What you need to know about Kaya Jewellery:

• Personalised children’s jewellery
• Personalised jewellery for mothers
• Silver and silver plated
• Finest quality pearls, crystals and gemstones
• Handmade in the UK
• Free and fast delivery
• Free gift wrapping
• Gifts include a luxury polishing cloth and matching greeting card
• Perfect for gifts, christenings, Holy Communion, birthdays, new baby, weddings
• 14 days 100% satisfaction guarantee
• Gives back – Kaya Jewellery gives part of their profit to charity through Eduki Foundation in the Netherlands

To enter this competition do one of the following (or all of them!):

1. Make a comment on this blog post
2. Comment on our Facebook page
3. Mention on Twitter using @BringingUpBrits

telling us you’ve entered our competition and you’ll automatically be in with a chance to win the £20 off voucher!

Hurry, competition ends Monday March 1st!

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Meghan Peterson Fenn is the author of Bringing Up Brits, co-author of Inspiring Global Entrepreneurs, co-founder and Director of Design and Web at Shake It Up Creative. And, she is an award winning expat blogger.

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I struggled in a new country making friends and also meeting people who understood what I was going through. I started following The Mothership and messaged them within two months to ask about their Sleep Support Packages – at first I didn’t agree with this as it sounded like I had to train my child and most Sleep Trainers had advised me to do ‘Cry it Out’ which I was not comfortable with, but after asking a billion questions I finally booked a Sleep Support Package with Alexandra! I spoke with Alexandra and she took everything in to consideration; what I was comfortable with, what my husband was comfortable with and also my son’s health.

Alexandra really worked with me and talked me through each step, she also wrote out the plan for me so I can refer back to it on days where I am struggling to keep the new routine and even after the package she still helps me.

The Sleep Support Package really does what is says and SUPPORTS you each step of the way. Investing in the SSP was the best thing I could of done, my son has less tantrums as he is sleeping better and I am a lot better to be around now that I sleep at least 7 hours a night (sorry to rub that in).

Thank you Alexandra and The Mothership! xxx

A message from Alexandra, CEO of The Mothership:

The Mothership offers a Sleep Service personalized for you. If you are wondering if you will ever get a good night sleep again or that your little one will sleep calmly at night or in the day then the Mothership can help. Regardless of your parenting style we will find an approach, which you are comfortable with and that is right for your baby. Having a gentle hand to guide, encourage and reassure you can make all the difference in achieving your goals. We believe it is important to have a service, which holds your hand when you need it, and lets you grow in your own confidence and ability at other times.

As well as our detailed consultations we offer you a months unlimited phone and email support to make sure we can achieve your goals. We will help you to find realistic goals, which are appropriate for your little ones age, development and temperament and review your whole 24 hour routine and not just the sleep times. We can advise on reflux, tongue-tie, baby sleep care and toddler and Pre-School challenges. Contact us to discuss your own needs and see if you feel we are the right people to support you and your family at this time.

For more information please visit our Mothership Facebook Page www.facebook.com/TheMothership.expert/

Or visit our website www.TheMothership.expert

Please feel free to contact us with any questions in regards to pregnancy of parenthood, we are here to Learn – Develop – Grow as a expat community!

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ALEXANDRA ELEFTHERIOU
CEO, OWNER, MATERNITY NURSE, SLEEP SUPPORT CONSULTANT & INTERNATIONAL NANNY

Alexandra Eleftheriou founded The Mothership whilst working in the Middle East as a Maternity Nurse, after identifying the need to support expat parents and parents with no family network close by. Alexandra believes in attachment parenting values, positive parenting principles and other parenting styles that nurture the parent-child bond, whilst guiding clients to respectful solutions to their sleep issues.

