This is a guest post by Emma, from My Book Corner

As the nights draw in the temptation to snuggle up nice and early with a comforting pile of picture books should not be ignored!

I love helping people find the best books for their children at My Book Corner, so I was more than happy to help when Kat asked for my suggestions for some great picture books to help you feel ever so warm and cosy.

Have fun browsing through my collection of five books which are perfect for bedtime cuddle time.

Today We Have No Plans

Jane Godwin, Ill. by Anna Walker

For all those who love weekend pajama days, this one is for you.

Weekdays are frantic for so many households. Swimming lessons to get to, school lunches to prepare, notes to sign … and then the weekend comes.

As Sunday comes around the pace slows significantly both for the character in the book and for us as readers. The narrative meanders along beautifully and encourages us to stop and explore the little things in life.

Jane Godwin’s fabulous narrative is matched perfectly with Anna Walker’s signature illustrations.

You simply must read this one as the weekend beckons.

Somebody’s House

Katrina Germein, Ill. by Anthea Stead

Ever let your imagination wonder who lives in all those wonderful houses you pass?

With a delectable ambling rhythm, Germein takes her readers past lots of wonderful houses at the bottom of ‘a long and looping street’.

‘Who do you think is inside?’

I love the eclectic mix of inhabitants from dancing animals, knitting sheep to baking grannies.

The warmth virtually glows from those lovely orange hues on the front cover – you’ll be smiling as you read and absorb this one. Gorgeous!

Books Always Everywhere

Jane Blatt, Ill by Sarah Massini

This is one of those great picture books which has been carefully crafted with the pre-schooler in mind.

With minimal text, and utterly charming illustrations, Blatt enchants her young listeners with the magical world of books.

From rainy books to sunny books, giving books and sharing books, Blatt extolls the virtues of books in all shapes and forms – and you can’t argue with that!

With Nan

Tania Cox, Ill by Karen Blair

If you love encouraging your little ones to be mindful, slow down, and use their imaginations then you are going to adore With Nan.

Nan and Simon go for a walk, mindful of Nan’s opening words of wisdom,

‘There are some things that aren’t always what they seem.’

Cue some great pencil drawings of things which aren’t quite what they first seem, just as Nan predicted.

Tania Cox encourages a joy and curiosity in nature in this warm picture book.

I Dare You Not To Yawn

Hélène Boudreau, Ill by Serge Bloch

This one simply must be added to your bedtime story routine. It’s brilliant.

So. Those are my top five. Would love to know your thoughts.

And … if you pop over to My Book Corner you can discover the best online prices for children’s books too.

About My Book Corner

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This is a guest post by Cintia, from My Poppet

It’s incredible how quickly kids grow out of clothes, fashion goes out of style or your needs just change, so it’s a good idea to regularly review the contents of your wardrobes.

It’s great to donate unwanted items to charity, but what do you do with clothing that is stained or has holes in it? I go by the general rule, if it’s not suitable for wearing don’t donate it. Charities spend huge amount of money sorting and disposing of unsuitable goods, and the reality is most damaged clothing gets sold as rags or even dumped.

So then what? Well you’d be surprised how much extra life you can get out of a garment with a few simple sewing skills and a little spare time. Not only will you reduce your environmental impact by reducing the amount of resources you consume (cotton accounts for a quarter of all the pesticides used in the US alone*), you will save a heap of money by not having to go out and by more clothes.

I’ve put together some tutorials from my blog that will help extend the life of some kids clothes, use all those old holey t-shirts and even make a super ugly garment look good!

Fix those holes in worn out knees with some cute patches

Pants too short, no problem. Turn them into cute knickerbockers!

Clear out the t-shirt drawer and make yourself a braided rug

Make a nice warm skirt for winter out of an old unwanted jumper

So next time you are about to throw old clothes in the trash because you think it’s not worth donating,ask yourself, could a small refashion extend it’s usefulness?

Do you up-cycle, repair or refashion old clothing?

