The rise of the mummy blogger: Our Top 10 picks for web reading for kids and parents

Posted on September 6, 2012 by niypaa

These days the answers to our questions as parents are just one click away and the rise of the “Mummy Blogger” has meant that there are communities of mums, dads, guardians and non-parents with opinions and tips on so many parenting challenges.

No matter what your issue, passion, concern or question, it’s virtually guaranteed the Internet will provide you with an answer or a like-minded person with which to engage.

Blogging is now a mainstream online communication and engagement tool and for parents, it can be a great source of comfort once you find the right one for you.

Here is our list of the best parenting blogs to check out and we’d love to know if you yourself are a blogger or have a favourite that we need to check out. Just submit a comment below.

Mamamia – published by mother and former magazine editor Mia Freedman, this blog has gone from strength to strength since launching in 2007. With parenting advice and opinions, style, food and entertainment news, this blog is very popular reaching thousands of Australians daily.

Essential Baby –Essential Baby is a great one for potential parents, pregnant mothers and new parents. The blog tracks your journey from conception to toddlerhood offering advice based related articles and discussion forums. The blog can even help you find a babysitter!

Bub Hub – Bub Hub launched in 2002 and like Essential Baby, offers advice for parents with newborns through to toddler age. There is a special section on post-natal health for mothers on the You page and the blog offers a 24hour support forum. The special interests section covers topics such as eco friendly families, pre mature babies and articles specifically for dad.

Mess for Less – Here’s one that will keep the kids entertained for hours. This blog has endless art and craft activities for the little ones. A great one for weekends and holidays.

Life and Other Crises – Kerri Slacker is the author of ‘The Little Book of Anxiety - Confessions from A Worried Life’, ‘When My Husband Does The Dishes…’ and this personal and intriguing blog. Slacker writes for the mum who needs time out, she writes with great honesty and leaves you with something to laugh and think about.

The Busy Dad Blog – One for the dads! This blog follows a dad and his two kids as they go on adventures to the zoo, the park, on fishing trips and to the desk to get important school projects done together. Busy Dad even has a comic strip for all those memorable daddy moments.

Growing Up Well – When our children begin their transition through the often awkward teenage years, their parents certainly do too. This blog helps parents connect with their changing offspring. There is a facts page featuring specific info about kids between the ages 9 – 14 and the blog also features a list of books to help you with your teenage challenges.

Wine Country Mom – This single mum admits to her sometimes “crazy” lifestyle of “mixing families and raising teens/tweens – where words come out in grunts, baseball rules (her life), pennies are pinched and in other words, everything is wonderful”.

Cook, Learn, Grow! – For the would-be master chefs, this blog gives great ideas for cooking with kids. It features recipes easy for children’s cooking ranging from easy, intermediate and advanced! Just think, if you start them cooking now, you might get a three course meal on your next Mothers or Fathers Day!

Happy Families – Again another one for dads. Written by an Aussie dad, this blog has some great articles to keep us in tune with what’s good for our kids and what’s going on in today’s world that relates to our family.

Inspired yet? Read away and let us know what you think of our top 10!

Have you got any favourite family blog or are you writing one? Let us know below.

We’re also on the look-out for parents to write and post articles for this blog, so let us know if you’re interested in having a go.

Christine Grey – General Manager NIYPAA.

Christine is an educator, organizer and art enthusiast, with a profound interest in youth performing arts. A former music and art teacher Christine is now devoting her time to the Australian Youth Choir and Australian Youth Dance Theatre where she has worked for over 15 years. She is a fan of the visual arts, live theatre, drama, film and is jealous of anyone who can create movement to music.Her working life has been dedicated to the musical education of young people in the performing arts and shes loves to tell anyone who will listen about the benefits the Arts can bring to every personality at all stages of their lives.

Brought to you by National Institute of Youth Performing Arts – auditioning now.

Go to www.niypaa.com.au

Sing and Dance Australia

Sharing life’s experiences – singing dancing and growing up!

All content provided on this blog is for information purposes only. NIYPAA makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site. NIYPAA will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information.NIYPAA does not endorse the content and opinions expressed by the individuals who publish the aforementioned blogs.This policy is subject to change at anytime.

Stretch yourself! Seven warm-up tips for dancers and a warm-up video!

