MINISTRY OF DONE

You may have already seen this, I apologise if you have, but I really do think the point it makes about how we see ourselves is profound.

Dove and the marketing firm Ogilvy have hired an FBI-trained forensics artist by the name of Gil Zamora to show just how skewed our perception is when it comes to our self-image. Gil has over 3,000 sketches to his name and demonstrates just how different we see ourselves when compared with a total stranger’s description.

http://youtu.be/XpaOjMXyJGk

How is it that we have come to a point where we describe ourselves this way?  More importantly, as we raise our children, especially our daughters are we teaching them, via our own self critical behaviours, to be just as hard on themselves?

I hope not.  But I honestly can’t say that I don’t.

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I’ve said before that one of the most valuable things I learned at Teachers’ College was a simple statement – “in years to come subject and content will not matter.  What our students must be able to do is to critically analyse.”  It was a principle that really came to be very important to me throughout my teaching career.  I once told a Headmaster in a job interview that I felt it was the single most important thing I had learned about teaching in my entire time at T Coll.  He liked that – and I got the job!

So my most recent find on my feedly, ’back channelling’, has really captured my heart.  Not heard of it?  Well I bet you you’ve done it

• when you watch one of your favorite TV shows and are asked to use a twitter hashtag to interact with other viewers or the actors/participants…. you are participating in a backchannel
• when you are listening to a live political speech and are updating your Facebook status,  “liking” of commenting on someone else’s status… you are in a backchannel
• when you are passing a note (in the same room) or texting a colleague or classmate during a meeting or lecture… YOU are in a backchannel
• perhaps you’ve attended a conference and been asked to contribute to a collaborative Google Doc – this is back channelling.

It is a brilliant chance to teach the skill of critical analysis.  Not as easy as it looks. I think back channelling gives a chance for everyone to find their voice in the classroom.  In a one teacher – 32 kids scenario discussion of key concepts is a hugely important part of any lesson.  The problem is giving 32 kids the chance to put their case or share their views on the topic at hand.  There just isn’t enough time.  Back channelling can be a solution to this problem however.  If you want to give back channelling a go with your class then the very famous langwitches suggest some good discussion on “how can we achieve this without going insane” type discussion topics.

Before you start – chat with your class about:

• appropriateness (or not) about social comments to the channel like “This is sooooooo cooool!!!!!! or “You said this already…”
• How do we focus on the content?
• spelling and format- text talk ok? full sentences? Length? 140 characters or less?
• collaborative writing: don’t repeat what the person before you shared, add something new
• note taking: What is important from the video? What will help us later remember key points of the content?
• organisation of the notes: How can we show when a new segment starts in the video? How will this reflect in the notes?
• multi-tasking: listening, summarising, writing, reading

And then give it a go – perhaps try it on a You Tube Clip first and see if it is something you could introduce to your class.  best of luck – we’d love to hear how you get on.

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Ko Joy raua ko Bill oku matua

Ko Waikato toku awa

Ko Maungakawa toku maunga

No Waikato ahau

How can you live in Aotearoa, New Zealand and not make it a must to own one of these beautiful mountain cushions? Made by a very clever Mum in the USA, Amanda, they are a work of individual, felted, crafty genius that would look good on any couch.

Amanda runs the crafting business Three Bad Seeds along with her lovely “mister” and daughter, Mars.  They currently live in the “Pacific Northwest, between Puget Sound and Mt Rainier.

They are available in all their individually felted mountain loveliness from their etsy store Three Bad Seeds. I feel like they should come with their own little mihi as well.

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To This Day is a project based on a spoken word poem written by Shane Koyczan (shanekoyczan.com) called “To This Day”, to further explore the profound and lasting impact that bullying can have on an individual.

http://vimeo.com/tothisday/tothisday

Schools and families are in desperate need of proper tools to confront this problem. We can give them a starting point… A message that will have a far reaching and long lasting effect in confronting bullying. Animators and motion artists brought their unique styles to 20 second segments that will thread into one fluid voice. This collaborative volunteer effort demonstrates what a community of caring individuals are capable of when they come together.

