I'm a full-time mummy

I have been cutting down on doing product reviews ever since our 3rd kiddo came along in end of Sept 2013. I do still accept review pitches but only when time permits and if it is something that I can see it being useful and beneficial to our family. Also, as busy as I am with 3 kiddos, home cooking, taking care of hubby's administration site of the business and swamped up with managing my FB page and blog, I just can't say no to reviewing good books! Reading is my passion and coupled with books that are of parenting, children, family or religion or educational genre, all the more I gotta say yes!

Title: New Old-Fashioned Parenting: A Guide to Help You Find the Balance Between Traditional and Modern Parenting
Author: Liat Hughes Joshi
Publisher: Vie (February 12, 2015)
ISBN: 978-1849536721
Paperback: 255 pages

Description from the product page:

"There's been a revolution in the family; it's now all about the kids. We've moved on from children being 'seen and not heard', but we're now plagued with the worry of ending up with 'that child' - the one who's running amok and is ill-prepared for life. This book combines contemporary and traditional childrearing methods, bringing fresh thinking to some of the essential parenting issues of our time:

In this manifesto of new old-fashioned parenting there's no pandering, no spoiling, and definitely no dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets at dinner time."
Firstly, I love the title. I came from a simple family, no spanking, no harsh discipline and I love it. I've always tried my best to emulate my parent's parenting style and I trully believed that theirs is the old-fashioned parenting that works (Look at me! Success story hahaha!) and hopefully will be able to make use of the good ones and apply them onto our parenting style in this modern world.

Some of the tips highlighted in this book that I agree with and love:

- Rewarding your kiddos. I believed it is a good motivational tool but should not be overused that it loses its power. Not all chores to be done around the house by kiddos need to be rewarded, I let them know they should contribute and help out as a teamwork.

- Letting off steam. Yes, I shout especially when things get too overwhelming for me to handle. Yes, of course I regret that the moment it happened. We are all human. But like the book said, don't do it too often and watch out as kiddos will easily observed and replicate what and how you behave and react around them. I always make sure I apologised to our kiddos for screaming, explaining to them that mummy is sorry for shouting and scolding etc that mummy need some time off to cool down and calm down as well.

- Training up little helpers. I've read somewhere before that young children do not process negative instructions well. So I make my instruction as simple and straightforward as possible. But unlike the book, I try not to use the word 'please' so often. My personal reason for this is because I don't want to be seen asking for help too often by saying please too many times. As the parent who are most often at home with them all the time, I would want to exert my authority and for our kiddos to remember what mummy said means business.

In addition, I also remember reading somewhere that young children cannot multitasks that well, so we as parent have to keep our instructions short and sweet. Don't go telling your young child 'Go clean up your toys then pack your books into the shelf and tidy up the room'. This sample already represents 3 tasks for them to do, of course for us adults we will understand but for kiddos, we need to give them instruction one by one.

Another page worth to take note of:

About the book structure, I like the 'Common barriers to the NOFP way' section where it highlights the usual doubts and worries on any parents' minds and gives you a better perspective on how to tackle these doubts and concerns.

We practised some of the tips listed in chapter 8 - "Less is More" such as toy rotation, though I wanted to share some other tips we practised which were not listed in the chapter such as:
- Our motto when deciding whether to purchase anything - Do we want it or do we need it?

- Buying preloved items (I've bought some awesome educational stuff and toys for our kiddos this way)

- Keep gifts by relatives and friends given during Christmas or birthdays and space them out for following year/occasions

I skipped chapter 11 which touches on children of preteen age (our kiddos are all below 7 still), chapter 12 as I personally feel with the crime rates in our country now, it is really hard to let go and let our kiddos venture out on their own and chapter 13 on divorce and not being a family unit.

In summary, I would totally recommend this book for any parents wanting to work on their parenting approaches, to take the best from both traditional old-fashioned approach and the modern new style of parenting nowadays.

The book is available at all major bookstores. For international fans, you can find it at Amazon .

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a copy of the book in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous book reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My Book Reviews"

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I came across this article which I must definitely share with you guys as I'm very interested to know your thoughts on this. For your convenience, I have copied the excerpts from the article here:

This awful picture shows the wounds a toddler suffered after silently strangling on a window blind cord. Gavin Walla, from Wisconsin, US, can be seen in the horrifying home video hanging limply from the looped window blind cord, which is wrapped around his neck. This image, which will sicken parents, was taken shortly after the attack and shows the boy, now 17, with burst blood vessels around his eyes and a livid red welt around his neck.

Gavin's mother was filming a home video of her children playing together in their front room when she suddenly notices the toddler has stopped breathing. Immediately, she drops the camera, screaming her son's name as she desperately tries to untangle the cord.

Thankfully, her quick actions saved Gavin's life and he's heard in the video coughing and spluttering as he gasps for breath. She told ABC: "He doesn't seem to remember it and it doesn't seem to have caused any permanent damage."