Posted on August 16, 2012 by niypaa

Whether you’re about to attempt the moonwalk or just two steppin’ everyone knows you’re meant to warm-up first.

Stretching properly prepares you for your dance session and is important for preventing strain and tear in your muscles. Young dancers should make stretching before and after dancing part of the ritual to avoid muscle strain and injury and to develop flexibility early.

Each time a new dance move is introduced in to a choreographed piece, a new muscle group is too. Dancers need to warm up before every dance rehearsal to get the blood flowing, raise the body temperature , improve the range of motion and prepare the body for the more demanding moves the body requires. The Australian Youth Dance Theatre (AYDT) choreographers take their students through a range of warm up exercises and so we thought we would share them with everyone. Click below to watch the video and have a go trying these at home.

Here are seven warm-up tips for young dancers:

First make sure you choose music you like because it’s much more fun when the music is good!
Make sure you stretch evenly on both sides of your body
Don’t over stretch (stretch too far) – be gentle on yourself (see tip 4).
Stretch slowly and smoothly – avoid bouncy or jerky movement.
Don’t forget to breathe.
Isolations should be incorporated into your warm up – try to stand in front of the mirror when you do these so you can check if you are moving correctly.
Make sure you listen to your teacher, tutor or choreographer when you are taking a class. They will always direct you for each one of your warm ups and give you the knowledge you need to work at home.

Watch the attached video example of a great stretching exercise from one of AYDT’s Choreographers with some of the AYDT ensemble dancers. This stretching exercise is much harder than it looks. It takes controlled movement, which relies heavily on strength. All the featured dancers said it was difficult to perfect.

By practicing warm ups at home between classes, you will improve your strength and flexibility and be well on your way to improving your dancing. Remember to take care of your body and listen to what it needs and you will be a fitter and healthier dancer.

Tell us here about your favourite warm up and why it makes you feel good.

The AYDT warm up for Friday night rehearsals

Christine Grey – General Manager NIYPAA.

Brought to you by National Institute of Youth Performing Arts – auditioning now.

Go to www.niypaa.com.au

Sing and Dance Australia

Sharing life’s experiences – singing dancing and growing up!

Is your child going for Gold ?

Posted on August 9, 2012 by niypaa

Mentors for our children

With the London Olympics in full swing media coverage of our athletes is hard to miss. After each performance, our athletes attribute their success to those who have influenced their journey – their mentors and coaches.

Every athlete confirms their success is not just their own. The mental and physical support and encouragement is crucial to their stamina and ultimate sporting performance and achievement.

The coach/athlete relationship is deeply personal and includes the transfer of specific technical knowledge, personal support, professional development and motivation. The mentor is commonly more experienced than the protégé but often a mentor can also be a peer.

These days, mentorship is not just for the sporting elite. More and more people are realising the benefits of a mentor and or coach. Sometimes we choose our mentors and sometimes this relationship simply evolves. For children it starts with our parents and often a great teacher/student relationship. A mentor is anyone who has their protégé’s best interests at heart and wants to help them develop, grow and succeed.

So how important is it for your child to have a mentor?

Well, I assume that most parents want what I want for my children. We hope our children will become confident and happy adults who can make a positive contribution to the world. We want them to learn to give their “personal” best in all their endeavours and to work well with others. We want them to have the confidence to try new things, to take some risks, to test themselves and to develop the resilience to recover when they’re disappointed. We want them to develop enough “self knowledge” to understand their strengths and develop those strengths to the best of their ability.

Most kids need some help with this. In fact most adults do as well. A mentor will recognise an individual’s strengths and actively help to improve and develop them. A mentor will be honest enough to tell you when you’re on the wrong track. A mentor will help you identify your goal and motivate you to try harder to achieve it.

For young performers embarking on their ‘Olympic’ style journey to the stage, overcoming their nerves and self-doubt is essential. Mentors can be found in their teachers, conductors and choreographers but often forgotten are their peers. Their fellow students, who applaud one another in rehearsal and help one another work through performance challenges.

In ensemble pursuits, the young person is not as vulnerable to discouragement. The team is a positive force in which to learn and grow. Membership to an ensemble brings affirmation and removes the pressure of individual performance, allowing each person to develop at their own pace.