This is an incredible project – one that addresses head on an issue in every New Zealand School.  It is a fabulous collaborative effort – a true example of what School Kit calls a ‘Common Ground Project’. Watch it right through – it is spectacular.

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BYOD is where it is at and while I won’t deny that I’d love to have 1 iPad: 1 Child in every class there is also a certain sadness that comes with this goal:  The satisfaction of holding a pencil in your hand and making marks on a bit of paper.

It used to be called drawing.

When I was in Year 2 I had an amazing teacher and to this day I remember her draw outlines of ourselves onto thick paper that we then turned into life size stuffed monsters by adding ears and manes and tails and claws.  Mine was kept as  a prized possession in one corner of my bedroom for years.

Drawnimal is kind of like that. Players are asked to place the iPad on a blank piece of paper. With a pencil in-hand, they’re instructed to draw a somewhat anonymous shape around the iPad screen (Is that a tail? Are those ears?). And only when the drawing is finished do they see an on-screen portrait to complete the drawn picture, a green cartoon face coupled with a warm, grandfatherly voice that confirms, yes, the “A” really is for alligator. (Just resist the urge to scratch the alligator’s nose. He bites.)

A great way to have younger kids use their device, listen to and follow instructions and get used to holding the pencil again.

Lovely.

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Tips for kids:

• Wash your hands, tie back your hair (if it’s long) and roll up your sleeves before you start
• Wear an apron if you have one to keep your clothes clean
• Start with a clear working area
• Check what ingredients you need and get them out ready to start cooking
• Set your oven to the right temperature before you start cooking so the oven can preheat
• Wash all fruit and vegetables before you use them
• Use different cutting boards for raw and cooked food
• Always wear oven gloves when using hot pans or baking trays
• Get a grown up to help you with tricky recipes involving sharp knives and hot surfaces.
• Clean up as you go

Tips for parents:

• Make it fun and start when they are young
• Explain safety about knives and hot oven-tops, pots etc.
• Set your kids up to feel a sense of achievement
• Break it down into easy steps
• Expect a mess and fun memories
• Let your kids plan meals
• Take them grocery shopping and teach about quality, in season, price etc

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Are you walls covered with kid’s artwork?

How about turning one of their masterpieces into a unique toy?

If you would like the opportunity to do just that then please follow the steps below:

To be in to win -

• ‘like’ Hatchlings on Facebook
• leave a comment below and tell us another clever use for children’s artwork (Please note to be eligible to win you must ‘like’ Mums on Top on facebook or be a member of the Mums on Top Community)

Entries close Monday May the 27th at 5pm

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JOHNSON’S baby is excited to announce the launch of its Mum to Mum Project on facebook.

The Mum to Mum Project is a new initiative inspired by the shared bond of motherhood.

JOHNSON’S baby understands that whether you’re a first-time mother or an experienced mum with a growing family, every baby brings its own surprises.  It’s not always easy and sometimes a simple reassuring word from a fellow mum can go a long way.

The Mum to Mum Project has been designed to give mums from all over New Zealand and Australia the opportunity to share their little pieces of motherly wisdom with new mums.

JOHNSON’S baby have developed a custom-built facebook app to allow the amazing words of mothers to come together and form a virtual patchwork of collective wisdom.  Each mother’s individual message represents its own unique ‘patch’ on the quilt.

Mums who wish to share their words of wisdom can log on to the JOHNSON’S baby New Zealand facebook page to create a fun and colourful patch on the app.

The most popular messages will be printed on two thousand Mum to Mum baby wraps and donated to the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and their programmes in New Zealand.  Each baby wrap will be gifted to a mother and baby involved in research to improve children’s health in New Zealand, Australia and around the world.

This post is brought to you by JOHNSON’S baby. Thanks for supporting these sponsors.

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In the city of Amsterdam, approaching them in the street and asking them to say their age in front of the camera got some strange reactions.  The aim was to ‘collect’ a group of 100 people, from age 0 to 100. At first the collection grew fast but slowed down when it got down to the very young and very old. The young because of sensivity around filming or photographing children and the very old because they don’t get out of the house much. The very old ‘models’ were found in care homes with the hardest age to find being the 99 year-old. (Apparently 100 year-olds enjoy notoriety, but a 99 year-old is a rare species…)

So – here you have it.  0 to 100

http://vimeo.com/48237094

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The constant challenge of trying to teach healthy food choices as part of their daily eating patterns is an ever increasing one.  This app is an innovative and seemingly straight forward solution.

