Quality Time: A Music Jam Session

It’s the 28^th of January and I wake up with mixed feelings....it’s 3 days until Chloe my eldest starts Prep, beginning with her Orientation Day tomorrow. Will she be ok? Will she be happy? Will she be ok without a rest time during the day? So many questions....yet she is so excited....STOP.....I need to stop and make the most of this time with her at home. So I look at her and Jack, my 2 year old and decide to have a fun time with music.

So out comes the box of musical instruments that have been slowly collected over the years, a drum, tambourine, xylophone, an array of bells, whistle, recorder, clickety clack and maracas to name a few. Then we need some background music on. Chloe quickly chooses Hey Now You’re An All Star from Shrek. So we pump up the music and have a jam session. With no one else home, my inner child comes out and we bounce around the lounge room dancing and playing the instruments....so much fun!!

After several songs Jack loses interest and Chloe wants to sing. Knowing that ‘mummy’ was always in the Choir at school and that she is going to join the Prep Choir this year, she asks mummy for a princess singing session. So on goes the Disney CD.....Beauty and The Beast, Colours of the Wind and a new song to us – When Will My Life Begin? from Tangled, which I have quietly become obsessed with. Thanks to Google we could quickly find the lyrics for this beautiful song and the singing continued.  So there we are singing at the top of our voices, having the time of our life.

So why am I writing about this experience? Because it’s an example of being a fun parent utilising quality time. Letting my hair down, letting the inner child out, being a child all over again with my two beautiful children who are non judgmental and love every minute of it – that’s what being a parent is about!

Of course there are serious sides to parenting and with the increasing stress of everyday life, we are all time limited.....but every parent can find a few minutes each day to have some fun quality time with their children.  Make it an essential part of your daily routine.....our children grow up so quickly....don’t let yourself miss these important years!

A Welcome To Beta Kidz: Who We Are and Why?

It's clearly time to add a blog to our site! I did try a few years ago, but the poor blog was neglected....so cheers to a better, kept up-to-date blog!!

First off......what is Beta Kidz? http://www.betakidz.com.au
Beta Kidz Consultancy was launched in 2005, when after gaining several qualifications and several years working in early childhood teaching, child protection, counselling and nannying; I noticed a gap in the market. The gap was a place where parents could gain solutions for their individual parenting concerns, but with a supportive counselling approach integrated.
From numerous nannying positions and from my early childhood teaching, it was clear that I had an ability to solve parenting problems and work with parents in a supportive manner, especially in relation to behavioural concerns, sleep problems, early learning, eating issues and so on.
So following lots of consideration Beta Kidz was launched initially as an in-home service providing the service throughout Sydney. Word of mouth was my key marketing strategy and the results I was achieving were so exciting.

Then in 2007 - a very exciting year - I got married and had my first child, Chloe. How was I going to be a stay at home mum and continue my love of working with families? That's when I decided to trial an online service - YES it worked! I offered Parenting Help and Counselling via webcam and email. 

In 2010 this was joined by an Online Parenting Course which parents do via email over 4 weeks. This includes topics such as sleep concerns, a 99% success rate behavioural management strategy, early learning ideas, keys to easy parenting, etc. This proved to be SOOOO popular and soon become our most popular service. Mums, Dads, Grandparents, Carers....everyone was interested, including a lot of single parents needing parenting courses behind them for court.

In October 2010 we were joined by our second child, Jack. A beautiful-natured caring little boy. So my journey continued working with parents online and also over the phone. Around this time my husband, Stephen and I had to make some big life decisions, where did we want to live long-trem, where could we afford to live long-term and where did we want our children to go to school? Following lots of consideration it was decided we would move to Brisbane where I grew up and that the children would go to the exclusive private school I attended. So in 2011 we relocated from Sydney to Brisbane.

At the commencement of 2012 I got itchy feet and wanted a break from the continual need to advertise in the right ways to reach the parents who needed 'saving'. So as Chloe commenced Kindy, I settled Jack into child care which was a gut wrenching experience and I went back into the 'workforce' as a Family Counsellor for a Family Intervention Service. The work combined my extensive parenting experience with my child protection knowledge and experience.  It was a great experience and I loved the work, but it was a 50 minute drive to and from work, the days were long and I was missing my children terribly.  I generally dropped them off in the morning and Stephen picked them up most days, but they were still in care for many hours per day.
Yes, putting your children in care is something so many people either want to do or have to do and that is their personal choice. But for me something didn't sit right. I had always wanted to actively be in my children's lives during the day until they went to school. And I am certainly not posing this is the only way and what everyone should do, but for me it is the right thing to do for my family. Whilst quality time is essential and more important than quantity in parenting, I had a decision to make....or should I say, we (Stephen and I) had a big decision to make.

So in late 2012 the decision was made I would go back to working with Beta Kidz (which I was really missing), Jack would be pulled out of childcare and Chloe would no longer have to go to before and after kindy care and vacation care. I was back to being the mum I wanted to be - a work from home mum! Now some people may be thinking, well aren't you lucky you can do that! Well.....it's much harder than that, Stephen and I have had to make numerous sacrifices for this to work and to maintain Chloe's education at a private school. It is about priorities, and everyone is different and no one is right or wrong, however for us, we would prefer to sacrifice many things in life for me to be able to work from home so I can be with our darling 2 children, we have put that before owning a home, eating out regularly and so on. 

So yes, now it's 2013 and Beta Kidz is back into the swing and is offering a NEW and AMAZING service. In 2012 I trained as a facilitator in several parenting programs, one being 1-2-3 Magic Behaviour & Emotion Coaching. This program rocks! It is the #1 American Child Discipline Program, it is growing fast in Australia as a MAGIC program that is not only highly effective, but simple too! So Beta Kidz is now teaching parents the 1-2-3 Magic Behaviour and Emotion Coaching approach. This is done both in-home (Gold Coast & Brisbane), but most popular by Online Webinars. These are seminars through your computer. So basically you book in the dates you wish to attend (it includes 6 hours, 3 lots of 2 hour sessions), I post you the course materials which includes your workbook with all the necessary information in it and a special magnet for the program and then at the agreed time you listen to the webinar through your computer speakers or headset. Groups are kept small to allow for a question and answer session at the end. There is much more information on our website - but 1-2-3 Magic rocks!!

So that's a snippet from 2005 to us now in 2013.....our aim is to engage with as many parents as possible to ensure you are enjoying the joys of parenting - you deserve it!!  

My aim for this blog from here on is to share with you some exciting moments of my life, some treasured moments with my husband and 2 beautiful children but most of all some drops in the ocean ideas of how to get the most out of your parenting and suggestions for you to adopt.

I welcome emails and contact through our contact us form on our website.  

Thanks for reading and enjoy the rest of your day.

Aimee @ Beta Kidz x