Why are you still here?!!

I notice there are still a number of subscribers to this blog. Some of you I know have moved over to www.theusefulbox.com but some of you may not know about it.

 

This blog is now located at http://www.theusefulbox.com

 

Come and join us over there.

Going, going, gone

Hi,

For anyone who missed it, I’m not posting on this blog anymore!

My new blog is www.theusefulbox.com

Come over there to keep in touch and add your comments,

love Julie

Signing off… and back in

Hi everyone,

As I mentioned in Monday’s post, I won’t be posting on this blog in 2011. I wanted to make a few changes. This blog feels a little tired…

From now on, you can find me at The Useful Box.

The Useful Box is named in honour of Play-school. For those who don’t know Play-school, the useful box contains a collection of bits and pieces which can, with a little flair, be used to make unique craft items.

My “Useful Box” is a collection of bits and pieces (pieces of encouragement, tips, hints, personal stories, ideas, things I read) which can be “crafted” to suit our own unique situations.

What will be different:

• The blog address
• The frequency of posts – probably 2-3 per week. More if I feel like it.
• A Facebook “Useful Box” page with more frequent (daily-ish) updates including “Bible bite” – a Bible passage for each day (to help me read the Bible on a daily basis), “What’s for dinner?” (to make me plan our meals) and a “Daily to-do” (to make me do one less-preferred household task each day). I’d love you to join in with your daily to-dos and meal plans  (We can give each other ideas!), and to add your thoughts on the “Bible bite” passage.
• More “conversation” and interaction with you. (Come on, work with me here…)

What will be the same:

• You (I hope!)
• Me
• Topic areas – kids, marriage, organising, cleaning, cooking, living for Jesus, reflections, what I’m reading/ thinking and ramblings

For those who read the “Works for me” Facebook page, I will also be closing that page within the next couple of months – please join on “The Useful Box” Facebook page instead.

Looking forward to 2011…

Sydney Summer

The compulsory outing for a summer in Sydney – beach trip. A week or so ago, though it was an overcast day, we headed to the coast with friends. It was the first beach trip where Mr. 17 months actually got near the waves (just to dip his feet in). Watching him react to the new situation was just priceless.

 

Edited to add:

Posting about a family day at the beach all seems a little superficial in the context of the devastating floods in Queensland. Kelly, at www.beafunmum.com has posted today about her family’s experiences in Toowoomba. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by the disaster. We are praying for some relief soon for all those involved.

Guest Post: Child care

Anita and I go way back. I know it is at least 15 years back, but probably more than that. We attended church together and led youth group (high school age) together for many years. We also started a group for high school girls together with my friend Thora (who gets quite frequent mention here). The group, called “God’s Girls”, sounds daggy but was heaps of fun. It involved great times together (lots of food, laughing, sharing, weekends away…) and learning from the Bible about how to live as young women under God. I have many fond memories of that time!

Anita and I don’t see as much of each other these days – we have both since changed churches and live a 40 minute drive away from one another – but she is one of those friends who is easy to catch up with – you can start where you left off.

Anita has kindly written this post on child-care. When it comes to types of child-care, Anita has “been there, done that” and has great insights to offer. I hope you find it helpful.

——————————————————————————————

Child care – some useful insights

So, you are either thinking about or ready to organise some care for your child… child care.

Where do you start? But wait, you have mixed feelings about this. Are you being a selfish mum? Shouldn’t you be taking care of your child/ren? Do you feel at your wit’s end? Do you feel that if you do not hand over your child very soon, you just don’t think you can do it anymore? Is it time for your bundle of joy to further their life time learning opportunities and socialise and go to pre-school? Whatever your thoughts, it is time. You may be ready, you may not. They may be ready… yes, they are ready!

So what are the options?

There are many, and you can always work something out to suit your family’s needs. As a part-time working mum, I have utilised a variety of child care options. Here is my story:

When my first little Miss was 10 months of age, I went back to work. She went to my parents who cared for her at their home, and provided babysitting, until she was about 18 months of age. My parents became less able to look after a toddler who now did not sit still, and was not having a big day time sleep. They were getting older, and less mobile.

