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Zara D’Cotta started OhMyGoodness (OMG) following her breast cancer diagnosis just before her 30th birthday. This life-changing experience inspired her to take a leap of faith and leave her career in corporate communications to combine her passion for health and wellbeing with her love of storytelling.
Continue reading “Zara D’Cotta: Six reasons to eat with seasons”
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
Parents are increasingly coming under fire for parenting styles.
Hands up who sometimes feels they’re not quite up to the mark on the parenting front? Hands up who has actually been told that by a family member, colleague, friend or even by someone at the school gate who is essentially a total stranger?
It would be interesting to be able to see how many of you haven’t put up your hands. I imagine it’s very few. Much like the public view that every pregnant woman’s bump is open to touching and stroking by total strangers, there seems to be a growing trend that allows people to think they can criticise parents on the job they’re doing, no matter whether they know them or not.
I have indeed in the past been told, even by my own dear father, after a few wines at Sunday lunch, that I’m doing “a crap job” at bringing up my daughter. This was sparked by her unwillingness to eat her peas and my unwillingness to make her. Personally I prefer to save my energy and pick my battles. But what gives my Dad the right to think he can say that? Presumably his own parenting perfection…ahem.
Parents these days are constantly being picked up on aspects of parenting, and it’s not just by their parents either. It’s apparently by anyone and everyone. Even the talented, beautiful Australian actress and mum, Cate Blanchett, who by the way doesn’t employ a nanny or cook apparently, says she feels criticised for her parenting by other mums! This is not isolated. Our 2014 Annual Childcare and Workforce Participation Survey revealed that 57 per cent of mums had felt stigmatised as a bad parent (for either working or staying at home) by other mums. So what happened to the sisterhood?
Whether it’s for their children’s eating habits, gaming, noisiness, dress sense, vocabulary, table manners, bedtime, supermarket etiquette, attitude, it’s all fodder for other people’s comments. And however you parent, it’s never right or good enough for some people.
Personally I like to hide behind the thought that these dissenters are generally bored, unhappy, unfulfilled or just generally not very nice.
A recent article by Queensland University’s John Pickering, a self-confessed non-parent, highlighted the “growing and seemingly widespread view that parents these days aren’t doing a good job – that in fact they’re doing a “crap” job”. So it’s not just me, then!
He goes on to say that parents are being told they “are out of touch and too soft. They give in to their kids too easily. They’re over-involved helicopter parents, or under-involved don’t care parents. Or they could be bulldozer or lawn-mower parents (the ones who smooth the way for their child’s transition through life and make life difficult for everyone else in the process).”
As Pickering points out, this criticism is simply the “kids these days rhetoric, but applied to parents”. And of course the world is very different to how it was “in their day”. Particularly when it comes to working families.
When I grew up, working mums were in the minority. I can barely recall any of my friend’s mums working full time. Nowadays it’s almost the reverse. It’s not just due to a need or desire to be career woman either; it’s also a matter of economics.
In our parents’ day, you could very easily afford to buy your own house and pay a mortgage on one average salary. Today that is almost impossible. And this surely has to affect our way of parenting. We’ve had to adapt. But more to the point, what are we consciously doing that’s different out of choice as opposed to necessity?
Pickering’s article gives an overview of a 2012 study surveyed thousands of English adolescents in 1986 and again in 2006 to determine the extent that parent-child relationships had changed over 20 years:
The study showed that parental monitoring of youth behaviour and parent-child quality time increased from 1986 to 2006. Parents in 2006 also expected more from their children than they did in 1986, including the expectation of being polite.
The authors concluded that their study failed to provide any evidence that the quality of parent-child relationships had declined over time, and that there is little evidence of any decline in parenting across the target population.
This finding corroborates earlier studies, which analysed parenting patterns across generations and found that both mothers and fathers tended to spend greater amounts of time in child care-related activities in the 1990s than they did in the 1960s.
The major trend, says Pickering, is the appetite for evidence that informs decisions about parenting. Parents want evidence that what they are doing is effective.
“They invest time to research whether vaccines work; to find evidence that “breast is best”; evidence that car seat A is superior to car seat B; evidence that certain toys are developmentally appropriate; evidence that the discipline strategies they use are effective.”
