Have you discovered

Pane e Vino

Concord’s family dining secret?

The arrival of spring and promise of summer brings the pleasure of outdoor dining as the warm weather sets in.

Pane e Vino provides the ideal location for families, friends and colleagues to take advantage of the sun in a generous outdoor area with a family-friendly, contemporary-chic yet relaxed setting, only a few minutes away from the bustle of Major’s Bay Road.

Pane e Vino is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and offers Italian-inspired food, using only the freshest ingredients. Parents can confidently plan a family meal out with parking, pram access and high chairs available. A children’s menu also offers healthy and delicious meals for younger diners.

Pane e Vino is the perfect venue for community groups and businesses to meet and network on a regular basis, and can also be booked for functions and special events. Have you booked a venue for your Christmas Party yet?

See Pane e Vino’s listing on page 180 of the Guide and advertisement on the inside front cover. Please view the menu online at www.panevino.com.au and call 8765 8818 to make a booking.

Competition winner – Party at Lollipops

Congratulations to Catherine Chung who entered the Winter Newsletter competition and submitted the following poem. Catherine has won a party for herself and 7 of her friends at Lollipops Playland (see page 172 & 173 of the Guide for Lollipops listing and advertisement). Sweet!

Lollipop! on the top!

Lollipop! on the top! sticky and yummy,

lick,lick, chomp! nice as a gummy.

Lollipop! lick and slop! goody goody good,

I wish I had more. Eat it I would.

The tongue goes round picking up flavour,

the taste buds come and do me a favour.

But the best thing about Lollipops, me hearties

is that it holds the best birthday parties!

Catherine Chung

Age 8, Year 3

Community Support

Children’s Guide was pleased to be able to support Communities for Communities’ efforts to raise funds for Lucas Gardens School in Canada Bay for students with multiple disabilities (see page 133 of the Guide). Communities for Communities held their 2^nd Annual Charity Ball on 1^st August 2008 through which $50,000 was raised and donated to the school to help finish building a special purpose playground for the students.

Children’s Guide books were used to help raise funds during the evening, and also provided for free to all the staff and families of Lucas Gardens School.

Communities for Communities, run entirely by volunteers, reaches out to local and overseas communities in need. To find out more, please visit their website at www.communitiesforcommunities.com.au.

Canada Bay Family Day Care

Quality affordable child care

Have you considered Family Day Care for your child but wanted to know more or wondered how it compared to care in a large centre?

City of Canada Bay Council provides quality care through its Family Day Care scheme. Children are cared for in a safe, secure and stimulating home environment. Carers have a maximum of five under school age children and plan suitable programs and stimulating activities to suit the ages of the children and dynamics of the group.

Carers accommodate individual family needs with flexible hours and days. Fees can be reduced with access to Child Care Benefit.

Carers have passed a Working With Children Check, are registered by City of Canada Bay Council as carers, have a current first aid certificate, have public liability insurance, have had their homes checked and approved for care, and participate in a Quality Assurance Accreditation process.

Business Opportunities

Becoming a Family Day Care carer is an excellent business opportunity for those who are interested in pursuing a career in child care, have undertaken child-related studies or have some experience with children. (already worked in the industry.)

Running your own Family Day Care business allows you to work from home, which may also enable you to be near your children during the day or when they arrive home after school. Running your own business also enables you to fine tune your business, planning and communication skills. You are able to choose whether you work full time for a substantial income or part time around other commitments.

When you become a carer with a scheme such as Canada Bay Family Day Care, you receive ongoing support and training from the scheme’s Coordination Unit. You also have access to resources such as the scheme’s toy library and planned outings such as playsession to allow both you and children in your care to meet with and socialise with other carers.

To find out more about placing your child in Family Day Care or becoming a carer yourself, please contact Canada Bay Family Day Care on 9911 6320 or email familydaycare@canadabay.nsw.gov.au.

City of Canada Bay Family Day Care is accredited by NCAC, licensed by Department of Community Services, with qualified Council staff supporting carers and children.

Dial-A-Mum

Dial-A-Mum, on page 36 of Children’s Guide, is a fantastic telephone support service which is run by a group of trained volunteer mothers. The regular callers know and appreciate that the “Mums” love being there for them, offering advise from their various areas of expertise and helping reduce stress in our society.

But as any mum knows, even these Mums are busy and would love to have some new volunteers. Initial training is provided as well as ongoing fortnightly workshops.

If you have “a listening ear that cares” and would like to volunteer, or if you just need to talk to someone caring and haven’t tried Dial-A-Mum before, please call 9477 6777 from 8am to 12pm 7 days a week or email dial_a_mum@hotmail.com.

Meet & Greet

You can come and meet some of the team as Children’s Guide goes out and about.

On Wednesday 10^th September at 9.30am Julia Marshall, Publisher, will be addressing the Mumz & Bubz Club Morning Tea at Rhodes Phoenix Chinese Restaurant, Level 5 of Rhodes Shopping Centre, above the Food Court.

Children’s Guide will also have a stand at the Concord Carnival on Sunday 19^th October in Majors Bay Road, Concord from 10am – 4pm. Our stand will provide a handy and comprehensive information portal for parents on child-related business in the City of Canada Bay.

Details of Children’s Guide presence at other events will be added to the Calendar as they come up.

