My goal was to make their lunch at home or in their lunch box, nutritious, fun, colourful, simple and varied.

1. Soup

Why not try, chicken soup (always a favourite), lentil soup or even a vegetable and beef stew. Soup is always a brilliant idea for those winter months. I used a flask for soups and stews when sending lunch with a child to school

2. Pasta Salad

How about tuna pasta salad. Pasta is quick and easy to prepare and children love it.

3. Fruit

I always prepare fruit for lunch, well with every meal. Fruit sticks are an all time favourite. You can make smaller ones to fit into lunch boxes.

4. Wraps

Yum! Where do I start, you can use any filling your child likes, chicken, avocado, lettuce, cheese.

5. Couscous Salad

Couscous is very quick and simple to prepare. I would make the couscous adding either chicken, dried fruit, chickpeas and vegetables. Why not even try quinoa, it takes longer to cook but is delicious and very nutritious.

6. Yoghurt

Always a good one to add to your child’s lunch box.

7. Pizza

Simple and fun to make with your children.

8. Shaped Sandwiches

My charges loved when I gave them different shaped sandwiches. Use any cookie cutter that you can find in the kitchen. Jazz up sandwiches by using different fillings. I use peanut butter with banana, hummus with grated carrot.

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You will find that in any community parents rely on their childrens, child care givers, teachers and educators. By having a special day in the year, it gives the opportunity for parents to recognize and acknowledge the hard work, dedication and love that their community childcare providers give all year round.

Dr. Gordon Tremaine, Executive Director of the ELCAC says,

Child care practitioners are often taken for granted or simply overlooked for the essential work that they do,” Yet, given that 90 percent of brain development happens in the first five years of life, these dedicated professionals have a staggering impact on the children of Alachua County. Provider Appreciation Day is just one small moment to affirm the importance of what they do, and to thank them for doing it so faithfully

What do you think, should New Zealand have a special day each year to recognize the hard work, dedication and love that childcare providers give?

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Snacks should be nourishing for your child. Ideally choose fresh and whole foods every time and combine protein with carbohydrate for good blood sugar balance.

Here are a list of 9 healthy snacks that I have prepared and used everyday for my charges.

1. Fresh fruit

Try and choose fruit that is in season as they are cheaper, healthier and buying in season is better for the environment.

2. Vegetables

• Carrot sticks
• Cucumber sticks
• Cherry tomatoes
• Peppers- red, green and yellow
• Sugar snaps

3. Oat Cakes

You can buy oat cakes from your local supermarket, they are usually stocked with crackers and biscuits.

4. Popcorn

Try making popcorn from scratch and adding your own flavours. I add cinnamon to mine plus popping popcorn with children is fun.

5. Hummus or bean dip

Very quick and easy to make. Be careful of the ones you buy at the supermarket as they have a high salt content.

6. Nuts

I found when starting my charges on nuts that they preferred cashews compared to other types of nuts.

7. Seeds

Mmm, my charges loved eating different seeds especially pumpkin and sunflower seeds. I also planned activities around making things with seeds  like planting sunflowers in the garden, making different types of bird feeders. The children loved the idea that birds also ate seeds.

8. Dried fruit

When buying apricots buy the ones with out sulphates. They are a bit more expensive but boy do they taste much better and are much healthier.

9. Cheese

When I use cheese as a snack I always cut cheddar into finger size pieces, as my charges got older I would cut the cheese into cubes.

Here are some combo ideas that you might like to use:

• Hummus and oat cakes
• Apple and cashews
• Pear and seeds

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This year focus was to raise funds  for the children in Haiti and Christchurch.

The wonderful idea of Purple Cake Day came from a former UN worker and local woman Emily Sanson-Rejouis who had tragically lost her husband and two of their young children in the Haiti earthquakes. Miraculously their youngest child survived.

It was Emily’s two youngest who had inspired her to come up with the idea of Purple Cake Day. Emily is keen to see Purple Cake Day celebrated internationally but thought it was appropriate that it had begun in Nelson.

Schools, community groups, businesses and supporters all got behind the Purple Cake Day celebrations.

Mrs Sanson-Rejouis said

Regardless of how much money was raised, the project had already been a success because it had heightened awareness for their cause. More than 330 schools, community organisations and people had downloaded the Purple Cake Day resource with more than 40 of these being from the Nelson area.

If you were near Founders Park yesterday, you might have seen Nanny Nelson joining in an outdoor session of purple yoga, whilst wearing purple and eating purple cupcakes!

What did you get up to for Purple Cake Day?

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All the ideas on activities are based on what I have done with the children in my charge.

1. Imaginary Play

This one always works well and has been a winner with all my charges. Not only do they have lots of fun when you’re on an adventure – you  do too. I have pretended to be a Roman soldier on a chariot (I used chairs for this one) with my Roman soldiers next to me. Children love the classics such as playing Doctors, Shop Keepers, Teachers or Mummy’s and Daddy’s.

