Blog Entries

The Screentime Dilemma

jayne@sunnydaysmagazine.org.au — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:35:58 +0100

I am a recent convert to the wonders of technology. As the editor of Sunny Days it’s important that I keep up to date with news and events – especially those which pertain to parents. One of the best ways to do this is by scouring the internet for information and trends that I can follow up on for our readers.

Part of my job is also helping to maintain this website, as well as flying the Sunny Days flag whenever I can so that as many parents as possible in our region will kn [...]

The New Witching Hour

jayne@sunnydaysmagazine.org.au — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:55:14 +0100

So, The Sunday Telegraph has discovered that there is a new 'witching hour' for mums of school-aged children. Well I couldn't agree with them more. In fact, I wrote about it on my Web Child blog eight months ago.

Now, I know it's a few days until most of our kids return to school so I don't want to thrust any of our readers into a premature nightmare, but perhaps my cautionary tale will actually help you to be a little more organised once that first day arrives. I know I'm going to tr [...]

Holidays and Bindi Irwin

jayne@sunnydaysmagazine.org.au — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 07:14:31 +0100

I’m just back from my summer holiday - the necessary punctuation mark at the end of a busy year - my first full one as editor of Sunny Days.

This is a job I love. I love the community which we are gradually building together. I love preparing our pages each month (right now we’re getting our February Back To School issue ready - and it’s looking good) and I love immersing myself in the puzzling, ex [...]

Promises, Promises

jayne@sunnydaysmagazine.org.au — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 06:47:55 +0100

It's that time of year again. The time when, in the aftermath of an indulgent silly season, we make ridiculous promises about the changes we are going to make to our daily lives. But for parents, pie-in-the-sky idealism is never a once-a-year proposition. Sometimes we need the promise of better times ahead just to get us through -whether through the crying-baby sleepless nights, the toddler tantrum days, the newly-discovered moods of our usually sweet-natured pre-teen or sim [...]

I’m Dreaming of a …

jayne@sunnydaysmagazine.org.au — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 01:21:48 +0100

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Well around our place, at least, it’s beginning to look a lot like our own particular ramshackle brand of festive frivolity. And, I’m telling you, it aint nothin’ like a department store catalogue!

I have always hankered after a Christmas which resembles one of those gorgeous glossy delights which fill the letterbox at this time of year. I’m talking about the deluxe edition – the stapled catalogue, with the wide format pages [...]

Cuteness is Universal

jayne@sunnydaysmagazine.org.au — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 22:29:12 +0100

As way of sharing some smiles this holiday season I simply must pass on something which I grabbed from my Twitter feed this morning.

There are lots of great mums and dads in my Twitter community and it's here that we share the minutiae of our parenting life. Maybe it's the funny thing our little one said, or the tantrum they threw or the small achievements they make. Sometimes we talk about how tired we are, what we're having for dinner, how the whole family has the 'flu, how the pare [...]

It's Beginning to Look a Lot...

jayne@sunnydaysmagazine.org.au — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:41:44 +0100

My seven-year-old son received his first Christmas card yesterday and FINALLY it feels like Christmas. I remember the excitement I got as a kid when people started handing out cards or indeed when I handed out my own. Should I write ‘love from’ to the boy I like? Who should I give the ‘best’ card - the one with the cute teddy bear in a Santa hat - to? These days some kids even give out cards with little candy canes attached. It's all part of the way kids get into the spirit. But for [...]

Book and Art - Kids Need 'em

jayne@sunnydaysmagazine.org.au — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:41:33 +0100

Last week I had the pleasure of heading out on the road with one of the Sunny Days teamsters – the lovely Annya. Together we went to visit some of the council facilities which provide activities for kids and parents in our region. We visited Carol at the Newcastle Regional Library, Fiona and Jo at The Swansea Library and Justin at the Lake Macquarie Art Gallery. They all welcomed us warmly.

One of the main reasons we were popping in was to let them know about our magazin [...]

Sunny Days and Body Image

jayne@sunnydaysmagazine.org.au — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:40:28 +0100

The media has been abuzz this week with talk about the link between magazines and negative body image and self-esteem in girls and women. The debate has been heated with passionate assertions on both sides. Some people believe that the cumulative effect of unrealistic images is definitely detrimental while others are of the ‘just don’t read magazines’ persuasion. You can read just a little of the media coverage here, here and here.

I even dipped my toe into the fray with a p [...]

Nothing to See Here

jayne@sunnydaysmagazine.org.au — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 06:31:17 +0100

A leading obstetrician has said that having dads in the birthing suite may lead to longer and more stressful labours. I think it's a very personal decision but this is how it went down for me and my husband when I had our babies.

My husband was not present at the birth of either of our two children. By ‘birth’ I mean the actual moment each child exited my person. Or, for the less euphemistic, he did not watch our kids’ heads emerge from my… no, I’m sorry, I’m a euphe [...]