Performance authenticates the learning process. It not only brings personal satisfaction but gives a point of direction for further improvement and this is where our mentors step in.

Applause can be the greatest encouragement. This support together with tips for improvement is a healthy way to help students to grow. It’s important for parents and teachers to understand the obstacles that have been overcome and give students genuine and well-deserved praise.

Thank-you to all my personal and professional mentors and thanks to all of us who act as mentors or are mentored by others.

Who is your greatest mentor and how have they helped you?

Christine Grey – General Manager NIYPAA.

Training your brain: giving our kids the best start in life

Posted on July 12, 2012 by niypaa

Science backs thinking that musical training for children makes you smarter

Life is a marathon and just like the physical body, if we want our brains to cross the finish line we need to train. We can get ahead by eating well and staying active, but one tip you might not have heard is that musical training for young people helps brain development.

A Canadian-based research group (led by Dr Laurel Trainor and Dr Takako Fujioka) performed a year-long study in 2006 and Oxford University Press reported their findings that children who studied music experienced significant “developmental changes” compared to those who did not. The children were assessed four times throughout the study and those studying music always stood out.

Dr Laurel Trainor, a professor of psychology co-leading the study states, “this is the first study to show that brain responses in young, musically trained and untrained children change differently”.

So, why this difference and how are these musically trained children more advanced?

Well…let’s take a look at the science.

The Dana Foundation’s Ben Mauk in 2009 reported on new research findings from Boston College Psychology Professor Ellen Winner and Beth Irael Deaconess Medical Centre’s Neurology Professor Gottfried Schlaug.

The pair found that music training in childhood improves related cognitive function and showed that children receiving weekly music instruction and practice regularly perform better on sound discrimination and fine motor tasks. The findings were backed by brain imaging showing changes to the networks associated with these abilities.

Professor Schlaug told The Dana Foundation, “this is the first study to show brain plasticity in young children as a function of instrumental music instruction And this is correlated with the amount of practice.

“It’d be difficult to find another activity that takes up so much real estate in the brain,” he added.

The Dana Foundation also reported that In 2009 at the “Learning and the Brain” Conference in Washington DC, Oregon University Professor Michael Posner said “Years of neuroimaging have now given us a plausible or putative mechanism by which arts training could now influence cognition, including attention and IQ”.

Whoa Nelly. Who would have thought?

Furthermore, Washington’s Hindustan paper in 2010 reported that Northwestern University study discovered that “musical training can aid in other forms of communication such as speech, reading and understanding a foreign language”.

The article explains research findings by Nina Kraus and Bharath Chandrasekaran that show auditory benefits of musical training are linked to how we process speech. A stronger ability to process sound can improve the speed and accuracy in which we understand pitch and translate language. This sensitivity to pitch can also help you better register emotion in people’s voices.

Ok, so music is good for young growing brains, but how young?

The McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario published an article in May this year reporting that babies as young as one-year-old benefit from music. Researchers at the university found “one-year-old babies who participate in interactive music classes with their parents, smile more, communicate better and show earlier and more sophisticated brain responses…” These classes involved learning songs and nursery rhymes with actions and completing activities with music on in the background.

These babies were also said to have had better communication skills by the end of the lessons.

So there you have it! Music and musical training has exemplary benefits for our kids. Better communication skills, increased attention spans and IQ’s. What more could we ask for?

Benita Sullivan – Administration and PR Assistant -NIYPAA

Benita is currently working in the Melbourne office for NIYPAA. Her early back ground in music and performance stretches from musicals, to choir, singing and instrumental training. She has been managing and playing with Melbourne bands for the last eight years. She is a singer song writer, developing her latest band Elliot Friend. She looks forward to a successful career in creative arts administration while persisting in her musical endeavours.

Did you ever dream of being a star? Why singing is good for the soul

Posted on June 5, 2012 by niypaa

A month ago when I started my job at the National Institute of Youth Performing Arts (NIYPAA), my new boss asked me what singing means to me and immediately, without hesitation I told her singing is good for the soul.

I started writing songs when I was ten years old with big dreams for a pop-star career. Now that I’m in my 20’s, although I am still singing and writing songs, fortunately I’ve improved both my vocabulary and my taste in music.

