Motivating Mum UK

We were given a copy of Happy Feet 2 to review along with the original Happy Feet

At the outset this looks like a very cute film about dancing penguins.  Your children will love them and any little singers or dancers in the family will find it hard to sit still.  This is one of the great advantages of seeing these films on DVD – if your children want to dance in your living room they can, whereas it is not so possible in the cinema. Read the rest of this entry »

We received a huge box of Warner Brothers DVDs to review.  It was billed as a ‘half term package’,  but unfortunately due to problems withthe post it arrived just as half term was finishing.  Never mind – there are still cold and wet days and evenings at this time of year, and my children absolutely fell upon these family favourites.

First up the  Bumper Box of Toons - a 10 DVD set with all your favourite Warner Brothers characters.  There is one DVD each of

• Wile E Coyote
• Tweety Pie
• Tom and Jerry (x2)
• Taz
• Speedy Gonzales
• Road Runner
• Porky Pig
• Daffy Duck
• Bugs Bunny

Each DVD is well over an hour long, so you can see that this is endless entertainment for small people – I don’t really need to tell you about the content do I?

I think this set would be excellent for taking on holiday.  Those of you that have DVD  players in the car (I wish – mine get horribly car sick) would probably find that an endless dose of the se short but sweet cartoons would brighten many a boring journey or waiting time.  This would also be a great birthday present for an avid toon fan, or maybe a present for someone who is sick at home for a while….

Secondly we got two volumes of All-New Scooby Doo – Mystery Incorporated

My children have been avidly watching these new episodes on the TV – I’m glad to see these old charaters updated a bit for the 21st century – with computers and mobile phones – although I still do find ech episode a little bit formulaic.  That’s just the big grown up in me talking though – my children absolutely love them.

Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated – Vol. 1

Scooby Doo Mystery Inc – Vol. 2

However in the spirit of giving, I have decided to offer the two Scooby Doo DVDs as a Competition Prize (sorry you can’t have the Looney Tunes ones as they have been appropriated by my two!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And so we come to the time of year when people start planning their holidays. Holidays for singles or couples are easy, book it, pack a small suitcase and go.  But the first few holidays when you have children can be a real culture shock and a bit of a challenge – nothing is simple and there is so much extra to think about

If you are taking your child abroad on holiday, especially for the first time, there are many things to consider before you set off.  It’s amazing how much extra packing there is to do once a couple start having children.  Not only do you have lots of extra bags to keep an eye on, but you also have to keep track of the children themselves, throughout the journey and in many unfamiliar places. Sometimes I wish for an extra pair of hands or five…. Read the rest of this entry »

We received a DVD copy of Dolphin Tale from Warner Brothers to review.

Somehow I missed this film when it came out, but my daughter in particular was very taken with the story as portrayed on the DVD cover and very excited to watch it. Read the rest of this entry »

So as loads of you are here to look at all these lovely Mummy Mentoring month blogs, I thought it was time for a bit of a competition.  I have £20 in John Lewis vouchers for the wittiest caption to this photo, left as a comment on this blog  before March 30th.

Gladys got most of her hints and tips from her monthly mums networking club

There’s my best effort – who is next?

This competition is part of my Mummy Mentoring Month series – support and advice for you and your business from a different guest blogger, each day throughout March. Follow the link to see how we are raising money for charity with this initiative.

I’ve been completely blown away by your response to my recent article, facebook and twitter campaign, suggesting that you should go and look at Andy Bailey’s new free video series “How to Get People to Notice You on the Internet”

If Andy Bailey’s stats are to be believed then I have managed to persuade more people to go and look at that in the past week, than I have persuaded to visit the rest of Motivating Mum in the past month.  Maybe I should take this as a hint……

I have to say though that the videos are excellent, and I can’t believe that they are free – I would gladly have paid for them.  I have learned a lot from them, and those of you that have come back to comment on twitter and elsewhere have all said that you have enjoyed them too. You must have done because you have spread the word for me – thank you so much for that.

