Heart to Heart Girls–World Dolls Now in Canada

Dolls are a common gift, especially for girls. If you are like me, you can feel like you don’t want any more dolls because your house is being overrun by them. Heart to Heart Girls is different. First of all, they are not babies. Second, they are from different cultures. Third they come with information about the country they come from so they can be educational too.

You Can Help Change the World

How can buying a doll help change the world? A portion of each doll sale is donated to World Vision to help children in the country represented by the doll.

Introducing Nahji from India

All the dolls come with a bracelet for the child to wear (shown top left in image below) and authentic clothing and accessories -Nahji has Henna on her hand (see below.) Each girl also comes with a small story booklet that explains what life is like in the doll’s country of origin. There is also an interactive website to navigate.

The dolls quality is amazing. Nahji’s hair is silky and flows like real hair. She is jointed so her arms and legs move a bit. Her jewellery and clothing are great quality as well.

The other available dolls are currently: Lilian from Belarus, Tipi from Laos, Rahel from Ethiopia, Consuelo from Mexico and Dell from the USA. I’m not sure why there is a doll from the USA and while there are certainly kids there that need help, I would have liked to have seen dolls from other countries not as well of in general as most of North America. There are two more dolls available in the USA that are not available yet here as well.

The Hearts for Hearts Girls line is recommended for girls ages 6-12 and is available at Wal-mart across Canada. Find them in the USA at Target, Toys R Us and Amazon.

*Disclosure: I received the product mentioned above free of charge by the company or PR representative for evaluation purposes. No other compensation was provided. See my Disclosure Policy for more information.

World Vision Gifts–Gifts That Make a Difference (Holiday Gift Guide 2012)

The Gift That Makes a Difference

At this time of year, many families want to give gifts but are also aware of the many people without money or homes who don’t get gifts this holiday season. It can be  tough sometimes to justify the gifts you are buying when others are going hungry.

There IS a way to give a gift to a loved one AND help deserving families at the same time with World Vision Gifts.  Purchase a gift from World Vision Gifts and you receive a card to pass on that tells how they helped a poverty stricken family.

World Vision Gift Catalogue

There are more than 60 gifts to choose from. If you are in Canada, you can see what’s available at World Vision Canada, while those in the US will want to check out World Vision. There catalogues are slightly different but they idea is the same.

For example you can buy Two Hens and a Rooster for $50 or a Goat for $100 which will provide milk and an income as they can sell the goat manure and any offspring. Two mosquito nets is $30 or if you have lots to spare, you can buy a family a Ger which is like a warm tent like home for $900.

In fact, Burnbrae Farms is currently partnering with World Vision and will donate $10 to World Vision for each purchase of Two Hens and a Rooster through Nov. 30/2012 (so hurry!)

Recently added are some handcrafts gifts which help women. For example I was sent this Turquoise and Wood bracelet (see below) which was made by women and girls who have escaped exploitation and abuse in Thailand. A purchase of this gift helps support the women creating the jewellery.  You can also get a hand-woven scarf or a Haitian hand-beaded necklace.

The bracelet is beautifully crafted and I love sharing that it was made by women and girls in Thailand. It would be the perfect gift for the fashionista in your life.  It’s quite big so would fit a thicker arm and hang loosely on a thin arm.

World Vision is a Christian relief, development and advocacy organization dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. World Vision serves all people regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or gender.  - World Vision

*Disclosure: I received the product mentioned above free of charge by the company or PR representative for evaluation purposes. No other compensation was provided. See my Disclosure Policy for more information.

Mother India: Life Through the Eyes of the Orphan

 

There are over 31 million orphans in India and David Trotter and Shawn Scheinoha teamed up with the goal of showing what life is like for these orphans by going to India and finding and meeting some orphaned children and getting to know them and filming what there life is like.

“MotherIndia is a compelling documentary capturing the life and stories of 25 abandoned and orphaned children living along the railway in southern India.” – motherindiafilm.com

The purpose of the trip was to tell the story of the kids but David and Shawn were inspired to do something to help little Polayya and Koteswari, young homeless children who had recently been “adopted” into the local group of orphaned children.

View the Trailer

(not with young kids around)

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The documentary is upsetting. The stories of what these kids went through is horrendous at times and their living conditions are terrible. It will make you hug your children tighter. But documentaries aren’t supposed to be entertainment, they are to teach us something.

In this case, it’s to teach us what is going on in India and to help make a difference. Raising awareness is the first step and then collecting donations is the second.

Meet the Children

This is a group shot of the street family of orphaned children. Would you like to meet them?

Connect or Learn More

You can find out more at Mother India Film.

I’d also like to invite you to connect with them on Facebook and Twitter.

