Archive for October, 2007

Carnival of Family Life

Monday, October 29th, 2007

Welcome to the October 29th edition of the Carnival of Family Life. There have been a huge number of entries this week so do have a look :)

I have loosely categorised the entries as follows:
*Family & Parenting
*Money
*Worthwhile/ Good Ideas
*Travel
*Health, Wellbeing & Food
*Relationships
*Halloween

FAMILY & PARENTING

kailani presents Sweet Dreams . . . Not! posted at An Island Life, saying, “A very tired Mommy needs some advice on how to get her child to go to sleep.”

AnneGlamore presents Sweet Dreams posted at My Tiny Kingdom, saying, “The lengths one mom will go to to get her kids to sleep so she can have some peace!”

GP presents Living the Country Life posted at Innside Montana-Your Home at the Range, saying, Family lessons learned from the “cowboy employee manual”.

Mathew Butka presents 4 Rainy or snowy day activities for your toddler posted at Adventures Of A Stay At Home Dad.

Stephanie presents Potty Talk posted at Adventures in the 100 Acre Wood, saying, “Good for a laugh or two.”

Dana presents The joys and reflections of parenthood posted at Principled Discovery.

:: Suzanne :: presents school update posted at :: adventures in daily living ::.

Kevin Heath presents You Are Your Child’s Hero posted at More4kids.

the baglady presents The ‘One-child Policy’ and Me posted at xynny.

cate3 presents Why Homeschool: Update on our third foster care child posted at Why Homeschool, saying, “Henry writes about their experience with being a foster care family.”

Carole Fogarty presents Take time out to marinate your life: posted at THE HEALTHY LIVING LOUNGE, saying, “Mothers need longer to marinate. The more kids the longer you need.”

Mama Zen presents Learning Curve posted at The Zen of Motherhood, saying, “Thoughts of a mom still waiting to become competent!”

Micellaneous Mum presents SusieJ – this one’s for you… posted at Miscellaneous Adventures of an Aussie Mum, saying, “An update on the situation of our backyard re-landscaping.”

Dana presents On building relationships and the homeschooled child posted at Principled Discovery.

FamilyBriefs presents Cut Yourself Some Slack! posted at Family Briefs.com.

Stephen Ward presents Keeping an Online Family Christmas List posted at Amalgam of Me.

Super Saver presents Being at Home With our Daughter – A Great Choice for Us posted at My Wealth Builder.

Michael Sipes presents The Adventures of Super Mega Dad – So far, so good… posted at The Adventures of Super Mega Dad.

Terri Mauro presents Dealing With Disaster When Your Child Has Special Needs posted at About Parenting Special Needs.

George presents Choose Your Baby’s Gender posted at Man and his Baby.

Csara presents Gifts for the Breast Feeding Mom posted at Baby Talkers, saying, “With the holiday season coming up so soon, thought I’d bring up a post from last year about things a breast feeding mom would want.”

Eric Ellen presents Become A More Educated Parent: Read the National Geographic posted at Husbandhood.

karen alonge presents notes to a parent posted at postcards from nowhere.

WhatWorksForUs presents Incentive posted at What Works For Us.

Summer presents 13 Things You Didn’t Know Were Educational posted at Mom Is Teaching.

SingForHim presents What Really Matters posted at Real Life.

Laura presents different is the new special? posted at Adventures in Juggling.

Grace presents we have been attacked! posted at Sandier Pastures, saying, “bees in the desert!”

Robert Bach presents Hannah: Future Rose Festival Princess posted at Kintropy In Action

Write From Karen presents Baby Spinach posted at Write From Karen, saying, “Our walls – they look like baby spinach. Bleh. Have designing woes? Please share them and cheer me up!”

MONEY

Brip Blap presents the myth of the parent that NEEDS to work posted at brip blap, saying, “Many people claim to be “forced” to work two jobs to make ends meet, but is it really “making ends meet” when you don’t live a frugal lifestyle?”

Annette Berlin presents Frugal Cookbooks Save Money posted at Frugal Journey, saying, “If you ask most folks how they save money on food, they’ll mention comparison shopping, clipping coupons and shopping sales as their favorite tactics. Those techniques work, but there’s an even simpler way to save that many people never think of.”

