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It was Friday afternoon and all through the office not a phone was a ringing, when out of the blue, we got a call from Tilly. She needed help, she needed it fast, she was going away for the weekend and her 6 month old baby had no carer in hand, so we sorted her out, very quickly indeed. Tilly had her au pair at 8am the next day for the entire weekend.
In return she made my day by sending me this little note, I just had to share;
Thank you so much for Sthembiso. She was great!!!!!!! Our baby also loves her to bits
Regards,
Tilly Gasela
It was only a pleasure to assist you, its what I live for each day. Thank you for using our services and look forward to assisting again!
Recently my daughter and I have been on a bit of a Roald Dahl binge. It started with ‘The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me’ and slowly we have worked our way through a large array of them with more to come shortly:
- The BFG
- The Witches
- Matilda
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
- Fantastic Mr Fox ( one of my daughter’s favorites)
Since my daughter was very little (in fact from the time she was born) I have been reading to her. Its amazing how reading to your child at such a young age, even is he or she does not understand the wording at the time, extends their vocabulary at a rapid rate. I will never forget the day she came to me and said her first proper full sentence, it was “Mommy, the flower is beautiful” she was just over a year old at the time and it was one of the proudest moments of my life and it just keeps getting better. Why just yesterday, my daughter’s teacher came to me and remarked on her fantastic behaviour in the middle of the mayhem that transpired (I don’t have the exact details on this but it sounded pretty raucous). She got up, removed herself from the situation, quietly sat down and read a book until things calmed down with the other kids. I don’t know if I have mentioned it, but we don’t have DSTV or even normal free stations on our TV set. In fact the last time I watched TV was in March of this year. So we keep a large array of movies instead. Perhaps that is helping the interest in books along?
Besides Roald Dahl though, we have managed to sneak in a few lovely illustrated books which my daughter truly loves including:
Winnie the Witch who goes on the most absurd adventures and has the two of us shouting abracadabra every time we turn the page.
My Granny was a frightful bore( but she isn’t anymore) , one of my all time favorite story books, on finding this book in my local exclusive books I felt a sense of nostalgia creep over me, and it was as if my heart jumped. An absolute classic and a must have! If one day I am able to do even one of the things this granny gets up to at age 82, it would be amazing. The book has a bit of a rhyme to it and is a lot of fun to read together.
The Gruffalo’s Child , every bit as good as the Gruffalo itself, ‘The Gruffalo’s Child’ takes you on a journey through sights and sounds and descriptive words that your child will pick up easily due its rhythm and easy to read style of writing.
Now that she is getting older, and to encourage her to read on her own more, another little idea that recently spawned in my head was to buy her several colourful and illustrated encyclopaedia’s. Every evening now instead of her catching half a movie, I ask her to find out about something new, yesterday it was about Inca’s and today’s topic was Ancient Egyptians, she does this while I make supper and then we discuss it at dinner. It then becomes a family discussion and the resulting conversation brings us closer together as well.
A love and passion for reading and literature is a wonderful gift to give your child and something alot of kids are missing out on to easily these days due to being exposed to, too much electronic media, too young.
We are always looking for new books to read though, so my question is, what are you reading to your kids at the moment? What are theirs, and your, favorite children’s books and why? Sharing is caring after all, so please leave a comment for us to share with other mom’s ( and me too).
Just an email we received recently that I thought too lovely to not share with you:
Hi Nicole, I just want to say thanks for the interview yesterday. I found your agency much more interested and helpful than previous agencies I have been to. You guys are really great. I look forward to joining your team. Have a great weekend. Siann
Thank you Siann, Welcome to the team and have a fantastic weekend!
Being Nation wide school holidays ( with the exception of a number of schools) I thought its about time for all our readers to know what is hot and happening this week in Cape Town Johannesburg and Pretoria!
Beat the holiday blues away for you and the kids, below is a break down of some of the events happening this coming week, if you want to see what is coming up in the next month, please click here.
Happy Holidays everyone!
