Archive for July, 2011

by Joy Dembo, married, with an 18 year old son and a 25 year old daughter.  Addicted to the www, particularly Twitter. Recruitment Response Handling Consultant and Freelance Copywriter, vegetarian and animal lover. Visit her blog.

Super 8, Spielberg’s new Sci-fi movie is reminiscent of Blockbusters such as ET and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  Although, not quite as spectacular, Super 8 will keep you glued to the screen until all is revealed at the end.

Five Ohio school friends decide to make a monster movie on an 8 mm camera, in the summer of 1978.  Filming one evening at a remote railway station,  they witness a catastrophic train crash, whichnot only interrupts the sequence they are shooting, but almost ends up killing them, as carriages derail and fly into the small wooden station building.  Luckily the six manage to escape physically unscathed, but soon realize, to their dismay, that the train wreck was not an accident.

Soon afterwards a series of strange disappearances and unexplained events in town, lead the children,  and the town Deputy, to investigate and uncover a terrifying military conspiracy that rocks the very fabric of this close-knit community.

The central character is Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney), who is struggling to come to terms with the death of his mother and trying to make sense of the relationship he now has with his grieving and bitter dad.  His friends are Charles (Riley Griffith), the chubby, and hilarious, movie producer; Cary (Ryan Lee) who is a certified pyromaniac: Martin (Gabriel Basso) and the beautiful and wicked Alice (Elle Fanning, who is the sister of Dakota). They are a typical bunch of happy-go-lucky American kids, amusing themselves during the summer vacation, until the train wreck changes their lives forever.

Brilliant performances by all five make this movie funny, sad, scary and nail biting until the last credits roll!

Very young kids won’t get it, but everyone else will love it, especially if you are a fan of Science Fiction movies.

The movie opens on 29 July, so make a point of taking the older kids to see it this weekend.

If  you haven’t discovered it yet, Jozikids.co.za is the most up to date and detailed resource for parents in entire Gauteng region to find what you need including events, activities, venues and lessons.  You’ll also find our mobi site on your cell phone when you search for Jozikids.

Here are a couple of events and activties you can do with your family this week.
In Centurion, theres a family friendly restaurant with a play area and section for kids to make their own pizzas called the Purple Cow. They’ve organized a True Italian Cooking  Evening on Saturday Aug 6th . You’ll learn about making sauces, pastas – the cook is author Tossie Lochner who will have samples of her sauces for sale plus a book with some of the recipes she  will make. The whole family is welcome

Every Friday and Saturday night,  Lakeside Mall in Benoni organizes:

Kiddies Craft Evenings Its an enclosed supervised area where the kids can create while you enjoy a meal at one of their restaurants.

Rocky Ridge Estate This venue has a play park, fantasy minitown and road safety traffic area. It’s a place you can take your family for a day trip with a picnic basket , they also have a braai area – Booking is essential
as they also organise kids parties, educational outings and many other functions.
So phone before you go but it sounds like a great self catered family outing .

If you or your  kids want to ride a train theres:

Mini Steam Trains open days, Florida Park, Aug 7,21.

Reefsteamers to Magaliesburg, Parktown, Aug 6,9,27 .

Tshwane Xplorer at Friends of the Rail, Pretoria, ,Aug 9.

If you haven’t discovered it yet, Jozikids.co.za is the most up to date and detailed resource for parents in entire Gauteng region to find what you need including events, activities, venues and lessons.  You’ll also find it on your cell phone when you search for Jozikids.

As schools re-open for the 2nd half ot the year, many parents are looking for extra tuition services.  We have  a long list of tutors on Jozikids that cover any subject you need help with throughout the Gauteng region. Most of them also offer free assessments to help identify your child’s specific problems.

Here’s a sampling of the bigger companies such as:

Penguin Tutoring provides one on one tuition in the comfort and convenience of your home, at times that suit you and your child for learners from the age of 4,  to under- and post graduates, or even middle aged people wanting to upgrade their skills. They also assist with preparation for supplementary exams, university entrance exams, as well as regular consistent tuition.

