Archive for March, 2010

by Philippa Cross who would rather be outdoors than in, alone than in a crowd. She prefers dogs to cats, with a major leaning towards bulldogs. She hopes to win the Pulitzer prize for her yet unpublished novel. She started Thumb Media with a partner in June 2009. Visit her blog

The Jungle Book is on at the Peoples Theatre in Braamfontein until April 17th

The Jungle Book for me is as much about the fantastic soundtrack as it is about the story. What may have started as Rudyard Kipling’s tale is now, in my mind, firmly the property of Disney, and with that comes the wonderful Disney soundtrack.

The latest production at the People’s Theatre obviously encountered music usage rights issues when planning the production, because none of the music from the Disney version of the Jungle Book was included in the Show. The production staged at the People’s Theatre is based on the novel by Rudyard Kipling and not on the movie by Walt Disney. Big Big difference.

Jungle book without the music is like spaghetti without the bolognaise or vanilla ice-cream without chocolate sauce. It’s still Jungle Book, but not quite as delicious, not nearly as satisfying.

In keeping with the jungle theme, we went armed with banana leaves to wave at the stage at appropriate times. The excitement amongst the children in the audience was tangible, and my children have been talking about it for 3 days since we saw the show. For me it is always less about what is showing, and more about the whole experience. Usually, the show is brilliant. This time I am falling back on the experience.

Perhaps it’s a bit of an unfair criticism, but it’s based on the fact that my expectations were not met. I was expecting to sing along to the old favourites, and nothing suggested that the music from this wonderful production was not part of the show.

For my family, The Jungle Book story is undoubtedly the Jungle Book of Walt Disney Studios, music and all. Disney’s soundtrack has made Rudyard Kipling’s novel magical, beautiful and memorable. Doing a Jungle Book musical without it just didn’t work for me.

There were many good points. The cast were great. The music that was used wasn’t bad. The audience did enjoy themselves.  I remain a fan of the theatre, especially the children’s theatre. Going to a live production is an experience in itself, regardless of what you see. The atmosphere is wonderful. It is, in my opinion, a perfect family outing.  The Jungle Book experience is no difference. It’s worth going purely for the pleasure of watching a live production with your children.

But overall, as much as I hate to say it, the show fell short for this disappointed Disney Fan.

provided by Diane Vaubell,  a work-from-home-mom to 2 small picky, vegetarians. She is an amateur blogger with obsessive addictions to food, photography and online social networking. Visit her  blog or catch her on twitter.

A 4-day weekend begs for an indulgent, chocolate-filled breakfast and these pancakes certainly satisfy any chocolate cravings. They’re also a great treat for kids during the school holidays. You’re going to have to roll these pancakes so you want a nice, thin crepe-type pancake.

This recipe makes ± 12 pancakes

Ingredients:

240g plain flour (not self-raising flour, which will make the pancakes too thick)
Pinch of salt
4 eggs
410 ml milk
180ml water
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1-2 tsp margarine
1 box chocolate chips
Whipped cream (optional)

Serving alternatives:

by Corinne Lamoral, a freelance writer and media consultant, practicing corporate communications three mornings a week.  She lives with her husband and three children on a koppie in Johannesburg where she pretends the distant hum of traffic is the ocean.

It’s been a while since I enjoyed a children’s movie as much as I did How to Train your Dragon. Having not read the series of books by Cressida Cowell, on which the movie is based, I had no idea what to expect, but from the moment the screen opened to the craggy hills, wild sea and precariously pitched Viking village I was entranced.

This is the story of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the son of the brave Viking chief, Stoik, who despairs of his skinny son ever becoming a true Viking and fighting dragons – the foe they are trained from birth to fear and despise. Hiccup wants nothing more than to fulfill his father’s dreams, but with his scrawny frame and big heart he keeps getting into scrapes his father has to rescue him from, much to the humour and derision of the rest of the village. Children bearing the weight of a parent’s expectations will relate to Hiccup’s desperate quest to prove himself in his father’s and his peer’s eyes and make them proud.

When Hiccup, in a stroke of luck, manages to wound the most feared dragon of all, he sets out to kill him, only to realise the dragon is as scared of him as he is of it.  From here the real adventure starts as he helps the dragon to recover, christens him Toothless (and in so doing demystifies him and makes him seem cuter than he may originally appear) and ultimately teaches the narrow-minded villagers that dragons are not what they seem. The friendship between Hiccup and Toothless is ultimately the hero of the film – your children will all want pet dragons after watching this!