LaLa Lunchbox is a fun, easy-to-use iOS app that takes the stress out of lunch planning and helps families save money and time. It empowers kids to have a say in their meals, resulting in less wasted and unwanted food and makes a game out of what was once a frustrating chore.

Kids get to personalise and design their lunchboxes with fun monsters and colors, and then plan their lunches for a whole week at a time. They simply swipe their choices into their lunchbox from a large selection of fruits, vegetables, proteins, and snacks. Along the way, they learn that a balanced lunch includes items from each category. Parents can easily personalize and edit the items available to their kids.

For parents, LaLa Lunchbox magically transforms their kids’ choices into a simple, easy-to-use grocery list. Bring your phone to the supermarket knowing that lunch planning for the week has been done for you.

A clever solution to an ongoing family challenge.  This solution empowers kids and hopefully provides an engaging option that supports each child’s self management.

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What makes you a Mum? A husband, three kids and a mortgage!

Describe where you are right now.  Sitting at work with my eldest, amazingly well behaved son during the school holidays.

Describe the last dream you remember having.  I don’t have time to dream, I hit the pillow and I’m gone as I am shattered.

Use five words to describe your family. Outgoing, tight-knit, loving, active, organised.

What is one thing nobody knows about you?  There is nothing!  I am an open book.

What is your most treasured item?  My children.

When was the last time you broke a rule?  When my daughter and I were on my bike on the way to work yesterday without helmets – something felt strange – and once I realised we had to turn around and go home and get them.

What is your best piece of advice? Although I do not always live by this advice, ha! It would be, ‘make sure you have time for yourself’. My time to myself is when I go running.

When was the last time you forgot something important?  See two answers above!

What’s your #1 go-to “I’m shattered and I have to feed people” meal solution? Chicken wraps.

Five minutes ago I was sitting at work at my desk booking appointments.

Five minutes from now I will be getting a once in a lifetime work-perk-treat of a pedicure – a huge thanks to my bosses!

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You know when you have an idea?  And you think – that is a wicked, good, cool idea and one day I’ll do that and I’ll be awesome.

But you never do.

And then somebody else does.

Mapping how time travel occurs in the movies is my idea.  I always thought it would make a great investigation or inquiry approach for looking at society’s way of imagining things.  You could do it with robots or space ships or computers or the future.

This most excellent of info-graphics sorts films by their specific time travel device – magical device, personal misfortune and mysterious anomaly to name but a few.

The cool thing for our students is working out how to display it as well as how to create a diagram or a map or an infographic that demonstrates the concept you are trying to communicate.  Think what an exercise like this would help our children learn – sorting, classifying, categorising, demonstrating connections, mapping relationships and investigating/testing causality.  Even ‘developing a theory’.

Hell you could do this with anything – even My Little Ponies.

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What’s the best advice your mum gave you?

Mothers give us the gift of wisdom through life lessons they pass down to their children. This  past weekend (Mother’s Day for those who can’t remember back that far!), P&G has been honoring mums by creating a gallery of these beautiful bits of knowledge.

This one was my favourite – I hadn’t ever heard anyone say it, but in the last month have heard (or thought) this rather frequently.

Check out the pinterest page to see what words of wisdom were shared.  Add your own and lets try to get a Kiwi flavour in there.

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What was the first solid you attempted to feed your child? I remember bottled (yes, terrible mother alert) apples.

I thought I was so good, having the soft spoon ready, the bib on, the child sitting up nicely in the highchair, the plastic mat underneath the highchair (just in case) and the train noises ready to go.

I gave my son the first few spoonfuls  (with the train noises assisting the efforts) only to have him squirm and spit it out at me.

We persevered and now have a boy who at age 13, is happy to eat without the train nosies!

Check out this video below that shows children trying some alternative foods for the first time. Some funny reactions…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7PVVT9V2CM0#!