In The Moment

jayne@sunnydaysmagazine.org.au — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:14:03 +0100

I am constantly assessing my ability and performance as a parent. Now that sounds as if my kids are my ‘project’ and I don’t think I’m like that (though I may have had some slightly deranged moments early in my ‘career’ when I thought my daughter would look cute dressed as a cuddly toy and photographed surrounded by dozens of other actual toys – but I digress). What I mean to say is that I am constantly wondering if I am a good mum, at the same time marking off the things I wi [...]

A Good Bad Mother

jayne@sunnydaysmagazine.org.au — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:23:01 +0100

Could there be a phrase any more emotionally charged – in the parenting sphere at least - than ‘bad mother’ ? Surely most of us - when we first find ourselves in the ‘family way’ - vow that we will do our very best to be a ‘good mother’. But what does that mean exactly? I once wrote about my struggle to define ‘good mother’ and I am surprised that my definition these days is quite different from that I started out with back in the day when [...]

Homebirth Law Update

jayne@sunnydaysmagazine.org.au — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 01:10:23 +0100

For those of you who have been following the homebirth discussion here on Sunny Days I thought we should give an update about the current state of affairs which have changed somewhat since my last post.

On the eve of the Mother of All Rallies (last Monday, Sept 7th) a political change of heart occurred. People power in practice? Probably.

As I was looking into the issue I also came across this article. It provides another perspective on the debate with an interesting conclusio [...]

It Isn’t Just About Homebirth, It’s About Choice

jayne@sunnydaysmagazine.org.au — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 02:22:35 +0100

You may have noticed quite a bit of coverage in the media recently about the issue of homebirth in Australia. I must admit that when I first saw the stories I skimmed over them because I thought, 'well, I’ve never had a homebirth and probably never will so this doesn’t apply to me'. Turns out there may be more at stake than just the right to a legal homebirth.

The basic story is this: due to government policy changes concerning insurances (you can read the full details online [...]

Sunny Days Loves Sunny Days

jayne@sunnydaysmagazine.org.au — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 09:51:08 +0100

I simply cannot let the recent spectacular weather pass by without commenting on it. Honestly, how fantastic is the region we live in?

I have travelled all over the world and I tell people who may not have been so fortunate that our local landscape is as breathtaking as you will find anywhere on the planet. Our wide expanses of golden beach, our lakes - which on a nice day sparkle so invitingly - our parklands and our wine regions - just to name a few - are the kind of vistas which w [...]

Building a Village

jayne@sunnydaysmagazine.org.au — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 00:58:05 +0100

I have been overwhelmed by the number of enquiries from parents – both mums and dads – about a couple of recent Letters to the Editor featured in Sunny Days Magazine. The first was back in May when Stacey wrote to me. She spoke about a wonderful new friendship she had made with another mum. She wrote: “Like me, Kelly had moved from Sydney to Newcastle two years earlier – leaving behind much-needed support. We went for coffee and a friendship was born.”

In July we featured a [...]

Motherchef

jayne@sunnydaysmagazine.org.au — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 02:25:40 +0100

Were you one of the 152 000 viewers in the Hunter who watched the Masterchef finale? Or maybe you’re a Central Coast viewer and homie of the winner, Julie Goodwin. Were you sobbing like me when she took the crown? Did you have friends over as you watched the final ‘cook-off’? This week, have you been oddly bereft when 7pm rolls around and you are salivating but don’t know why? Forget the swine flu pandemic, we’re all in recovery from Masterchef fever.

I missed the first week [...]

Mercy Breastmilk Bank - The Milk of Human Kindness

jayne@sunnydaysmagazine.org.au — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:39:58 +0100

When Actress Salma Hayek breastfed a baby which was not her own (read why she did it here)during a trip to Sierra Leone as part of her work for UNICEF in February this year, it made headlines around the world and highlighted the practice of cross-feeding.

Wet-nursing, cross-feeding or cross-nursing is nothing new. One story told often in my husband’s family is about how his Nan fed sick babies because she had so much milk after the birth of her second child, John. I chatted with my [...]

Sunny Days Gets Social

jayne@sunnydaysmagazine.org.au — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:59:08 +0100

This month I have been doing some research for our July 'Technology' issue and have found myself immersed in the phenomenon of online social media - Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, it is now impossible to ignore the impact and influence of these (and other) networking sites.

I didn't grow up with computers and had the usual resistance to embracing new technologies. But I must say I am now a convert to the online world. What I love about Facebook is that it is the perfect communication sna [...]

Cover Kid Winner Announced

jayne@sunnydaysmagazine.org.au — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 23:05:28 +0100

Some parts of my job I love. I love delving into the issues which affect us as parents. I love reading the fabulous books which come my way from Australian publishers and then letting our readers know what's out there. I love hearing that local mums and dads are reading and enjoying our magazine. I love telling the winners of our competitions that they have won a prize - I nearly always get back an email saying, "Thanks so much. My kids will be thrilled". These are the things which make my wo [...]