Pickering believes that the physical, emotional, financial and intellectual resources that parents are now investing in raising their kids have never been greater.
We don’t get everything right. And none of us is perfect.
Regardless of what we’re doing differently, the vast majority of parents are simply doing the best they can in the only way they know, and we should stop criticising and start to be more supportive.
After all, two of the key things a parent can teach their child are compassion, and self-control.
To view James Pickering’s article in full, click here.
Originally published on Feb 18 2015 for CareforKids.com.au: http://www.careforkids.com.au/newsletter/2015/february/18/parenting.html
If you’re really struggling to find a permanent babysitter or nanny, but have around US$1900, then Japanese mobile phone company, SoftBank, could have the answer. The company will start selling its multi-tasking Robot helper and friend, Pepper, in February 2015. So get saving! Continue reading “Pepper the robot babysitter”
The latest labour force statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics form the last census say that in June 2012, there were 641 thousand one parent families with dependants, and most (84%) were single mother families.
In half (50%) of one-parent families with dependents, the age of the youngest child was between 0 and 9 years old. Managing home and work life with young children is physically, emotionally and financially hard enough hard enough if you’re in a relationship with a supportive partner. Imagine what it’s like on a daily basis when you’re completely on your own.
So it’s not surprising that many single mums are teaming up with likeminded single parents to share the load of household bills, chores and child care.
If you Google “single parent required for house share” you get a whole raft of Gumtree ads; house share sites; mums forums; single parent forums and general accommodation sites, all with the same thread: Single parents (mainly, but not exclusively mums) looking for similar lone parents to share the burden of household duties, bills and rent.
The cost of living is increasing, everywhere. Australia has a particularly high cost of living and both sales and rental prices for property are sky high. For many dual income families, the cost of property is almost impossible, so it’s even more untenable when you’re suddenly having to cover it all yourself and not between you and a partner.
The fact is that you can get a much nicer place if you double your budget and buddy up with someone else, but it’s not that easy when you’re a single parent with one or more small children in tow.
Many women have friends they can do this with, but if you’re new to a city or area and don’t have any friends in a similar situation to you, then you have to put yourself out there.
Not all mums have support, financially or otherwise, from their former partner, or from their family. They need help paying the bills; they’d like a bit of friendship, support and company for both themselves and their child. There are some dads, but generally speaking they only have their kids at the weekends but are happy to muck in at other times.
Sydney based Sophie Andrews suddenly found herself and her two-year-old daughter in an accommodation dilemma when she split from her partner.
A close friend had also separated from her partner at the same time and the two friends found themselves living in rental properties that neither could afford.
The only alternative either of us could afford individually was a tiny 2-bedroom apartment. So they joined forces and were able to rent a huge 4-bedroom house with a lovely garden. The rent split between them was $100 a week less than if they had each moved into that tiny flat separately!
“By pooling our resources, we could not only afford to live in a house that was way beyond our means individually, but there were other benefits which contributed hugely to improving those first couple of years of separation”, Says Andrews.
Sophie recognised that having a friend in a similar situation was very lucky, but that most women were not in such a fortunate position. She founded SPACE4.com.au, a website dedicated to providing single parents with alternative living arrangements and childcare assistance at what is usually a very lonely and financially difficult time.
SPACE4 has been running for seven years and is Australia’s leading single parent site for house share, friendship, holiday share & childcare exchange. It offers an online database of single parents, looking to either share a house with another single parent, or to contact other one-parent families in their area with a view to sharing childcare and babysitting duties.
Members simply go through potential member matches by searching the profiles and contacting any prospective parents by email. It’s a great way to look in a secure environment where everyone is looking for the same thing.
Regardless of circumstances, it’s good to know you’re not alone. There are thousands of other single parents out there in the same position as you.
For more information on your child care options and benefits available to single parents, click here to see our article, and for information on single parent accommodation and lots of other issues, go to:
UK:
http://www.movethat.co.uk/London/Forum/Single_Parents/
Written and published for CareforKids.com.au http://www.careforkids.com.au/newsletter/2014/october/8/share.html
Mental Health Week is a national event, which runs from Oct 5 to 12 and coincides with World Mental Health Day (10 October). The aim is to promote awareness about mental health and wellbeing, and equip people with the right information.
