Mum's we deserve more!!

Today I thought that I would vent about something that seems to be something that is highly dismissed by society as an important job and that is the job of MOTHERHOOD.

Motherhood is the most important task many women undertake for the love of their children to make sure they grow into well-respected, contributing happy human beings of society. Yet it is the most undervalued and the least respected of all the jobs that could be done. It seems lately that unless you are in the paid workforce (and are of working age) you are not a valued member of society. The other thing I notice is when those children act up the first person blamed is usually the mother too.

Mothers are the back bone to any culture. Our unconditional love for our children means their survival and this is not just seen in humans this is seen in the animal kingdom to. You only have to watch a documentary on animals to see what they do to protect their young. Without mother's we as a society would wither and die.

I believe that it is time that mother's got what they deserve which is recognition for what we do. It is hard, hard yakka. Any mum out there who has had to try and get their two year old to go to the toilet, or has been woken from a sleep because their little one has had a night mare and at 3am you are checking under the bed and all the cupboards just to reassure that child that their really are no monsters and then to only be woken 3 hours later by the same child now fully refreshed and eager to start the day and you have to drag yourself out of bed and you have to be ready to go when you feel like a train has hit you, and there is no time before you here Mum, mum, mum, mum, mum, mum, and you haven't even had a sip of your tea or coffee. Is true love, 

Before I had children, I can tell you I thought parenting was the most piss easy job in the world. All you have to do is feed them, clothe them, keep them clean, make sure they know that they are loved. Hugs and cuddles and bed time stories and that pretty much sums it up. I now know better. I work harder now than I have ever done in any of the paid jobs I have had. It is tiring some days you will do nothing but discipline all day. Other days can be listening to constant whining ad some days are just absolutely marvellous and it wipes out all those bad days. Some days it takes all of your strength not to shut yourself in your wardrobe and hide there until your significant other comes home. In saying all of this the rewards are endless and better than any bonus you could ever receive from work.


I think it is time we challenged the stereotype of Motherhood. We certainly don't sit on our arse's all day while our children play on the floor. We are the one's their for all the scraped knees, doing the hard yards with discipline, looking at the best schools for our children online. Preparing their food and drink, reading every parenting book on the market to constantly improve ourselves as parents. Reading our children their favourite story 20 times a day. Playing pretend, cooking cakes. Vacuuming, washing, mopping, doing dishes and grocery shopping. We do it all with a smile on our faces and while sometimes dragging our feet. We are also the first to sacrifice whatever our needs are so our children can have better.

We deserve thanks for what we do! I salute all you mothers out there doing the hard yards and even if your children never thank you. I do. Thank you for loving your children and making them decent human beings for society. Thank you for all of the sacrifices you make, the sleep ins you give up for Saturday morning sport or dance. The times you find it so hard to discipline your child and you are taking them to the naughty corner for the 20th time that day. You are a hero.


Kimba

My review of Monkisee ACTION WORDS dvd.

I was recently sent the Monkisee Action Words DVD to review.(http://www.monkisee.com) I have to say it was a really good DVD. I gage this on how well my 2 DD Miss S almost 3 and Miss A almost 7 months interacted with the DVD. I will write my review with dot points because it is easy to read and allows us already time poor parents to make quick decisions.

PROS

• 30 words on the DVD are covered which is excellent, approx a word per minute
• Kids are asked to participate immediately by doing the action. Great for Miss S and I can help the younger one
• The word is shown in 3 different ways. So the child can see how each word is used in our daily lives.
• 3 words are shown at a time than each word is explained individually.
• Each word is shown in large red letters and an arrow comes across the screen from left to right to show which way we read the word.
• A catchy song is played at the end of each segment and the words appear again and the word meaning is acted out. So the child watching sees the word and puts the meaning of the word together.
• The puppets add a fun touch. I was never a fan to begin with but after watching both my DD's engage with the DVD. I felt they engaged more because of the puppets and participated more in the dvd because the puppet asked them to. My youngest DD watched the dvd glued and its hard to make her watch anything my eldest DD giggled and laughed and did all the actions the monkey's did.

CONS

• There really aren't any it's more improvements that could be made.
• The sound is a bit tinny and could do with a slight adjustment. The Host Olivia sounded to me a bit echoie at times.
• And that is it.

So in my humble opinion when it comes down to it all the question I ask my self is this. How much bang for my buck am I getting? For $19.95, this DVD is well worth being part of your Early Educational Library. It is fun and interactive. It gets the kids up moving, so its good for a rainy day or snowy day, depending where you live. I rate this DVD a 9/10 This is very good considering there is a lot of stuff on the market touted as 'educational' when it is not and this is very educational at all.