Western Cape
| Adventures in the Enchanted Garden with Buggles | R30 per child | Cavendish Square Shopping Centre, Cavendish Street, Cape Town | More information |
| Kids Play Zone-Cooking Class | Entrance is R80pp, w | Durbanville Business Park, off Klipheuwel Road | More information |
| Kids Play Zone-Holiday Programme | From R20 per child a | Durbanville Business Park, off Klipheuwel Road | More information |
| Mysterious Ways | R65 p.p. | Broadway Theatre, 88 Shortmarket Street, Cape Town | More information |
| Numetro Cinemas: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs | unreleased at time o | All NuMetro Cinemas in the Western Cape | More information |
| Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs | R40 p.p | Central Court, Canal Walk, Century City | More information |
| The Holiday Club | Entrance is R40pp pe | Helderberg Nature Reserve, Verster Avenue, Somerset West | More information |
| Thumberlina | Normal play rates ap | Plinka Plonka Play,171 Buitenkant St, Gardens, Cape Town | More information |
| Vodacom Funny Festival | R120 p.p, Discounts | Baxter Theatre Centre, Main Road, Rondebosch | More information |
Gauteng
| Annie Junior | R60pp for evening sh | Wits Theatre, Johannesburg, South Africa | More information |
| Grand Bird and Reptile Show | Entrance fees: R38 a | Johannesburg Zoo, Upper Park Drive Park town Johannesburg | More information |
| Holiday Programme at Johannesburg Zoo | R55 per child, for c | Johannesburg zoo, Upper Park Drive Park town, Johannesburg | More information |
| Jozi´s Winter Circus | Contact for Cost | Gold Reef City Theme Park | More information |
| Noddy | Special schools perf | People´s Theatre, Johannesburg Civic Theatre Complex, Braamfontein | More information |
| Numetro Cinemas: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs | Not available at ti | All NuMetro Cinemas in the Gauteng | More information |
| Pippi Longstocking | R60pp | 3 Junction Avenue, Parktown | More information |
| Shepherd´s Fold Stables Pony Camp | R220.00 per day plus | 55 Sunset Drive, Elandsdrift, Muldersdrift, Gauteng | More information |
| Sleeping Beauty | Adults:R 70.00 p.p; | Pretoria Youth Theatre,Gerhard Moerdjik Street, Sunnyside, Pretoria | More information |
This came in from a candidate we interviewed yesterday! Welcome to the team Mia! We are looking forward to finding you the position you are looking for!
Here’s the email:
Hi Nicole,
Thank you for a very positive service. I wish I had discovered sitters4u before I went to other agencies.
The interview really made my day!
Regards
Mia Steenkamp
…thank you for the email, it certainly made my day! It doesnt matter if you are a client or a candidate, either way Great service is our middle name!
I am ecstatic! Finally, months of work, sleepless nights and barely any social activity finally bears fruit…I am watching as I am typing this, our new website go live. Features include forms for every service, navigation that ensures you know where you are always, and some other wonderful features on our Content Management. Over 200 pages all neatly tucked into their individual spaces and all fully, easily navigable!
Like I said I am ecstatic. Check it out www.sitters4u.co.za
If you have been keeping up with my most recent articles ( not to difficult to do really seeing that with the moving, update preparation, etc etc I have not been able to post as often as usual), you will know that recently we went to the Exclusive books Kids National Geographic day in Cape Town.This was so much fun, my daughter and her friend really enjoyed hearing the stories and learning to draw a lion! A big Thank you to Exclusive Books for making that possible.
What I was not aware of at the time of going was that it was also Cansa Shavathon day! Shaving or spraying in solidarity with a cancer survivor” was the theme of this year’s CANSA Shavathon because hair loss is a common side-effect of cancer treatment ( said Sue Janse van Rensburg, National Executive Director of CANSA, who is a cancer survivor). Now unfortunately Im not very brave when it comes to my hair, I have had my hair cut extremely short at one time, it was disastrous and the girls were not keen for it either, however there were many showing their support by shaving it all off! We went for the alternative and sprayed! What fun just to add a bit of colour, show our support and really get into the swing of things! The girls loved it purple stars and pretty pink streaks and I got an idea of what I am going to look like once the grey hits,well if I also turned into a rocking granny one day who had purple streaks in my hair,still, I took the time to explain what it was all about. Sharing that moment to show our support put a big smile on all of our faces!
You can also show your support by visiting www.cansa.org.za or click here to go straight to the donate page.
Exclusive books has really gone out of its way to make the month of March, a month focused on children under the age of 12! It’s the Exclusive Books Children’s Festival, created especially for readers under 12. The bookshops will be filled with mountains of books to read and Saturdays will be jam-packed with amazing interactive events. Access to the events are free but space is limited so booking is essential and if you are an exclusive books member you also earn 100 bonus points for any children’s book bought in March.