Other one on one tuition centres offering similar services are –  Education Matters, Achievers Extra Lessons

Master Maths has over 40  tuition centres throughout the region offering maths/ accounting tutoring from Gr 4-12.

Kumon Education operates centres for group classes where each student learns at their own level with special material designed by Kumon for improving Maths and Language Skills

Miki Maths Magic based mainly in Pretoria offers curriculum based extra maths at schools for kids fromat schools  for kids from 3-10years at very reasonable rates

Family Friendly  Theatre and Musicals this week.

In Johannesburg
Alice In Her Wonderland Peoples Theatre, Braamfontein, until Aug 7
Thoroughly Modern Millie with Northcliff High, Auckland Park, Jul 27-30.
Rough Diamonds & Divas at Barnyard Theatre, Cresta, until Aug 28.

Pays tribute to the gravelly voices of popular music with the likes of Joe Cocker, Neil Diamond, Tina Turner, Bonnie Tyler, Cher and a few more surprises.

In Pretoria
The Final Countdown Barnyard Theatre Menlyn, Pta, until Aug 28.
Journey through the swinging sixties, disco seventies, diverse 80′s and rocking 90′s, to the year 2000 & beyond,

On the East Rand
Night Fever at Barnyard Theatre, Boksburg, until Aug 28.Jive to tunes from The Jackson 5, The Bee Gees, Village People, Rod Stewart, Kool and the Gang, The Pointer Sisters, Saturday Night Fever, The Grease Soundtrack and many more.

If you’ve never visited the Barnyard Theatre – it’s a great venue for a group outing – you can bring your  own food which you can enjoy during the show.Parties, family gatherings. They’re all there and its great fun.

Recipes supplied by  Richard Rust, a fabulous, 5 star trained, gourmet chef. He has cooked for, amongst others, British royalty, Woolworths and written for Taste magazine. His company Gourmet Gurus caters for children’s parties; lunch boxes; private/corporate functions and dinner parties.

Replace the carrot with butternut if you prefer, this soup is great for freezing so make a large batch and have some ready at a moment’s notice, if you prefer a spicier taste replace the cardamom with curry powder.

Serves: 4
Preparation Time : 10 min
Cooking Time : 45 min

Ingredients:

Small knob of butter
2 small onion, peeled and finely diced
300gm carrots or butternut, peeled and finely diced
pinch ground cardamom
2tsp cake flour
600ml water
4tbsp coconut milk
2tbsp lemon juice
4tsp vegetable stock
Pinch salt
pinch light brown sugar
Small pinch black pepper
1tsp maizena mixed with water

Method:

• In a pan melt the butter; add onion, and butternut. Cook until onions are soft without browning.
• Add cardamom and flour, cook for 2minutes
• Slowly add some water to make a thin roux, add remaining water, coconut milk, lemon juice and stock, bring to a boil.
• Add salt, sugar and pepper.
• Whisk in maizena and cook for 30minutes or until carrots are soft.
• Stick blend until completely smooth, bring back to boil and serve

by Kerry Esterhuizen, tutor for Penguin Tutoring, avid reader. She has a BA in Psychology, English &Honours in English Literature. Her special skills involve essay and exam writing techniques.

We live in a world of instantaneous communication – and instant demands. The report you were told to write today was due yesterday, your boss has scheduled seven meetings for the same hour, and you still have to find time to pick up the kids from school, help them with their homework and make a dinner everyone will eat and which is still nutritious.

Pause for a moment. Have I made your heart race? Yes, your life is, probably, fuller than that of your kids, but believe me when I say that they’re as panic-stricken regarding what in their lives goes where. There’s school, sport, homework, test preparation, the school play, extra-curricular activities and nagging mums, shouting dads and difficult teachers to placate. And, on top of all this, there are friends to fight and make up with, parties to go to and the right outfit to find.