Tricia presents What Happens When the Tooth Fairy is in Debt? posted at Blogging Away Debt.

Betsy Teutsch presents Frugal City Popcorn posted at Money Changes Things, saying, “How to pop corn in the microwave with zero waste: reuse a paper bag, even throw in the unpopped kernels from the last round! healthy, cheap, and easy.”

Stephanie presents Broke At Any Income Level posted at Unclaimed Money.

WORTHWHILE/GOOD IDEAS

Ian presents If A Three Year Old Can Sing Chant, What?s Your Choir?s Excuse Again? posted at A Call For Volunteers – Review Your Religious Education Material!.

Karen presents Easy, Cheap Mountains-of-Toys Solution posted at The Thomas Institute, saying, “About a new way to get or get rid of toys, games, baby items, sporting goods, etc. Site being reviewed is free to use and items are free or shipping only.”

Megan Bayliss presents Helping Children Of The California Wildfires posted at Imaginif…, saying, “Keeping Kids Safe Today (San Francisco) is raising funds for children affected by the devastating Californian fires. For every child safety product you purchase from Keeping Kids Safe, they will donate 25% of the value, in your name, to the foundation tasked with supporting the kids. Further, they are collecting stuffed animals to give to relocated children and those children who have lost everything. Child safety starts with us. Won’t you please help?”

TRAVEL

Marjorie presents Rhythms and Patterns posted at Life Without School

An Ordinary Mom presents The Country of Rainbows posted at An Ordinary Mom

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Fun Day Trip With Kids, Thomas The Tank Engine Style posted at The Digerati Life.

HEALTH, WELLBEING & FOOD

FitBuff presents 7 Easy Breakfast Recipes: Healthy Breakfast in Less Than 5 Minutes posted at FitBuff.com’s Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog, saying, “You’ve heard breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but the RIGHT breakfast is the key to starting your day with energy, productivity, and alertness. Whether you’re rushing off to work or getting the kids out the door, there never seems to be enough time to prepare a healthy morning meal. Until now! Here’s 7 easy and healthy recipes that you can prepare in less time than it takes to find your keys.”

GP presents Living the Country Life posted at Innside Montana-Your Home at the Range, saying, Family lessons learned from the “cowboy employee manual”.

Karen – Thrifty Mommy presents 10 Quick and Healthy Breakfast Ideas posted at Balance In Diet, saying, “Say goodbye to the pop-tarts. There’s no excuse not to have breakfast with these quick and healthy choices.”

Awesome Mom presents Colds and kids posted at Our Family Village, saying, “Sometimes the medicines are worse than the actual illness.”

Dr. Scott Davis presents Is My Son Addicted To Internet Porn? posted at R. Scott Davis, Psy. D..

Bill presents Quick nutrition for pregnant women posted at Almost a dad, saying, “Some quick, nutritious and easily-prepared food for pregnant women. Also provides info as to which foods travel well, are spoil resistant and for which fruit and veggies you should buy organic.”

Dr. Scott Davis presents Does My Child Feel Guilt? posted at R. Scott Davis, Psy. D..

HowToMe presents How To Cook Hearty Breakfast Muffins With Time To Spare posted at HowToMe, saying, “Mom shared a breakfast muffin recipe with us that we’ve really enjoyed. It can be made ahead in large or small quantities and then frozen. This is easy and delicious!”

Jeniffer presents Fun Ways To Exercise With Your Kids In The Winter posted at thethirtydayyear.com.

Stephanie presents A New Twist on an Old Favorite – Meatloaf posted at Stop the Ride!, saying, “Spice up an old favorite.”

Hal Sommerschield, Ph.D. presents No Questions Asked posted at North Star Mental Fitness Blog.

Tupelo Kenyon presents WordPress › Error posted at Tupelo Kenyon, saying, “When someone is talking to you, do you hear with your ears, monitor with your mind, or listen with your heart? Invest a few minutes thinking about the importance of listening well – a deliberate conscious act – and watch your relationships grow to a new level of closeness and understanding. (Enjoy soothing instrumental music as you read plus songs with lyrics related to each article – all free.)”