Community sustainability

With essentially a local focus, the Guide promotes child friendly community sustainability on economic, environmental and social levels.

Children’s Guide provides local information and options available to parents and carers while supporting and promoting local businesses and services to local families.

It targets not only families who live locally, but also those who work in the area, who visit the area for leisure, and couples planning to become parents and enjoying the area in the future. It is also a useful resource for those working with children or working on providing a product or service for children and their communities.

This results in a healthy environment through the ability to walk or minimise driving distances, and an inclusive society which also contributes to the social cohesion of the City & Inner West, the other areas in up-coming Guides, and Sydney as a whole.

An award winning book

Wow. Not too long after the release of the very first Children’s Guide, the book has won its very first award. City of Canada Bay Council held its annual Sustainability Awards on Monday, 1 September 2008. Children’s Guide was nominated for the Child Friendly Business Award.

I don’t know who nominated us but was very grateful when I found out about the nomination and am even more so now that we’ve won. Thank you so, so much, whoever you are.

Congratulations also to Rhodes Shopping Centre (page 163 of the Guide) who received the Child Friendly Business Runner Up Award.

This is a great place to shop especially for families with young children. Rhodes Shopping Centre stores offer a comprehensive mix of the latest fashion labels and clothing brands, the best kits and tools for hobby enthusiasts, furniture, accessories, puzzles, games, toys, gifts and pets for newborns to teens.

Parents can also take an enjoyable break from shopping at one of the delicious cafes, children’s play area or join the fabulous Mumz & Bubz Club.

Focus on a local business

Creating Balance

Pregnancy is a time of great change both physically and mentally and brings with it both joy and anxiety. Dympna Kennedy is the founder of Creating Balance whose aim is to bring balance into the lives of all new mums so that they are better equipped to manage the day to day difficulties of being a new mum and relaxed enough to enjoy all the precious moments…

            …giving you a Beautiful Beginning

Dympna Kennedy from Creating Balance is the mother of two boys aged 5 and 3 years and firmly believes that positive touch begins in the womb through prenatal massage, and that it is paramount that the new mother (the nurturer) is nurtured too through postnatal massage. Infant Massage is introduced and taught to the child’s parents and grandparents so that young families have the opportunity to create stronger family bonds and the ability to bring balance to the lives of each family member and created a very centered home.

Touch has the first, most direct and powerful effect on the brain's programming and re-programming activity and through her ongoing research and work with families Dympna strives to educate and enlighten caregivers of the importance of touch for young children. The richer the relationships young children have with carers and peers the likelihood that they become more emotionally secure, will settle easier, have lower stress levels and a greater awareness of self. Infant’s brains are stimulated by positive interactions which affect the number of brain synapses that are formed and how those connections will function.  Positive early childhood experiences can prevent and/or reduce problems associated with learning difficulties, social and emotional problems.

Dympna is also a registered instructor of ‘The Massage In Schools Program’ a peer massage program designed for children aged 4-12 years that promotes healthy self-esteem, emotional development and better relationships between children whilst decreasing aggression and bullying.

Whether you wish to form closer attachments with infants, want a greater understanding of toddlers who often find it difficult to express themselves or have pre-schoolers who are learning to ‘get on with others’, positive touch can communicate respect, worthiness and a sense of belonging and help in reducing and eliminating stress. Creating Balance will be there to assist you from your first trimester to their first years at school.

Dympna Kennedy, Practitioner, Trainer, Mother

Dip RM, Cert.APNN, Cert.PPNM, Reiki Master Level, ATMS, IAIM, MISP.

Children’s Guide Art & Quote Competition Winners

As you read through Children’s Guide you will encounter delightful drawings and insightful quotes throughout the book. Page 7 of the Guide explains the Art & Quote Competition but we wanted to give additional thanks to the students of St Fiacres Primary School in Leichhardt. Well done to all the children who submitted an entry in the competition – it was VERY difficult deciding which pictures to use.

It wasn’t a competition about who was the best artist, but rather how the community was depicted and whether an honest, meaningful message came through.

The original plan was to select the winner for the cover and 6 other pictures to start each section. As there were so many fantastic submissions a further 8 pictures were selected for use throughout the book. All art winners received a gift voucher from one of the stores within the Guide and were presented to the students at a school assembly at the end of last year. As an additional thanks free Guides are being provided to the entire school. Thank you again students, teachers & parents of St Fiacres, and congratulations to the following:

Cover winner ($250 Westfield): May P. Age 8, Year 2

Our community section winner: ($100 Socrates): Sean B. Age 12, Year 6

Safe section winner ($100 Zig Zag Zoug): Monae G. Age 6, Year 1

Healthy section winner: ($100 Kidstuff): Lara M. Age 6, Kindergarten

Nurtured section winner: ($100 Coles Myer): Maya M. Age 10, Year 5.

Happy section winner: ($100 Kidstuff): Olivia C. Age 9, Year 3

Calendar winner: ($100 Coles Myer): Taylor-rae S. Age 10, Year 5

A $30 Westfield voucher was won by each of the following students for additional pictures selected:

Alexander O, Amy R, Isaac R, Luca P, Perrin L, Sebastian A, Tahlia D & Timothy C.

From all the quotes included in the Guide, Gianni L. (page 50) was randomly drawn and won a voucher for his family to dine at Pane e Vino in Concord (see page 180 of the Guide and their advertisement on the inside front cover).