In order to get around to everything, without allowing anything to fall by the wayside, children, and definitely teenagers, have to learn organisation.  It is a very necessary skill – one that they will need throughout their lives. So why not prepare your child to be organised now?

First and foremost, let your children organise themselves. I firmly believe that we learn by doing. Buy them a homework diary. Insist they write in it. Check that they’re doing so, if necessary. Ultimately, however, if you’re running your child’s life for them, what reason do they have to learn how to do it themselves?

Assist them in learning how to plan. If working on a large project, they can break it up into manageable bits, and complete each task they’ve assigned themselves. Don’t make them use it purely for homework – let them write down what events they have when, so that they can see that leaving studying until the Thursday before a Friday Maths test is probably not a good idea if they have rehearsals for Hamlet until late on Thursday evening.

If they are inclined to forget about what’s over the page,  a desk calendar can be a good idea – with a monthly planner they can see what’s due when at a glance. Remind them to fill in *everything*. This includes Suzi’s party on Saturday.

Don’t fall for the “planning fallacy”. People have a tendency to underestimate the amount of time it will take them to complete a task.  Encourage them to allow for triple the time they think a project will take them. If they finish with time to spare, that extra time should be theirs – this way, good planning is rewarded.

Flexibility should be promoted: starting early on any given task will allow for Eskom to cut the power – or give them the time to counsel their best friend through a crisis.

Lastly, warn them not to spend so much time organising their lives that no time is left in which to do the actual work. What good is a beautiful schedule that can’t be followed due to time constraints?

Franscois Bezuidenhout, M.Mus (WITS) owner/director/originator of the Phoenix Benedict Music Academy offering  personalized music tuition from pre-school to adult.

Pre-Schoolers often overwhelm adults with their uninhibited energy, exuberant opinions and short attention span. A great way to foster aninterest in creativity with your Pre-Schooler is through music.

We all use music/musac in different ways to enhance our experience of a specific moment. Why give Barney or Hannah Montana the whole stage when we can also use music in different ways to enhance the bond we have with our little ones?

I have found that parents who join in on their little one’s private music lesson, seem to have a fun, bonding time together while learning about music. But you don’t have to know music theory to be able to apply some aspects with innovation and ease.

Here are some examples of how you could use music and even your own voice to foster your little one’s sonic awareness and creativity:

1) Pick songs with a happy mood, faster tempo and higher register-bound instruments e.g. violins, piano, flute, saxophone, lead guitar (electric), acoustic guitar (picked) and soprano voices. These higher based instruments are picked up easily by the little one and you can ask him/her to imitate the sound they’re hearing. Normally most of Mozart’s music has a happy mood associated with it, and it’s a great choice to introduce little ones to the classics (try Mozart’s String Divertimenti: ‘Eine Kleine Nacht Musik’).

2) Children respond to the mood of the music more so than to the content of the words. This means that the songs you listen to in the car should preferably be of a happy disposition (e.g. Tina Turner’s ‘Simply the best’, but not Celine Dion’s ‘All by myself’). It’s also an educational and fun activity to try identify all the instruments in a song by either trying to mimic the way they sound and to let the other family members figure out which instrument is being mimicked or to ask the little one whether the song is sad or happy, and why?

3) Sing songs that you and the little one can make up on the spot. A fun(and creative) way to get ready for bed is to use an existing lullaby and to change the words to some really silly words: e.g. ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star How I wonder what you are’ can become ‘Close your eyes my baby bright, drift away in Sleep’s delight’ or ‘Blip blip blong blong cling cling clong Djupy Djupy Chang Chang rippy rippy Dong’.

4) The same principle can be applied with Nursery Rhymes. Singing is a great activity for the little one at this age. It’s not so much the accuracy of the notes but the development of the inner ear that makes singing a valuable aspect in developing sonic awareness, melodic structure and rhythmic patterns.

Try something musical today with your little one. Remember, it has to be fun and not hard work!