Of course Andy Bailey hasn’t put out these excellent videos just for the sake of his health, nor is it total philanthropy – he wants to draw attention to the release of his excellent CommentLuv Premium plugin.

It is perfectly possible to view the videos and not buy the plugin, but I stand by my original decision to promote these videos even with the product attached – because I believe it is the best WordPress plug in I have, bar none. You can read my original review of Commentluv premium here.

The latest news is that the Commentluv Premium launch started on Wednesday 16th November. It is being sold at a special price until November 30th, with a whole pile of attached freebies – so if you are even remotely interested in having this plugin on your WordPress blog then grab it now.

So, seeing as so many of my readers are interested in Andy Bailey, his videos and his plugins, I have decided to give away a free copy of Commentluv Premium, or rather, I will reimburse to one of my readers, the purchase price that Andy Bailey announces on Wednesday.

If you would like to be in with a chance to have your purchase price reimbursed, please leave your name and email address:

Then when you have purchased and installed your copy of Commentluv Premium, please come back and leave a comment on this post with a link to your site.  That way we can get to know each other better.

On 30th November, I will pick one subscriber who has left a comment, and will reimburse to them the sum that Andy Bailey picks for the launch price of Commentluv Premium on Wednesday.

Please note, I am not insisting that you buy your copy of Commentluv Premium using my affiliate links, although it would be nice.  If you are already signed up with one of the other affiliates – and even if you have entered their competitions and giveaways too, that is fine by me.  I don’t even mind, if, like me, you have already installed Commentluv Premium.  As long as it is on your site on 30th November and you have left me your email and a friendly comment, then you are in. If you leave your twitter name then I will follow you too, and visit your blog.

I just want to get to know a large community of fellow Commentluvvers, because I think that community is what this plugin is all about.

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to a very nice day out by the lovely people from Kelloggs.  They have a great initiative going at the moment to help provide breakfasts to more of Britain’s schoolchildren.  I feel very strongly about breakfast – I have always been a breakfast eater myself, and I insist on poking something into my two before they go to school, even though it can be a real struggle sometimes.

Kelloggs have teamed up with ContinYou, and have a big campaign going at the moment, to support the development of breakfast clubs in UK schools.

They did some research and came up with some rather worrying facts

• 1 in 7 UK children do not eat breakfast in the mornings – rises to 1 in 5 of secondary school children
• The main reason school children skip breakfast because they have no time in the morning
• UK Children spend £650m each year on buying food in shops on the way to school
• 25% of children eat crisps, chocolate or burgers on the way to school
• 1 in 4 girls at secondary school skip breakfast and 14% of them do so because they are dieting

Many schools in the UK have now started breakfast clubs. This is great for parents who need to get off to work, as it extends the childcare available, and means that they can leave the house earlier, knowing that the child will be well fed before school.  Some mums send their kids to breakfast clubs just because they stand more chance of eating a good breakfast there in the company of their peers than they do at home. Breakfast clubs are good for the children too, as they can have a filling healthy breakfast and can also have some time to relax, mix with their friends and wake up a bit before the rigours of the school day. Research has found other benefits of breakfast clubs too:

• Improves attendance and punctuality
• Improves concentration in class
• Improves behaviour in class
• Improves relationships between teachers and pupils
• Improves educational attainment
• Provides breakfast for those children that don’t get it at home
• Provides essential and affordable childcare for working parents.

As you can imagine, where a breakfast club is set up in a school, it doesn’t just help the children who attend the breakfast club, but it helps the teachers and the other children too, as the more children that are well fed and able to concentrate, the happier the classroom environment is likely to be.  I think this is such a great idea – as I said earlier I am able to give mine breakfast at home, but I’m not sure how I would cope if I was also trying to get myself ready for work.  My school does already have a breakfast club and I think it is great for working mums.