*Disclosure: I received the DVD mentioned above free of charge by the company or PR representative for evaluation purposes. No other compensation was provided. See my Disclosure Policy for more information.

Are You Happy With Your Skin Colour?

Why is that we can’t just be happy with how we look? Most of us spend tons of money and time changing how we look to match more of what we think of as the “ideal.”

Unhappiness is Everywhere

It’s not just those in North America either. While many of us clamour to tanning salons or our self tanners to get a DARKER skin tone, some people with naturally darker skin do what they can to make their skin LIGHTER.

Skin Bleaching

My friend who was born in Somalia but grew up in Kenya bleaches her skin with a special product made for that purpose to give her face a lighter shine. I was discussing this with her, how crazy it is that light skinned people want to be darker while dark skinned people want to be lighter.

Risking Our Lives for Beauty

I asked about the safety of the skin bleach and she admitted that while it’s safer than regular chlorine bleach, you still have to be careful not to use too much or you can damage your skin. Tanning is of course very unhealthy too, and can cause skin cancer.

Our Culture

Of course with anything, there are exceptions. I am by no means suggesting that EVERY Caucasian wants to be darker or every person with what we consider darker skin wants to be lighter but it isn’t just my friend either. Her culture truly believes those with lighter skin are more beautiful than those with darker skin, even in their own country or culture. So since she is lighter than her sister, she is considered more beautiful.

How to Change

Fight against what society says, be proud of the skin colour you were born with, no matter how dark or light that may be. You are beautiful when you don’t pretend to be someone else, when you embrace who you ARE. Society’s beliefs about beauty will only change if every person is true to themselves.

YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL JUST THE WAY YOU ARE

*photo credit: from photoexpress.com. Do not copy.

5 Points to Help Explain The #Olympics To Your Kids

The above photo was taken in 2009. It’s a photo of me and my girls holding a real Olympic torch at playgroup.

With the London 2012 Olympics in full swing, you may have already been watching it with your children, or perhaps not. Maybe you thought your children were too young to care or understand, or you weren’t sure how to explain it to them.

I think a child as young as 3 can understand the very basics and should be told about the Olympics. They probably won’t remember what you said when the next Olympics come around so you’ll have to explain some things over and over again as they get older, that is how children learn (repetition.)

Depending on your child’s age, more explanation may be needed in each section. My girls are six and five and I added explanations for athlete (someone who does a sport) and compete (go against each other to see who is better at the sport,) etc…

5 Points About the Olympics

1. The Olympics is when athletes from around the world compete against each other to see who is the best at each sport.

I pointed out the country each person was from while we watched and explained things. I pointed out that although each athlete does different sports than other people in the same country, they are all considered a team. e.g. Team Canada, Team USA and that they want to see others from their country do well.

2.  The Olympics is for the absolute best athletes.

I made sure they understood that these people have been training for years and that they must practice their sport many time a week at least to get this good. Since we were watching Gymnastics at the time, I pointed out that if they took a class in Gymnastics, they would go once a week and learn the very basics but if they really liked the sport and were good at it and wanted to one day be on the Olympics, they would have to take classes more often and practice all the time for years.

3. The Olympics is held every 4 years in a different country but there is two types of Olympics (Summer and Winter) and they alternate so there is an Olympics every 2 years

I had a little trouble explaining this one but eventually hit it on the head when I said that this is the Summer Olympics, in two years will be a Winter Olympics, then two years another Summer Olympics, then two more years a Winter Olympics, etc. Also explain that there are different sports in the Summer and Winter.

4. The Olympics have been around for many, many years.

The Olympics games were around back in Ancient Greece and in the last 1700s they were emulated and they eventually morphed into the ones we have today.

5. There are rules and judges and awards for the top three places.

Your children may ask things such as why do the swimmers wear swim caps and why are the runners all wearing the same shoes or why do they have numbers on their shirts. I explained that each sport has it’s own rules and the judges are watching the athletes and making sure they follow the rules and do what they are supposed to be. Especially for sports where you are given a score (Gymnastics.) I explained that if they fall or their feet touch the ground in some cases, points are taken off.  I explained that the top three athletes receive medals in this order: Gold, Silver and Bronze.

So tell me, are your children watching the games? Did you have to explain anything to them about it? Did you cover the top five above? What would you add as #6?

World Breastfeeding Week–My Thoughts on #breastfeeding #WBW2012

Aug 1-7 is World Breastfeeding Week, designed to bring awareness to breastfeeding and help those who need help with it.

I am currently nursing my 16 month old and I nursed my other two children. My first child was bottled fed as well because I had to stop nursing at 2.5 months because of a medication I needed to be on.