Its Mandela Day on Monday 18th and we want to encourage your listeners to think about honouring this day by giving to children in need in our community. We have identified 15 charities on Jozikids that help children who live on the streets, have been abandoned, abused, orphaned or with disabilities,  that desperately need your help. We have published this list for you to choose who you would like to support. Just click on the name of the charity and you will find a page with their wish list.  There are so many ways to help – by volunteering, financial donations or donations in kind.

In Johannesburg

The Teddy Bear Clinic for Abused Children

On the East Rand

hArt Day Centre uplifting street children through art.

In Pretoria

Events not to be missed:
Coming up in August, not to be missed in honour of the man himself:
Mandela Trilogy: Musical tribute Montecasino, Fourways, Aug 13-19.

and

A Pocket Oliver Twist at National Children’s Theatre,Jhb, til Jul 23.
Alice In Her Wonderland Peoples Theatre, Braamfontein, until Aug 7.

by Sarah Mendell who  moved to South Africa from NYC in 2008 and works for Jo’burg Child Welfare

On a cold winter morning, Friday the 10th of June, twenty creche-aged children gathered together in the cozy kitchen at Little Cooks Club in Fairland. They came to take part in a  new initiative launched by Jo’burg Child Welfare, called Kids for Kids.  What is Kids for Kids? It’s any fun-filled event attended by equal parts underprivileged kids from Jo’burg Child Welfare and privileged kids from the greater Johannesburg area. On this particular morning, ten children came from around Johannesburg to join hands—and cook!—with ten children from Elton John Masibambisane Centre for Orphaned and Vulnerable Children, a project of Jo’burg Child Welfare (JCW).

What is Kids for Kids about? It’s about bringing together kids of different backgrounds. For our more privileged children, it’s about introducing them to the idea of social responsibility at a young age. For our less privileged children, it’s about introducing them to a whole new world outside their normal realm of activity. It’s about encouraging kids, no matter what their backgrounds, to engage in worthwhile activities in the area of sports, arts, culture, etc. It’s also about giving businesses the opportunity to get involved in a really hands-on and meaningful way.

Little Cooks Club was gung-ho about the initiative from the start. Not only did the organizers agree to host an event immediately, but they said no-way to class fees and instead asked each of the more privileged kiddies (with help from mom or dad) buy a pair of pyjamas for each of the less privileged kiddies from Jo’burg Child Welfare.

“Kids are so generous with each other at that age (3-6 years). They have very little concept of race or social status. They children but I think the morning had just as much of an effect on the adults as it did the kids.”

The JCW children who attended the event come from “Masibambisane”, on of the organisation’s centres. Every day Masibambisane opens its doors to over two hundred children in Eldorado Park. These are kids who have been infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. Most of them come from child-headed households or are looked after by unemployed gogos. Masibambisane provides food parcels for the children on a monthly basis and psycho-social support on a daily basis. In the mornings it provides the kids a hot breakfast before school, and in the afternoons it provides a safe space for sport and art activities.

The children baked macaroni and cheese and followed their main meal up with a delicious homemade chocolate bread pudding. At the end of the day, all the children left with yummy food, new friends, and memories to last a life time.

For more about Kids for Kids please contact Sarah at fundraising@jhbchildwelfare.org.za

by Walter  Pike, father of 3,  a  writer, thinker, broadcaster, public speaker on how marketing has changed in the social world. Visit him on walterpike.net

I was transported away again and again this past week as I watched all but one of the six performances of the absolutely enchanting season of the Johannesburg Youth Ballet’s Peter Pan: The Ballet. “It was a magical performance, “good enough to tour” said a prominent ballet personality and not just as a youth performance but good enough to compete with a professional company.

A friend of mine told me that one of her companions had asked “Gee – how old is Walter’s daughter?” and was absolutely amazed to find that she is only 13 and the same age as the young artiste dancing as Tinkerbelle, they appeared so accomplished and so mature. In fact it’s a huge shock to realise when they leave the stage that these are only children.