Kelloggs feel so strongly about breakfast clubs that they are giving out grants in order to set them up in as many schools as possible. Every time you buy a packet of cornflakes over the next few months, Kelloggs will give a donation to the breakfast club project. You can find out more about this initiative at www.giveachildabreakfast.org.uk

These grants to breakfast clubs are in the form of cash – Kelloggs could be cynical and support breakfast clubs just by sending their own products, but in most case they choose to just support the setting up of the club with a grant that can be used to purchase whatever is needed.

Win a Year’s Supply of Food for your Breakfast Club

However for the readers of Motivating Mum, Kelloggs have decided to make an exception. If your child’s school has a breakfast club already, or if it plans to start one very soon,  (or if you know a school nearby that you would like to support) then enter here, and Kelloggs will give one year’s worth of Kelloggs cereal products to one lucky school breakfast club.

To enter, please send an email to debbie@motivatingmum.co.uk containing the following information.

Your name:

The name and address of the school you would like to support (plus the contact for the breakfast club if you know it):

The answer to the following question: How many breakfasts are Kelloggs hoping to serve to schoolchildren with this initiative? (clue here – watch the video)

Your twitter name: (if you are going to tweet about it)

I can accept more than one email entry for the same school, so once you have entered, why not tell the other mums at your school about the competition so your school can stand a better chance of winning. Please also tweet and press the facebook like button below.

Once you have entered by email, you will also receive one additional entry in the draw per day, each time you post the following tweet.

Win a years supply of food for your child’s breakfast club with @kelloggs and @motivatingmumuk #giveabreakfast http://ow.ly/1zEVUo 

Terms and Conditions

The prize consists of  Kelloggs cereal products, which will be supplied from Kelloggs directly to the school mentioned in the winning entry. There is no cash alternative, and the prize will only be given to a school, not to an individual.

Entry emails must be received by 30th November 2011 and tweets published on or before 30th November 2011. The winner will be drawn at random from valid entries received on or before that date.

Email addresses will be subscribed to the Motivating Mum monthly newsletter. You will then be given the option to  unsubscribe from this at any time, however please note,  the winner will be announced in the Motivating Mum newsletter which is published during the first week in December.

Regis Hair Salons are very pleased to announce the new Face of Regis Salons. A very famous celebrity mum, currently expecting her second child.  Watch the video to see who it is….

To celebrate the unveiling of the new “Face”, Regis are running a great Facebook competition to find the UK’s most covetable hairstyles.

LOCKS ROCK & LOAD  will be run through the Regis Salons UK Facebook page. Details are also on the video above. The overall winner will receive a whole year’s worth of hair services and a Canon 550D digital camera – with 10 runners up each receiving a cut and colour up to the value of £100.

The new face of Regis will also be writing her own monthly blog and you can see the details here

Please spread the news by posting the following tweet

3 x £50 vouchers from @RegisUK! For more prizes visit http://ow.ly/7bIDA RT & follow to enter. #FaceOfRegis

As I mentioned last week, I have been sent several books to review, so many that unfortunately I got slightly overwhelmed with it all,  Thankfully some very helpful mummy bloggers have come to my rescue, so here is a lovely guest blog book review by Caroline Enstock, who blogs at Five Kids and Counting

The book is Soul to Soul Parenting by Annie Burnside: A Guide to raising a Spriritually Conscious Family

I approached the reading of Soul to Soul Parenting- A Guide To Raising Spiritually Conscious Family from the viewpoint of having just taken two of my children out of a denominational Primary School to home educate them. Their spiritual development has become my sole responsibilty so I was hoping for some inspiration and ideas and I was not disappointed. The book provides some intriguing activities and routines which can be built into family life which help to develop in children the idea that they are part of a “bigger picture”. It is non denominational and one of its key themes is teaching children that diversity is part of the richness of human life and that we should respect the beliefs of others – a vital theme in our current world. The book is split into 15 themes accompanied by family activities and useful suggestions for books and films tie in with the theme. The themes can be interpreted in a way which suits your own family’s set of beliefs, whether you practise a traditional religion or a simply want to help your children become good global citizens

Soul to Soul Parenting is a useful book to have on your bookshelf – ideal to dip into when family life is becoming a bit of a “wade through mud” as it can do from time to time – it will help to remind parents and families to look outside of themselves and to focus on the positive aspects of their lives.