As part of Mental Health Week we have chosen to highlight the issue of Baby Blues and Postnatal Depression. Do you know the difference between Baby Blues and Postnatal Depression? Could you spot depression in yourself, a friend or partner? And if you did, would you know what to do about it?
Being pregnant and giving birth and all that it entails is a hugely emotional and life-changing experience. Hormones are raging, our body is changing and we experience sleeplessness, anxiety, acute tiredness, tearfulness and many other symptoms, which are all perfectly normal with everything that’s going on.
For one to two weeks after giving birth, many women also experience a short period of mood swings, tearfulness, anxiety and difficulty in sleeping. This can affect up to 80% of new mums and is known as the baby blues and is thought to be linked with the stresses associated with late pregnancy, labour and delivery, along with the rapid hormonal changes that accompany the birth.
Symptoms generally settle during the first week after birth, but for some women these symptoms can carry on for much longer and may be the much more serious condition of postnatal depression. It can also affect partners of new mums as well.
Postnatal or Perinatal Anxiety and Depression (PND) is thought to affect approximately 20 per cent of women who give birth in Australia – around 50,000 women each year, and 10 per cent of their partners.
Postnatal depression can affect women in different ways, but the main symptoms of postnatal depression are:
Other symptoms can include:
Left untreated, the impact on the mother, her child and other family members can be profound. Perinatal Anxiety and Depression is a recognised medical condition, the result of biological, psychological and social factors.
With celebrities such as Jessica Rowe, Gwyneth Paltrow, Courtney Cox, Brooke Shields, Elle Macpherson, Britney Spears and Marie Osmond bringing the tragic illness into the public arena on a worldwide scale, the Gidget Foundation is one of the key non-government funded organisations that work tirelessly in Australia to raise awareness of and funding for research and treatment for PND.
Postnatal depression often goes unnoticed and many women are unaware they have it, even though they don’t feel quite right, because the symptoms of are wide-ranging.
Mood changes, irritability and episodes of tearfulness are common after giving birth. These symptoms are often known as the “baby blues” and they usually clear up within a few weeks. However, if symptoms are more persistent, it could be postnatal depression.
Women who continue to feel “low” after a couple of weeks after giving birth, should go to see their GP to talk through how they’re feeling. The GP will ask the following two questions if they suspect postnatal depression:
If the answer is yes to either question, then postnatal depression is possible. If the answer is yes to both questions, it’s very likely and the GP may ask one further question: “Is this something you feel you need or want help with?” and there is absolutely no shame in saying Yes.
Some women don’t recognise they have postnatal depression, or they choose to ignore their symptoms, because they’re afraid of being seen as a bad mother.
Of course their friends and family are always supportive and would always want to help, but many women with postnatal depression feel they can’t ask for help. It becomes a very secret illness, not unlike a chronic eating disorder. And it can build up very quickly to dangerous levels, which can sadly sometimes lead to tragic consequences if left undiagnosed and untreated.
So it’s hugely important that friends and family also know the danger signs and can act if required.
If someone you care about starts to show these signs try to get help for them through your local health professional. Danger signs to look out for include:
Postnatal depression can be lonely, distressing and frightening, but there are many treatments available. As long as it’s recognised and treated, postnatal depression is a temporary condition you can recover from.
It’s very important to seek treatment if you think you or your partner has postnatal depression. The condition is unlikely to get better by itself quickly and it could impact on the care of the baby.
Treatment for postnatal depression includes:
Read more about treating postnatal depression.
The cause of postnatal depression isn’t clear, but it’s thought to be the result of several things rather than a single cause. These may include:
The following will put you at greater risk of developing postnatal depression:
Read more about the causes of postnatal depression.
You should tell your GP if you’ve had postnatal depression in the past and you’re pregnant, or if you’re considering having another baby. A previous history of postnatal depression increases your risk of developing it again.
If you keep your GP informed, they’ll be aware that postnatal depression could develop after your baby is born. This will prevent a delay in diagnosis and treatment can begin earlier. In the early stages, postnatal depression can be easy to miss.
