Win a Copy of Don Burke's Kid's Gardening Adventure Kit
Kid's Garden Adventures - Don Burke
We have 3 copies of this book for adventurous kids and their parents. Includes a garden trowel, to dig and plant, a compass to track the sun with a ruler to measure seedlings and a special UV torch to explore nightlife and animal markings.
RRP $19.95.
aKate is Athletic, Dance and Fitness apparel for girls and they are giving away 2 aKate tops, 3/4 leggings, bike pants and 2 headbands valued at over $100! This Gold Coast children's athletic wear business offers a stylish, practical option for girls to wear to dance, gymnastics, cheerleading, athletics, netball, tennis, softball, hockey, soccer, volleyball, track and field from sizes 4 to 14.
Duke of London 2013 Autumn/Winter collection
Duke of London have just launched their 2013 Autumn/Winter collection 'Sake, The Little Cherokee Indian' inspired by strength, honour, family and love. To celebrate this launch they are giving a Coast Kids GC reader a chance to win a $100 virtual voucher to shop at their online store.
Duke of London is designed and manufactured in Australia and offers soft cotton knits, pinwale corduroy, chambray washed denims and more gorgeous gear for the little one in your life.
It’s really not that far from hitting a ball on the school yard wall to the hallowed courts of Wimbledon – not when you have determination, a whole heap of talent, and two parents who support and nurture your love of the game.
Kimberley Birrell, 12 and brother, Cade, 10, are two rising stars of tennis, eager to gain the skills and finesse it will take to challenge the world’s best.
From the age of three, both of these engaging children started playing tennis, mixed with a youngster’s love of other activities like gymbaroo and outdoor fun. But their passion for tennis shines, and has impressed their parents and peers. The list of achievements and career highlights at their young age is too long to list, although reigning as the under 12 singles championship in Italy last year is something Kim will always cherish.
Now students at Queensland Independent College and Coomera Anglican College, this brother-sister duo is living proof you can pursue a dream and seize every other opportunity around you. Here, Kimberley and Cade offer some insight into the theory that with a lot of hard work, positivity and your eye on the prize, you can reach your goals!
What do you want to be when you grow up?
Kimberley – I want to be a professional tennis player.
Cade – I want to be number one in the world in tennis.
What is a typical week of training for you?
Kimberley – I would train most weekdays, about an hour and a half Mondays through Fridays and I have a match on Saturdays.
Cade – Usually I train after school for a couple hours, three days a week, and Saturday I have some time mucking around with Dad.
Is your Dad your coach?
Kimberley – Yes, he does coach me and also Jeff Masters (who happens to be a Wimbledon doubles champion and holds three Australian Open Double titles and One US Open Mixed title)
Cade – Yes, both Dad and Jeff coach me too.
What is your biggest motivator?
Kimberley – I just love tennis. It’s a family game and we all have fun playing it together.
Cade – tennis is in our family, my grandparents played, my mum, my dad and my sister. We all have fun playing it.
What are your tips for reaching success?
Kimberley – try your hardest and give your best effort. Always be up for it – be prepared to just do it.
Cade – Work hard and be up for the challenge.
If you could share some wisdom with youngsters wanting to get involved in tennis, what would you tell them?
Both – take lessons and practise, practise, practise.
Who is your hero?
Kimberley – Samantha Stosur, who actually trains here at Tennis Plus at Queens Park, Jamila Groth and Kim Clysters.
Cade – Roger Federer, Lleyton Hewitt and Novak Djokovic.
Who is your favourite singer/song?
Kimberley – Taylor Swift, Our Song.
Cade – Bruno Mars, Grenade.
What is your favourite book?
Kimberley – Tomorrow When the War Began series by John Marsden.
Cade – Geronimo Stilton books.
What do you do for fun besides tennis?
Kimberley – I read, swim and hang out with my friends.
Cade – I read and play wii.
If you couldn’t be a tennis player when you grow up, what would you be?