Soul to Soul Parenting is available on Amazon, in paperback

and on Kindle

Competition

I have a copy of Soul to Soul Parenting to give away.  If you would like to receive a copy please leave a comment on this blog post and tell me which of your daily rituals would you most like to pass on to your children?

If you would like to receive notification each time I do a Book Club post, then please click here.  If you would like to suggest a book for review then please leave a comment on this post

One of the things I really want to do is publish a few book reviews on this blog.  Some of them are books about business, some of them about parenting, some are books for children and some are novels.

I have sent out several books to be reviewed by guest bloggers so look out for some more reviews on this site over the next few weeks. If anyone is interested in reviewing a book for me and blogging about it then please contact me and I will send you the latest list of books to review.

However I shall start the first review myself -the book is Love You Mum by Gillian Campbell.

“Stop trying to be the mum you think you should be

 Start enjoying being the mum you are”

This book is described as “a guide to creating and maintaining a resourceful mindset through those first few years of being a mum.  A chance to uncover or re-discover the lost parts that disappeared into the depths of the stresses and strains of motherhood.”

My children are a bit older now – 6 and 8 and I can hopefully say that the worst years of parenting are behind me (although I guess some of you will tell me that I haven’t seen anything yet….). I certainly feel like I have re-emerged from the abyss when they were small.  Having been thrown slightly against my will into the full-on stress of stay at home motherhood, I know exactly what Gillian is talking about and the reasons she wrote this book.

Gillian says “The book is for Mums who perhaps end more days wishing they hadn’t snapped at their kids and their partners more than they had laughed and loved the challenges they faced.  Those who dive into the escape of a glass of wine or internet site or a reality TV show at the end of each day, rather than spending more time with their partner or putting steps in place towards the goals they dream of achieving.”

If that sounds like you, then help is at hand.  Gillian provides lots of useful mindset exercises and things to ponder, to help you out of the horrible trapped, stressed exhausted or defeated mindset that some mums can get themselves into.

She uses an acronym,

A TRUTH, taking you on a journey through the following steps:

• Awareness
• Thoughts
• Reality
• Understanding
• Take response-ability (sic)
• Habits

Each section of the book comes with exercises – things to think about and write down.

Reading the book now I can nod sagely.  Some of these points would certainly have helped me when I was going through the worst of the toddler years. Some of them are even helpful now, and I have done a few of the exercises, jotting down or at least thinking carefully about my replies.

The only drawback I can see is that when I was going through the worst of it, I would not have considered that I had time to read a book or to do any of this stuff.  The stress at the time was all-consuming, so when I did get a moment to myself, I generally went to sleep in an armchair.

I would have loved to have had a resourceful friend to help me though this stuff, when my little ones were small. The book would have been a help, a coach would have been better still.  But I know that my experience is not everybody’s experience and I’m sure there are a lot of mums out there that would gain great comfort from reading this, whether or not they could spare the time to formally do the exercises, or whether they just thought about the answers in their head.

I suppose the best thing is,  if you are reading this and you know a mum who might be struggling at the moment – please buy Love You Mum for her. It might be the best present you ever give her.

Gillian Campbell is the founder of www.theonlymum.com , a forum for mums who feel isolated and trapped by some of the experiences of motherhood. She is happily married, a working mum for two small boys and a black Labrador called Wilson

Competition

I have a copy of Love you Mum to give away.  If you would like to receive a copy please leave a comment on this blog post and tell me what is the best piece of advice that you were given when your children were small?

If you would like to receive notification each time I do a Book Club post, then please click here.  If you would like to suggest a book for review then please leave a comment on this post