theentrepreneurialmother.com.au » adventures with daughter

How to Restart your Creative Juices! Little Bets: Think Differently

theEmother — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 02:33:27 +0000

Our education system places great emphasis on teaching us about facts that are already known, such as historical information or scientific tables, and then testing us in order to measure how much we’ve retained about that body of knowledge.

Those skills work perfectly well for many situations, but not when doing something new. Or creative. Or original. They certainly won’t help us invent the future.

As education and creativity researcher and author Sir Ken Robinson puts it, ‘We are educating people out of their creativity.’

But it’s still there. And unleashing our creativity, however deeply it’s hidden, begins with little bets.

By Peter Sims for ChangeThis.com

School’s hard knock over field of dreams…

theEmother — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 04:04:16 +0000

Ah yes, fun and games at Daughters school… hhmmmm

(Her) STEINER school operating out of the historic Abbotsford Convent faces closure after local residents successfully rallied against its expansion into an adjacent paddock.

The Sophia Mundi Steiner School sought to build five new classrooms on Abbotsford Convent land next to the Collingwood Children’s Farm.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/schools-hard-knock-over-field-of-dreams-20110611-1fymz.html#ixzz1P209kwKJ

The Happiness Pie recipe… Seasons Greetings

theEmother — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 23:38:19 +0000

and a new home for “Adventures with Daughter”; but first…

I discovered this in a book I read recently, and really liked it.
Something to reflect on over the season to be jolly!

Happiness Pie Recipe
(from “Belly Dancers for Beginners” by Liz Byrski)

1 cup of Confidence
1 cup of Love
in a pan of Happiness
mix the above
add a pinch of Tenderness
1 tablespoon of Trust
stir well in the Sunshine
roll out a Loving crust
flour with Contentment
keep all free from strife
fill with Understanding
and bake well all your Life…

For 2011 and beyond, all “Adventures with Daughter” posts will have their own blog at http://www.ozsee.com.au. Drop by at any time to catch up on our latest exploits around the world!

In the meantime though, top of the festive season to you and yours
ho ho ho
Denise

How Daughter Made Me the Proudest Parent in the World This Morning…

theEmother — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 01:08:18 +0000

To clarify, and to her credit, I’m always proud BUT this morning in particular took the cake! After being awarded the “gun” trophy for mixed softball at her school awards, we settled back to listen to the rest of the proceedings.

The President and the Secretary of the local U3A (University of the Third Age – where their 104 year-old member continues next year in learning more about Shakespeare!) stood at the podium to present the Personal Excellence Award for a teacher-voted boy and girl. They then went on to explain that by selling second-hand books at our schools Thursday market, they raise money to give out as part of this award. How good are they? honestly…

Daughter’s name is the chosen girl name read out. Well you could have knocked me down with a feather! Not only did she receive a framed certificate which reads:
“Personal Excellence Award
This certificate is awarded for her pursuit of excellence in all areas of school life”
she also collected a humbling cheque of $350.

Good on her. And this is only day one of Grade 6 Graduation week.
What a girl, enough to make any Mother proud.

Having it all but missing out on so much…

admin — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:12:09 +0000

A thought provoking gem from Emma Alberici…
this is only a snippet so be sure to read on

…Contrary to popular opinion, when a mother works she does have it all … all the burdens of home that is. This includes the burden of guilt about the lack of time she has to devote to her children. This is made worse by the constant research papers that must surely be designed to exacerbate that guilt. Recently there have been a spate of studies showing that the children of working mothers are overweight, unhealthy, unhappy, watch too much television etc. Where are the fathers in all this?…

…Many women are enablers. Equality must start at home if it’s to be achieved in the workplace. If men aren’t demanding flexibility at the office, the women who work alongside them won’t get it either and it shouldn’t then be a surprise that women will continue to feel frustrated by a society that expects so much of them and so much less of their spouse…continue

Authentic Communication…YES please

admin — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:18:03 +0000

The Best Communicator in the World
by Jon Wortmann for ChangeThis.com

If you feel shy, nervous, or afraid, you’re not crazy, you’re not alone, and today is the day you stop letting ugly communication damage your relationships. Authentic communication can become as natural as breathing – when you pay attention to a few essential aspects of what connects people.
read on…

Lead by Example – Note to SELF

admin — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:16:45 +0000

In bathrooms, boardrooms, buses, bagel shops, and everywhere else, we all need to imagine a little girl following us around, repeating everything we say and everything we do. Think about all the things you want for yourself and your daughters, granddaughters, and girls everywhere – and teach them by living it yourself.

Nell Merlino in
“Stepping Out of Line: Lessons for Women Who Want It Their Way in Life, in Love and at Work (Broadway)

What a quote.
What a reminder.
What a fact, worthy of that constant consideration

Are you living it?

Frugality is the new Black…

admin — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:24:36 +0000

I really like where Bernard Salt for The Australian is going with this article.
And I suspect, so will most mothers as it resonates around the values stuff that we would like our children, and in turn all those around us quite frankly, to not only understand but to demonstrate…

Especially when sometimes we feel like we’re the only ones trying to live and breathe such a message. As we have all come to realise at some point or other, sometimes consistent role-modelling can be tough!

