Once Upon a Time with Disney Junior the Channel & Book Week

Disney Product Talk Draft

Story Telling is a magical part of life.

From a very young age children look on in awe at the stories and characters that unfold before them in books. They meet fairies, princesses and dinosaurs from the comfort of their own home and in the safety of mum or dads arms.
As the stories unfold they learn about believing in themselves, being a true friend and overcoming obstacles to reach their happy ending. Morals of stories stay with us through our life, which is why all cultures, all over the world have always enriched their children lives with story telling.

As we have just started our book week here, my house is full of excitement over books and characters and dress-ups for school parade and it is so wonderful to see kids interested in books and story telling. It warms an author’s heart!
Which is also why as an author and as a mum I am very excited about the new Disney Junior’s once upon a time story telling series.

“Disney Junior’s The Book of Once Upon A Time” is a locally-produced, interactive story-telling series hosted by Australian actor and playwright Kate Mulvany. Tune in for a story every day at 7:10pm on Disney Junior The Channel (Channel 709 for Foxtel subscribers), or anytime on the website

The second season of “Disney Junior’s The Book of Once Upon A Time” will launch in Book Week on Monday 24^th August with “Snow White and the Great Jewel Hunt”. (I know, awesome timing right??)

Later episodes will include new Disney stories from “Winnie the Pooh”, “Aladdin”, “Sleeping Beauty” and EVEN  “Frozen”!!! I can hear my two girls screaming now!!

And one of the most exciting features as well is how it is set up so that it is easy for parents to make storytelling part of children’s bedtime ritual because Disney Junior invites parents to settle down and share a magical moment with their little one every evening on Disney Junior around bedtime.
Then the “Land of Once Upon A Time” lullaby follows each episode, encouraging children to prepare for bedtime.
I can’t wait to try this out with my youngest.
I love that this helps busy parents establish that beautiful calming and enriching night time routine, let’s face it we just don’t all have the time to go to the library all the time and select and read through first appropriate books and then establish a routine.
The Disney Story room is such a great, easy way for parents to bring that routine into their children’s lives and calm them down for bed time at the same time, all the hard work is done, you just get to enjoy this quality time with your kids and then let them drift off to sleep with a mind full of wonder.

Check out the Disney Story Room HERE

The Book of Once Upon A Time features Disney stories that are available as eBooks from the Disney Story Central app, available to download from iTunes

DISCLOSURE:"Brought to you by Nuffnang and Disney

#reading #healthykids #sponsored #Disneystories #Disneystoryroom #books

Happy Storytelling!

Bek xoxo

Kids having trouble getting off to sleep? Dinosnores could be just the answer! Guest interview with their creator Sherene Alfreds

Kids have trouble getting off to sleep or aren't very rested when they wake up? Dinosnores could be just what you are looking for!

Dinosnores are sleepy stories using guided relaxation and visualisation to help kids sleep and have won America's Creative Child CD of the Year 2011 and 2012. Featuring 9 sleepy story CDs.

 

Q Where did the inspiration for the Dinosnores come from?

 Like so many good things, inspiration for Dinosnores came from experience.  My own daughter, Emma, found it difficult to sleep during her preschool and kindergarten years.  So I combined my love of relaxation and my training as a speech pathologist with her interests (dinosaurs) to create imaginative relaxation stories to help her sleep.  Dinosnores sleepy stories was born.  And it gave me back my nights to read and relax (and now work!) after a busy day.

Q What is it about Dinosnores that sets it apart from other bedtime stories?

Four main things set us apart.

1. Each story CD runs for a full hour (the final half our CDs are natural soundscapes without spoken stories), helping to make sure children stay settled after falling asleep.
2. Calming natural soundscapes evoke an imaginary world, as well as masking distracting household noise
3. The stories have been scripted using my background in speech pathology to build language and listening skills.  Slow rates of speech, repetition, and learning themes, encourage children to listen with understanding and learn about the natural world.
4.    Teach relaxation and visualisation techniques to children

Q They go for an hour, what made you decide to make them go for that long and do you find this helps?

If children are light sleepers, they wake easily to the sound of household and neighborhood noise.  By lasting a full hour our CDs mask household noise.  Parents can stack the dishwasher, leave the washing machine on, or relax and watch television.  On New Years Eve I run  our CDs on repeat all night, so that my kids are less likely to wake to boisterous party noise in the neighborhood.