Kimberley – I would like to be a journalist.
Cade – I will be a tennis player.
What is your secret to being so motivated?
Cade – you have to enjoy it and just love it!
For more information on how you or your family can get involved in tennis contact Tennis Plus at Queens Park www.queensparktennis.com.au
My twins are at an age where they pick things up very quickly. In fact, their learning skills are both extremely surprising and a little scary.
From Rhapsody fetching and trying to fit keys into locks, to Gypsy constructing a ladder to overcome her inability to reach doorknobs, the girls are a constant source of amazement given their age.
But there are times when their observational ability isn’t all smiles and roses. Take the other day. It had been a wonderful day with the girls, but they had hit that witching hour full-on and were impersonating terrorists just as their mummy got home.
Tired and frustrated, I pleaded with them to behave, “Come on girls – you’ve been so good today. Don’t ruin it now by being little ships right at the end”.
But, of course, it wasn’t “ships”. My word was naughty, rather than nautical.
And guess which single word, out of those twenty, Gypsy chose to repeat.
Loudly.
Her Mummy didn’t know whether to yell at me, or laugh at her.
Yes, now I know not to make a big deal out of it, otherwise this guarantees that my child will make it her favourite word. Of course, I know this from experience as the only other time a gem slipped past my lips, the word was forgotten as soon as it was uttered.
Not this time. She randomly blurted it out for the rest of the evening and despite our affected obliviousness it continued the next day.
My favourite part was in aisle 7 of Coles as a little old lady was cooing over what a pretty girl she is.
So it appears I have to accept that having curious and intelligent children means having to be very aware of my every action and word.
But as for my baby girls’ ears remaining pure? It seems that ship has sailed.
Easter is a special time of year when children anticipate the Easter Bunny, religious devotees celebrate ‘new life’, and a well-earned holiday is had by all. However, many parents are well aware that happy children often face the ‘sugar blues’ after consuming their Easter delights. The ‘sugar blues’ refers to that ecstatic state your child enters shortly after eating sweet foods, which is closely followed by irritability, tantruming and dismal deeds! Yes, we love to surprise our children with Sunday morning
Easter Bunny gifts, but I’m sure most would agree that the behavioural lows that follow the sugar highs can be equally as dramatic.
Long ago, our ancestors’ bodies were mainly fuelled by plant foods: vegetables, leaves, roots, bark, nuts and fungi, and milk and meat if they were lucky. In most ancient civilisations, eating honey, fruits, sweet plants, and insects such as ‘honey ants’, were a rarity and a treat. The scarcity didn’t matter though: people’s bodies functioned well and children had abundant energy.
Humans are designed to function on glucose, a simple sugar which doesn’t need to come solely from sweet foods. Our bodies have specialised functions dedicated to supplying this energy source from the diet. For instance, complex carbohydrates, and sometimes fats and proteins, are broken down and converted into a steady flow of blood glucose. We are also equipped with energy storage areas, such as glycogen and fat, to draw upon in times of need.
A few hundred years after the first Easter, early historical recordings reported ‘a reed which gives honey without bees’: cane sugar. It took centuries for the fame of sugar to spread throughout the Old World. When agriculture expanded during the industrial era, cane sugar became readily accessible and cheap to buy. It quickly evolved from being an occasional food to a regular in modern food recipes.
There is a sinister reason why sugar has exploded in popularity has bloomed at an insatiable rate. Due to a biochemical reaction in the human body, sugar is addictive. There is a neurological pathway from the mouth up to the brain’s ‘happy registry’, also referred to as the ‘pleasure centre’ or the ‘reward centre’. Drugs find their way there unaided; sugar forges a highway along the same route.
When consumed, blood glucose levels dramatically rise and the brain’s pleasure centre is stimulated, resulting in energy, exuberance and a sense of gratification. But soon these levels fall to a significantly lower point, leaving people reeling (and children squealing) for more. This emotional cycle creates a physical routine of people ‘fixing’ with sugar foods to avoid feeling low.