*reference

About My Poppet

CIntia blogs over at My Poppet and tries to encourage and inspire readers to be creative and resourceful. My Poppet features  one original DIY craft based project a week aimed at readers of all skill levels. Cintia loves collecting and using vintage fabrics, re-purposing unwanted textiles and garments, and generally creating something useful and beautiful out of things that were previously unloved. She is very interested in the process of making, and the fine line between an objects utility or desirability and obsolescence.

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This is a guest post by Val, from Yibba Yabba Mama

Birthdays are lovely and for many kids, celebrating at school is one of the most special days they remember. They love having the whole class sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to them, some schools hand out birthday certificates or stickers and teachers usually go out of their way make the day extra special too. For many kids, the biggest highlight is having cake at school! So, what is the best birthday treat to bring… here is the inside information…from a teacher-mummy’s point of view!

Firstly, please…do not bring in a cake! No matter how large it is, one cake to be shared with the class is every teacher’s worst nightmare! As magnificent your giant fairy toadstool cake may be, please imagine trying to cut that up into 28 identical portion controlled pieces, with exactly the same icing and same amount of lollies (remember we are teachers, we like things to match and we don’t cope with improper fractions!) Here is the scenario; your beautiful cake on a cake board, sent in with 7 candles and 28 children all huddled around eagerly waiting for a piece..but not just any piece…….”Miss, can I have the chimney part?”…”Miss, I don’t want the pink icing…”. Trying to cut your cake neatly and without accidentally stabbing a child is absolutely horrendous! (Not to mention the work place health and safety issues involved with smuggling a knife into a classroom!) Please, save your masterpiece for your back yard party!

Secondly, save yourself the stress and time….Less is More! You really do not need to go to much effort at all, for it is rarely appreciated. While many mums have burned the midnight oil baking and decorating, desperately fulfilling a child’s request of 28 Scooby Doo faced cup cakes, I have to tell you…most of it ends up in the bin! You may think your cakes will be different because you only use your great grandma’s award winning recipe (and your class teacher will agree it was delicious!) but, in reality, most of the kids will lick the icing and dump the rest of the cake in the bin, at the very most only half will be eaten. Kids are happy to taste your creations, but they won’t necessarily appreciate your fine culinary skills, so please, do not waste your precious time and efforts! (Mums, you do so much already!)

Try to remember, this is all about the birthday boy or girl. They want to share a treat and even better, something they can hand out themselves to each member of the class. This is also a whole lot less stressful for the teacher too, for individual treats can be handed out at anytime, perhaps during class, just before heading out to lunch or even to take home. Birthday kids love to hand out their own treats! If you can, please make them all the same and don’t assume all the girls will want the pink ones and only the boys will want the blue ones! Teachers want to help celebrate this special day and would rather not have to console the little boy who missed out on the last sparkly princess wand cake, and no, he does not want the blue wizard wand cake instead! It is great having identical treats with the same lollies and are the same size. (Actually, most kids are not good at making choices anyway!)

So……what makes a great birthday treat?

I think I have celebrated almost 300 birthdays at school! As I said earlier, most of these treats end up in the bin! By far, the most successful are little and easy to eat! (And your teacher will hug for you for the minimal mess on the carpet too!)

Here is a super easy idea, which will save your sanity, get you to bed on time before the big day and best of all…regard you as an awesome mum by everyone in the classroom….

Birthday Biscuits! Don’t bother baking! Go and buy a packet of Arrowroot, Granita, Marie or other plain biscuits. Spread on some coloured icing (nothing fancy; just mix up icing sugar, water and food colouring) and decorate with lollies and sprinkles to your heart’s content! The birthday boy or girl can help you do this too! The possibilities are endless and you do not need to have a degree in cake decorating! And….sometimes….the uglier the better! Think aliens and monsters..kids love that kind of stuff! Funny faces are great fun too, go crazy with eyes, noses and hair….they don’t need to be perfect; it is the imperfections that kids love the most!

If you are strapped for time, there are other things you can bring along for your child to hand out. Many supermarkets sell ready made mini cupcakes, mini donuts and mini gingerbread men (are you hearing this…mini…mini is good for treats at school!) Also, consider sending along a packet of stickers, chocolate frogs or lollipops. If you check with your child’s teacher before hand, another great idea is to bring in a box of ice blocks! (How ‘cool’ would that be on a hot summer day?)