The following self-help measures can also be useful in helping to prevent postnatal depression:
Read more about preventing postnatal depression and the self-help measures you can take. But the most important thing is to seek help. Talk to a partner, friend, family member or professional.
Click here for an amazing video on Dealing with Post Natal Depression from PANDA: “Behind the Mask: The Hidden Struggle of Parenthood”
Source:
The Gidget Foundation raises funds and awareness for perinatal. Founded by the friends and family of vivacious Sydney woman, “Gidget”, following her suicide as a result of “post natal depression”, the Gidget Foundation exists to promote awareness of Perinatal Anxiety and Depression (PND) amongst women and their families, their health providers and the wider community to ensure that women in need can receive timely, appropriate and supportive care. They have a dedicated outpatient clinic – Gidget House – in Sydney.
PANDA (Post and Antenatal Depression Association)
Written and published for CareforKids.com.au http://www.careforkids.com.au/newsletter/2014/october/8/pnd.html
Do you know the different between a heat rash and something more serious?
Recently my sister-in-law called in a panic, because her one-year-old had been sent home from nursery with suspected chicken pox.
She was told not to return with the child until they had visited the doctor and got a doctor’s note or for a couple of weeks until the chickenpox had passed. After frantic work rescheduling and pulling in favours from family and friends, and a trip to the local GP it was found that my nephew had a heat rash and was perfectly fine to continue on at child care.
And despite said doctor’s note, the following week, the same thing happened again.
It made me wonder what is going on when an experienced child care worker can’t recognize the difference between a heat rash and chickenpox. Can anyone except highly trained medical practitioners know the difference?
Do you as parents know the difference?
Let’s face it everyone is afraid of rashes…Ever since we were all instructed to look out for the dreaded meningococcal rash, parents all over the world have gone into a mild panic at the very sight of a few spots. We get out the glasses and start doing the glass test at every tiny spot to see if it disappears or stays visible.
Most rashes are however completely harmless and will go away of their own accord. Kids get rashes all the time. They are another way of their immune system dealing with invading critters.
More often than not they are simple heat rashes or perhaps a mild allergy, but usually nothing to worry about.
However, if your child has developed a rash and seems unwell, or if you’re worried, you should see your GP to find out the cause and for any necessary treatment.
There are so many causes of rashes, but the following guide compiled by the UK’s NHS service, may give you a better idea of the cause of the rash.
DO NOT USE THIS TO SELF-DIAGNOSE YOUR CHILD’S CONDITION – always see a GP for a proper diagnosis.
Here are the most common rashes in young babies:
Pimples sometimes develop on a baby’s cheeks, nose and forehead within a month of their birth. These tend to get worse before clearing up completely after a few weeks or months.
Washing your baby’s face with water and mild soap can help improve the appearance of their skin. You should avoid acne medicines intended for older children and adults.
Pimples or blackheads that develop after three months of age (infantile acne) tend to be more severe and often need medical treatment.
Cradle cap is where yellowish, greasy scaly patches develop on a baby’s scalp. Occasionally, the face, ears and neck can also be affected.
Cradle cap is not itchy and should not bother your baby. If your baby is scratching or upset, they may have eczema (see below).
Cradle cap is a common condition that tends to develop within two or three months after birth. It will usually get better without treatment in a few weeks or months.
Gently washing your baby’s hair and scalp with baby shampoo may help prevent further patches developing. Read more about treating cradle cap.
Half of all newborns will develop a blotchy red skin reaction called erythema toxicum, usually at two or three days old. It is a normal newborn rash that won’t bother your baby and will soon clear after a few days.
A sweat rash may flare up when your baby sweats, for example because they are dressed in too many clothes or the environment is hot and humid. It is a sign that your baby’s sweat glands have become blocked. They may develop tiny red bumps or blisters on their skin, but these will soon clear without treatment.
Chickenpox is a mild and common viral illness that most children catch at some point. It causes a rash of red, itchy spots that turn into fluid-filled blisters. They then crust over to form scabs, which eventually drop off. Some children have only a few spots, but in others they can cover the entire body.
Learn more about the symptoms of chickenpox.
Eczema is a long-term condition that causes the skin to become itchy, red, dry and cracked. The most common form is atopic eczema, which mainly affects children but can continue into adulthood.