As Hiccup trains the dragon and learns more about this unknown creature, there are also parallels between the way we fear what we do not know, often only to find out that we have more in common than we realised.  The strength of the movie is in the story line, which is clever and witty but doesn’t condescend or descend into non-stop jokes and crass one-liners.  The characters are also well drawn, fresh and memorable, particularly Hiccup’s group of fellow dragon-slaying trainees, from Hiccup’s nemesis, Snotlout, to Astrid, the toughest Viking girl you’ve ever seen, and the hilarious, competitive twins Tuffnut and Ruffnut.

Although I find the 3D glasses make the screen a little dark, in this film the 3D definitely adds to the action – the swooping flight and fight scenes are exhilarating and beautifully created.  The animation is superb – it had to be a challenge to make the cast of dragons both ferocious and appealing so that when the trainee dragon-slayers call on them for help in the end, it feels believable that they would actually ride them.

There are a couple of hiccups in the movie (pardon the pun) – the adults all speak in a Scottish accent but the children have American accents. Hiccup also talks about his village being in snow the whole year but the entire story takes place in summer.  There will also be those endless book vs. the movie debates as the movie changes one of the basic premises of the original plot in which all Vikings ride dragons, and Hiccup has to train a small dragon as nerdy as he is. These inconsistencies fall away however, in the face of the movie’s warmth, humour and nail-biting adventure.

AGE RESTRICTION

It’s been given a 10M, which is 10 with mature content but I would say, depending on your child’s sensitivities, children from age 6 or 7 will love it. There is violence when the dragons fight but there are plenty of fun scenes and humour to lighten up the scary bits.

BOOKS

Your children can read the rest of Hiccup’s exploits in the How to Train Your Dragon series.  The series is available at Exclusive Books and includes How to Be a Pirate, How to Speak Dragonese, How to Cheat a Dragon’s Curse, How to Twist a Dragon’s Tale, A Hero’s Guide to Deadly Dragons, How to Ride a Dragon’s Storm, and How to Break a Dragon’s Heart.

STER KINEKOR GIVE AWAYS

The first 5 readers to email the answer to the following question will receive a How To Train Your Dragon kite, cell phone holder and helmut. See images below. Please include contact details and address.
What is the name of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III’s father?

Kerry Haggard works in corporate communications by day and desperately tries to sleep at night, despite the best efforts of her sons, dogs and her conscience to prevent her from doing so. Thankfully, her husband has learned the hard way to let sleeping Kerrys lie… Follow her on Twitter @KerryHaggard

 Daniel (aged four and a half) and I were chatting over breakfast yesterday morning. “Where does meat come from, Mommy?” he asked. “From animals,” I said, hoping that that would be the end of that train of thought. Not so. “But how do the animals make meat?” he persisted? “Do cows make chicken?”

 “No – chickens make chicken, and cows make beef,” I said. “What about horses?” was the next question – and after confirming that we definitely don’t eat horse, I quickly changed the subject, desperate to postpone the moment when I have to tell my animal-loving little boy that we kill animals to eat them … that the kind animals don’t just donate chunks of their flesh for us to consume, before they move on to the next pasture.

But it got me thinking (and I know there are vegetarians and vegans out there who will snort and say “It took you THIS long?). As a South African brought up in a braaing culture, where meat has been my primary source of protein since I can remember, the whole notion of where it actually comes from has kind of been absorbed into my psyche. I make good decisions about the meat that I buy – grass-fed beef and free range chicken, for example, but the fact remains that living creatures have to die for me and my family to eat them. How do I explain this to my little boy, without him thinking that I’m a complete monster for sanctioning the mass slaughter of cows, sheep, pigs and chickens?

 Law of the jungle perhaps – our teeth classify us as omnivores, so we are just following what nature has set us up to do, surely? Or is it time to convince my whole household (we are seven now, including Thandi, my domestic goddess and my father-in-law whose given name is Johannes), that it’s time to ditch their meat-loving heritage and become vegetarian?

By Laura-kim single mom, recently divorced with 2 kids and the author of the blog Harrased mom.

I was never one of those parents who played games with my kids. Admittedly they were too small for anything more than snap and memory up until a few years ago.

Kiara’s play therapist recently suggested we start playing games together. There were a few reasons she suggested this

So off I went and borrowed a variety of games from a friend and every night for the past 6 weeks we have played games after dinner. It really does make a difference. It has cut down on the amount of TV that Cameron watches which is great and seems to be teaching Kiara the desired lessons.

A few months ago her tantrums were frequent when she did not get her own way as a result of something she had done/not done but this morning when she asked me if she gets her treat and I replied no because you did not do what I asked she said “So it’s a no” and walked away calmly. I am not attributing this solely to the playing of UNO every night but I do believe it is a contributing factor.