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I’ve already celebrated Mother’s Day here in England back in March, although I didn’t actually celebrate on the day due to trip to an unfortunate trip to the hospital. However, my lovely husband treated me to getting my colours done – something I had been wanting to do for several years. It was fabulous! I highly recommend it. It’s fun, informative and you come away with a whole host of new skills. Really, you do! Shopping for clothes and make up is much easier now as I can immediately disregard anything that isn’t in my colours. Cuts out a lot of the bull and saves masses of time. It also truly makes you feel more confident and is an uplifting experience that stays with you for forever.

Just make sure you go to someone who knows their stuff. Vivienne Smith did my colours and she is brilliant. She talked about the history of colours and referenced many of my favorite artists and made sure I understood the relevance of what she was talking about. This had a huge impact on the session as it really put into perspective how important colour is and how it can transform the way you think about colour, how you understand colour, and how you look. My daughter came with me and enjoyed the session as well – it was really useful having her there actually because now she understands everything and can help me choose things to wear and tells me when I go off plan (in the sweetest way possible – Not).

And to celebrate Mother’s Day USA, I’ve bought myself a new bag from CloudBerry Bags. I actually did need one as my other one broke and I desperately needed a bag for work functions.

I hope all you moms get to do something as special as I did. Whatever, it is, enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!

I nearly posted my last blog post about daughter swap as USA Mother’s Day post because it’s about mothers and daughters but I’m pleased to be able to highlight these two fabulous businesses that other Moms and Mums can benefit from.

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Meghan Peterson Fenn is the author of Bringing Up Brits and co-author of Inspiring Global Entrepreneurs with Heidi Mulligan Walker. Meghan is also the Director and Chief Designer at her own design company, White Ochre Design Ltd. And, she is an award winning expat blogger.

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I actually have a few copies of Bringing Up Brits that I’m happy to sell at the discounted price of £10 only plus P&P. A bargain at that price! UK delivery only.

Click the BUY NOW button below to order a copy for yourself or as a gift for a friend or family member.

These copies have the new cover design and look like this:

You can also get it from Amazon UK and Amazon USA if you prefer and if you live outside the UK. And, it’s also on Kindle for only £1.59. It has 10 Five Star reviews on Amazon! So please check out the reviews for yourself.

If you’re interested in my business book Inspiring Global Entrepreneurs co-authored with Heidi Walker, please see www.expatsinbiz.com. This book is also available on Amazon UK and USA. I would offer a discount, but I’ve completely sold out of all my own copies! This again, would be a great Christmas gift for someone who’s in business already or who’s looking to start something up and I think Amazon UK have discounted it anyways.

Happy shopping and thanks for all your support

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Meghan Peterson Fenn is the author of Bringing Up Brits and co-author of Inspiring Global Entrepreneurs with Heidi Mulligan Walker. Meghan is also the Director and Chief Designer at her own design company, White Ochre Design Ltd. And, she is an award winning expat blogger.

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“It is always easier to have celebrations and events with more people and right now I don’t have any other Americans to join in with.” – American expat parent

“It’s just me here so it’s hard to show them how I grew up, there are no cultural references and nothing is consistent.” – Polish expat parent

My husband supports me and joins in when I ask my children what they are thankful for, but he doesn’t really get it – why should he, it’s not his holiday, he never celebrated it when he was a child. I don’t really get Guy Fawkes day, I didn’t grow up with it. However, I join in and celebrate it – hard not to when living in the UK! But, I probably don’t really get it.

I try and pass on the Thanksgiving tradition to my own children in my own small way. Each year is different – it’s very inconsistent and depends a lot on what’s going on with work and who’s around. In the past when we lived in the Midlands we had some wonderful Thanksgiving celebrations with an American friend and his British wife. Great times! It’s all so inconsistent and like many others, it’s just me here.

I do feel I make an effort for my children – I want them to grow up knowing and understanding Thanksgiving – but because there’s no consistent reminder of it at school or in the media, each year when Thanksgiving comes around, they forget until I remind them (maybe one day they won’t forget). This year it’s been all about pumpkin pies. We were sent a quick and easy family recipe and the ingredients from Flora for pumpkin pie. They sent everything but the pumpkin as I already had some and it’s difficult getting pumpkin here. I used Libby’s canned pumpkin which makes a delicious pie.