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New Zealand has some of the highest allergy rates in the world, in fact according to statistics from the Allergy New Zealand website, at least one in ten babies born in New Zealand will develop an allergy. It didn’t used to be that way, so what’s changed? For one thing, we’re using more chemicals.

To support Allergy Awareness Week our generous friends at ecostore have provided us with two prize packs to give away from their fragrance free range.

To go into the draw to win please leave us a comment below about your best sneeze or embarrassing itch story.

Competition closes at 5pm Saturday the 18th of May.

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Let’s be honest, who enjoys the weekly grocery shop?  Planning a week’s worth of meals and all that time spent loading the trolley, unloading the trolley, re-loading the trolley, loading the car, unloading the car…..and on it goes.

Next time you are in the thick of it managing toddler tantrums and demands/requests for sweet treats in the checkout queue, remember you are not alone.

We found this fascinating photo study of what a week of groceries looks like around the world.

Trawling through these photos is a reminder that no matter where in the world we are, we are are united by groceries and food preparation.  It makes for interesting viewing comparing the volume and diversity of food around the globe.  It would be a whole new photo study as to where the food is purchased and how it is transported..the tiresome checkout queue is suddenly appealing.

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We’ve said many times that we don’t want Mums on Top to be a website that gives our Mums lists of wonderful crafts to make that you can just “whip up in their spare time”.  Technically this is a thing to make but I think it is is so practical that it deserves entry into our Mum Genius-ness Category. 

I hate moving house – the thing about it is that every single time you do it – the same things come back to bite you.  This kit is a great all-in-one jar type scenario that means that all the things you’ve forgotten (again) are taken care of.  This Housewarming Jar is designed by the very talented Mum and blogger Jordan Ferney of Oh Happy Day fame and is very American.  I wonder what a kiwi version would look like?

I did see a New Zealand Company create a similar idea some years ago which involved a kit for those nights when you arrive at your (or your rented) bach for the weekend.  It is dark, possibly raining, the light bulb is broken in the toilet and the toilet paper has run out.  All you want is to go to the loo, wash your hands and have a cup of coffee.  This bach kit had the essentials – 1 lightbulb, 1 roll of loo paper, matches, a cake of soap, long life milk, coffee etc etc.

But my Mums on Top version of the Housewarming Jar? Selley’s Sugar Soap, Chux Cloths, a nice candle (just to get your own smell in the house) and the matches to light it, toilet paper,  3M hooks, ecostore Multi-Purpose Concentrate and a Whittaker’s King Size Bar of chocolate (perhaps a bottle of vodka also wouldn’t go amiss depending on how well you know your friend!).

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The cool thing about Mums on Top is that we want to always be open to every definition of family.  The nuclear family is now just one in a huge and diverse range of family definitions, mixes and make-ups.  It is veryimportant to us as a team that we do not exclude any type of family or Mum – and we apologise here and now if we’ve ever made anyone feel excluded in our daily social media dribble!

Like our MoT Team, this community includes a huge range of family and mum definitions.  We have working mums, step-mums, new mums,  mums of twins, aunties, mum-mums, mums of pre-schoolers, mums of teenagers, mums who are actually dads and lots and lots of single mums.

Being a single parent is hard work – every single day. Just balancing the juggle between childcare/school, working to pay the bills, watching your sick leave vanish before your eyes and getting to the supermarket so that there is actually food in the cupboards is hard enough when there are two parents and extended whanau to help out – imagine doing it all on your own?

And that can make Mother’s Day bloody difficult.  No “other” adult to oversee a breakfast in bed or give you the afternoon off.  With this in mind we’d like to make a small MoT suggestion.  Why not “secret santa” a single parent you know for Mother’s Day?  Think of the single parents you come across in your day – at school, in your child’s sports team, at daycare, at work.  Put together a little something (it doesn’t have to be anything big) and attach a card that says something along the lines of “this parenting gig is huge and you are doing a great job – I admire you”.

Leave it in a letterbox, on a door step, on a desk at work or in their child’s cubbyhole at daycare.

It will make two people feel good – we promise.

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