The next step was family day care. Thankfully this was in the home of a friend who happened to offer family day care. The cost was affordable, and it was comforting to know my little one was with someone I knew personally, and whose family I knew. When my second little Miss came along, I stopped work and went on maternity leave, but kept first little Miss in family day care. I needed the space to bond with the new arrival, and she needed to space to grow and do fun things that I just did not have the energy to do – painting, playdoh, and the opportunity to talk, and talk, all day long. Eventually, both my girls went to family day care but not for much longer, as the carer decided to stop.

When my first little Miss was about 3 years and the younger about 10 months, I searched around for options. Long day care is what I found, but they could only offer me the 2 days I needed for the eldest and 1 day for the youngest. But in 6 weeks time, they would have the other day for the younger. Well, I couldn’t stop work for 6 weeks, so I took what they could offer and continued searching around for something else for the other  1 day for the younger. (Once you are in a centre, it is easier to pick up more days. Get in when you can, and wait around until they can offer you what you need).

When looking for something for my near 1-year-old, I found occasional care. Although you do not have a permanent place like long day care, you can book regular spots. So that’s what I did. Every Tuesday, for 6 weeks, second little Miss went to occasional care. It was a lovely little place, which she quickly became familiar with.

Around the same time, I was feeling the pressure and wondering whether ‘day care’ was as good as ‘pre-school’. Even though it was a ‘long day care with a pre-school program’, I wasn’t so sure it was cutting it. So, I found a pre-school for my 4-year-old, 1 day a week.

At this stage I had each of the girls in 2 separate places. Although sometimes I wondered if it was the best option, I kept in mind that it would grow them in their ability to be adaptable. This has proven to be the case. I would often check in with them, and the teachers to make sure they were going ok, and the feedback was always positive and reinforced I was not psychologically damaging my daughters (a fear I had).

Following nearly a whole year of both my daughters together in a long day care centre, plus the oldest in an extra day at pre-school, we moved to a new area. I then had to start from scratch again, and start looking around for some child care. I had limited friends I could ask for any tips from, and using a local children’s services directory I phoned and visited a few places.

But, I could not find a place they could go to together. Would they cope? How was it going to logistically work with drop off and pick ups? We would have a more intense adjustment period as they both didn’t have each other to provide some familiarity and security. Overall, it was probably a good thing, as they both had their space to be themselves. The older went to a Montessori based centre, while the younger, to a long day care. When the younger started she was in the younger room, and then progressed to the ‘pre-school’ room when she was 3 years old.

Now my eldest is at school. The child care search while your child/ren are at school continues – there is before school and after school care. I had to consider, in home or at centre? My daughter tried both. My daughter has preferred a home based option, which is a family run afterschool care. It is reassuring to know she is okay, and she has a great time.

The youngest is still in long day care, with a pre-school program. The community run based centre she is at has a great program, great teachers, and we can tell she has a great time and learns new skills and develops well. Both our girls are both relatively adaptable girls who respond to change fairly well. I still worry a bit and make sure I check in with them and talk to them about how they are going.

 

The Bottom Line

Our child/ren are our responsibililty. Our child/ren learn all the time, in every context and situation they find themselves in. Sometimes we are not able to care for our child/ren due to work or other commitments and need to utilise child care. Not everyone has able and willing grandparents or family members or friends who can share the load with us. So, for those of you who also face this situation, I do trust that I have offered some useful insights to assist you in working out child care for your bundles of joy.

I have found that with child care it really does depend on the place where your child/ren go, and the staff/carers there. It’s important to visit the place beforehand, without your child (if you can) and ask all your questions. Observe how the staff interact with the children. Watch how the kids respond. Go at different times of the day, eg. Rest time, play time, crazy time (4.30pm onwards). If you are particular about certain things, like routine or you want to bring your own sheets, find out how accommodating they are about these things, and whether they share your personal views on matters which are important to you. Once you are happy, take your child along for a visit. Talk to them about it before and after. Explain what is happening, but don’t overwhelm them with every detail. Pitch it at their level, in terms of age, personality and temperament.

Some of the child care options highlighted in this blog

Your child stays at your house, and someone comes to look after them – babysitting

Your child goes to someone’s house, and they look after them – babysitting or family day care

Your child goes to a centre and is cared for there – long day care (with a pre-school program for 3 years and over)

Occasional Care – casual centre, you don’t need a permanent place there, but you may be able to reserve a regular spot, eg. Every Tuesday; usually only between 9am-2pm.