A word about allergies…there are lots of children with food allergies and they do often miss out on birthday treats. Please do not try to accommodate for them by making your own gluten/dairy/egg or nut free treat. It is not worth the risk, allergens could be present anywhere, even in the icing, sprinkles or lollies. Some allergies are life threatening and while many teachers have first aid training, we would rather not have to use an epipen! You may want to bring in a balloon, sticker or pencil for the class mate with allergies. (Most teachers usually have a stash of these ready for allergy sufferers so they don’t have to miss out entirely.) If you are a mum of a child with allergies, you may want to consider baking half a dozen allergy free treats for your child. They can be stored in the staff room freezer and easily defrosted when a birthday is celebrated. (Check with your child’s teacher first, most will be more than happy to do this!)

Birthday treats are not essential at school, some schools may not even allow them. If you aren’t able to bring anything in, don’t feel guilty about it- your child will have a magic day at school regardless! But if you are wanting to to bring something along, have fun, think small and don’t make it stressful for you…..oh, and don’t forget to pack an extra one for the teacher!

About Yibba Yabba Mama

Hi! I’m Val. I’m a teacher by trade but for now I am mum to three gorgeous little yibba yabbas.  I am not particularly good at anything, my house is a chaotic mess, I am always tired, I eat too much chocolate, I’m a dreamer and a procrastinator. Join me as I yibba yabba about my life with kids, the fun times and everything else in between!

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As I’m still continuing with my study these holidays, I have planned quite a few playdates for the kids, friends here at home and they get out for the day too.  We also hope to go to the movies, which will be in the last week (and just secretly, this is a good idea so if they start to play up you use the ‘movie card’ as a reason to stop fighting or we won’t go).  

I put our planner up on the fridge over the school holidays so the kids know what we are getting up to.

School Holiday Planner

If you live or are visiting Brisbane over the holidays you will love the Brisbane Kids website. They have a very helpful website sharing some great parks in the Brisbane region, water parks, walking trails, great free activities around the city that the kids can participate in and so much more.  Visit the Brisbane Kids website here.

What are you up to these holidays?

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This ‘time out chair’ is so cute. Where do you put your kids for time out? We used to have a spot in the laundry, but now the cat litter tray is in there we changed it to the hallway.

I guess I was ignorant in the fact I didn’t realise that time out wasn’t used in some families. But what I love most about blogging and our facebook page is reading other’s opinions and learning from it, how you do it and as I always express, I’m not saying I do it the right way or this is how it should be done, I just share my tips and ideas for you to adapt to your family. I was just purely sharing this image cause I thought the chair was cute.

You can read all comments and opinions about this chair and time out here.

I am not going to criticise anybody for their belief’s if time out is right or wrong and I hope that you can all express your own opinions without judging others.  We all have different children with different behaviours, we all parent our children differently and what works for one child/family may not work for another.

Why I use time out

I am very grateful that my children are well behaved, have good manners, don’t hurt each other, follow instructions really well and most of the time play together nicely.  But there are times that my girls fight, one doesn’t want to share or they just argue over the silliest of things, then there are tears, yelling, dobbing.  We all know how it goes.  Then the next minute they are the best of friends and play so beautifully together.

I try my best to get to the bottom of why they are fighting, help them understand how they could of  behaved in the situation and get them to play separately. But… there are times that doing all these things just doesn’t work, one of them won’t listen, argues or continues the behaviour.  It’s then time for time out.  I use the 1 minute to every year of age rule, this is time for them to calm down, think about what happened and to apologise for their actions.  The apology isn’t for me, it’s for their sibling.

This works for my girls, but not for my son.  He rarely needs to be disciplined, but when he does having technology (iPod’s, TV time, computer or Xbox) time taken away from him is a better alternative.

