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When to talk to your child about career
I don’t know if you guys are aware, but your cute little poppets are going to morph into hairy, sweaty, opinionated teenagers eventually. And, besides for all the hair and body odour, the opinionated part will probably be the thing that irks you the most. For me and my hairy teen, the biggest debate has been around career. I mean, if the kid could make a living off of playing XBox games, he would gladly do so. But alas, this option (even though its a real career nogals) is not available to him right now. We’ve toyed around with a bunch of different career options and we honestly still have…
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4 Ways To “Slow Down” Our Happy Memories With Our Children
We’ve all had that feeling that childhood passes by too quickly. We parents wake up one day and our kids no longer want to play with us, and we feel like our recollection of this golden time of endearing neediness has slipped away. Well, what if there were a way to work against this feeling? To make the memory of our children’s childhood feel slower, broader, deeper, richer? A quick dip into the history of memory, of mnemonic techniques, can offer a guide as to how. 1. Keep Track of Firsts. The key to expanding the sense of richness and breadth of our interactions with our kids is by quantifying…
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Lockdown lessons: I need to be alone sometimes
I remember waking up the day after lockdown had commenced, and realising that I don’t really have anything to prepare for. (I mean, duh, I still work from home, but that’s not what I’m talking about). I mean: there were no events to plan, schedules to manage and family time to balance. I didn’t have to stress about washing my hair or finding the perfect outfit or making sure that I have a babysitter. There were no bags to pack and no clothes to iron. No rehearsals to plan for and no meetings to prepare for. No lunch to make. No phone calls to take, as I dash out of…
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Childhood story: The boy who smiled
My childhood years were pretty boring and uneventful. I grew up in a two bedroomed home, in (what some would call) the “hood” of Port Elizabeth. My neighbors, and childhood friends, were Afrikaans speaking and my sister and I (both very much of the English speaking variant of brown people) kinda fumbled our way through communicating with them but, somehow, we all made it work, unperturbed. Our summer holidays were the best. We woke up extra early to a quick breakfast of jam sandwiches and hot tea, and hastily dressed ourselves in arb short and t-shirt combos, running our fingers through our long hair until we were presentable enough to…
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Privilege? Check.
I don’t know about you guys but our current lock down situation is showing me flames. It’s hard to be content with staying in one place when you have ish to do, right? I mean, I have to cancel events and everything! I’m so annoyed that I can’t get my hair done. Also, I desperately need a Big Mac meal. Argh, this is so frustrating. The outcry! The heartbreak! However will I cope?! Aaand right there, in that moment, is when I realize that I am being a chop and that I need to check my privilege. You see, friends, privilege probably looks different to each person. I mean, it’s…
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My teenage crush didn’t know that we were in a relationship
Come on friends, I’m sure we were all guilty of crushing on a Hollywood heartthrob at some point in our young lives. You know what I’m talking about… that ‘lay in bed, poster on the ceiling, write his name all over our school books’ kinda infatuation that could only be cured by seeing what your first name would look like with his last name next to it. (Tip: Vin Diesel’s surname isn’t really Diesel.) The Tom Cruise’s and Leonardo diCaprio’s of our time could certainly rival today’s celebrity dreamboat’s and they’d probably win by a mile. (Or is that the ‘old aunty’ in me talking?) I mean, what do these…
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5 great home learning resources for kids
If you’re looking for ways to keep your kids stimulated and learning, during the lockdown, I found a bunch of seriously cool websites to help you do so without, you know, needing a blackboard and teaching abilities. Because, let’s be honest, some of us (me, I’m looking at me) might find homeschooling a tad bit challenging and when you couple that with working from home vibes AND the fact that you need to keep your family well-fed and possibly entertained for the next 21 days. Let’s just say I welcome all the help that I can get! Herewith, find a list of really cool online portals that make “home-teaching” a…
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Faith over Fear: The size of a mustard seed
Guest post – Fear is a powerful thing – but so is faith. And if I have to choose a stronger force, I would say faith is the strongest every time. Fear lies to us in our weakest, most vulnerable moments. It tells us we will never be able to do this. We will never get through to the other side. We will never be loved or accepted for who we are. We will never succeed at x, y or z. Fear picks up apart, piece by piece. It rears its ugly head in the worst moments, when you are already clutching onto your last straw. But if you know God’s love and goodness and the power…
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Faith over Fear: The back up plan
Guest post – Fear is my middle name. We are well acquainted. So are many people living in this country. Fear follows you when you leave your house at night. Fear breathes down your neck when you see protests flash on the T.V. screen. Fear drives people onto one-way flights. But in my case, the state of this country does not inject fear into my veins. Sure, it’s not pleasant. Sure, I’m sometimes scared. But my fear is driven by something deeper. It’s fuelled by a frightening uncertainty and, frankly, a lack of trust. Allow me to put you in the picture. I’ve dreamed of being a stay-at-home mom all…
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Faith over Fear: The law of attraction
For a long time I would send myself into a crazy anxiety attack, as I lay in bed at night thinking that every single sound I hear is out to get me and my family. Did I hear someone at the door? What if a gang of tsotsi’s are breaking in, what happens to my kids?! Am I smelling smoke? What do I do if there’s a fire?! Did I switch off all the plugs in the kitchen? What would my family do if there’s an explosion?! Is the baby breathing? Did I just hear Jonah choke on something? Is someone at the window? … and the beat goes on……