We’ve already eaten most of it. Thank you Flora for helping us celebrate Thanksgiving this year. Probably the best pie crust I’ve ever made! This is when I really miss Cool Whip. It’s the best topping for pumpkin pie. I guess one plus point (and I always try and turn a negative into a positive) is that we never know what we’ll do at Thanksgiving from one year to the next. It’s always a surprise. And that’s kinda nice.

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Meghan Peterson Fenn is the author of Bringing Up Brits and co-author of Inspiring Global Entrepreneurs with Heidi Mulligan Walker. Meghan is also the Director and Chief Designer at her own design company, White Ochre Design Ltd. And, she is an award winning expat blogger.

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A few other tips: Pre-bake cakes for fayres (or cheat and buy pre-made cupcakes) and stick them in the freezer, then decorate them the morning of or the evening before. Get tombola gifts, teacher gifts and cards all in one go and get them ready so there’s no last minute panic buy. My daughter is having a WWII dress up day and party which the parents are invited to. This past weekend we organised her costume so she’ll be ready on the day.

It’s crazy time for me with work so I have to stay on top of all the school stuff, otherwise I’ll just go into meltdown. This past weekend was spent inputting all dates into my iphone along with work deadlines, client meetings and work Christmas meals and meet-ups. We also started our Christmas shopping and got the cards for the kids to give to their friends. My eldest refuses to do Christmas cards for his teachers this year (I guess it’s uncool at his age?) so I’ve only got six teachers and 90 kids to buy for which makes it a little less manic. I also got my work Secret Santa gift sorted out for next week. I must admit, I had a tiny panic last night when I was looking at my fridge at all the school notices and slips of paper. I manage it much better when it’s all scheduled on my iphone calendar. Still, there’s no guarantee I won’t mess up!

Really looking forward to my youngest child’s nativity – he’s very excited and has told me he’s a shepherd. I think out of all my children, he’s been the one who is most excited about being in a nativity.

Hope these little hints and tips help to keep your school run-up-to Christmas madness in check! Any other hints and tips, please post in the comments below.

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Meghan Peterson Fenn is the author of Bringing Up Brits and co-author of Inspiring Global Entrepreneurs with Heidi Mulligan Walker. Meghan is also the Director and Chief Designer at her own design company, White Ochre Design Ltd. And, she is an award winning expat blogger.

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The post Shepherds, fayres and Christmas cakes – Oh my! appeared first on Bringing Up Brits.

One thing that came out of the conversation and struck me was that not everyone celebrates Christmas with family or even with their own children. Of course I knew that before and I’m aware of that, but today was a good reminder for me.

Vivienne, one of the ladies I was talking with is, amongst many other things, an author whose book is called The Single Mum’s Survival Guide: How to Pick Up the Pieces and Build a Happy New Life. She was talking about how difficult Christmas can be for her and in the past some of them were actually quite horrible because of her family circumstances. And now, sometimes she doesn’t spend Christmas with her children or her husband’s children. It prompted me to share her book on my blog because there are sure to be many other parents out there who won’t be able to spend Christmas with their children for various reasons. One of those reasons might be because they are back in the States or living somewhere else either here in the UK or in another country, or simply living apart. I remember my Canadian friend told me she had to alternate having her children with her from year to year at Christmas time and when she was living here in the UK, her children were spending Christmas back in Canada with their father.

I read Vivienne’s book and wrote a review of it on Amazon – please take a look and pass it on to anyone you know who might find it helpful. Perhaps it could even be a gift for a friend or loved one. Or maybe it’s something for you. It’s also out on Kindle.

For many, the Christmas holiday period can be full of family and celebrations. For others, it might be a difficult or tricky time so I hope this post offers some support and reminds others to be supportive.