Atopic eczema commonly occurs behind the knees or on the front of the elbows. It is not a serious condition but if your child later becomes infected with the herpes simplex virus, it can cause the eczema to flare up into an outbreak of tiny blisters, called eczema herpeticum, and will cause a fever.
About one in five children in the UK has eczema and many develop it before their first birthday.
Find out how to manage your child’s eczema.
Impetigo is a highly contagious bacterial infection of the surface layers of the skin that causes sores and blisters. It is not usually serious. There are two types:
If you think your child has impetigo, see your GP for a prescription of antibiotic cream, which should clear the infection within seven to 10 days.
Ringworm is a common fungal skin infection that causes a ring-like red rash on the skin. The rash can appear almost anywhere on the body, with the scalp, feet and groin being common areas.
Ringworm isn’t serious and is usually easily treated using creams that you can buy from the pharmacy.
A heat rash (prickly heat) may flare up if your child starts to sweat, for example because they are dressed in too many clothes or the environment is hot and humid. They may develop tiny red bumps and blisters on their skin, but these will soon clear.
Erythema multiforme is a skin reaction triggered by medication, an infection (usually the herpes simplex virus) or an illness. Red spots develop on the hands or feet before spreading across the body. Your child will probably feel unwell and may have a fever, but you should be able to treat these symptoms with over-the-counter medicine. It may take between two and six weeks before they feel better.
See your GP if your child has a rash and seems unwell.
Keratosis pilaris is a common and harmless condition where the skin becomes rough and bumpy, as if covered in permanent goose pimples.
It typically begins in childhood and gets worse in adolescence, around puberty. Some people find that it improves after this and may even disappear in adulthood.
There’s no cure for keratosis pilaris, but it shouldn’t bother your child.
Hand, foot and mouth disease is a common, mild illness caused by a virus. It causes a non-itchy rash on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet, and can sometimes cause mouth ulcers and a general feeling of being unwell.
Treatment is usually not needed as the child’s immune system clears the virus and symptoms go away after about seven to 10 days. However, hand, foot and mouth disease is easily spread.
Molluscum contagiosum is a viral skin infection that commonly causes clusters of small, firm, raised spots on the skin (see picture at the top of this page).
It commonly affects young children aged one to five years, who tend to catch it after close physical contact with another infected child.
The condition is usually painless, although some children may feel some itchiness. It usually goes away within 18 months without the need for treatment.
Molluscum contagiosum is highly infectious. However, most adults are resistant to the virus, meaning they are unlikely to develop the condition if they come into contact with it.
Pityriasis rosea is a relatively common skin condition that causes a distinctive skin rash of raised, red scaly patches across the body. Most cases occur in older children and younger adults between 10 and 35 years old.
Pityriasis rosea usually clears up without any treatment within 12 weeks.
Find out more about the symptoms of pityriasis rosea.
Scabies is an infectious skin condition caused by tiny mites that burrow into the skin. It causes an intensely itchy rash.
Children tend to catch it after close physical contact with another infected adult or child – for example, during play fighting or hugging.
The mites like to burrow in warm places on the skin. They leave small red blotches and silver lines on the skin, which may be found on the palms of the hands or soles of the feet. In infants, it’s common to find blisters on the soles of the feet.
See your GP for treatment (a lotion or cream) if you think your child has scabies.
Find out more about the symptoms of scabies.
Hives (also known as urticaria) is a raised, red, itchy rash that appears on the skin. It happens when a trigger (see below) causes a protein called histamine to be released in the skin. Histamine causes redness, swelling and itching.
Hives can be triggered by many things, including allergens (such as food or latex), irritants (such as nettles), medicines or physical factors, such as exercise or heat. But usually no cause can be identified. It’s a common skin reaction that’s likely to affect children. The rash is usually shortlived and mild, and can often be controlled with antihistamines.
Slapped cheek syndrome (also known as fifth disease) is a common childhood viral infection that typically causes a bright red rash on both cheeks. It usually affects children aged between three and 15.
Most children won’t need treatment as slapped cheek syndrome is usually a mild condition that passes in a few days.
Psoriasis is a skin condition that causes red, flaky, crusty patches of skin covered with silvery scales.