Leslie Williams presents No More Stinking Thinking posted at Do You Weary Like I Do?, saying, “The battle of the mind”

James DeLelys presents WORDS A Prophecy Fulfilled | New Scriptures: Spiritual Growth, Healing, Help and Comfort posted at New Books, saying, “Inspirational”

Derek Brown presents pHat – The New Word In Healthy Living posted at Omega 3 Investigations, saying, “Leading research institutions and medical journals agree that balancing your pH can help put an end to heart problems… joint pain… high blood pressure… uncontrollable cholesterol… sexual problems… blood sugar problems… fatigue and sleep problems… and much more.”

RELATIONSHIPS

Michelle Mitchell presents My Husband the Mentor posted at scribbit.

Alex Marlin presents A Love Affair Turns Deadly posted at Life Improvement Tips For Thin and Small People, saying, “Just looking for love and what I found would turn my world upside down. Am I to blame, because I left my partner, and finally found someone that really loved me?”

Abel Cheng presents Marriage Problems: 5 Tell-Tale Signs Your Marriage is Going Down posted at Parent Wonder.

Kerri Aldrich presents Combining Traditions posted at marriageactually.com.

HALLOWEEN

Matt M presents HALLOWEEN SAFETY TIPS FOR PETS posted at The Pet Haven.

Kyle James presents Halloween Is Expensive – Trip To The Farm Left My Pockets Empty! posted at Rather-Be-Shopping.com Blog, saying, “Took the family to a Harvest Farm and came back broke!”

MC Milker presents Cupcakes Not Treat Bags for Halloween posted at The Not Quite Crunchy Parent, saying, “An alternative to candy filled treat bags”

Brandy Shaffels presents Taking the Scare Out of Driving on Halloween posted at Ask Patty – Automotive Advice for Women

Chief Family Officer presents Trick-or-treating alternatives for babies and toddlers posted at CFO: Chief Family Officer

paidtwice presents Making choices about Halloween Fun posted at I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…

Veteran Military Wife presents Ready, Set…Carve Your Pumpkins posted at Life Lessons of a Military Wife, saying, “Just in time for Halloween!”

Liz Smith presents Halloween Trick for Treats posted at Practical Living Blog, saying, “What to do with your kids’ Halloween Stash??”

Sammy Benoit presents PLEASE DON’T GIVE TO UNICEF !!! posted at YID With LID.

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That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Family Life using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on the blog carnival index page.

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What children get up to online

Friday, October 26th, 2007

A while back I gave a little talk at school to various parents about what their children got up to online, and how to go about keeping them safe. It’s not exhaustive, but I thought it might be an idea to share the slides here. (Some of the fonts got a little messed up during the transfer, but the aquamarine bits are clickable links)

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The Baby Show and Free Business Promotion

Saturday, October 20th, 2007

I was at the Baby Show in Earls Court, London today handing out business cards to help spread the word about Little Legends. All the people I met were really interested in what we are doing here and I made some great contacts with other working parents.

If you met me today, or just have one of the cards, and are wondering how you go about obtaining free promotion for your child-related business, here is a quick summary:

1. Sign up to Little Legends and log in
2. Go to your user page
3. Add a link to your website and a bit about yourself and your business (and don’t forget your postcode!)
4. On the top right hand corner of your user page you will see “Add a Place”
5. Click on this and add the details of your business
6. Remember to add a photo as well as a general description in the notes
7. The best way to be found is by including your postcode – so feel free to add a separate entry for each class
8. You can then help others find your entry by going to your listing and clicking on “Bookmark this Page”. Then you add relevant tags, such as Baby Massage Classes Raynes_Park

If you get stuck then just give us a shout and we can help you :)

Also, a good way to create more interest in your area is to add a few comments or places you know about.

We are working on other ways for you to promote your businesses, so watch this space!

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Carnival of British Parents

Tuesday, October 9th, 2007

Welcome to the October 9, 2007 edition of Carnival of British Parents. British Parent Bloggers have been chatting about all sorts of issues this week:

Barefoot Paula reviews a whole range of Children’s Music over at Happy Tracks in the Snow

Erica discusses Butlins Redcoats Providing Parenting Advice over at Littlemummy.com

Vicky talks about Part-Time Work – The Worst of Both worlds? over at Manicmama

Unfortunately the other entries were not eligible because the bloggers were not UK parents.

That concludes this edition.

Watch this space for details of the next edition :)

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