Two fantastic events I have been informed of thus far are:
DATE: Saturday, 7 March 2009
VENUE: Exclusive Books, Cavendish
TIME: 10.30am
RSVP: Exclusive Books on 021 674 3030 or cavendish@exclusivebooks.co.za
This will be a fun event involving making something out of paper as well as an article reading from the latest issue of National Geographic Kids Magazine. Spot prizes will be handed out and a copy of the magazine will be given to each child. Suits boys and girls aged 5-10.
The Gruffalo Party
DATE: Saturday, 7 March 2009
VENUE: Exclusive Books, Somerset Mall
TIME: 12 noon
RSVP: Exclusive Books on 021 851 0248 or somersetmall@exclusivebooks.co.za
Celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Gruffalo, written by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, with colouring-in activities, party packs and prize giveaways. Suits boys and girls aged 4-9.
Why would you want or need an au pair? Its a good question! Personally speaking I want to know that my daughter always has the care love and attention she deserves, but we understand that with the hectic schedules of modern day life, as a parent one cannot always be by their side 24 hours a day. Parents play the important role of primary provider and an au pair can play a vital supportive role in our children’s lives, making the time we spend with our children, quality time.
In the traditional sense, an au pair, is defined as a young person living with a family abroad caring for the family’s children and doing light house work.
However in South Africa, today, an au pair is much more than this. An au pair in South Africa, is a professional, responsible, experienced and even trained person who cares for the child’s entire welfare whilst in his or her care. An au pair is expected to do a lot more than just supervise the children.
It should be remembered that the parents should always be the primary care providers and role models for their children and au pairs can support the parents in achieving this goal by contributing to the childrens vital support network. An au pair helps with daily activities related to the child’s needs, from lifting to helping with homework, preparing healthy snacks and filling the children’s days with fun, age appropriate activities. This leaves time for mom and dad to relax with their children and enjoy a healthy relationship which ultimately will provide the basis to develop the communication and trust needed between children and parents as they get older.
We know it takes lots of love, care and personal attention to develop a child to his or her full potential and every child deserves that chance. As children grow, so do the influences they are susceptible to outside the home. Having an au pair ensures that your children are cared for in the comfort of your home. The au pair will provide fun and learning opportunities in an environment safe for your children. What’s more, is that you will have more control over your child’s situation, you will get regular report backs on progress and activities, behavior patterns and this means that you will have a better chance of helping your children reach their full potential. Hiring an au pair provides you with the ability to spend your evenings/time with your children uninterrupted by homework, cooking and other child related chores. An au pair helps with the development of your child by balancing schoolwork, sport (extra-mural activities) and other activities of daily life.
Choosing an au pair is one the best things you can do for your child/children no matter how old they are. Children are influenced by friends, the media, teachers and other influential adults. Having some control over who these influences are, can only have a positive effect on your children’s lifestyle and over-all development.
I believe in this concept and would recommend an au pair for children of any age as long as you have thoroughly established your needs and done research to ensure that these needs can be met by a person capable of doing so.
All to often I find time slipping past me at the rate of a year per second or is it a second per year?
We all feel tired from time to time and yesterday was one of those days, my daughter arrived home and she was so excited, its the second time she will be in a play in her life and she brought her costume home and jumped straight into it, she gets home at 3 every day and at that time I am generally swamped with queries and questions from clients, I always make time for her after 5 but this was the cutest thing you have ever seen! Dressed as a Rhinoceros, she started dancing and playing and I soon forgot all about work, dancing and playing with her. What a beautiful indescribable feeling. I felt revitalized in a way I haven’t in a long time. They grow so fast, our little cherubs, and if we don’t take time out, forget our inhibitions and play with our children ,read to them, grow with them, then what is all the hard work for anyway?
Yesterday reminded me of my secret to a feeling of eternal happiness. My Daughter! and I am sure most moms will agree, your children are your most precious asset, we do as much as we can for them to give them the best start in life, we nuture them, care for them, love them with every little piece of ourselves, nothing and no one could replace them, they, more so than anything including money, need your time to be the best they can be, so read them a story when its time for bed, tell them you love them everyday and always make sure you have at least 30 mins of uninterrupted fun with them each day! The payout is worth more than anything in the world!
