personal development
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Internet Community “Mothers’ Blogs” has launched its first competition. And notwithstanding the fact that officially we are on holiday, we could not but take part in it! The terms of the competition are the following: “interesting mummies’ talks in which you participate or hear on the children’s playground, some not quite ordinary situations that you are living each day”. The prizes for the competition are given by “A Store for a Mother and Her Little One” and Maria Klimova, the author of the book “Talks in a Sandpit, ot Stories from Mothers’ Life”.
And here is our story for the competition:
The first recollections after the child’s birth are always very sweet and memorable: in two hours after Soniya’s birth (though then we did not know that it would be Soniya 
) my husband came to the hospital and brought us a huge bouquet of orange roses, the first night with a baby (who is not within but beside you!) – I am afraid to fall asleep as what if the child will want to eat, in the afternoon I am keeping our little one under the sun rays falling through the window – a treatment for inogenous jaundice, I am a bit worried but I know that everything will be fine…
There was something else.
Among 1-, 2-, 3-bed wards, I chose the one for two people: there is always someone to ask for help and advice if needed. Unfortunately, my roommate was Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: children, family, ideas, kids, parents, personal development
After talking to Richard Shilling the walking with our little daughter (23 mo) got a new dimension.
Actually, we were not going to make any land art works so far. We just went to the Kremlin situated in the middle of our city, as usual. And there were beautification works in full play. Where should we go taking into consideration that the wind was almost blowing the baby away – 18 km/h! We found several pine trees (close to the digging works mentioned above). What was left was to think about how to entertain the little one.
The venue
“Soniya, let’s build a house!” Soniya got quite enthusiastic and started bringing pine cones. And at that point I thought that we could make some art! Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: children, crafts, Creative Work, design, early-childhood development, ideas, kids, parents, personal development
One of our friends knowing that we often make some art and crafts with our toddlers told us about her friend who, taking care of her recently born daughter, also finds time and strength to visit a children’s home and hold craft classes there. We were impressed! And, of course, we decided to get acquainted with Elena, a young mother from Moscow, Russia.
Parent’s Ideas: Elena, how did the idea to teach crafts to kids in the children’s home occur to you taking into consideration the fact that your daughter was very very little?
Elena: Eleven months ago our daughter Kira arrived at our family. This event meant the beginning of a new life for us, the life full of incredible love, enormous responsibility and many beautiful moments. Taking care of our child I was thinking about the children who do not have mothers. My heart ached: my child is lying beside me, it is warm and comfortable for her and somewhere there are children who are alone and they suffer without their mums. First I tried to ignore these thoughts but they did not want to go away. And one evening, having put the baby to bed, I started looking for the information (in the Internet) how one can help children living in children’s home. I consider it to be a miracle that in just a couple of minutes Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: children, Creative Work, ideas, kids, parents, personal development
Having put our little daughter to bed, I am hurrying to the kitchen to my husband who has recently come home for lunch. Already from the threshold of the room I am starting to tell him (as we all have very little time ), “The other mummies on the playground say… (I suddenly stand still seeing something on the table) how beautifully you have cut the cheese!”
I was amazed at my husband’s Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: advice, ideas, lifehack, parents, personal development, productivity
I think we have found a perfect way both to improve our state when we feel tired or gloomy and the state of our little daughter when she starts misbehaving or crying.
It was in Sahaja Yoga that I first learn about the beneficial influence on the organism of baths for feet . Negative energies that we could “pick up” during the day go into the basin with water and salt. Peace sets within, negative thoughts and emotions leave us, sleep improves. And imagine how surprised I was when I found out that doctors also recommend keeping our feet in the water of comfortable temperature where some sea salt is added. Moreover, they advise to do it both for adults and kids.
Last month, the doctor who came to make a professional massage to our toddler told us something about footosoaking. Our little girl (17 mo) keeps her feet in the basin with water and salt two times a day since she turned 1 year old. She does it at the same time with us (in the morning and evening). The masseur explained to us the benefit of this activity from medical point of view:
- the nervous system relaxes – the child becomes more peaceful;
- the salt clears the body of chemical waste drawing it out from the organism through pores.
In fact, if our daughter is in a gloomy mood it is just enough to do the footsoaking together with her for her state to improve for the better.
And today the neurologist who we attended on a routine basis prescribed our little girl the same method for strengthening her legs. When I asked the doctor what the benefits salty water are, she answered that Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: advice, children, family, ideas, kids, parents, personal development
To bring up a one-year-old, to make art/creative things at the same time making a career and, in addition to it, to have time to help others – do you think it is real? Very much real and the experience of Kseniya Simonova, a 24-year-old mother from the Crimea, proves it.
This year Kseniya won in the Ukrainian Show “Ukraina Mae Talant!” having submitted the art of sand animation to the examination of the audience. For the first time in their life, many of the TV viewers saw a whole series of pictures skillfully created with sand on a glass platform and projected onto a screen. Yes, exactly, Kseniya enjoys sand art after she puts her 18-months-old son Dima to bed.