It may be just a minor irritation for some children who are affected, but for others it has a major impact on their quality of life.
There is no cure for psoriasis, but a range of treatments can improve symptoms and the appearance of the affected skin patches.
Find out more about the symptoms of psoriasis.
Cellulitis is a bacterial infection of the deeper layers of the skin and the underlying tissue. The affected area of skin will be red, painful swollen and hot. Your child will probably also have a fever.
Cellulitis can affect people of all ages, including children, and usually responds well to treatment with antibiotics.
Find out more about the symptoms of cellulitis.
Measles is a highly infectious viral illness. Anyone can get measles if they haven’t been vaccinated or had it before, but it’s most common in children aged between one and four years old.
It causes a red-brown spotty rash, which tends to start behind the ears and spread to the head, neck, legs and rest of the body. Your child will usually also have cold-like symptoms and a fever.
Most childhood rashes are not measles, but you should see your GP if you notice the above signs. Learn more about the symptoms of measles.
The following are the main Meningitis warning symptoms. The rash is unfortunately the last stage of meningitis, so it’s important to act on the following symptoms as early as possible:
Trust your instincts. If you think your child has meningitis, see your GP immediately or go to your nearest hospital A&E.
Meningitis is very rare, while rashes are extremely common.
Whatever the cause of the rash, don’t panic! But go to your local GP to get properly diagnosed just in case.
Information from webdoctor.com and nhs.co.uk.
Published for CareforKids.com.au http://www.careforkids.com.au/newsletter/2014/october/1/rashes.html
The young wildlife warrior shows Aussie teenagers how to look young, fresh and age appropriate!
Wow! Little Bindi is all grown up and we love her look. Always a great ambassador for Australia, Bindi is a class act as a teenager, showing her personality and edginess, but maintaining a healthy, natural look. If only all Australian teens would take her lead on how to look young, fresh and age appropriate!
All our products are healthy, nourishing, free from all nasties. They’re designed to let the skin breathe, so they’re perfect for young skins.
Get Bindi’s look with the following:
Look up all of these great makeup must-haves on our shiny new website. www.ereperez.com
Ere Perez now has a brand new collection of Eco Vegan brushes!
These new brushes are so unbelievably soft you’ll just want to sit and brush your face with them all day!! Of course they’re all still of the highest professional standard, using natural, supersoft and cruelty free materials, but they’re now vegan and include a brand new Multipurpose Flat Head Brush, especially designed to apply our creamy multi-tasking cheek and lip products, foundation and highlighters.
Natural, supersoft, vegan and certified Cruelty Free, we use biodegradable materials, such as corn resin (instead of plastic) for the handles and the hair is now made from super silky nylon, rather than animal hair. The synthetic hair is particularly good for sensitive skin and is much more economical with the makeup itself, wasting a lot less than more porous animal hair.
All these fab new brushes are designed to be super easy to work with as well as to achieve the best results possible: They are are tapered and textured to provide great coverage and softness and designed to give all users the tools to create a perfect look with the minimum makeup know-how!
The handles are much longer lasting than wood handles and should be cleaned with a mild hair shampoo for hygiene when necessary.
The new brushes include:
ECO VEGAN MULTIPURPOSE BRUSH – This is an absolute brush winner and will become a makeup bag essential! Designed to give the best application for all creamy products, it’s perfect for Ere Perez Clever Carrot Cheek & Lip Balms, Versatile Vanilla Highlighters and the Oat Milk Foundation. RRP AUD $32.95
ECO VEGAN CONCEALER AND LIP BRUSH – The tool that makeup artists rely on, this is the essential vegan and eco cover-up brush for Arnica Concealer and Oat Milk Foundation. Two brushes in one, it’s perfect for touching up and creating flawless skin. The larger brush end has a wide, flat surface, ideal for disguising red cheeks, broken capillaries, sunspots or any areas of discolouration. Use the smaller, defined end to apply directly to spots, breakouts and over delicate areas, such as the rim of the eye or for lipstick application. AUD $29.95
ECO VEGAN EYE BRUSH – The beautiful dual purpose, two-ended vegan eye brush has a fine tapered end to apply fine lines to create more of an eyeliner look. It can be used wet with our Creative Chamomile Eye Shadow Duo colours to give a more precise eye colour, while the fatter, rounder end is perfect for smudging and blending. AUD $29.95
ECO VEGAN POWDER BRUSH – Look no further than this brush to use with all Ere Perez natural Pure Rice Powders. With full, round bristles for smooth application, it feels amazingly soft on the skin, to the point you might get stuck in front of the mirror just brushing your face for hours. AUD $33.95
MEDIA CONTACT: Sophie Cross @ PRChicks sophie@prchicks.com.au
But What is Best for Working Parents?
