Thursday, November 14, 2013

postheadericon The Key to a Successful Play Date


As a wonderful way for your child to make friends, cement current friendships and build their confidence as an individual, play dates are an essential part of day-to-day life. When they’re not at pre-school, nursery or big school, giving them the opportunity to catch up with their little mates either at home, or elsewhere, will help them to realise that friendships can go beyond the school playground.

If you have friends or family members with similar aged kids, or you’ve been part of a baby group or Netmums meetup, chances are you’ve already had plenty of opportunity to organize and attend play dates with people in a similar position. Whether a play date is a success or not depends largely on what your plans are – meeting up at a park or soft play centre, or meeting up at home, combined with plenty of other aspects, can help to mould the play date into a winner!

Setting a play date up in the first place can be a little difficult – you have to try and find a time that suits the people you’re asking, as well as yourself and, with busy lives, this can be easier said than done! Try and plan one in advance so that everyone can add it to their diaries and ensure not to double book themselves.

If you’re having the play date at your house, make sure that you set up various toys that will encourage social skills and interaction. Put away any toys that promote solo play so that your child will have every reason to mingle with their friends. Perhaps set up a little diorama with their stash of Imaginext and provide them with plenty of figures that will encourage them to share and play nicely. Boys will love to show off their medieval castle, knights and dragons to their new-found friends!

One of the main things that will make a play date run sour is the kids’ ability to share. After all, they’re still learning and, at a young age, they don’t understand the concept of sharing their toys as much as you’d like. Try and avoid this by providing them with options. Perhaps your little girl is fighting her little friend over the pushchair and baby – provide them with another, attractive option such as a spare pushchair, shopping trolley or baby swing. You get the picture!

Once they’re over the sharing issues, everything will be rosy. Kids are all about the fun and, with play dates, they have every reason to enjoy themselves!


Sunday, November 10, 2013

postheadericon Fathers Are Special


It is a common thought that fathers are special because they are the pillar of a family. A pillar! And that brings me to thinking that fathers really got a big role in a family unit. Lucky are those kids who have complete set of parents. They have a father and they also have a mother. For sure, you know that I am not talking about biological explanation. I cannot say, though, that those who have one set of parent only are unlucky ones. A single parent who plays both roles in rearing up children is really a tough job. I think it’s not gonna be a perfect parenting, but if it is really a situation where there is peace in the family, then single parenting can be a choice for the sake of a child/children. I love to see girls spending quality time with their dad. They don’t mean that they love their mothers less but I just knew that little girls share extra special bond with their father. A father who share wonderful father-daughter bond is an awesome dad.

What do you think?
 

postheadericon The Diamond Buying Guide


The perfect engagement requires the perfect engagement ring. If you are about to pop the big question, you are likely a bit nervous about finding that perfect fit for your loved one. Shopping for engagements rings can be overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. It should be fun! The following are some simple tips that will make your search as fruitful as possible.
Only Do Business with Reputable Sellers

Jewelry fraud is more common than you might think. Crooks have access to more realistic looking fake jewelry than ever, some of which are even difficult for experts to detect. Fake diamonds are among the most common fake gemstones, though they are often easily spotted. The majority of fake jewelry sales are perpetuated by individual scam artists that present themselves as experts or wholesalers. Jewelry businesses that sell poor quality, overpriced, or outright fake products typically don’t last long. Reputable jewelry businesses tend to stick around for a long time—choose a seller that is established and carries a good reputation. When in doubt, you can always hop online and do a little research.

Learn the Basics

For all their brilliance and value, diamonds are actually quite simple. Finding the best value for your buck only requires you to know the basics of how the diamond is graded and priced, known as “The Four C’s:”
  • Color. Diamonds come in a variety of colors, ranging from a blinding gray to pinks, yellows, and reds to the stunning colorless “white” diamond. The color of a diamond has a significant effect on its value, with certain colors such as pink and red carrying higher prices. A colorless or near colorless diamond is typically the most valuable white diamond, as they tend to produce the brightest shimmer and overall beauty. The value and price of a colored diamond may fluctuate according to current trends and popularity.
  • Carat. The weight of a diamond is measured in units of carats, which are named after the carob seed that was once used to weigh gemstones by traders. A diamond carat is exactly 0.2 grams, and has no correspondence to the carat measure used to weigh gold. For the most part a diamond’s value will rise according to the numbers of carats, though the other three C’s also factor in heavily. Size is not necessarily an indication of quality; certain heavier gemstones may be of poorer overall quality. 
  • Cut. The cut of a diamond refers to its shape; freshly mined diamonds are rock like and irregular until processed and cut by a jeweler. There are a wide variety of diamond cut styles, all of which are graded according to how light strikes the faces or “facets” of the diamond. While the grade of a cut has a significant effect on evaluation, larger stones with fairer cut grades will often cost more than smaller stones with more quality cuts. 
Friday, November 8, 2013

postheadericon American Girl "Saige" Doll Giveaway!


Here is another giveaway below mommy(ies)! This time it is American Doll named "Saige" as it has been said this doll is 2013 Girl of the Year! You may have to enter this giveaway below.

I first hear about American Doll from my Aunt M then later on from a co-blogger friend Mommy R. An aunt of mine has three lovely daughters and sure enough love American dolls. Whilst Mommy R has a her one and only cutie pretty little Princess who has couple of such and more coming. Yep, you're right, that's the story why I was enticed or wanted to have a doll like this for my one and only child, my daughter Sam (in the pic above, she was 15 months of this pic, now she's 2 years old and a month sometime next week). It would be awesome for her to have such. If you have a baby girl or daughter, who would not want such?
 

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