Happy Teaching Parents and Caregivers
Kimba xx

A great TED talk about how education kills creativity!!!! Something to think about

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

A very interesting talk. well worth the 20minutes. Is the arts still important to you?


Kimba

Does social media stop us from being good parents??????

I have been recently thinking a lot lately about the impact technology has on our lives especially with children. I was watching extreme parenting with Super Nanny Jo Frost and she was conducting a sleep experiment. The children in the first week were allowed to stay up as late as they liked and in the second week they had to go to bed at 7:30.

It was the second week that had me intrigued. All the electronic devices were removed form the bedroom so they had nothing to keep them awake and all they could do was go to sleep. They were not even allowed to play with them once they got home from school. What I found interesting was the amount of electronic devices these kids had. Mobile phones, laptops, wiis, PS2, ipods or mp3 players. These kids spent more time on these devices than they did with their own families.

So that led me to my next thought. Are we using all these devices so we do not have to engage with our own children? So they are babysat in some way.? I understand the world we live in is very digital but are we teaching our kids to never have a real relationship unless it is with some device as a medium? Are we so distracted in our own lives and by the internet that we can no longer really engage with them any more either?

As the children were no longer allowed to play with these devices. The families began spending more time together. The board games came out, books came out, homework was done, and funnily enough the families all said how nice it was to play with their children and engage with them rather than them locking themselves away in their rooms playing the computer or texting friends or both.

I know I am guilty of this. I know how often I am facebook throughout the day. Seeing what everyone else is up to, using it to engage with other people. Checking my emails constantly to see if anyone has commented on my status update. Checking my husband's twitter page and seeing where he is at or how far away he is from home. Conversing with him on twitter. The list goes on. I find I’m almost need to constantly check it and if one of my children need me or come to ask me something I’m like wait I’m on facebook instead of really making her important I make the internet important. I'm almost annoyed if I am interrupted and writing this down does not make me very proud as a parent but if im honest enough I don't think I am the only parent who does this in some shape or form.

So do we as a western culture allow these devices to come into our lives because we are bored and addicted. We want to engage with everyone and feel like we are important to someone but not to the people we should be important to? Are my kids learning from me that social media is far more important. Engaging with a screen all the time. Please don't get me wrong I am not against social media at all or using technology or the TV to teach my child but when I am using the devices as a form of escapement and entertainment rather than doing what I should be doing or brushing them aside to finish a facebook status or checking my email and not engaging with the kids as I should I wonder where you draw the line? When is it an addiction to escape boredom? Are our children learning to be addicts because that's what they have been taught as kids. Do we as a western culture find it hard to be in the present moment and therefore don't want to engage or can't engage because we have forgotten how to socialise? I think it is hard all the time to engage with our kids. They are in the present moment playing pretend, dressing up or playing with a toy. I find it hard at times to engage with her and 'play pretend' in fact if I was honest I don't do pretend play very well. I am happy to watch pretend play but I don't like participating (even though sometimes I do) and the play is not very mentally stimulating to me, which makes it even harder to do but there are times when I try to engage with her and yet at the back of my mind I’m thinking must check my facebook page or send an email so it is not real time with me because I am distracted.

I know as a stay-at-home-mum that sometimes the only other adult you will speak to is your significant other for the whole day and I understand what facebook and twitter are to a SAHM a life line in many respects. It allows you to engage with other's have an adult conversation without leaving the house but if we are constantly on facebook and twitter or texting we have something always gnawing for our attention and not just our children who need to know that at some point during the day when your little beep on your phone goes off that you are not going to run and dive for it while in the middle of something with them.

Just something to think about. Please feel free to comment.

Kimba.

A letter to my sanity!

Dear Sanity,


I don't know when we last spoke, I believe it was before my husband and I made the decision to have a family. I'm sorry I did not consult you maybe it was the joy of thinking about  holding a baby in my arms, or all the fun things I would get to do with that baby as she grew older. Maybe you checked out when I fell pregnant. You were lost behind the raging hormones and tiredness maybe you just didn't feel needed by me anymore. Let me tell you dear sanity after the week I have had with both my children I am writing to you because I need you back to help me get through the rest of the week.

Please don't feel rejected, I never really rejected you I just checked out for awhile because the love you have for your kids is unconditional and can make you a little crazy, but if you were there to tell me I would have to listen to my daughter cry (for 2 hours before giving up) because she wasn't going to get a baby cino or have an argument with me about going to the toilet, I promise you I would have listened and prepared for it. If I was told my 6 month old would scream the house down because no one was in the room with her. I could have prepared for that to. If you told me my children would have the will power of 10 men combined I don't know if I would have believed you but now I am in it I want you back to help me get out of it.

Sanity, where art thou? you need to come back.

Love Kimba