The Joburg Youth Ballet is a not for profit body run as a professional Ballet Company. The dancers are the best of Jozi who have all been auditioned for their membership. There is also an outreach program that brings in talented dancers from the Kasi. Its been around for 35 years and totally ignored the political issues of race from day one, in fact was the first completely non- racial group to represent South Africa overseas.

Peter Pan is the Johannesburg Youth Ballet ‘s(JYB) own ballet, based on J.M. Barrie’s fantastic story of Peter Pan.  It was specially choreographed by it’s famous alumni Mark Hawkins, with artistic director alumni Kate Martins and used the beautiful music composed by Gerry Bosman for the UCT Ballet and which had not been heard for 30 years until the hand written score was unearthed for the show

But those are just facts.

Day after day and hour after hour I could not help be taken on a journey of fantasy as Peter Pan flew off, as Tinkerbelle died and was brought back to life by the audience reaffirming their belief in fairies clapping and words ” I do believe in fairies! I do! I do” being shouted from the audience in deep mature male voice. The meetings of red Indian’s and pirates, the pitched battle on the pirate ship fought with swords and a teddy bear, and the enchanting mermaids dance.

This show was a triumph for South Africans and the youth of the adolescent mining town that Johannesburg still is. It proves that there a seam of talent to match the richest gold seams underground.

The picture in this article is of my daughter Kathryn. I know that its not just that its “your job as a Dad” as she teases me that makes me miss the rush to the UJ arts centre theatre each evening. I think its simply because in truth “All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust.”

HOW TO SUPPORT THIS  VERY WORTHY CAUSE

Email  walterpike@me.com or
like their page on Facebook and  find out more about how you can help.

by Karen Oliver, a single mom of 3 with a great sense of humour , takes her role as mother to heart and makes every day in her chaotic tribe purposeful. Follow her on twitter or facebook for quirks on her tell-it-all life.

I am most probably the worst, yet the best person to ask about dating and relationships as a single mom.  Worst because I am still single after many a failed relationship, and best because I have learnt some very hard lessons in my search for a life partner.

The truth is Love comes from within, it is not an external object which is to be found somewhere out there in the world.  It starts with real self love! If you cannot accept yourself for who you are exactly, now in this moment, then your love cannot extend to others.

When we open our hearts to love, we become vulnerable. It is therefore important to set some boundaries in this regard, not only to protect our own hearts, but more importantly to protect our kids.  Remember that their view of relationships starts at home. I have to admit that I have not been the example I always wanted to be for my kids. So finally at 38 and after  another abusive relationship last year I decided to play a more active role by doing the following:

1. REFLECTION: Reflecting on all of your relationships with specific focus on your failed relationships.  Determining the real issues and LETTING GO through forgiveness! The most challenging action for me was to forgive myself completely for allowing wrong people into my own and my kids’ lives.

2. VISION: Spend time dreaming of your perfect life partner.  Write down the qualities you need and want in a life partner, and very importantly, a role model for your kids.  It is necessary to distinguish between ‘must haves’ and ‘nice to haves’.  This piece of paper (mine is a flipchart page stuck on my wall) is a living piece of paper. As your own outlook on relationships evolves, you can and must adjust this profile.

3. SEARCH AND FIND and DATING: Make the time and infiltrate the right networks. Remember that ‘dating’ is not a relationship. Real relationship ‘dating’ involves two people who get to know each other without the involvement of romantic intimacy or sex.  By bringing sex  into your ‘dating’ process too early, you are allowing it to drive your relationship, and the foundation of the solid relationship is tainted. Only involve your kids when you are sure that the dating process will evolve to a real relationship based on your ‘must have’ criteria.

4. DO NOT COMPROMISE THE MUST HAVE’S: or you will continue to draw in men who will be unreliable in offering you what you require as a woman and as a mother.  Understand that the blame will be all yours, resulting in more heart break, healing time and letting go.

I wish you all a very blessed time to reflect on your relationships, the impact this has had on your life as a single mom, as well as your kids’ view on relationships – it can have a profound effect on their future.