Gavin wants people to see his home video in the hope of raising awareness about the very real dangers of window blind cords. (** Click on picture below to view YouTube video)

He told ABC News: "I'm glad that it's out there. It saved the lives of other children that have been fortunate enough to have parents who have seen the video."

It is thought more than 100 children have died in window blind cord accidents since Gavin's. Elliot Kaye, chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission told ABC: "I see decades, and I'm talking decades, about children once a month getting hanged to death by these products and it's got to stop."

 The government first identify the window blinds as a hidden danger over 30 years ago. But the cords remain a potentially deadly hazard to this day with many manufacturers still using them on many of their products. IKEA and Target have already removed corded window blinds from their shelves due to safety concerns. Walmart and several other stores have announced they will stop selling the products by 2018.

Ralph Vasami, the head of the Window Covering Association, an industry trade group, admitted that the hazard is still present but has been reduced by new safety features including breakaway cords and string that can be tied at a height children can't reach. They however do not recommend that corded window blinds should be used in homes with children.

** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost everyday) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.

I came across this article which I must definitely share with you guys. For your convenience, I have copied the excerpts from the article here:

Pink, tiny and birdlike, doctors did not expect newborn Pixie Griffiths-Grant to survive longer than an hour. Delivered three months premature by Caesarean section, she was lighter than half a bag of sugar and smaller than her mother's hand. As she was rushed to intensive care, her parents faced the devastating prospect she may not make it. But doctors saved her life by immediately bundling her into put her into a Tesco sandwich bag, which kept her warm and mimicked the conditions of her mother's womb.

After overcoming infections, operations, and blood transfusions, Pixie, now five months old, is at home with her family, and is thriving. Pixie's mother Sharon Grant, 37, said: 'As soon as she was born, they gave her a little hat and put her straight into the bag to keep her body temperature up. 'After that they wrapped her in bubble wrap and got her straight to intensive care. 'It was so random that they had her in the Tesco bag - it must have just been what the operating theatre had at the time.'

Mrs Grant, of Goonhavern, Cornwall, was forced to give birth three months early after scans revealed her unborn baby had stopped growing in the womb at just 20 weeks. The first-time mother, who works as a florist, in Cornwall, said: 'My placenta and umbilical cord weren't feeding her properly. 'I was in and out of hospital for eight weeks being scanned constantly to see if she had grown, but she put on about 20g in those eight weeks. 'It was so scary having to get her checked all the time and I had all the doctors telling me all this bad news. It was awful. 'They wanted to get her to a certain weight before they delivered her, but she wasn't growing to that size.'

At about 6pm on May 11 - 28 weeks into her pregnancy - doctors told Mrs Grant that she needed to have her baby that day. She was transferred from the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro for a specialist Caesarean delivery at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, around an hour and a half away. But when she arrived, her blood pressure was so high that she was told it would be too dangerous to operate - so she listened to songs by her favourite singer Ben Howard, which helped bring it down.

At 3pm on May 12, - 10 weeks before her August 2 due date - she gave birth to a tiny Pixie, with the little girl's father, Edward Griffiths, 41, by her side. She said: 'There was no way she would have survived normal birth so they had to do a C-section. 'They thought they wouldn't be able to find her in my body and would have to do two cuts to try and get her, but luckily they only had to do one. 'The moment she was born they put her in a Tesco sandwich bag to keep her warm because she was so tiny and carried her off to intensive care.'

 Premature babies are susceptible to hypothermia, and the bag acts as a warming blanket, heating their tiny bodies. Mrs Grant continued: 'I couldn't see her from the angle the incubator was at but I was told she had her eyes open. In photos she looks so small. 'I didn't get to see her for about six hours because I had to go into recovery, but when I was well enough they wheeled me down to the intensive care unit.'

Pixie was kept in an incubator for three months after she was born. Mrs Grant was not allowed to cuddle her for 18 days, because every time she was handled she lost weight. Once a little stronger, Edward, Pixie's father, could only cuddle her for an hour every other day. 'It was amazing that she survived, but it was truly traumatic,' Mrs Grant said. 'She really did live hour by hour for about three weeks.

'She got a stomach infection, a urine infection and had about 10 blood transfusions over those months, and even had to have a lumber puncture. 'She kept being sick when they gave her milk and every time she was handled she would lose weight.' It was not until Pixie was around two months old that Pixie began gaining strength. But earlier this month, aged five months and weighing 7.5lbs (3.4kg) - the same weight as a newborn - Mrs Grant was allowed to take her baby girl home for the first time. Tiny Pixie - so-called because of her size - is now breathing without oxygen. Mrs Grant said: 'When we went in the front door Pixie came alive. She was looking all over the place and could see what was happening. 'We have been in and out of hospital a lot since she got home, and she can't be around other children or ill people because if she gets a cold she will end up on oxygen again.

'But at the moment she is doing really well. She looks really nice and healthy. 'It's so lovely to have her home; there's been endless cuddles and lots of people eager to see her.

'It's amazing.'

** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost everyday) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.