The Productivity Commission’s draft report published in July looked at the issues facing many parents whose lives and working hours don’t conform to standard child care hours or “approved” child care services. It also discussed how to address the chronic shortfall of child care places in many areas and how to improve women’s workforce participation.
Two of the recommendations made were that overseas Au Pairs should be allowed to stay with one family for the full 12 month working holiday visa (opposed to the current six month maximum period with any one family) and that there should be an extension of child-based government assistance to enable greater access to home-based care services. This is in order to improve accessibility for the growing number of families with parents who work irregular or non-standard hours.
The report also argued that the government should allow approved nannies to become an eligible service, for which families can receive assistance, conditional on those nannies meeting the same National Quality Standards, care ratios and qualifications that currently apply to family day care services.
The above recommendations have been put forward to help address the huge unmet demand for child care in Australia, particularly for the under twos, together with the needs for those families with more than one pre-school aged child, and those with special circumstances, who are working shifts or unsociable hours or who have children with special needs.
In Australia, there are around 3.8 million children under 13 years old, living in over 2 million families. Around half of these children use some form of non-parental care in either the formal or informal sectors or both. And demand is growing as the population and workforce increases.
The Productivity Commission estimates that over 100,000 additional full-time places will be needed by 2026. And increasing long day care places and assistance for Family Day Care Services will still not meet these numbers or the needs of all parents.
Industry bodies and child care businesses of course all have their own opinions to the plausibility, viability or suitability of these recommendations and there will inevitably be some debate over the correct division of child care funding.
The Productivity Commission is suggesting that the various child care benefits, rebates and special assistance be streamlined into one means tested subsidy to make it fair and easy to navigate for parents.
Au Pairs can be a great option for families, particularly if parents buddy up and share an au pair. Only one of you needs to have the extra bedroom, but all can chip in for the cost of bed, board and pocket money. They can bring a different cultural experience for children and often a new language to learn.
And don’t be fooled into thinking that Au Pairs are inexperienced or unqualified. Many women across the world have been au pairs for years. They often have child care qualifications in their own countries and are likely to be more experienced in child care than many child care workers in formal day care centres! The only downside is that they can only stay for up to a year.
Nannies have been around for just as long, if not longer, than day care centres and child-minders. They are often seen as elitist, but the fact is that if you have more than one pre-school child they are far more viable, for average income families, not just high income earners. They often become a very valued member of the family and a good nanny is worth his or her weight in gold.
Vice-president of the Australian Nannies Association (ANA), Annemarie Sansom said that families employing a professional nanny should receive subsidies equivalent to those applied to other forms of childcare.
“When families have two or three children in childcare, the cost is comparable to that of employing a nanny. What makes employing a nanny more expensive at the moment is the lack of any subsidy,” she said.
In-home care is essentially a part time or full time nanny service, but one that is approved and subsidised by the Federal Government, due to special circumstances. It enables families with unusual work, location or care requirements to access approved child care in their own home, and is currently only available to those families that are unable to access standard child care services and/or families in unusual circumstances.
In-Home Care is particularly appropriate for families where parents work night shifts or unsociable hours, as well as those who are in remote locations and don’t have access to child care centres etc.
Recent Government initiatives and Productivity Commission recommendations have included the expansion of access and eligibility to in-home care and funding has been increased to enable more families to access the service.
To see how in-home care varies from the other forms of child care currently available to parents have a look at our child care comparison table.
There is no wrong or right form of child care. No one-size-fits-all. All families and their needs are different.
Written by Sophie Cross for CareforKids.com.au: http://www.careforkids.com.au/newsletter/2014/september/17/pc.html
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