Q How important is relaxation and breathing to a good nights sleep?

It’s essential!  Relaxation and focusing on breathing helps children calm their busy minds as well as distracting from bedtime fears.   Bringing the mind inward, using breath, is central to both yoga and meditation.  And in recent years it has also been established in the medical literature as benefiting mental and physical health.

Just this year, a Lancet Medical Journal review reported that the best way to cure insomnia, and bring on sleep, is not medication - but to change bedtime behaviour.  Specifically they identified use of relaxation techniques, good sleep hygiene and cognitive behavioral therapy. 

So the evidence that relaxation helps people sleep is strong.  We just need to learn the skills.  Fortunately, children are so fast to learn relaxation skills that parents report our sleepy stories get their kids to sleep the very first time they listen!

Q What exactly is good sleep hygiene?

Good sleep hygiene involves having a regular bedtime, calming bedtime routine and regular waking time.  Good sleep routines allow our bodies can then anticipate and wind down ready to sleep.  We also need a dark, warm, comfortable room to sleep - used only for sleep and not for television, computers or rough and tumble play.  Finally, to help sleep at night we need to get enough exercise and outdoors sunshine during the day.

Q And the stories can help build language skills too?

All stories help build language skills.  But Dinosnores sleepy stories are particularly good at building language skills as they have themed vocabulary.  Like our computers, human brain like to store related words and topics together.  So each new word a child learns is best learnt with other related words.  This encourages them to develop neural pathways connecting all related words.  It helps them recall and use these new word themselves.  By providing a story with themed vocabulary we are enabling children to develop strong neural connections between related words, while children enjoy an imaginative story.  Also by using a repetition and a slow but normal (as opposed to more rapid) rate of speech, children are allowed more processing time to listen with understanding to both the words and sentence structures.

But as fabulous as our sleepy stories are, they don't replace the bedtime story with a parent.  That shared time, and attention cannot be replaced.  But our CDs do give parents a good exit line “Of course you can have one more story darling - I’ll just put on your sleepy story CD for you.”

Q How much difference to you think a good night’s sleep makes to both the children and their parents?

Just enormous - and recent Australian research supports this.  This year the Australian Murdoch Children's Research Institute found that 38.7% Australian kindergarten children have sleeping problems and that child sleep problems were associated with poorer child and parent mental health. 

 I personally found it very difficult when my then three year old daughter was having trouble sleeping at night.  It was so draining!  My daughter would be grumpy and irritable.  I knew it was largely because she wasn’t getting enough sleep - but the bedtime routine alone was not working.  I felt worn out because I had no time to myself to recharge - even at night, plus I was pregnant!  It was a very difficult time.  I looked for child relaxation CDs but none appealed to my to my daughter or me.  So I started developing my own stories, and mixing them together with relaxing soundscapes.  I got my nights back to myself and the rest is history!

Sherene Alfreds is mother to one 7 year old tom-boy and a lego obsessed 4 year old boy.  Trained as a speech pathologist, she now uses or professional and personal experience to create Dinosnores sleepy stories.  Her sleepy stories have won Creative Child Seals of Excellence, CD of the Year 2011 and 2012, are recommended by psychologists and loved by children!

 

You can listen to her stories at www.dinosnores.com or follow Dinosnores sleepy stories on FACEBOOK - make sure you say HI and let her know you found about her through the blog,

Rebecca xx

A Mothers Love

"I didn't know that your tears would hurt more than my own. I didn't know my favourite sound would be your laughter. I didn't know I would be forvever wanting to check you while you slept, nor that I would feel a little lost whenever we are apart. I didn't know that my heart could hold so much love. That the world would freeze around me if I saw you fall. I didn't know I'd look back on my life before you, and wonder how it ever felt full.

But I do know that I love you completely, and I always will."
From The Pram Diet Book by Rebecca Mugridge
     
        (c)RebeccaMugridge2009

Mothers Day & Fabulous Female Authors

This coming Mothers Day, so many of us will be looking for gifts for our mothers, step mothers, mothers in law, grandmothers and so on-so why not buy a gift that also supports the great female Authors out there and also therefore women in the publishing industry, many of whom are mothers!