It is commonly understood that most habits start early in life, so it is of interest that scientists record children’s tastebuds perceive sweetness more quickly and of higher intensity than adults. (Parents, for your information: alcohol is basically sugar.)
Our bodies are not designed to process sugar in large quantities on a regular basis. Eventually, the systems controlling energy conversion within the body can become exhausted, and the long-term effects are dysfunctions such as diabetes, obesity,premature aging, immune suppression, depression, and ADHD symptoms.
Once you investigate the ingredients labelled on your current food items, you will probably be shocked to find that even savoury foods, such as potato chips and rice crackers, often include sugar.
Sugar also has several names – corn syrup, dehydrated cane juice, dextrose, fruit juice concentrate, glucose, highfructose corn syrup, honey, invert sugar, lactose, maltodextrin, malt, maltose, maple syrup, molasses, raw sugar, rice syrup, saccharose, sorghum syrup, sucrose, syrup, and treacle.
Knowing that our kids are probably consuming far more sugar than is healthy, should we deny them they pleasure of Easter eggs and other sweet treats?
My answer is to promote good health, but restrict sweet foods to rare treats.
Eggs (from hens, not Easter bunnies) are nuggets of power, containing vitamins, minerals and essential elements. They are an ideal source of protein, which is why the addition of eggs to sweet recipes can help slow down the release of sugar into kids’ bloodstreams. Interestingly, the humble ‘googy egg’ or ‘cackle berry’ is also one of the only foods containing the sunshine vitamin, Vitamin D, necessary for strong bone growth.
(Makes ½ dozen eggs)
1 egg
½ cup rice bubbles or puffed grain
¼ cup desiccated coconut
¼ cup maple syrup
80 ml extra virgin coconut oil
50g macadamia nut halves
1½ tbsp cacao powder
Place eggshells in an egg carton. If solid, gently melt coconut oil on the stove. Beat egg. Mix egg, maple syrup and cacao into the oil. Add desiccated coconut. Stir through rice bubbles and macadamia nuts. Spoon mixture into eggshells. Top up eggshells with excess liquid. Set in refrigerator overnight. Peel away shell for a solid Easter egg (warm weather will make eggs melt).
(Makes 5-8)
4 egg yolks (keep whites for the Strawberry Mousse Eggs recipe)
½ cup self-raising flour
½ cup coconut cream
1/3 cup agave syrup
1 tsp vanilla essence
pinch sea salt
Take a muffin tin and line each section with twisted aluminium foil or greaseproof paper rings for eggs to nest in. Beat egg yolks together, then combine with salt, coconut cream, agave syrup and vanilla essence. Beat in flour. Pour mixture into eggshells up to foil rim. Bake at 160?C (fan forced) for 20-25 minutes. Mixture should rise out of the shell to create a ‘head’ (remove spill-overs after baking). Allow the cakes to rest for 10 minutes before removing from oven. When cool, help children to remove shells to reveal fluffy chicken bodies. Place on side, add currents or choc chips for eyes, shape a white yoghurt button for a beak, and skewers for legs.
(Makes approx. 12)
300g fresh strawberries (or thawed,frozen strawberries)
4 egg whites (keep yolks for the Hatching Chickens recipe)
½ lime or lemon, juice
½ cup of coconut cream or thickened cream
1/3 cup rapadura sugar
pinch sea salt
Place eggshells in egg carton. Blend strawberries, juice and sugar together. Beat coconut cream until frothy or beat thickened cream until firm. Add to berry mixture. Beat egg whites and salt until stiff. Gently fold the berry mixture into the egg whites. Spoon mousse into eggshells and refrigerate for two hours.
If you are considering some road travel this holidays with the kids, be ready to make sure you never hear those words, “are we there yet?”. Yes you could use the latest gadgets and DVDs to ensure you have a more peaceful trip, but there are also some family friendly options to get everyone in the mood for some holiday fun.
(with the help of a passenger or older sibling)
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