20 Mahurangi Matters June 3, 2015 babyfeature

HOMEBUILDERS FAMILY SERVICES 5 Hexham Street, Warkworth • Phone 425 7048

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All courses free of charge, free childminding is available if you request it when you enrol. For more information or to enrol call Homebuilders 425 7048 or email homebuilders.courses@hotmail.com

to enroll or join our email list contact us on Homebuilders.courses@hotmail.com, or ph 09 4257048, or text 0276226809.

Chris Pedersen’s Slow Cook DinnersLearn how to prepare meals that economical and delicious and are ready at the end of a busy day.Date: Friday June 5th Time: 9.30am - 12.30 am. Warkworth Methodist Church.

Justine Green. Soil buildingWhether your soil is sandy, silty or clay it can be improved. This course looks at what you can do to increase growth/food production in your garden and includes cover sheet mulching/no dig gardening and compost making. Date: Friday 12th June 9.30-12.30. Homebuilders Family Centre 5 Hexham st. Warkworth

Benefit Entitlements Quentin JukesQuentin has 30 years’ experience in working alongside people supporting them in their dealings with Work and Income New Zealand. He has a current understanding of benefit entitlements and a passion to ensure people get the support they need. Date: Wednesday June 17th Wellsford Co-op Church, 253 Rodney St. Time: 12-2.45pm

Justine Green. Crop rotations & garden planningFiguring out the what, where and when to plant is often so confusing. This course helps you plan your garden with confidence. Bring a (rough) plan of your food growing areas and we’ll sort a plan out together. Date: Friday 19th June 9.30-12.30. Homebuilders Family Centre 5 Hexham St Warkworth

littlelocals FEATURE

After making a named quilt for her baby Caitlyn, Bridget White found dozens of other mothers prepared to pay for her quilted designs and started Baby Bunting.

Parenting an inspiration for entrepreneurial mothersMahurangi mums are going into business to work around the hectic hours of motherhood, invent solutions to motherly problems and meet other parents.Lauren Harvey started making toys to entertain her baby during breastfeeding last year.“My daughter Alexis was horrendous to breastfeed. She couldn’t sit still and I thought ‘what if she had something to play with?’ So I invented a toy which attaches to your bra while you breastfeed and it worked amazingly.”After trialling the product with 20 other mums, she started a website to sell the toys through her business Feeding Fiddlers.She has now sold over 250 toys around the world, based from her home in Warkworth.Bridget White started her business, Baby Bunting this year, making quilts with babies names on them. “I made my first quilt while I was pregnant with my daughter Caitlyn. I found it hard staying put while I was pregnant and it was a good way to keep me off my feet, but then people said I should start selling them.“I can stay at home and work while my baby naps.”

When she held a stall at a Rodney Plunket Market Day in Snells Beach she met a number of other young mothers starting similar small businesses, who she now meets with regularly.

“It’s great because our kids can play together, too.”The trend has been called ‘mumtrepreneurs’ and has inspired the Fly Buys Mumtrepreneurs Awards,

which started last year. Entries for this year’s competition close on June 15.The competition is open to all women who owned a business for between two and 10 years, which they started while raising a child.Last year’s winners included Wellington-based Bridgit Hawkins and her company Regen which helps dairy farmers manage the environmental impact of dairy effluent, and Mairangi Bay’s Sandra Finlay who runs The Growth Collective, a service linking fresh food suppliers and schools so parents can order low cost and nutritious lunches for their kids.Fly Buys chief executive Stephen England-Hall says the awards recognise the growing number of New Zealand women who manage to juggle the dual demands of family life and running a company.“From businesswomen with sustainable ventures they manage from home to those exporting overseas, we’re looking for mumtrepreneurs from all backgrounds and levels who have identified a market opportunity and built a clear vision for the future,” Mr England-Hall says.Info: mumtrepreneurawards.co.nz

21 June 3, 2015 Mahurangi Matters babyfeature

Our play-based curriculum fosters your child’s independence and our

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Leigh Community Preschool is a one-of-a-kind, not for

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422 6516 or leighpreschool@xtra.co.nz

COME AND DISCOVER IT ATYOUR LOCAL KINDERGARTENFace painting, goodie bags, food, music, entertainment and more.