Head over to the Facebook event HERE
Mothers Day gift ideas-books by female authors and join in the fun!
Be sure to share some great ideas/reviews for others and add your own books if your a female author!
And wishing all a wonderful upcoming Mothers Day! x

Kids in the garden

There is something so wonderful about children in the garden.                                               The garden can be a neverending source of learning, joy and wonder. A place to discover amazing insects, pick and eat fruits, herbs and vegetables and marvel at all the amazing things to see, eat, feel and smell.

From veggie gardens to cacti and succulent gardens. Herb gardens to fairy gardens. Pot plant gardens on a balcony, hanging baskets of strawberries and herbs, fruit tree forests, amazing landscaping to sensory gardens. There is a garden to capture everyone's heart.

Gardens really are as unique as their creators and only limited by imagination.

Gardening teaches children the rewards of responsibility, patience, teamwork and to care about the natural world around them while showing them what an exciting and fun filled place to be the garden really is. Just like a live science lesson.

The home garden can also be a fantastic source of ingredients, saving you money on your grocery bills and providing you with the fresh ingredients that make home made meals come alive.

Having fresh produce on hand is great inspiration to try new recipes, cook more and eat more healthily.

When you look after a home garden as a family it becomes a beautiful bonding experience that creates memories that last a lifetime and gives children so much more understanding about food, where it come from and what it goes through before making it to the dinner plate.

And the very best bit of all...Children really enjoy eating fruits and vegetables that they themselves helped to grow and harvest. THEY REALLY DO!

(C) RebeccaMugridge2011

Pram Walking Tips-Babies

Tips and Tricks for a happy pram walk with babies

To make walking with your baby in the pram a pleasant and beneficial experience for you both there are some handy tricks and tips I have discovered with my two girls and our pram walking and from the many other mums I have had the pleasure to pram walk with.

Remember ever child is so different because we are all unique so different things work for different babies. To make you walks successful try different things until you are both happy and enjoying the experience and then it can become a beautiful routine you'll both look forward too and a great way to lose weight, get fit and healthy and spend some time together.

You want baby to love their pram.
This is quite a crucial early part of getting into a pram walking routine. It does seem that it only takes one or two 'unpleasent' experiences to make a baby not like something and then react fearfully about it and you can't blame them.
IE: Baby-Last time I was in here was horrible, please don't leave me in here mummy! Cue crying.
So how to get baby to love their pram??
If baby doesn't love their pram they won't want to A go in it and B stay in it for a walk and this can effect you in more than just your pram walks, it can effect shopping and family outings in general. So it is in everybody's best interest to make the pram a fun, lovable place for baby.