We also now play games in the car like “I spy” which makes for much laughter and is making us all aware of what is going on around us.

While I will admit that some evenings the last thing I want to do is look for matching pairs of fairies it has made a difference in the way my family functions.

So get some games, have some fun and teach some lessons!

By Sholain Govender-Bateman - an experienced news reporter, magazine editor,  freelancer,  loving wife to Barry,  mum of one beautiful girl, Isobel and someone with a passion for life and everything fun.

The recession has been hard for many South Africans and as parents we already have financial strain trying to keep sticked up on nappies, groceries, pay for extra lessons and all the other pre-requisites that we feel our kids can’t do without. So, it has been a relief for me to find quite a few places in Pretoria where I can take my active (almost) two-year-old toddler and keep her entertained for free! Here’s my top five list – would love to hear where other parents take their kids for low-cost fun!

Atterbury Value Mart pet shop, Atterbury Road – if you don’t have a free petting zoo in your area, a pet shop is just as fun for a toddler, pre-schooler or under 6-year-old child. Animal Kingdom on Atterbury Road has puppies, kittens and reptiles on display and a walk-through ‘aquarium’ which is fun for both kids and adults. Cost – change for the car guard and cash for whatever pet supplies you need.

Safari Garden Centre – another gem which can be easily found on Lynnwood Road,  – this garden centre is a fantasy world waiting for your child to explore. Isobel loves the water features section and then we usually have a light lunch at the outdoor restaurant. The menu offers yummy starter portions that pass as mains and a delicious cheese burger and we walk off the calories at the play area with jumping castles, sand pits, pigs and all sorts of other entertainment on offer including ‘train’ rides which you can pay for. Cost – budget for tea and treats, plants and other garden goodies, and the car guard, entrance – free.

So where do you take your kids to have fun?

by  Siyabulela Sekeleni, born and bred in the Eastern Cape, rural boy through and through. Well adjusted, very adaptable, loves music and animals.Radiohead groupie. Find him on twitter @siyabulelas

Scanned through her profile a few months before the big date., one of those 3D scan things.  I had a date with a  person that would become part of my life forever.  Little did I know she would be my best friend and love of my life.  Sivuyise Ofentse Ramagogodi is her name.

I was anxious and excited, mostly scared. Her mother and I had broken up, we didn’t see eye to eye. I knew nothing about love and was just not ready at all. Yes, the date was with my daughter.

The  31st July 2006, the day  I was introduced to her at Parklane clinic at 18h02, life changed, priorities changed.  I was a father to the most beautiful girl in the world. She wouldn’t stop crying. The nurses said  “ubumphika lomntwana” (did you deny paternity?) a saying used when a child is the splitting image of you.

This is about my savior that walks the earth everyday. I wouldn’t be as happy and focused without her. We both love music. Must say am pleased!

There are many challenges in our lives though. She lives 40 km away.  I never reconciled with her mother. My access is controlled. I see her mostly on weekends..

But I would never trade my life. Nothing matters more than seeing her smile when we go for ice cream, to the zoo or just “vandalizing” music shops.

by Corinne Lamoral, a freelance writer and media consultant, practicing corporate communications three mornings a week.  She lives with her husband and three children on a koppie in Johannesburg where she pretends the distant hum of traffic is the ocean.

My Mom passed away nearly ten years ago, 2 days after my first daughter was born and I have missed her with a sharpness that did not ease until about seven years ago.  By that stage I had three children, we had moved house, I had grown up and all my memories of her were of a time in my life that no longer resembled my reality. I stopped looking for her in stranger’s faces and I stopped dreaming of her.  I hardened myself and could talk about her with love but detachment.  Then this month, on my birthday, I waited all day for her to call.

The grief I felt when I realised what I was hoping for brought me to my knees. I thought I had gotten over her loss.  I thought, although she would always be a part of me, I had accepted her untimely death.  I was not prepared for the reality that the pain would come back to me.  I still miss her.  I am still so sad that she left before she got to know her grandchildren, for the loss of her laughter in my life, the loss of her love and caring for me.  The loss of her beautiful self.

With this sadness came the gift of compassion for someone I know going through a loss.  It reminded me of what really helped in those nightmarish weeks and months after my mom’s death.  I remember wanting to tell people how to approach me, how to deal with my loss.  Don’t ignore it.  Don’t pretend nothing has happened, if you feel awkward a simple, heartfelt, “I am so sorry for your loss,” is all that is sometimes needed.