Join us at:Wellsford Kindergarten, Hazelmere Street, Wellsford, Tues 26th May, 3pm - 5pmMangawhai Kindergarten, 36 Insley Street, Mangawhai, Wed 27th May, 3pm – 4:30pmSnells Beach Kindergarten, 15 Hamatana Road, Snells Beach, Thurs 28th May, 3pm – 5pm

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Young mothers should get off their phones and spend more time talking to their children, according to Montessori teacher Tia Wooller, of Matakana.“I get so annoyed when I’m in a coffee shop and I see a mother and her child at a table, and the mother spends her whole time on her phone,” she says. “Facebook is one of the biggest wastes of time there is.”Tia is one of only four trained teachers in New Zealand with the AMI 0-3 Montessori qualification, which she gained after studying in the US. The qualification was set up to help mothers’ transition from pregnancy to childbirth to home. On a daily basis, she says she sees children who have no conversational skills and don’t speak properly.“Talking one-on-one to your baby has a profound impact on language development. It doesn’t matter what you say – the important point is that they need to hear their mother’s voice. Singing to babies is particularly valuable.”One area that Tia is particularly passionate about is the first six to eight weeks of life, referred to as the symbiotic period.“Too many women are led to believe they should be ‘super women’ and get up and about straight after childbirth, but there is strong evidence that staying home and making those first few weeks as quiet and settled as possible has huge rewards for the child and the mother.”Tia says those early weeks are sometimes called the ‘external gestation’ period.

Tia Wooller believes mobiles are the perfect way to stimulate but not over stimulate babies.

No need to be a ‘Super mum’

While babies are getting used to the enormous change that comes after birth – learning to breath, outside stimulation, temperature changes, smell and sound – mothers physically and psychologically also need this time to adjust to life after birth.“Baby and Mum need time to transition and to bond, and the quieter and more routine their lives are at this time, the better.”Tia offers free workshops for new parents, where she takes the opportunity to talk about parenting and teaches them how to make mobiles to keep their babies stimulated.“Too often, babies spend too much time being carried around and not enough time on their backs, learning to appreciate the world around them. Mobiles are a phenomenal way to stimulate their interest and curiosity.“I also speak at coffee groups whenever I can because I believe parents need as much support as possible at this time.”

22 Mahurangi Matters June 3, 2015 babyfeature

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Midwives stand on recordWhen it comes to giving mothers-to-be confidence that their birth will be as normal and straightforward as possible, primary health care units such at the Warkworth Birthing Centre, take a lot of beating.Rodney Coast midwife Louise McLaughlin says recent NZ research shows that low-risk women who plan to birth in a primary birthing unit have higher normal birth rates and experience lower intervention rates.She says it also means that after delivery, the mother only needs to walk down the corridor to their room, rather than putting a newborn in the car to transfer elsewhere.In common with other midwives, Louise says one of the biggest challenges is dealing with the question ‘what if something goes wrong?’

“This is especially true if it is the mother’s first birth. Too often, family and friends unintentionally add to this anxiety by sharing stories of the terrible things that can go wrong.“We explain to the mothers that while they are in labour, our role is to monitor and observe their progress in order to make timely decisions should transfer be necessary. Midwives have a vested interest in safe outcomes for all.”The Rodney Midwives team has increased its geographical area of midwifery care to include the Hibiscus Coast region. The team now includes midwives Terri Jury and Nicole Upton.Midwives offer continuity of care, individualised plans, and cover within the group 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Kindergartens hold their groundThe benefits of early childhood education were celebrated at the end of last month when 107 Auckland Kindergarten Association kindergartens took part in Discover Your Local Kindergarten Week. Among those who opened their doors to the community were Wellsford and Snells Beach Kindergartens, which are both seeking to boost their attendances. Association chief executive Tanya Harvey says at kindergarten, children are encouraged to express themselves and actively discover, experience and understand the world around them while making friends and having a whole lot of fun. “They are given introductions to mathematical concepts, science, literacy and ICT, to help them prepare for the start of school,” she says. “With hours that mirror school hours and Early Childhood Education funding for up to 20 hours of subsidised kindergarten care each week, there really is an option for everyone.” The association opened its first kindergarten in 1908.

23 June 3, 2015 Mahurangi Matters babyfeature

(formerly Kowhai Kids Homebased)

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(formerly Kowhai Kids Homebased)

“Brand new name... same great people”

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Midwives stand on record

A course to help parents who want to learn how to manage the behaviour of children aged three to eight years starts in Warkworth this week.The Incredible Years programme is run by the Ministry of Education, is free and is conducted by trained facilitators.Spokesperson Katrina Casey says the programme acknowledges that parenting is one of the most important jobs adults can do and aims to encourage positive family relationships.Over a course of 14 sessions, participants are given practical step-by-step suggestions on how handle everyday family situations. They develop approaches to use at home with problem behaviours such as aggressiveness, ongoing tantrums, yelling, hitting and

refusing to follow rules.“Parents learn how to support the development of social, emotional, academic and persistence skills,” Katrina says. “They also learn how to use praise and incentives to shift behaviour, and how to set effective limits.“We offer the programme because children are better-prepared for school if they come from a home environment that promotes positive behaviour, and where parents have some good strategies on how to help their children flourish and learn.”The morning-long programme is being held at the Warkworth Masonic Hall from June 3 to September 16.Info: Contact Linda Marieskind at linda.marieskind@minedu.govt.nz; 09 487 1150 or incredibleyears.com

Parents learn how to support their children’s learning at home in the Incredible Years programme.

New parenting course begins

Contact Cushla for your session today.(First session discounted.)

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Is parenting challenging?Angry or stressed with

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