Say Goodbye to you Inner Mean Mummy
I’ve been there! It’s not fun. I lost my confidence and I felt terrible. It’s time to say goodbye to that part of you. It’s time to let it go. But how you ask?
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Top 10 things to buy before your first baby is born
As I write this, I am almost 19 weeks pregnant with my first child. So I know how you feel. Even for someone super organised, who loves spending hours doing research, Excel tables comparing the pros and cons, it is overwhelming. And if I was given $1 for everytime someone well-meaning told me “you have to get this type of pram, you can’t call them that or you must do this”, my unborn child would have a very healthy trust fund.
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Is your baby still eating puree?
Something I have noticed in my every day practice, is that a lot of parents continue to feed their babies pureed food, long after they need to. It’s a tricky time, because we start our babies on solids around 6 months and progress with offering a range of vegies and fruit, and it is easy to get into the routine of making food in bulk and filling up the freezer! Also, you may not be visiting your Maternal and Child Health Nurse until baby is 8 months, so you coast along doing the same thing.
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6 Tips for Hosting Your Own Pony Party
Talk with your son or daughter and get an idea of what they expect. You may need to point out that “more” isn’t always “merrier”! Some of the best parties we’ve seen are small in number, that is, less than 10 guests. As the saying goes “their age plus one” is how many invitations should go out! But, if it is going to be the whole class, you may want to organise some extra party activities in addition to the ponies.
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From Kickabouts to Competitions: The Thrilling World of Kids' Soccer
Of course, there are challenges to playing soccer at any age. Injuries can occur, and competition can be intense. However, by providing a safe and supportive environment for kids to develop their skills, these challenges can be minimized. Kids who play soccer learn valuable lessons about teamwork, resilience, and sportsmanship that will serve them well both on and off the field.
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Is it Possible to Be More Present With Our Kids?
One major obstacle holding us back from being more present with our kids, are our feelings. We feel restless and bored and agitated and frustrated and annoyed and disappointed. Yes, there is fun and enjoyment and love and humour but somehow I don’t think you need help with that side of life.
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LET'S TALK ABOUT POST NATAL DEPRESSION
How often do we hear stories of pregnancy, birth and early parenting all going exactly to plan? More often than not, the ideas we have in our minds of how things should be, do not merge with the eventuating reality, even if it is the second, third or fourth time around. Every pregnancy, birth, and baby is different and this can have a significant influence on how we feel about ourselves, our baby and about our early parenting experiences.
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Existing in Photographs
Existing in photographs – it’s a thing and it’s important. So many of us duck, dodge, dip and dive when a camera is pointed our way. Who wants to be immortalised when we’re not feeling our most beautiful? We’re not as young as we used to be.. We’re having a fat day, a bad hair day, I couldn’t be bothered getting out of my tracksuit pants day… We have this bizarre notion that somehow we’ll be judged for how we look in photos or that we’re not worth capturing unless we can be Vanity Fair perfect.
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7 Tips to Improve Your Child’s Difficult Behaviour
Try to be calm when a negative behaviour arises. If you react to your child’s misbehaviour, you will either have a big fight on your hands or your child will learn that if they get a reaction to a specific behaviour, they will repeat that behaviour next time. To diffuse rising tension, turn towards your child and talk in a quiet and firm voice.
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How To Survive Mother's Day With A Difficult Mother
Some adult daughters have difficult relationships with their mum, still seeking their mother’s approval for their career, for their love interests, for her acceptance and unconditional love. They revert to being a child in their mother’s presence, wanting mum to nurture and encourage them, maintaining hope that mum will hold the little girl in her lap of tenderness, stroking her fondly, speaking gently from doting mother to her adoring child. This is the fantasy that adult daughters dream about.
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Women and Super
I was recently having a chat over coffee with a group of other Mums in business (truthfully I was doing a bit of market research) and I asked them if they felt that they had less super savings than they should have considering their ages and stages. A conversation then followed about the gender pay-gap, taking time out of the workforce to raise a family and finding yourself sole breadwinner due to either illness or relationship breakdown.
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5 easy tips for better breathing
Our modern stressed sedentary lifestyle has shifted our breathing patterns away from our natural breath. Many of us have adopted poor and ineffective breathing patterns, negatively impacting our physical and mental health.
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How to Regulate your Emotions: A Critical Skill for Parents and Children
Most would agree that there is not a parent among us who doesn’t have days where they feel overwhelmed by the pressures of being a parent or primary carer. No matter who you are, where you come from or what you do, parenting is a great equaliser and at one time or another, we all have those moments where we struggle to control our emotions during times of stress or pressure. We may end up reacting in ways we do not like and later feel overwhelmed by regret.
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Flying with expressed breastmilk
The last few years there have been a few highly publicised cases of women being made to discard or taste test their hard pumped liquid gold breastmilk when travelling through security or customs when flying. The vast majority of mum’s encounter no issues but its best to educate yourself on your rights as a breastfeeding/ pumping mother and the rules of travelling with expressed breast milk (EBM), so you are confident if you come across any problems.
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Whats Behind the Popularity of Martial Arts Fitness among Australia's Youth?
Kids in Australia are drawn to Martial Arts Fitness for its unique blend of fitness and discipline, focus on health and wellness, self-defense empowerment, stress relief, sense of community, cultural appreciation, and the diversity of available styles.
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How to add value to your home?
The average Australian lawn is 130m2, so you should pay around $1000-1500 for new grass without any labour costs. Based on around 130m2, you are looking at $2.50-3/m2 for installation if you don’t do it yourself. The cheapest option is to do the work yourself. The only thing it will cost you is your time. Do realise it isn’t simply a case of plonking the turf down and walking away.
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Story time – when books trump technology
We’re hearing more and more lately about the importance of reading to and with children; and its impact on language and literacy. Whilst more concrete evidence now exists of the impact on a child’s cognitive skills and the associated flow-on effects throughout their lives, it has been no secret that reading to and with children is a good idea. However, an abundance of technology, combined with the increasingly busy lives of families, mean that many simply aren’t finding the time.
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Your Kids Should Not be the most Important in the Family
I saw an article titled “Your Kids Should Not be Most the Important in the Family” and it made me feel lots of things. Defensive, angry, upset but I also agreed with the statement. Parenting doesn’t come with a manual. I’ve tried to follow a few cheat sheets - attachment parenting, conscious parenting, the Montessori approach… No matter how hard I tried, how hard I researched, I never felt like I was the best mum I could be. I just needed to try harder. Right?
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Karate Classes & Lessons for Kids: Building Confidence and Discipline Through Martial Arts
While karate is an individual practice, training in a group setting fosters camaraderie and teamwork. Kids learn to support and uplift each other, honing their social skills and forging lasting bonds.
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When should my child learn to read?
Learning to read is an essential part of a child’s development, if they are to function comfortably in today’s society. Many people ask: At what age should a child learn to read? How young is too young; and what are the risks if I wait too long?
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