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Meghan Peterson Fenn is the author of Bringing Up Brits and co-author of Inspiring Global Entrepreneurs with Heidi Mulligan Walker. Meghan is also the Director and Chief Designer at her own design company, White Ochre Design Ltd. And, she is an award winning expat blogger.

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never fried. never baked. our potato chips are popped (like popcorn). with all the flavour and less than half the fat of fried crisps and less than 100 calories per serving, you’ll taste why they’re winning awards (and acclaim) throughout america. www.popchips.co.uk/popchips/what-are-popchips/

Here is our main feedback and our observations while we were trying them out for the first time:

• Favorite flavor – Salt & Pepper
• Second fav flavor – Barbecue
• But all the flavors are really good apart from our least fav which was Original
• Dad said, “Amazing flavour”
• Good size, good texture
• 13 year old said, “need more in each packet”
• 11 year old said, “they are not as greasy as potato chips”
• 5 year old had trouble opening the bags
• They feel healthier than potato chips
• We can’t believe they are not baked or fried
• Love the shape
• Love the branding and design of them
• We’d love to see even more flavors – maybe a cheese one? As an alternative to Cheetos?
• Love the use of ‘chips’ in the name – now maybe I can get away with calling potato chips ‘chips’ and people will understand I don’t mean British style chips!
• Very happy with them, we think they will become even more popular than they already are
• Thank you very much Popchips team UK!

I’ve also been chatting to the Popchips UK team over Twitter.

Follow them on @popchipsuk

We want to ‘Pop it forward’ so I just thought of a little competition – leave a comment on this blog post, I will read them and choose my favorite comment and that person will receive 4 bags of Popchips in 4 different flavors in time for Christmas*.

*Delivery is subject to Royal Mail delivery service and will be sent to a UK address only. Comment entries close by end of day November 30th.

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Meghan Peterson Fenn is the author of Bringing Up Brits and co-author of Inspiring Global Entrepreneurs with Heidi Mulligan Walker. Meghan is also the Director and Chief Designer at her own design company, White Ochre Design Ltd. And, she is an award winning expat blogger.

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I just finished reading Tanith Carey’s latest book called Taming The Tiger Parent: How to put your child’s well being first in a competitive world and the memories of these two babies came flooding back along with thoughts about my own parenting style as well. It would be interesting to see what these two babies are doing today as adults.

Carey’s book, Taming The Tiger Parent, looks at her own initial desire to be a tiger parent to her young daughter after repatriating to the UK from the USA, how tiger parenting became a global force, the affects competitive parenting have on our children, how to recognize when you are becoming a tiger parent and offers an alternative to tiger parenting and how parents can change and achieve this.

After reading Cary’s book and some of the example scenarios and children who have been tiger parented, and also doing her tiger parent checklist, I know I am definitely not a tiger parent. I think outside factors play an important role in how you parent such as your socioeconomic class, the people you associate with, your childrens’ friends, the types of schools available and even the country you live in. I often wonder if my parenting style would be different if we were raising our children in America instead of in Britain or if we were better off and were in a position to send our children to private or international schools. Perhaps I would be more of a tiger parent if we had more money to invest in our children’s academic and personal development or if I were a stay at home mum who had free time.

But as Carey so rightly states in part two of her book How Competitive Parenting And Schooling Affect Our Children, being a tiger parent can cause them stress which could lead to psychological problems as well as creating a disfunctional and resentful relationship between children and parents, I hope I would think twice. There’s an example of a little girl who tears up her homework if she makes one small mistake and stays up late in order to perfect her homework. I have seen my daughter do this on occasion and I’ve worried a bit about her desire to have everything she does be perfect and the stress it causes. I think one of the challenges of being a good parent is to find a balance between helping and teaching your children to do their best, to achieve high marks, win awards, further their abilities and talents and simply being there for them as positive role models with the right set of values and ethos.

