For parents

As some of you may know, I have been writing articles for an online parenting website called Mommy Matters Magazine. The intention of this site is to help parents in all issues relating to parenting. It was created as a kind of resource site for parenting. In case you have missed some of my articles, today instead of blogging I have decided to compile a list of them. Below are the links to the articles I have written so far. I hope you find them useful and interesting.

How to cultivate an inquiring mind:

How to survive the first day of play-school:

Child friendly places to go in Cape town:

Beating the holiday boredom blues:

Milestones from 2-5yrs explained:

Positive potty training:

How Twitter changed my life

I was contemplating leaving my marriage when I realized all my friends are couple friends. You know the kind that won’t be there for you when you split up? So I heard about Twitter and joined on the 11th of April 2009. I went to a few tweet-ups and met some incredible people. At one particular tweet-up I went to meet a friend who had come down to Cape Town from Pretoria; little did I know that I would meet my new partner (the man of my dreams) that night. He had come to the same tweet-up with the same intention and we met and hit it off immediately. We were both in the same place in our lives and had so much in common; we fell madly, deeply in love. In June 2010 newly divorced, I moved in with my boyfriend and have been happier than I have ever been. This in itself is quite life changing. But wait there is more……… Shortly after I moved in, my boyfriend lost his job and relied on twitter for freelance work. This helped us get through the first year together. In May of 2011 my afternoon au-pair position ended as the mom I worked for quit her job and decided to become a stay at home mom, even though I teach mornings and do have a job, it was hard to adjust to having only half a salary. I tweeted that I was looking for an afternoon au-pair post and two weeks ago a twitter friend sent me details of someone looking for an au-pair, through this interaction I went for an interview and was offered the position. In October 2011 my boyfriend applied for a full time position which was advertised on Twitter and got it! He is also extremely happy in his new job, loving it every day.

That is two jobs and a life partner for my boyfriend and I all because of twitter! Not to mention all the wonderful people we have met through this social medium, some of whom I am proud to call friends in real life.

Yes sometimes twitter is just a place to be silly, tweet jokes, say what you are thinking. Sometimes it is a source of entertainment when you are bored or standing in a queue. Sometimes it can help you answer a question, choose a movie or help you with a recipe. Sometimes it can be a source of comfort when you are feeling down and sometimes, just sometimes it can literally change your life.

Family traditions

Have you ever wondered why you do certain things a certain way?  Most families have certain traditions that get passed down from generation to generation. I remember a school friend of mine whose mother was regretful that she had managed to have three out of her four children christened, but somehow never got around to having her fourth child christened. I could never understand why it was such a big deal for them as they were not the religious type and never really went to church. I asked her mom about it once and she just said; “because it's something that must be done”.

In my family we had a tradition of opening our presents at midnight on Christmas Eve; this was mainly because we had to rush in the morning to get to church. My boyfriend however did not agree with this idea, as I sadly discovered on Christmas Eve when he told me I had to go sleep and was only allowed to open my gifts in the morning.

Another friend of mine once spent a couple of months in America, during that time she was invited to a traditional thanks giving dinner. She watched the hostess prepare the turkey with great interest. As the lady of the house was about to put the turkey into the oven, she sliced off two thick chunks of meat from either side of the turkey. When my friend asked her why she did that, she said “I don’t know, it’s the way my mom does it.”

That evening the hostess asked her mom why she always sliced off the sides of the turkey before putting it into the oven. Her mom replied “because when I was young the turkey was bigger and we had to cut it so that it would fit into the oven dish”.

I realized that it’s okay to question something if you don’t understand it, rather than doing things blindly just because that’s how it’s always been done. This is what my generation is doing now anyway. Media and Hollywood keep telling us to question the norm, think outside the box. With movies that show an underachiever questioning authority and winning the hearts of the audience. People are becoming more and more vocal about what they want and sharing their feelings through social media and blogs. People are no longer willing to become doormats, they are starting to stand up for themselves and don’t get me wrong I like it, but I do see the side effects. Lack of respect seems to be the norm for young teens these days. I wonder if there is a way to question authority without being disrespectful of it. If there is, our teenagers sure haven’t learnt that yet.