Multi skilled children

The financial crisis has taught us that the concept of a skill for life does not translate into a job for life anymore. The scale of the crisis means that our children will be paying for the financial damage done when they reach adulthood. People under the age of 30 ought to be investing in a skills (plural) set that will equip them to meet the changing demands of the workplace environment. Companies are having to face fluid competition resulting from globalisation and the emerging economics of the world and will need a workforce that can adapt quickly, efficiently and easily. The educational establishments face a greater role than they ever did in teaching and imparting these skills to students. It has to be a joined up effort. Mothers have to take responsibility too especially in ensuring that youngsters have sufficient life skills to cope with the challenge of becoming multi-skilled. Traits such as being organised and being emotionally resillient enough to cope with a changing world can be taught at home to great effect.
That's part of the role of motherhood-to set our children up to face the challenges of the world.
by
Jane

Yikes-school sports day

will-you-be-doing-the-parents-race-at-sports-day.It has brought back ghastly memories of the first school sports day that I entered into. My daughter was in Reception year and a Mummy's race was held at the end of the children's events. I had been going to the gym three times a week and felt slim and fit. Hitching up my skirt I went for it when the starter gun was fired. My daughter was standing at the finishing line crying because...I came second to last! Oh yes, the family was humiliated and I have never run a Mummy race ever again. My daughter who is now 10 still remembers that day and makes me promise every year that I will not enter the race. It's an easy promise to make.
by
Jane

Mother's Skills-pass them on

Mothers have an enormous amount of 'transferable skills'. This is a buzz word regularly used in the work place to describe those skill sets that you accumulate which you can take onto another job. What a wonderful idea but it doesn't have to be confined to the workplace. All mothers can participate in this 'transferable skills' idea. I know of a mother who is teaching her 6 year old to touch type because she worked as a secretary before having children. Another mother who works as a Doctor has passed on the importance of empathy, to always listen to people and be considerate in their listening. You dont' have to be a working mother to have skills? Think of all the organisational skills that you need just to get through a day. You have to time manage yourself to get done whatever it is that you need to do to fit everything in. Children, I know, have no concept of time but the seeds of time management can be sown even if you say things like 'we have 10 minutes to get dressed before going to the park'.
Skills are on the political agenda in the lead up to the election. Skills in this sense is being used to discuss educational qualifications and manual/labour skills but the invisible skills such as organisation, being tidy and not doddering are just as important.
What skills have you passed onto your child that you are proud off?

CyberMummy Here We Come

We have finally set up a site that's easy to access and is user-friendly. After watching the rest of the mummy bloggers dip in and out of each other's blogs we realised that our www site wasn't the way to go. We look forward to reading your comments and sharing our thoughts with you.

School Dinners

Recently I was invited to a mother’s focus group to discuss the nutritional value of school dinners. I was willing to participate as the subject of healthy eating is one of my interests. So far I’ve had very few problems with school dinners, my nine year old son has a good appetite and enjoys just about anything on offer.

My only concern is that if he is still hungry after a school dinner he should have the option of seconds which is not always the case. I also like the fish meals to be fresh and am not so sure fish fingers are in that category; however the nutritional advisor present on that day did say the fish fingers were filled with fresh salmon.

I also suggested that as the children were mostly active during the day and using lots of energy it would be beneficial if they had a small health snack on the first break of the day and the last as this would keep their blood sugar at a good level.

We want our children healthy but also want them to be able to concentrate at school and focus properly on their work and to feel happy.

Some health foods are not filling such as veg and fruit, so this is the good reason why regular eating is a necessity. Junk foods such as chocolates, biscuits, cakes and crisps tend to be more filling but in the end lead to ill health and obesity if eaten in large quantities on a regular basis. What really annoys me is that many of these foods are a lot cheaper then the health ones and this is so discouraging for those on a low budget. I do think mothers can be very supportive over this issue as everyone I know always has something to say on the subject and lots of great ideas; I never tire of listening to them.

At the focus group many of the mothers voiced their concern on the lack of meals suitable for children with allergies. Some were unhappy for the children that could only eat halal meat, as the school did not provide this; the children were left with only vegetarian meals. There were others who suggested a budget rate for those with siblings in the school. The meeting carried on for a lot longer then planned whilst mothers complained and suggested more and more options.

I found this to be very interesting and learnt a lot but, at the same time, I could not help wondering if maybe we were a little ungrateful, with so many starving children in the world, and how grateful they would be to have our school dinners, I left the meeting feeling thankful that my children can have so much choice as they don’t just eat at the school, so what’s missing in the school I can provide at home. Although I still maintain the opinion that its wonderful schools are changing and monitoring our children’s menu

by
Vivian