• Make the pram a pleasant safe feeling place to be.
• Always try to pick a good time for your walks, i.e when baby is due for a nap and they can gently fall asleep to the soothing pram motion, just after a feed so they wont get hungry during the walk or a time of day when you know they are usually in a happy contented mood. TIP Avoid the hottest parts of the day.
• Always make sure a young baby is well fed before you set out; being hungry especially for a demand fed breastfed baby is one of the quickest ways to upset the walk for you both!
• Be prepared. baby's are growing little new people, sometimes they just don't fit into the normal routine on an odd day so even if your baby has 'never before' needed a feed at that time or a nappy change etc be prepared that it could happen, just in case, allow for it and attend to baby until they are happy again. It really just doesn't hurt to have extra items in the pram.
  I have always also carried things like a first aid kit, hat, insect bite cream, paw paw cream, blankets, extra dummies/soothers, extra bottle if they are bottle fed etc.
• Stop and feed them. If baby is grizzling and they are hungry the best thing to do is stop your walk and feed your baby until they are happy again. Again this refers to baby 'loving' their pram. Neither of you will enjoy the rest of the walk if you try and 'just keep going' even if it is only just a little bit further. It is always going to be worth your while to stop and feed them. 
• Adjust the position to baby's mood. Sometimes baby will want to look out and see whats going on, put a good comfortable hat on them to keep the sun out of their eyes, prop them securely with blankets so they don't slide about or feel insecure.
  Sometimes they will be just wanting to see a bit and be slightly reclined where they can still see you clearly but feel rested and safe.
  Sometimes they might want it to be lying flat so they can sleep, play with toys, look up at toy's and have a kick at them or doze on and off. I have personally found this can make a huge difference to baby's happiness during a walk and can be something so easily overlooked.
• Always pick up baby if they cry. Again you do not want baby to hate their pram, at all. They need to know its a safe place, they need to know that when they are in their pram and if they get upset mum or dad will pick them up and see to them. If you do this right from the start they will feel more secure and content and they will trust and enjoy their pram-sometimes the pram can even become a most beloved place for them!
  The amazing BABY WHISPERER, Tracey Hogg has an awesome technique in her books loved by mums all over the world that she refers to as 'Pick Up Put Down', where you pick up baby from their cot every time they cry but as soon as they stop when you are holding them you put them back, if they cry you pick them up again and so on. You can find out the whole technique in her books. I too do not personally believe in letting a baby just cry, it only really makes things worse in the long run and causes a breach of trust between you.
  Remember to check all possible reasons baby might have started to cry like:
  Was the sun in their eyes? Were they bitten by something, a mozzie perhaps? Where they uncomfortable? Was a toy poking them? Did they get a fright and just need a little cuddle? Are they tired? Are they hungry? Do they want to see you? Is their nappy hurting them? Do they need a nappy change? Are their feet cold? Do they have wind? Need burping? Or are they hot/cold? Is wind annoying them? I don't know how many times I have picked up my crying baby and for them to give a huge burp and then happily settle again!I have personally found that by seeing to all these sorts of needs when they cry, giving them some comfort and 'time' they will go happily back into the pram and feel more secure the next time because they know it's safe.
• Be sun savvy. Think hat for baby, sun shade, sun umbrella even muslin cloths. Some prams even have reversible handles so you can adjust to match the sun. Having the sun in your eyes is just awful-check this regularly as you walk.
• Stimulation. As baby's grow we know they need different things to look at and play with, well the same applies to the pram. Keep a box of interesting toys aside that are just for the pram and no other time then rotate which ones you take on each walk so baby isn't always looking at and playing with the same things.
  Even stop sometimes to show baby a tree, colourful sign or something interesting.
• Communicate. Try not to take your mp3 player, instead talk or sing to your baby as you walk. Even if they are really little you can still point out things and noises along the way, they do love to hear your voice.
• Relax! Babies are so intuitive. They really pick up on your mood. If you are stressed, anxious, worrying, angry, frustrated they will not only feel this but will become unsettled even 'clingy' ( nI use this term loosely), irritable and anxious themselves making eveybody unhappy!
  Remind yourself, there is nothing that you have to think about on your walk other than your baby and the beautiful experience of the walk. Everything else can wait an hour! Put your mind and worries on pause. 

By putting in the effort in the first few main walks and making extra sure baby is happy during walks you really do find it sets you and baby up well for many great pleasant walks together, sometimes it just takes a little patience to get in the swing of it, sometimes it might mean being late, sometimes it might mean trying different scenarios, sometimes it might mean an unexpected pit stop or two and after 2 babies I can tell you personally it was different with them both, and so wonderfully worth it!!

(c)RebeccaMugridge2011

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Small Steps to Big Changes

When we want to make changes in our lives.

When we want to get healthy, lose weight or achieve goals it can all to often seem too big a task.
It can be daunting and overwhelming.

Just too hard to start...

BUT..If we approach with small positive steps, one little step at a time we CAN make changes, we can make difference, we can get closer and closer to our goal.
We really can.

With self belief, a positive attitude ( at least most of the time ) and some thinking outside of the square sometimes, we really can take small steps towards bigger changes.

How much of our modern busy lives are now spent inside? Inside buildings, inside houses, inside cars, bus's and shops?

Life just seems to be so fast these days, with always so much to do.
It seems that having some time to relax, take care of our health and active or creative time together as a family is so hard to find. Even finding time to 'just be' and have some personal time out can feel nearly impossible.

BUT...One of the best things we can all do ( and should do ) is make time.

Make it a high priority to find that time each day.
Time to get outside!
Peel our tired, worn out selves away from the TV, computer, sofa and car. Away from the never ending chores and things to be done for a little while and go out of doors..

We need to bring some freshness to our lives.

Get out in that rejuvenating fresh air, smell some garden flowers, walk through a beautiful park, watch a sunset, cook a meal with your children from fresh ingredients picked together from the garden or sourced at a farmers market, plant a garden as a family or through a group, school, church or other organisation and bring some fresh energy into our life.

Be fresh, live fresh, breathe fresh and eat fresh.

It can be so easy to think "I am so busy with everything already-how could I possibly find time to go for a walk? Or start growing some fruit and veggies at home? Or cook a healthy meal Or make that outdoor family time each day??"

