sometimes it just takes a little encouragement.
Set up a household competition with your kids – give them an incentive to get reading. If they’re too little to read themselves, read to them or encourage them to look at the pictures and flick through the pages for half an hour a day.
If you have any old children’s books you don’t want, that have been grown out of or that you simply don’t have space for, don’t put them in the bin! There will be a charitable organisation, child care centre, preschool, playgroup or crèche near you that would love to have them.
Published for CareforKids.com.au on April 2 2015. http://www.careforkids.com.au/newsletter/2015/april/1/reading.html
For Ere Perez Naturally Beautiful blog…
Originally written for CareforKids.com.au: http://www.careforkids.com.au/newsletter/2015/february/11/perspective.html
According to a recently publicised survey in the UK, a fifth of working parents are considering reducing their hours or giving up their job altogether because of child care costs. This is just as pertinent to Australians as it is to UK parents, as child care costs reach unachievable levels on both sides of the world and parents are being forced to make difficult decisions.
The UK survey of 1,000 parents of children aged up to 16 also found that many were planning to cut back on essentials this year, because of the financial strain of child care. And one in five said they are thinking about reducing their working hours or quitting their job.
In our own survey last year, we revealed that of the mums who had not returned to work, a fifth said this was because it simply wasn’t financially viable to do so.
Removing parents’ choice as to whether or not they continue to work after having children is not the answer for families or for the economy.
This lack of choice is due to the following key factors:
both parents so that they may share the child care load.
Parents of the youngest children are most under pressure and find it almost impossible to keep up with their current work conditions and pay levels vs. child care costs.
This leads to the inescapable question for many parents: is their job worth the cost of child care? Usually this still falls on the working mum’s door, as it’s still more likely that the father has the better paid job and better career prospects. So women are still having to make the choice between career and children. This will inevitably have a trickle down effect to the Australian birth rate, because couples simply won’t be able to afford to have children.
Published for CareforKids.com.au on 11.2.15 – http://www.careforkids.com.au/newsletter/2015/february/11/perspective.html
The Word Bird 