I feel that every mom should try their hardest to breastfeed but I know sometimes a mom can’t and if they truly can’t, for whatever reason, then formula is an acceptable alternative. I do believe though that too many women don’t try at all or don’t try hard enough to nurse. It’s their life and their choice of course and I would never say anything or treat someone differently (and I usually don’t know why they are using bottles anyways) but I just feel that if there was more support and breastfeeding was more the norm more women would nurse.

Please understand that I am just sharing what I believe, I am not telling anyone they are a bad mom because they chose to formula feed. Your baby is being nourished and that is the most important thing. However if you never got past the early weeks of nursing which can be hard, you missed out on the wonder of breastfeeding. It’s like nothing else.

You will never see me shunning formula ads or anything radical. I just want to give support to those who do breastfeed or would like to or aren’t sure about it. I have thought about being a Lactation Consultant.

I am sad that most likely my nursing relationship will be over soon. My son is not weaning himself but I’m starting to get annoyed with his nursing behaviours (lately pinching me over and over again or getting on and off constantly. Plus now that he’s older, I would like to be able to send him for sleepovers to grandma’s house or leave for more than 6 hours.

I have a Pinterest board about breastfeeding, check it out! This is my favourite one:

Go ahead. Tell her to cover up. I'll wait over here.
Source: unprocessedfamily.blogspot.com via Kathleen on Pinterest

Comments Welcome as long as they are friendly. If you don’t like my opinion, that’s okay, but be nice. Also if you have a blog post up for World Breastfeeding Week, feel free to leave a link in the comments.

I Love the Whole World

As you may or may not know, I Love the World or I Love the Whole World is an advertising campaign for The Discovery Channel that features a song to the tune of I Like the Flowers (which is a song made from one of the parts of Heart & Soul, the two part piano song.)

It shows people from around the world and from different Discovery Channel shows singing about what they like in the world. It's a wonderful song that everyone should hear.

Also the Discovery Channel is currently hosting a contest for you to make your own response video.Here's what they said:

People around the world have been creating their own versions of our 'Boom De Ah Dah' commercial and uploading them to YouTube. We love them so much that we want to call out to ALL of our talented friends out there and ask you to show us YOUR version of the song! Simply upload your video to your YouTube page and then send us the link to your song.

We will be posting the best and most creative submissions on our Discovery.com website, adding them to "The 'Boom De Ah Dah' Phenomenon" playlist and also featuring them on our Facebook and Myspace pages!

Here is the song VERSION 1:


VERSION 2:


You may be interested in:

I Love the World on Wikipedia (explains video including all the words and who is featured in it)
Heart & Soul Song on Wikipedia (about the song)
View Video Responses to I Love the Whole World

Earth Hour 2010 - Mar 27 8:30pm

It's that time again. Time to show our support for being more environmentally friendly, to reduce our electricity usage for just one hour this saturday. Earth Hour has been such a success around the world, why wouldn't you want to participate?

Earth Hour and WWF would like me to share some information with you:

5 Things we want the world to know about Earth Hour

1. We can solve 3/4 of climate change by changing the energy we use.
   First step is cutting down our use. Do those lights really have to be on? Can the computers be turned off at night? Think before you switch on.
2. 10 million Canadians care about leadership on climate change.
   Every person who participates in Earth Hour is sending a clear and inspiring message to our leaders to take further action needed to help our planet.
3. We're in the hot seat this summer - and it's not on the beach!
   Canada is hosting the G8 and G20 Summits in Huntsville and Toronto in June, and climate change is on the agenda. Let's show the world what we are capable of.
4. Wildlife's best hope is avoiding 2 degrees Celsius.
   Global warming is already threatening our coral reefs, the base of ocean life. If we can limit the warming, we can stop 1/3 of species from risking extinction.
5. WWF wants to help you make ever hour Earth Hour.
   There's a big growing community online of people wanting to do more and looking for support. Join us at http://community.wwf.ca

So what can you do without lights, stoves, computers, music, video games, TV etc... for one hour?

How about:

• Having a candlelit dinner
• Reading by candlight
• Play a game that requires little reading and mostly talking (the kind where you ask a question and everyone gives their answer)
• Go outside and enjoy the stars. It should be easier to see with less lights
• If it's just the two of you... have "adult" fun!
• sit in a circle and tell ghost stories
• Have a sing along by candlelight (or a real campfire if you are legally able)

Here's a short video:



Visit Earth Hour US, Earth Hour Canada or Earth Hour Global

*Photo Credit: Phoney Nickle on Flickr

Did You Know?

I'm not big on sharing YouTube videos in blogs but I just had to share this. I think it's important to watch.