2. Exercise Circuit

We all know that children need to let off steam during the day. Well, why not try and put an exercise circuit together.

All you need to do is draw a few stick men diagrams on a piece of paper showing your children  certain exercises.

You could draw a stick man skipping on the spot, doing lunges, dancing on the spot, a few yoga postures, star jumps, shadow boxing…

Once that is done place the cards around the room, keeping safety in mind. Play some music and off they go. It helps if you take part also.

3. Cooking

Everyone’s favourite. You don’t need to cook/bake anything extravagant as long as you have fun. I have found that making pizza, cupcakes and biscuits are the easiest to make and most fun to have.

4. Playdough

Always a hit, whether you make it with the children or if you have some in your cupboard. When making playdough I sometimes add lemon extract or lavender essential oil for an extra zing. Use straws, scissors, cookie cutters anything you can find in the kitchen that you think your child could use to create something wonderful.

5. Indoor Picnic Or Tea Party

Rainy days are always great days to have an indoor picnic. Get your child/children to help out by preparing food that they would like to have on their picnic. Go that extra mile and make fun shaped sandwiches with cookie cutters.

Tea Parties are a good idea when  it is snack time. Fill the teapot with water or juice and place your cupcakes or cookies that you made that day on plates. Oh, don’t forget your child’s favourite teddy or doll. Have Fun!

6. Shaving Cream Play

I use shaving cream as I think it’s less messy than Goop (cornflour,water and food colouring) and it is an item that is always around.

Spray some shaving cream on the table and watch your child/children have fun. Show your child what to do by writing your name, drawing pictures of your children or yourself, animals, cars, trains, letters…

You can keep your child’s drawing by placing a coloured piece of paper over their picture and gently with your hand smooth over the paper, then slowly lift the paper up. You should have a wonderful pattern on the piece of coloured paper.

7. Tracing Around Your Child’s Body

This one always goes down well. This exercise can take up time too. Once you have traced your child’s body on to a piece of paper they then can decorate their body by painting, colouring and gluing different material on to it. For example, wool can be used for hair and eyebrows.

8. Board Games, Puzzles & Construction Toys

Your child loves nothing better than having your attention, so why not have fun playing the board games you have or doing a few favourite puzzles, or even making things out of Lego.

9. Hide-n-Seek

This is still a favourite of many of my charges. You don’t need any equipment to play, so it’s perfect anytime.

10. Cosy Reading Nook

Why not make a ‘reading nook’ with your children for the day, with bean bags or cushions. I always display a few choice books on a coffee table for the children to choose from.

More Ideas?

I hope these ideas help, they all have been tried and tested and are the favourite of many of my charges new and old.

If you are want more ideas for activities please contact me as I have loads of ideas built up from many a rainy day.

Got a rainy day activity you would like to share? Just add a comment below.

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I have come up with a few ideas to help you have a sucessful interview with a childcare giver.

1. Always have your children around so you can see how the child carer interacts with your child/children.

2. Ask scenario questions, for example,

a) What steps would you take when crossing a busy road with my children?

b) How would you deal with a choking child?

c) How do you keep children occupied during the day?

3. Always follow up references, don’t just rely on the agency doing so.

4. Check that the childcare giver has an up to date First-Aid certificate and Police Check.

5. I would check if the childcare giver regularly part takes in childcare courses to update his/hers skills.

I hope these ideas help you find your potential nanny/babysitter.  Good-Luck.

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Apparently 100,000 Australian families are, according to the federal government.

Child Care Minister Kate Ellis says,

each family using approved childcare is eligible for up to $7,500 in rebates for each child annually.

Ms Ellis recommends families who use childcare should visit mychild.gov.au to inquire whether they will be eligible for any assistance.

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Mei Koon is the founder of Meet the Sitter. She came up with the concept of ‘speed-dating’ for parents as she thought there was a need for more nannies and sitters in her area.

During one of her ‘face-to-face’ networking events with parents and vetted nannies and sitters, you, as a parent will be given five to seven minutes to meet and interview a  potential candidate. During the night a parent will met up to 14  nannies.

After an evening of interviewing and meeting nannies, the parent is then given a portfolio of the candidates to take home with them.

Do you think you could make such an important decision in five to seven minutes? Let me know what you think.

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This amount only covers expenses!

It’s the  first time such figures have been calculated in New Zealand. The report will be used by the Government in a review to determine child support payments.

Parents on a high income would spend almost three times as much on a single child as those on a low wage, and that children aged 12 and under cost less than teens.

During the report the authors found that the costs for second and subsequent children could be reduced by the use of hand-me-downs – raising four children would cost parents on a middle income $686 a week.

Auckland fertility expert Dr Neil Johnson said,

Children should be viewed as priceless. It was common for many couples to spend tens of thousands trying to get their dream of becoming parents.

Mrs Heath, who this week starts teaching at Richmond Primary School, says

I should be as nervous as anything, because I always am before a new job, but I’m so excited and not nervous at all. I’ve always liked change, and this is a role that changes every year.

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