Before/After school care – Your school aged child goes to a centre or home before and/or after school care. They usually provide afternoon tea.

 

Written by Anita Leighton – December 2010

 

The holiday break

We are enjoying a great break. We have been;

(a) Enjoying our new Christmas presents (b) Enjoying our new baby/ sister (c) Making mini-Christmas puddings (d) Performing with our play-group at a Christmas Eve church service How was your Christmas break?

Have cloth, will clean

I hope you have all had a fabulous couple of weeks over Christmas and New Year… Welcome to 2011!

Over the past few weeks I have been:

• Celebrating and remembering Jesus’ birth with various family and friends
• Adjusting to life with 3 under 3 and with our lovely newborn.
• Celebrating the arrival of 2011 by sleeping through midnight (being asleep at midnight is about the best method of celebration I can think of right now!)
• Enjoying some extra time with my husband and kiddos
• Feeding, feeding and more feeding (I really forgot how long it takes to breastfeed at the beginning – I spend about 6 hours a day/night on feeding, burping, trying to wake baby up to feed etc)
• Nesting. I got the nesting urge a little late – I have reorganised and decluttered cupboards and bookcases. I have also been transforming a lot of this (note the dust on the blades, Eww!):

to this:

It was definitely time for some of those “forgotten tasks” in our house – cleaning fans, light fittings, windows, blinds, walls…

AND…

I’ve been organising a new blog. This will be my last week posting on this blog. I am feeling a little tired of this space,  so I’m packing up and starting again!

I’ll give details of the new blog on Friday, but I really hope you will continue to read over at the new blog site. (Make sure you read here this Wednesday though. My friend Anita has done a guest post all about childcare options which I’m sure you will find interesting and helpful. I’ll also publish a little more about our holidays and our newest arrival this week).

 

How was your Christmas/ New Year?

2010 in review

I received this email from WordPress.com today. Thanks to everyone who visited and commented here in 2010. I can’t believe you looked here 37,000 times  last year. Not really sure what they are getting at with the Taj Mahal, (see below) but anyway…

Looking forward to connecting with you more in 2011 :-)

 

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

About 3 million people visit the Taj Mahal every year. This blog was viewed about 37,000 times in 2010. If it were the Taj Mahal, it would take about 5 days for that many people to see it.

 

In 2010, there were 261 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 302 posts. There were 478 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 268mb. That’s about 1 pictures per day.

The busiest day of the year was April 20th with 416 views. The most popular post that day was 8 tips for quicker cleaning.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, planningwithkids.com, networkedblogs.com, blogger.com, and childhood101.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for operation christmas child, works for me homemaking, operation christmas child 2010, yummy salads, and slow cooker irish stew.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

8 tips for quicker cleaning March 2010
6 comments

2

Operation Christmas Child August 2010
7 comments

3

Slow cooker recipe #6 – Corned Silverside August 2010
8 comments

4

Vocal development in babies (0-12 months) April 2010
2 comments

5

About me December 2009

Advent Calendar – Day 15

Our last advent activity/ reading for this year. We finished our advent calendar this evening (Christmas Eve).

Matthew 2: 9b – 11

The star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.

Question:

What did the wise men do when they saw Jesus?

Activity:

1) Birthday cake for Jesus.

 

Miss 2.5 actually didn't help much with the cake - but don't you love the gorgeous apron? It is a present from Aunty Thora.

 

Merry Christmas to everyone! Thanks for reading this year, and for commenting and interacting. I will have a little break from the blog for a couple of weeks, but will be back blogging sometime in January.

 

Tags: advent calendar, Christmas

Advent Calendar – Day 14

Matthew 2: 1-2

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of king Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”

Question(s):

Who else was coming to visit Jesus? What did they say about Jesus?

 

Activity:

1) Christmas star decorations

(The plan was for us to make Christmas decorations by gluing paddle pop sticks together in a star pattern. We also have sparkly pipe cleaners which would have been used to decorate the stars. We didn’t get to doing this activity though. I’ll save it up for next year.)

Tags: advent calendar, Christmas