Consider the alternatives

After reading through everybody’s comments I’ve learned about some different techniques such as:

Time-in

Time-ins, like time-outs, are promoted as a gentle, effective tool for managing the undesired behaviors of young children.  You can read more about time in via the following articles I found:

• Time-In: Gentler and More Effective Than Time-Out
• From Time Out to Time In
• Positive Discipline

123 magic process

Extract from the book depository:  The award-winning 1-2-3 Magic program addresses the difficult task of child discipline with humour, keen insight, and proven experience. The technique offers a foolproof method of disciplining children ages two through 12 without arguing, yelling, or spanking. By means of three easy-to-follow steps, parents learn to manage troublesome behaviour, encourage good behaviour, and strengthen the parent-child relationship – avoiding the ‘Talk-Persuade-Argue-Yell-Hit’ syndrome which frustrates so many parents. Ten strategies for building a child’s self-esteem and the six types of testing and manipulation a parent can expect from the child are discussed, as well as tips on how to prevent homework arguments, make mealtimes more enjoyable, conduct effective family meetings, and encourage children to start doing their household chores. New advice about kids and technology and new illustrations bring this essential parenting companion completely up-to-date.

These books can be purchased through The Book Depository, free shipping worldwide.

Positive Solutions

When I was googling for details about time in, I found this great article 10 things to do instead of time out, read the article for full details about each item.  I’m actually going to try and put a few of these techniques to use before our next time out:

1. Give a hug
2. Walk away
3. Take a deep breath
4. Whisper
5. Do something silly
6. Think about why the child is behaving that way
7. Consider your role in the misbehaviour
8. Encourage
9. Divert attention to something else
10. Ignore the behaviour

Community Centre Parenting Workshops

When my children were younger I attended the Triple P parenting program at our local community centre, which is where I learnt the basis of my parenting techniques.  I actually booked myself in a few weeks ago to do the course again (starts in March).  Now that my oldest two are ten I was sure that there are different techniques to what I learnt many years ago.  Clearly my instincts were right  as this post has proven. I want to be ready and prepared on how to parent pre teens.

What technique works in your family?

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My little Miss 8 is quite the perfectionist.  All my 3 kids cleaning styles are different, but Miss 8 likes to keep everything in its place, doesn’t like to be late and likes to remember everything.  Especially when it comes to getting ready for school, every morning last year she would say “OK Mum, I have packed my lunchbox, my drink bottle, I have my hat.  Have I forgotten anything?”.  If I was busy doing something I would just think off the top of my head that she had all she needed and said yes, but quite possibly she should have packed her home reader.

Whilst I don’t mind her asking I thought I would make her a chart to visually help her remember everything that is needed.

I’ve placed it on the wall in the school bag nook.

I have made these charts available in the shop, currently on sale throughout February.  Green, Blue, Pink and Purple colour options are available.  Charts can be personalised.

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• Preparing the kids to go back to school
• Getting back into school routine
• Getting back into my blogging routine
• Helping my dad get his house ready to put on the market
• and…  my 3 kids each celebrated their birthdays

Last year the twins celebrated their birthdays with a party each on the same day, Lego and Rainbow parties. We decided many years ago, for my sanity that we would celebrate the kids birthdays every 2nd year with a party, twins one year then our youngest the next. As my kids all have their birthday’s in the same fortnight.  It would just be too much work to do 3 parties let alone the expense of throwing the parties each year.

Miss 8′s birthday fell a few days shy of returning back to school.  We had planned on possibly having a party for her a few weeks after school returned back.  But last-minute we decided to get a few of her friends over for a swim, to have cake for afternoon tea and then sausages on the BBQ for dinner with family.  Turns out Miss 8 was just as happy with this for her birthday, with just a small group of friends, her Uncles, Aunts and Grandparents.  No big party planning for me this year, a year off!!

The twins celebrated their day by each inviting a friend over for the day.  We took them all to Infinity, which was so much fun (I do recommend you take your time in each room).  We had lunch out, then home to swim and play.  Later that evening we took the twins to the restaurant of their choice for dinner and celebrated with family.

As you all know I keep my kids names private, on the blog they are known as Miss and Mr with their current age, so this year we now have from left to right, Miss 8, Mr 10 and Miss 10.  

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