I’m a huge fan of Carey’s books and have also recently read Where Has My Little Girl Gone? I noticed a bit of cross over between these two books and one thing that stood out for me was her advice about eating together as a family. We always did this when I was a child and it’s important for me for my family to spend time eating together. I know this goes against the grain here in Britain where most families don’t do this regularly. The other day I was chatting to an American mom over FaceTime with a British mum sitting next to me. The American mom was talking about family culture and sitting down for dinner together. As soon as the FaceTime call ended the British mum turned to me and said, “that wouldn’t work here, you know how it is, British families eat whenever they want often times in front of the telly!” Too funny, but very true. In Britain, when the children are little, they are fed at 5pm and the parents eat much later. Then when they are older families tend to eat wherever and whenever. I think what Carey says about eating together in part three How to Shed Your Tiger Parenting Stripes is so important for family bonding and creating a unique family culture. This, I found to be extremely interesting:

“Children who eat four meals a week with their families have been shown to score higher in academics tests, and girls in particular have been found to have higher levels of self-esteem.” page 146

I would encourage all parents to read Taming The Tiger Parent and also if you have girls, take a look at Where Has My Little Girl Gone? – in particular fathers. I keep showing my husband passages from this book, encouraging him to take note. My two older children are of a similar age to Carey’s and I’ve followed her writing since she wrote How to be an “Amazing” Mum – When You Just Don’t Have the Time: The Ultimate Handbook for Hassled Mothers when my youngest was a baby. This is a great book packed full of hints and tips and great time saving habits to start and carry on with.

I think one of the strengths of Taming The Tiger Parent is that Carey herself started out on the tiger mother path and through experience and research has written a book which speaks about the dangers of tiger parenting in today’s world and how we can prevent it happening to us and presents other ways of raising smart, confident, successful, loving and lovable children.

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Meghan Peterson Fenn is the author of Bringing Up Brits and co-author of Inspiring Global Entrepreneurs with Heidi Mulligan Walker. Meghan is also the Director and Chief Designer at her own design company, White Ochre Design Ltd. And, she is an award winning expat blogger.

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Run by Eaves charity, Settling In Research Project is about understanding the specific needs for integration of third country national women who come to the UK as a spouse or partner of a UK national or a person with Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR). Eaves is a London-based charity, which provides high-quality support, advice and advocacy to vulnerable women who have experienced violence such as trafficking, prostitution, domestic violence and sexual violence. The Research and Development team at Eaves conducts research, advocacy, capacity building and training on a host of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) issues.

They are looking for women to interview for this project. Those eligible to participate are:

• Women who arrived in the UK as a spouse or partner of a British national or a person with Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR)
• Women who have a passport from OUTSIDE the European Union
• Women who have not changed their status into Indefinite Leave to Remain or British citizen
• Women who have been living in the UK for less than 10 years

What the ‘Settling In’ project will address:
Working with women who came to the UK with, or joining, a spouse/partner settled in the UK; we have witnessed the specific needs of this group of women. We have also seen the lack of adequate policy discourse around how best to support these women to integrate into life in the UK. There is a distinct lack of visibility of this group and limited capacity to advocate and campaign for policy change both by the women and those supporting them. Consequently, many policy decisions on migration, integration, support needs, etc. do not incorporate the voices of these women.

The ‘Settling In’ project will enable policy makers, local authorities and service providers to introduce and implement schemes which address the specific needs of integration of this group of women by significantly enhancing the knowledge base for policy and practice. We will undertake primary research with this group of women looking at their specific circumstances and the challenges they face. Through focus groups, interviews, surveys and consultation platforms with the women, support services and other stakeholders, we will gather and analyze the necessary information on the reality and breadth of their personal experiences which will inform practice for better integration.

What you will get:

• reimburse your travel expenses (if receipt is provided)
• provide crèche facilities
• provide refreshments
• give you a £10 gift voucher to thank you for your time

To find out more, please view the PDF documents below:

Settling in for Women

Project Brief

If you are interested, please email nisan.kesete@eavesforwomen.org.uk or call 020 7840 7108.

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