But the benefits of bringing this freshness to your life are such an inspiring experience that you can and do find that time...sometimes it may mean saying no to some extra workload, favours or other things you find it hard to say no to, sometimes it might mean creating an organised daily plan or cutting back on things that take up too much of your time or even are just time wasting, sometimes it might mean making a daily 'appointment' with yourself or as a family and making sure its kept!, sometimes it might be structuring family chores so everyone helps more or de cluttering some things in your life like your home to make tasks easier. It could be assessing your priorities and working out what is most important and what really makes you and your family happy. After all being healthy and less stressed brings such a vibrant energy to your life that everyone benefits..

Even a small change makes a huge difference-THINK
Try one new healthy recipe to start with...
Plant and grow one pot plant of something edible to get started...
Go for a short walk on your own as your refreshing 'time out' or as a family as a great healthy way of bonding every other day to get started..
Take up a small creative hobby that really helps you unwind and express your artistic side..

I have learnt myself that once you start bringing some freshness into your life it is just so wonderful and is so inspiring that you never look back.

For me starting a daily walk changed the way I saw exercise and how much moving more made me feel so much more alive and full of energy..
For me starting an edible garden and sourcing and using fresh herbs and ingredients changed the way I ate and saw the food I was putting in to my body and on my families dinner plates..

For me bringing some freshness to my life changed my life and opened my eyes to a whole new and exciting way of living..

Small steps lead to other small steps which all lead to new 'good' habits.

Always look for your self belief and for inspiration....and remind yourself that every step towards a healthier lifetsyle is a step well worth taking.

Rebecca xx

How DO you get children to eat spinach?

What is the best way to get children eating spinach and benefitial greens like silverbeet?

Make it fun-make it exciting-make it tasty!

How do we do this?

By getting children involved with real, fresh ingredients. Getting them out into the garden and enjoying the stimulating experience of growing ingredients themselves and bringing this experience together with a great tasty recipe and the experience cooking of a meal with your children.

This is one just such perfect recipe that brings the home garden, cooking with children and healthy eating for your kids all together.
It is one my family loves to make and I loved to create!

Enjoy!!

My Garden Quiche

This is a gorgeous and lovely smelling dish that is so easy to make and has the added delight of many of the ingredients being really easy and cheap to grow yourself, making it another great recipe to get children involved with as they can help ‘gather the ingredients’ with you making the dish something they will be excited to eat!

Ingredients:
• Approximately 5 good sized fresh Silverbeet leaves
• A small handful of baby English spinach leaves ( around 6-8)
• 2 stalks spring onions, chopped
• Approximately 10 good stalks fresh chives
• A sprig fresh thyme
• A sprig fresh Rosemary
• 2 stalks fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped
• 1 large zucchini, finely grated preferably skin on
• 1 medium sized washed potato, finely grated
• 2 cups grated low fat cheese divided into two lots-1 x ½ cups and 1 x ½ cup
• 1 tablespoon low fat sour cream
• 2 sheets reduced fat puff pastry
• 3 cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 3 free range eggs, whisked
• Paprika
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Dried mixed herbs
• 1 teaspoon milk


Method:• Preheat oven to approximately 200` ( not fan forced )
• Grease a round baking dish, at least 4 cm deep and
• Remove pastry sheets from freezer and allow to slowly thaw
• Wash and then pat dry with a clean tea towel or paper towel the sliver beet and spinach leaves, then finely chop until they resemble green confetti
• Place this into a large mixing bowl
• Add into silverbeet the 1& ½ cups grated cheese, zucchini, potato, egg, parsley, spring onion and sour cream and mix together
• Finely chop the fresh chives into the mix with scissors, adding also the leaves of the rosemary and thyme sprigs removed from the stalks.
• Season mixture with sea salt, pepper and paprika and mix well.
• Arrange the pastry sheets into the greased baking dish in two diamond shapes cutting off the overlapping pastry and then attaching this to the least covered edges to ensure a good coverage of the entire base and sides.
• Pour mixture onto pastry base and spread out evenly, top with the remaining cheese
• Arrange in a circular pattern the finely sliced tomato on top
• Sprinkle with a small amount of paprika, teaspoon of dried mixed herbs and some pepper.
• Lightly paint any bits of pastry sticking out with the milk
• Bake in a medium oven until pastry is well cooked and the quiche mix has set.
• Serve hot with fresh ripe tomatoes and a dressed garden salad. or a selection of crunchy and colourful fingers of veggies for the kids like yellow capsicum, carrot and snow peas.