«And for what all this?» – some of you may have thought. First of all, for the sake of aesthetics, beauty and a feeling of content. When you create, you reach harmony with yourself and, thus, convey a part of it to your children. Second, as Kseniya says herself, “I decided to participate in the Competition “Ukraina Mae Talant” to help 9-months-old Nika – the little baby-girl who has been in coma for half a year already». The young artist is giving Nika’s family half of the won million of the Ukrainian national currency (Kseniya is even not acquainted with that family).
In the final part of the Show, drawing on the sand, Kseniya was telling how Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Creative Work, do-it-yourself, ideas, parents, personal development, productivity
It is not a problem for a baby to learn two languages at the same time in a bi- or multilingual family. But what if mum and dad speak the same language but still want their little one to study a foreign language as it is much easier to learn a language when one is little. I will share my experience of “teaching” our daughter English (Russian is native to her). Any second language could be taught like that.
When Soniya had turned 2 months old, I decided to buy a book of poems with colourful pictures in English. But I could not find such a book in our bookstores. I found some books with fairy-tales instead. And it was for the better as later I found out that the child is not interested in poems at all (these rythmic lines were like a noisy background for her) but likes to listen to stories when mummy is reading them for her.
From 2 to 4 months
I read 5 funny phrases about animals to our daughter – every day, with the right intonation and pronunciation. And the baby was really listening.
From 4 to 5 months
When she had turned four months old, I added 2-3 Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: children, early-childhood development, home schooling, ideas, kids, language, personal development
The first year of the baby’s life is a great opportunity for his mummy to do what she has always wanted but never had time for. For example, it can be creative work and/or mastering of a foreign language. Not possible? Just the opposite! Natalie and I have shared our experience where to find time for it on the pages of this blog. But besides time, one should be able to accommodate him/herself to the circumstances. How? I will explain it by giving an example. The language being learnt could be any language.
Have you paid attention that there is also a little one in the picture?
How to master a foreign language when you have a baby?
When one of my acquaintances had returned after her visit to Italy, she had a dream – to learn Italian. In a year, a daughter arrived in their family. It was then when she bought an Italian textbook, audio-tapes being a very useful supplement to it. Walking for hours along the embankment with her daughter sleeping in the pram, my friend was learning the language (keeping the Walkman in her pocket). Taking into consideration that a little baby should walk every day month after month, she has really moved forward in learning that Romanic language.
One of my students decided that she should learn English when her baby-son was 2 months old. It was September which was very close to October already (zero degrees Celsius). Her tutor (me) agreed Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: children, Creative Work, home schooling, ideas, kids, language, lifehack, parents, personal development
How to become more organized? How to have time for everything if you care for a little baby? Where to find time for everything besides household chores? Several ideas from a mother of a 1-year-old tot. (Continuation. The beginning is here.)
Feasible Tasks with a Floating Date
The best way for me to secure the accomplishment of some task is to set a deadline. It can be next week or the following weekend, or the two hours when my hubby or mother are ready to spend time with our son.
But if I failed to fulfill what I started doing during that time, I am glad that at least a part of it is done (after all, I am an extremely busy mother ). In such a way, an arrival of the baby freed me from the illusion that I should have time to do tons of things and accomplish everything quickly. Now I just enjoy the process not worrying that the process can be dragged out . As a result, I manage to do more!
To do more not getting tired it is also useful:
- to divide large work into many parts;
- to work for 10-20 mins (or until you are tired) at some task and then move to another one;
- to do what your soul desires (a certain part of large work) at each certain moment;
- to try to restrain your perfectionism, i.e. to enjoy any, even the tiniest, results and not to long for reaching an unreachable ideal.
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Not the most favourite activity, to tell you the truth…
«To Turn the World Upside Down»
One more secret of high productivity and good mood is to always do only Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: advice, children, Creative Work, family, ideas, lifehack, parents, personal development, productivity
After I had read the article “Where to Find Time for Creative Work” by Anastasia, I was full of admiration and – I was surprised by myself.
Full of admiration – because I would fail to live in such a way. I am not so organized and disciplined to keep such a rhythm. It is fine for the one who has got self-discipline in his blood. But a clear-cut plan scares me and a rhythmical lifestyle makes me desire to break it. As if I were imprisoned by myself.
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Of course, not everything is so bad…
And what? Does it mean I always have lack of time to do everything? And what about huge plans? What about the renovation of our apartment? What about our project “Parents’ Ideas”? Quite surprising but already for a year (since the birth of our son) I have been successfully combining all that. How?
Desire – That is What Matters Most
As we all know, one wants what he/she does not have. As soon as the baby comes to this world, he starts absorbing all his mummy’s time. It seems she does not have time for anything else. But her desires are still there! To entertain oneself a bit, to read favourite blogs and to do something, creative, with that old granny’s chandelier… There are tons of ideas but minimum time. And the less time you have the more things you want to do. And the surprising thing is that you really manage to do it – just have a desire…
Listen to Yourself
To feel good and manage to do many things one should not forget to listen to himself. Everybody has periods of high capacity for work. The secret is Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: advice, children, Creative Work, family, GTD, ideas, kids, lifehack, parents, personal development, productivity