Lucky for me music was always encouraged in my household. From musicals to choir and singing lessons as well as drama and piano, I paved the way for a career in the arts. My artistic pursuits were often a logistical nightmare for my folks, with frequent drop-offs and ferrying to various commitments but their support was invaluable.

Now, working with NIYPAA I speak to parents every day and after each phone call I’m thankful they too are investing in their children’s artistic pursuits.

Singing, dancing, performing or any other artistic activity is good for the soul. The confidence, new friends, new experiences and skills are with you for life.

Last weekend I attended my first NIYPAA concert and was so impressed.

The student’s excitement backstage was contagious. They chatted with friends and hummed their first notes ready to storm the stage. I spoke briefly with some of the children and felt very proud of them for getting out there and doing it. To me they were all stars that day. They had made it big because they gave it a go. I couldn’t help but wonder what great things (big or small) the experience is doing for their future selves.

We’re all a product of our past experiences. Being involved in those concerts will help these kids carry their confident selves all through their lives. I hope they keep singing and performing for years to come because whether you find fame or if you just perform for yourself, singing is good for the soul.

Benita Sullivan – Administration and PR Assistant -NIYPAA

Benita is currently working in the Melbourne office for NIYPAA. Her early back ground in music and performance stretches from musicals, to choir, singing and instrumental training. She has been managing and playing with Melbourne bands for the last eight years. She is a singer song writer, developing her latest band Elliot Friend. She looks forward to a successful career in creative arts administration while persisting in her musical endeavors.

Happiness on a high note – bring back the choir

Posted on June 4, 2012 by niypaa

Music is ever more mainstream with the rise of popular reality shows The Voice, Australian Idol, X Factor and Young Talent Time. While these shows encourage Australia’s youth to sing and perform, we don’t all need to be on TV to make it happen and to reap the rewards.

So, why sing? My answer is because it makes us happy.

I started singing with the Australian Youth Choir when I was eight years old and over my seven year education I performed overseas, sang at special events such as the AFL Grand Final and made lifelong friends. Most importantly, I found something that made me truly happy and have turned it in to my career.

These days there’s much emphasis on children being high achievers. School tests, competitive environments and media influences just touch the surface of today’s youth pressures.

Now, let’s face it. If you ask parents what they want for their children, the general answer is for them to be happy. And…when do you see sad or unhappy children singing? Never!

It’s time for choirs to make a comeback. Who wouldn’t want a group of happy, singing angels?

Although not every child wants to pursue an artistic career, their involvement with music at an early age provides multiple benefits:

Music promotes literacy. In choir, students learn to read music. We read words, rhythms and patterns and sequences
Singing means you simultaneously learn visual and auditory skills all in one activity
Choir rehearsals promote kinaesthetic learning (learning by example).
Students learn to keep a beat, further developing numeracy (we’re constantly counting)!
Lots of laughter. Children learning together means we have lots of “in jokes”.
Students learn non-competitive teamwork, very different to teamwork experiences in the sporting arena.
Choir also fosters new friendship groups to those outside of school. Twenty years on since my choir days, I still catch-up with the friends I made.

The simple fact is that group singing releases “feel good” hormones (endorphins) in the brain to produce a happy individual. Young choristers are typically capable, confident and overall happy people. Believe me, I know, I was one of them!

Susan Neilson – Conductor – NIYPAA

Susan is a former chorister of the Australian Youth Choir, one of the original members, commencing in 1984. She holds a Bachelor of Music majoring in Voice and Drama from Melba Memorial Conservatorium of Music and a Graduate Diploma in Education. Susan taught in London for four years and on her return to Australia, rejoined the Australian Youth Choir as a Choral Conductor.

Sing and Dance Australia

Sharing life's experiences – singing dancing and growing up!

Tag Archives: music education

The rise of the mummy blogger: Our Top 10 picks for web reading for kids and parents

Sing and Dance Australia

Sharing life’s experiences – singing dancing and growing up!

Stretch yourself! Seven warm-up tips for dancers and a warm-up video!

Sing and Dance Australia

Sharing life’s experiences – singing dancing and growing up!

Is your child going for Gold ?

Training your brain: giving our kids the best start in life

Did you ever dream of being a star? Why singing is good for the soul

Happiness on a high note – bring back the choir

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