Kids in the kitchen notes:
• This is an excellent recipe to get kids enjoying eating spinach and silverbeet!
Kids of all ages from the very young will enjoy growing their own silverbeet and it is one the easiest and quickest veggies to grow-they require next to no space, grow really easily in pots and gardens and are even very forgiving of general forgetfulness and irregular watering or an insect attack!
• If the kids grow it and harvest it and help cook-they will definitely want to eat it!From the silverbeet to the chives and rosemary this is an excellent recipe that you can go out into the garden together to collect the ingredients and even better if you are fortunate enough to have your own free range chickens for eggs too. Limited in space? Many of these things will grow easily on a sunny balcony or could be a great little project for a local kindergarten, school, church or community garden.

• Kids Jobs in the recipe!
Other than the harvesting ( or sourcing from a local farmers market ) this recipe has some great steps the kids can get involved in.
Tasks:
Egg cracker! In our house my 4 year old is the resident egg cracker and has been for a couple of years ( even if we do have to remove little bits of shell from time to time)
Chives chopper. Using kid safe scissors let them chop the fresh chives straight into the mix
Silverbeet dryer. Get them patting the washed leaves dry ready for use.
Tomato decorator. Let them be the artist and arrange the tomato slices at the end.
Official Grater. Depending on the age of the kids grating can be a great task for the older children to help with.
The mixer. What child doesn’t love the job of mixing the ingredients-regardless of the recipe?
Pastry painter. Using a clean pastry brush let the kids paint the edges of the pastry so it can brown nicely.

Toddler Tips:

For small fingers and mouths try making some mini versions for your young toddler using circles of pastry lined into min muffin trays filled with the mixture and you can always reduce the amount of spring onion.

Parent Tips:
The key to an enjoyable ( and still edible ) cooking experience with kids in the kitchen I have found is to make sure you have what you need ready before starting and are distraction free so it can be fully supervised during the whole procedure.
And most important of all...to relax! Enjoy the experience of bonding with young children over healthy fresh ingredients and making food together, things can and often do go wrong when working with kids-so be flexible and patient and you will all be sure to create not only delicious healthy dishes the whole family will enjoy but great memories too!

ENJOY!!
(c)RebeccaMugridge2010

You can find heaps more great recipes like this one along with great gardening ideas and projects you can do with kids in THE PRAM DIET book.
See the links on this blog page for stockists.

Childhood Obesity

Childhood obesity is something that is very close to my heart.


So I was extremely delighted when I was asked to be a guest speaker recently on the topic of childhood obesity at the "How Health Smart is our Community" Breakfast held in Bundaberg by Queensland Health with a strong focus on preventing childhood obesity as a community.

The ever growing figures on childhood obesity are simply frightening.

I know as a mother myself the sheer amount of sugary and fatty foods our young children are exposed to through all kinds of marketing and often as a result of tough financial times and us the parents leading busier and busier lives to provide for our families and meal times becoming quick and easy solutions.

I also know how deceptive it can seem at the supermarkets that unhealthy options are far cheaper and quicker to make than their healthier alternatives.
With families finding themselves on tighter and tighter budgets it can be all too easy to think you can't afford the money and time to provide healthy options.



BUT I can tell you that it really does not need to be this way!
In fact becoming more health conscious on a budget can even make your money go further in the long run and there are so many easy, fast recipes that you can whip together or make in advance so you can leave those unhealthy packet foods where they belong for the most part-left on the shelf!!



I am not by any means saying you should never eat packet or takeaway foods as a family but these foods should always be 'sometimes foods' as said by the great Elmo!



I chose to make my talk at the breakfast on inspiring ways to raise healthier kids and make healthy choices fun.
In particular my passion for involving children right from the youngest age in growing fresh fruits and vegetables. I have seen over and over again the excitement experienced by children growing food and especially at eating food they themselves watched and helped grow.



We can do this in our own backyards, patio's, verrandah's and even indoors as hydropinics. We can grow them through our school's, kindergarten's, day care centre's, community groups and churches.

Bringing the world of fresh fruits and vegetables alive to children is one of the best and easiest ways we as adults can make a huge difference in children's lives and in turn help reduce childhood obesity.

