The social contract with your child - Think Ahead

Think Ahead is running great workshops with regards social media and your child. Teachers and parents will definitely benefit to attend. I listened to Having the Social Media Talk with your tech-savvy child, by Cayley Jorgensen.

Cayley Jorgensen - Think Ahead

We have been postponing getting a phone for our Miss Fine, although she is nearly eleven. "ALL HER FRIENDS" ("Yes, all my friends, Mom!") have phones already! She still has an iPad2 that she only gets to play on when homework is done, and she got a tablet sent from family overseas only this past weekend. She is also already very versatile on her parent's phones, and knows both our passwords. We have been having talks, and the school has been having talks. The school has forbidden the use of smartphones that can connect to the Internet. It helped to prolong the inevitable. But here we are!

The social contract by Cayley Jorgensen (shared below) is a great way to proceed.

Working mothers - We are slaying it!

Janice Windt (Working Mothers Expo)

It's great to hear that we as moms are doing a great job! That working moms are super human! That we are amazing and that we as moms have tremendous value! We sometimes forget it in the thick of things, trying to get the little one to wear that extra jacket to school... Each and every day! Blah!

I was extremely fortunate to be able to attend Kids Emporium Bloggers Breakfast at Olives and Plates this past Saturday. Lauren and her team spoilt us and gave us so much soul food as well!

Stunning!@olivesandplates #breakfast #bloggersbreakfast #kidsemporium #thompsonsholidays #champagne https://t.co/Pgp7GRJNkT pic.twitter.com/ph5zpsNArE

— Karen du Toit (@karentoittoit) June 24, 2017

As far as I am concerned, it doesn't matter to me if you are a SAHM, WAHM or a FTWM, we are all "working moms"! There are ways to deal with working moms guilt, after all!

Janice Windt from Working Mothers Expo spoke to us about the value we attach to the things we do and sometimes that can be too much! We want to believe that the more we do, the more value we have! We want to believe that the time we spent will have intrinsic value regardless of what we do. But it can be too many things that we say yes to! It can be overwhelming! One of the things that working mothers struggles the most with, is time management!

Working Mothers Expo ran a recent survey:

They asked hundreds of working moms: “What is your biggest challenge?”
Without any leading information, 84% answered "Time Management".   

In another survey, which had over 1,000 working moms respond, they found that:

• 74% of us wake up before sunrise
• 21% of us never make our beds in the morning
• 1 in 3 of us spend 9 or more hours at work, our day job, every day!
• 55% of working moms only get 5-6 hours sleep on a weeknight
• A third of us check our work email before we even get out of bed in the morning
• 56% of us never exercise
• 65% or moms are somewhat or very likely to swear at something in the morning – no judgement here!

Janice Windt also touched on the fact that we might still be craving the approval of our parents? It is necessary to figure out what still serves us, and to let go of the why? We are in a specific time-frame/season in our lives! We are doing it for our kids (or NOT!). We can let go of the exterior motives! We are in our own season! We can decide our intrinsic value and our intrinsic purpose!
We can reap the benefits of our own perspectives!

I am enough! 

Janice from @workingmomsa about finding value in who you are! #kidsemporium @kidsemp #bloggersbreakfast #thompso… https://t.co/caqJY9FK6V pic.twitter.com/X7fMbH1I8r

— Karen du Toit (@karentoittoit) June 24, 2017

Janice reminds us that balance does not exist! We need the stress and the challenge to do what we do and pursue our goals. But we also need to de-stress to be able to handle the stress!

Janice uses the following tools to help her cope: 

- Mindjet Mind Manager to organise her life!
- Audible to listen to books while on her way.
- She also tries to go hands-free every once in a while (cellphone limits!) (Check out Hands-free Mama blog)


Working Mothers Expo has created a two-hour Time-Management Make-Over workshop.
Sign up here to be notified: Time-Management Make-over


What do you do to de-stress?


Related post: Inspiring Lauren de Swardt of Kids Emporium

Invite to an OT Workshop at Toy Kingdom

The first give-away for the OT Toy give voucher at Toy Kingdom ends tonight at midnight on the blog! Make sure you get your vote in!

Toy Kingdom is running an OT Campaign, and as part of the campaign they are launching OT Workshops in some of their shops. Check out Toys that Teach Workshop in Sandton City on Thursday 12H00-14H00 and RSVP as soon as possible as space is limited!!

Parents of children who are identified with development issues, do not always know what they can do to help. It is my view that all children need some help in one area or another of development, and it does not hurt to have toys that help children to participate successfully in their environment.

The workshop, which will be hosted by OT therapist, Stefanie Kruger, will focus on the following:

• Definition of OT and when or if to take your child for an assessment?
• Why is there an increased need for OT today? (Electronics, schooling, etc?)
• Which skills need to be mastered in early development, and what are the consequences later in life if the development did not take place?
• How to choose educational and traditional toys that help in assisting with development?
• How to balance between screen time and traditional play and when it interferes with development?

Musings on a blogging workshop

I attended Tanya Kovarsky's of Dear Max's blogging workshop last Friday.

It was at the lovely Manna Cafe at Montecasino Boulevard, with stunning cappuccinos and a lovely play area for the little ones... Definitely going back there!

Because I sometimes feel like a lone ranger with regards blogging, and not always knowing if I am doing the it correctly, it was great to hear that we bloggers have very similar issues.


Some insights I got from Friday's workshop:

- The platform you are blogging on does make a difference. Choose wisely before you start! It is much easier to be in the right place, than having to change later on...

-  Bloggers are nice people. Online and offline! They are always willing to share their insights!

- What works for one blogger does not always work for another blogger. But it is all perfect in Blogoland! We make the rules as we go along. The rules that suits us!

- Authenticity is very important! Stay true to yourself!

- Blogging gives enjoyment, community and satisfaction.

- Bloggers know more about blogging than we think we do! Trust the blogging journey for teaching us as we go along!


Thanks Tanya. You can do it!


Check out the other bloggers, some who only started now to blog:

Taryne at Taryne Jakobi Styling
Vicki at Sapphire Weddings
Tiffany at Tiffany Markman; Dear Thumper; and others.
Denita at Baby Makes Six
Natalie at The Ing (Please send me the link?)
Talya at Journey from Jozi


What have you picked up on your blogging journey?