The kindest thing you can do for someone who is mourning is to acknowledge their pain, to hear their sorrow, to offer your empathy and then to just stand on the sidelines, making tea, bringing meals, waiting for them and walking away when necessary. Talk about the person they have lost and reminisce about all the things they said and did, all the reasons you will remember them. Let them talk. Let them say nothing. Don’t tell them not to be sad, don’t tell them it will be OK, because in that moment it feels like the world has ended and no one but you knows it.

When I meet people who have faced death there is a haunting in their eyes that I recognise.  There is an understanding that this world is far more random and vulnerable than you could ever bear knowing. I remember panicking if my husband didn’t call to say he’d be home late, or if the phone rang at an unusual hour, imagining all the worst scenarios.  I still do that sometimes, it takes supreme trust and belief that ‘what will be, will be’.  I cannot control the fate of those I love, and I cannot keep everyone safe.  I have to let go of my children’s hands at some point and tell them to go out there and have fun!  Just like my mother used to tell me.

by Kerry Haggard who suspects that she has the right to a full night’s sleep – but is struggling to convince her two sons of that… Follow her on Twitter @KerryHaggard

As South Africans, we are quick to brag about our Bill of Rights – one of the most comprehensive in the world. The rights of everyone from prisoners to old people are protected – the rights of children too.

What I struggle with, often, is that so many of us neglect to notice that rights come with responsibilities.

Yes, we have the right to free speech. We also have the responsibility to moderate our words to be constructive and honest.

We have the right to equal protection before the law. We have the responsibility to follow that law, respecting our fellow citizens while doing so.

We have the right to practise our religion of choice. We have the responsibility to tolerate the religion of others, and to understand what we have in common with them. You’d be surprised at how much that is…

We have the right to assemble to demonstrate our dissatisfaction with something. We have the responsibility to respect the property on which we choose to exercise this right.

We have the right to fair labour practices. We have the responsibility to work hard, be honest, and earn the money that we are paid.

We have the right to an environment that is not harmful to our wellbeing. We have the responsibility to look after it ourselves, whether it is recycling or spending our money with ecologically responsible suppliers.

We have the right to property. We have the responsibility to purchase it honestly, and to look after it. It is after all, part of our environment.

We have the right to health care. We have the responsibility to make wise decisions about our own health and wellbeing, whether that is by choosing healthy food, or monogamy.

We have a right to education. We have the responsibility to appreciate the value of this, to go to school or university, and to use our knowledge to improve South Africa.

We are blessed to have these rights, among many others. Our biggest responsibility is to teach these rights to our children – and to teach them that these rights come in tandem with responsibilities. Teaching them that someone else is always to blame for what is wrong in their lives, that someone else must always fix the damage, is simply irresponsible.

by Melanie Minnaar who works in corporate marketing communications and is currently enjoying her maternity leave.  Mother to ‘archangels’, Michael and Gabriel,  wife to an IT consultant she is an information-junkie,  hooked on technology and online social networking. You can tweet her @MelanieMinnaar

I’ve been thinking about how I could teach my toddler a moral lesson or two in the build up to Human Rights Day.  On reflection I think he has already grasped the principle rather well.

You see, where adults tainted by years of existence and trying to remind themselves of, and regain, what they are due – children have a polar opposite approach and first claim what they think is rightfully theirs and the job is left to parents and caregivers to pry back what they can.  Kids expect to have a roof over their heads, food when they’re hungry, refreshment when they’re thirsty and the means to purchase whatever is required. A very ‘can-do’ attitude. Good for them – lifetime of management for us.

We are hardly allowed to say ‘bad words’ to our son never mind threaten him with his life (“Mom, only bad people say those words”). A friend of mine has a 6 year old who actually told her mom that she would be depriving her of an education if she didn’t allow her to go to school even if she has a cough!

When our 4 year old asks “do you love me?” we’ve also learnt that while replying with an affirmative ‘yes’  or ‘of course’ is not only short sighted on our part but also showing lack of insight gained in our nearly 5 years of parenting.  You see, when Michael does this he has generally been up to some sort of mischief or devil-may-care – and he knows it (the joys of being raised with a Catholic conscience)!

There was an incident when his dad threatened him with the wrath of mom for spraying pool water into the lounge. From behind the bedroom curtain there came a voice “mom, do you love me?”  to which I devotedly replied “yes, I love you very much”.  There was an audible sigh before he came happily traipsing through my room to his dad as if he was wearing an invisible force shield.

He has this innate sense that ‘someone’ should be looking out for him and that he is protected by some fundamental privileges. He is right. Isn’t that the premise of the declaration of human rights?

In our experience the article most requiring some effort to entrench would be the first one; it says that “all human beings are born with equal rights and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood”; you try explaining that to a toddler on a playground…

Happy Human Rights Day everyone!