THE media has gone into a frenzy in recent months tracking the minutiae of recession trends evident in consumer spending.

“Lipstick sales are up” because women are spending on small indulgences rather than on complete outfits. “Hemlines are down” because women are more conservative during a downturn. And my favourite, “Men are reverting to beards” because they don’t have to buy razors.

Others (well, me) are talking of a new morality that is underpinning consumer behaviour: green is not just good for the environment, it is good for the soul. All of a sudden, conspicuous consumption is shameful and frugality is honourable… read on

and whilst on the subject of what is good for the soul… so to is travelling. I’ve often thought of putting a hit list like this together myself, but hey when someone beats you to it (namely Ben Groundwater from The Age), and their list is very similar to yours… then I only need supply the link!

Australia’s been built on a tradition of pinching the best stuff from other countries and claiming it as our own (Russel Crowe aside). We’ve stolen other people’s food, we’ve stolen their drinks, we’ve mastered their sports and claimed their bands.

So I don’t think there’s anything wrong with knocking off a few more gems.

When you travel, you tend to notice certain things and think to yourself, “Why don’t we do that in Australia?” Here’s a list of some of those things. I say we give them a shot.

1. Siesta (love this one)
2. Self-service bike hire (we really like the fold-up bikes, and the many SMART cars on the road)
3. No ties
4. Sharing food
5. Autobahns
6. Drinking laws
7. Beachside bars
8. Singing
9. Philandering world leaders (not sure about this one!)
10. Island time

for more details, and/or to make comment…read on

Alton Towers – fun and frivolity for all the family!

admin — Tue, 12 May 2009 18:11:35 +0000

indeed!
www.altontowers.com

the UK’s version of the theme park…and what a hoot.
Daughter was well chuffed spending the two days upside down, round about, squealing, shrieking, and stopping for a breather occasionally.
Not only that, we were staying in the “chocolate express” room, which lived up to its name; decked out like a railway train carriage, with chocolate stasked in many places, waiting to be found.

And then of course, there were the rides. The big kahuna thrill rides had names like:
* Air
* Nemesis
* Oblivion
* Rita
* Ripsaw
* Spinball Wizard
with a couple slightly more delicate ones thrown in for good measure.

As you’ve no doubt guessed, a fab time was had by all. Daughter was very sad leaving, not only the park, but all her new found buddies as well. She has all these mates in England now. Good luck to her I say!

The reason we had this adventures “finale” at Alton Towers was because it was our friend Geraldine’s 50th birthday, and she obviously wanted to spend it as child-like as possible. Can’t be too serious @ 50 surely? As a result, we all got a chance for our inner child to come out for a mighty romp!

Excitedly enough, we’ve received an invitation to another 50th, this time to be held in Bali in May 2010. If this keeps up, we’ll get to continue to swan around the world just doing birthday parties… excellent! Aren’t we lucky we have such creative birthday thinkers/planners friends…

Leaving Alton Towers began our 6-leg journey back to Melbourne…

London and the 6 H’s….

admin — Thu, 07 May 2009 17:23:17 +0000

Hyde Park
Hop On, Hop Off bus
Hamleys
High St shopping
Harrods and Harvey Nichols
Hard Rock café….
this list of “H’s” pretty much sums up our London campaign, this time around. To explain…

Hyde Park…
We are staying @ the Mitre House Hotel in Sussex Gardens, spitting distance to Hyde Park; which is also where we have spent much of day 2. Dawdling with intent, together with the horses. What a nice part of the world it is.

Hop On, Hop Off bus…
We sat in the glorious sunshine, up top, front and centre, of the infamous double decker bus, listening to one of the local geysers deliver some home truths (and some made up ones) in a rather entertaining fashion for most of the morning. Until we hit a traffic jam…

Hamleys…
Eventually we got off the bus at the earliest convenience, and walked Regent St. Low and behold, Hamleys toy shop presented itself, with raining bubbles. Famous in London for 249 years (allegedly), and certainly now more famous for one 11 year old daughter. After a few doll house purchases (because we had already bought the fashion plate threads for Barbie in Paris! as you do) and much sweet talking, I/we finally made our escape.

High St shopping…
Then it was my turn! Into all the shops along Oxford St. My usual favourites featured ie Zara, Desigual and Banana Republic. Must say though the summer fashion, which will feature soon enough in Australia, doesn’t push my buttons at all (except for the first floor of both the following two emporiums of course!). blah blah really. So much for the “London Look”. One good thing about not being tempted though… saved using the cash.

Harrods and Harvey Nichols…
Don’t we love these stores! Difficult to extract both of us from either one, so we just took our time and savoured the moment anyway. No hurry.

Hard Rock café…
The original and the best, since 1971. Had to go there as it was one of the first specific Hard Rock café shot glasses I had collected (I collect them you see). Had a bite to eat there also. Hasn’t taken us long to get straight back into greasy finger licking scoffing. Spent time in the vault also. Many priceless memorabilia pieces in there.

All in all, a heavenly, hassle free, heavily trafficked few days. Not to be missed!

We finish off this adventure shortly, at “Alton Towers” in Birmingham, the UK’s version of Disneyland. Daughter can’t wait…