January 2008

Children’s Jobs And Our Family Meetings

January 31, 2008

Last week I noted in the Letting children do it for themselves post, that I was going to work at banishing the “clean up fairy” in my house. I am pleased to say that I have made significant progress towards this goal. At our Family Meeting (FM) last week, I raised the issue of children’s [...]

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10 Things To Make Back To School Mornings Easier

January 29, 2008

These are 10 things that I do that make my life easier in the morning when I want everyone organised. Doing these things helps at any time, but even more so when we are in “back to school” mode and adjusting to new routines. (1). Set bedtime.Having an age appropriate bed time for the kids, [...]

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Planning Time For Mum

January 27, 2008

“Back to school” is almost here and it has started me thinking about how the pace of our leisurely “school holiday” days will change very soon. Once the school term starts there are many activities to fit in across the week for the kids, meetings to attend and general household up keep. It does become [...]

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Our Own Animation

January 26, 2008

NB. I have tried numerous times through out the day to upload the photos and video of our outing and have not been successful, I think blogger/my PC is having an issue. I will try again tomorrow. Yesterday I took the kids into the city, to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) which [...]

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Letting Children Do It For Themselves

January 25, 2008

“This is one of those parenting tasks that are difficult for most of us. But the benefits are great. Perhaps the most wonderful payoff in allowing your child to master life through age-appropriate tasks and skills comes from the boost to his self-esteem. The more capable a child is, the more confident the child will [...]

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10 Things To Do Before The School Holidays End

January 22, 2008

With only a little over a week left for those of us on Victorian school holidays, I wrote myself a list of things that I need to do before the kids start back at school. This is not a list about all the exciting activities I must do with the kids before the holidays are [...]

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According To My Plan………

January 20, 2008

Right about now, according to my plan I should be at the NGV checking out an exhibition with the kids. To make this excursion as much fun as possible, I placed both little ones down for a sleep before we were due to go. Possum woke first, so we all had lunch, then waited for [...]

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Fighting The Materialism Battle With Self Esteem

January 19, 2008

One of the things that I like to do, which I find helps me anticipate and therefore better plan for the ongoing developmental changes in my children, is to stay I touch with current information and research on issues of child development. Whilst cruising the net this week, I came across an article titled Curbing [...]

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Mother On A Mission

January 18, 2008

When I woke up this yesterday morning I was a mother with a mission. I needed new bras and I was going to get them that very day! This however meant that I would have to take all four children with me. My kids are actually pretty ok to take shopping, but getting fitted for [...]