Childhood obesity is serious and is something we can all help to reduce. As someone who has dealt with weight issues for so much of her life I know first had the damage that being overweight can cause to your self esteem as a child.

Damage that carries through your teenage years and follows you into adulthood.

What can start out as a small problem-being just ‘a little’ overweight as a child can begin a lifetime of low self esteem and unhealthy habits that become so ingrained you aren’t even aware of them until it all seems too hard to ever change.
For me All the women in my family have dealt with weight issues.
My grandmother was overweight.
My mother is overweight.
I have been overweight or had other weight related issues most of my life.

When I became a mother myself and had my daughter I wanted this pattern had to stop with me.
I wanted my daughter to grow up without constant worrying about her weight. I wanted her to have the energy and drive to play sports and be energetic.
To eat healthy foods as a normal way of life and to see daily exercise as normal and even fun. I wanted her to grow up confident to join in at sports at school.
I wanted her to not be ashamed of her body and the reflection she saw in the mirror.

I adopted a healthy lifestyle with my daughter as inspiration and it became the single most amazing thing I have ever done in my life.

It changed me forever.

I lost over 30 kilo’s and found an energetic , confident version of myself that I did not know I could be.

I love to share my story most of all to let others know that you don’t have to keep waiting around for the new quickest way, a magic weight loss pill or to have enough money to buy exercise equipment or join a program.
I share my story to let others know that you can make positive changes at any age and stage in your life. You can do it on a budget and most of you can and should do it when you are blessed to have children in your life.
All you really need to start down that path to a healthier, more vibrant you....IS YOU.

You just need to begin

Pregnancy number 2!

I can't believe how much my life has changed since becoming a mum.



How my library and bookstore visits have changed!-Seeing me leaving with picture books now instead of novels-How the only clothing shopping I seem to do now is in size 4 and 5 children's wear and and coffee in a cafe with friends is now a boost juice or smoothie with my daughter and you know what..I wouldn't have it any other way!



Becoming a mother has changed me, caused me to grow as a person and opened my eyes to a whole new world of love and living.

I have been a mum for four and half years and now have another bundle of joy coming towards the end of the year, I do feel very blessed indeed.

AND this time....I am determined my life has changed enough and I am now so much more inspired by the new freshness of my life that I will not be putting on 40 kilo's this pregnancy!!! I am almost half way and weightgain is approximately 5 kilo's ( which I admit does feel like alot on my reasonably short frame though! AND I believe most weight is gained in the last half but my whole attitude towards food and life is so different that I feel I am more in control this time ( Even with my pregnancy cravings =D lol!! )

Rebecca xx

Hello! I am now a blogger!

Hello and welcome to my blogpage!

I am a mum to an amazing 4 year old, a horticulturalist and a published author.

Even after a year it is still so exciting to actually be able to say that I am a published author, let alone things like visit a library and sometimes a bookstore ( something I do very often as a total bookworm ) and see a copy of my book on the shelf!

As a horticulturalist gardening is a huge part of me and in particular I am very passionate about organic food gardening and creative garden places of play for children that is chemical free and full of nature's wonderment. I truly believe that children and gardens just go together and when children learn and help to grow fruits and vegetables at home they also love to eat them!

My first published book, THE PRAM DIET was published by Random House and saw me on A Current Affair twice and in various magazines and newspapers, it is a book written from my heart-as a mother to other mothers.

http://www.myspace.com/thepramdiet

It shares my experiences with becoming a mother, dealing with depression after having my baby and losing those stubborn post baby kilo's of excess weight that don't just 'fall off' for every woman!

It also contains at it heart gardening advice to get started growing your own fruits and vegetables as a family because this was a key factor for me in improving the way I ate and it led to me watching my daughter grow up picking and eating fresh produce like snow peas, beans, strawberries, capsicums, tomatoes, carrots, celery, lettuce and more straight from the garden.

I have also completed last year a second non fiction book full of inspiration and motivation that I hope to have published as well and am also an aspiring children's book author with two maunscripts being edited by my agent, both aimed at bringing the garden alive for young children.

As a writer I have been fortunate to have a wonderful agent along the way in Sophie Hamley of Cameron's Management and was really fortunate to work with an amazing team of people at Random House. with The Pram Diet.

As a mother I have found immense inspiration through my daughter who truly lights up my day..She gave me the reason to turn my life around and really experience life as the blessing it is.