All Entries in the "Book Review" Category

Secrets Girls Keep- A Book Review

Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of PR By the Book. I received the book in this review for free and was not paid any money for my opinion. All opinions are 100% mine.

I received an e-mail a few weeks ago from a Publicist asking me if I was interested to review this book.

Secrets Girls Keep: What Girls Hide (& Why) and How to Break the Stress of Silence

The title sounded very interested and I felt that it would be interesting to know what kinds of secrets girls keep. It would give me a better idea on how to deal with my students who are reaching their tweens.

In this book Carrie talks about the 7  Tips

Tip 1- Using your Gut

Tip 2- Discover your strengths and use them

Tip 3- Choose the right friends and respect them.

Tip 4- Be courageous and confident.

Tip 5- Be fit and stay fit ( Health is very important)

Tip 6- Dream Big ( Push yourself an be amazed as what you can achieve)

Tip 7- Get outside yourself ( Reflection and contribution to society)

These tips are incorporated into solving   problems surfacing in the following topics.

• Beauty
• Boys
• Best friends
• Family
• Dealing with school
• Cyberwellness
• Divorce, suicide and other serious issues.

In each topic Carrie gives some real sound and practical advice using the experiences of various teenage girls to show how problems could be solved.

Carrie interlaces her topics with short quizzes which one can fill in to get a better understanding of  how they are at taking care of oneself, level of confidence, knowledge of boys etc.  I find these extremely useful for as a teenager one has yet to really understand how to handle one’s emotions and need for taking risks.

Having gone through the teenage years myself I understand how lost some of the girls featured in the book must have felt as they face  growing up and hormonal changes at the same time.

The tips presented by Carrie and the real life example case studies make this book an excellent guide for both parents and teenage girls who may be facing similar problems.  They are practical and easy to follow and everyone can easily relate to the teenage girls featured in the book.
Nowadays the kids mature extremely fast. Problems which used to be faced by teenagers are sometimes faced by tweens or even younger. Ie: difficulty in relating to their parents are issues that are also faced by some of my elementary school kids.

Carrie dishes out simple tips like

1. Sending an e-mail or text message
2. Sharing a journal
3. Showing your appreciation through creating a card

These tips help in breaking the ice between parent and child and help to slowly guide them on how to get kids to talk to their parent.

Through all the examples presented in the book  a common trait that surfaced was that these girls  faced difficulties and didn’t know who they could turn to. Many of them tried solving or internalizing their problems on their own which gave them added stress. They cave in to the evils of social media and peer pressure and disregard their own health, family and friends.

Only when they learned how to open up and seek outside help were they relieved of the burden that they were carrying around.

Some of the girls didn’t know that they were having problems like depression or obsession till their family members noticed and approached them.

Being a teenager is a scary time for a girl as you are suddenly faced with issues and problems which surface out of nowhere. Boys for one are something which you may not have to deal with  as an elementary school student.

Carrie take one step by step through the issues that may arise with dating and boys and walk you through what you may be feeling and questions you may have about dating.

Secrets Girls Keep: What Girls Hide (& Why) and How to Break the Stress of Silence

If you are interested in reading this fabulous book, do grab a copy of the books from my  amazon affiliated link above. I  earn a small percentage .

The Mompreneur Diaries- A book review

The Mumpreneur Diaries by Mosey Jones is one book that I really enjoyed reading. I managed to finish reading the book in one sitting which was really rare for me.

It was really entertaining with actual accounts of a struggling mumpreneur in UK.

After stepping into the world of being  a mumpreneur ,Jones realised that it isn’t as rosy as many people hype it out to be.

Mosey Jones gives a detailed view into her first year as a mumpreneur in UK. She depicts her struggles and problems that she faced while being at home taking care of her two young kids.

Written as diary entries Jones lists downs her frustrations with the constant shortage of money and the instability of her husbands job. With her materinty pay running out she had to get profitable by the end of the year or get back into the rate race.

 Getting a business off from the drawing board while taking care of two babies wasn’t an easy task for her.  Jones talks about how she started out her MUM-for-Hire business and Doula business while being on maternity leave with her 2nd child.  It was simply exhausting and utter madness in the house as she struggled to be mum, wife and businesswomen. 

Even at the end of the book it stated that her business is far from profitable and she still struggles to make ends meet daily. However she wouldn’t want to change anything and get back to working full time for others.

My take on mumpreneurship

Reading the book makes me wonder how much fanfare  is painted by marketers about “how easy it is to work from home” and “earning $3K or more in a month online” from those who claim to have “made it” as a mumpreneur  with their  screenshots of bank or clickbank accounts. 

I personally believe that in showing your  genuine side and really going all out to show that you care for your  readers and clients would bring in good revenue.

Just look at the achievements of  Kelby Carr of Type-A-Mom and Denise Willms of WAHM-Articles, two mumpreneurs who I really admire.

I personally have set up my own membership site- Learning with Dominique, doing freelance writing and consultancy services in my spare time. Before returning to work full time this year I was conducting toddler classes on weekends.

Catering to the preschool market is the most profitable segment. I still get lots of enquiries for my classes andI do intend to persure this market. Some of my fellow mompruneur are easily earning $4K or more for just 10hrs of teaching a week.

A lot of hardwork and enegry is needed to build up one’s own business. I’m far from my earning targets from all my sidelines to  do more then replace my day job.

*Disclaimer*

This book was purchased from a bookshop during a sale. It is not a paid review.  I have not be compensated by the publisher or author by writing this review

Why Should I Help?- A Book Review

Why Should I Help- Claire Llewellyn

I came across this book in on the “featured shelve” in our school library a few weeks ago.

This book is part of the Why Should I series of books by Barron’s books which our school library recently purchased for our students.

This book gives a balance perspective on the reasons why you should help others.

The story enfolds around a little girl and her being frustrated at having to do so many chores around the house. To her it seems like everyone is expecting her to help them while NOBODY is helping her with her chores.

Her father gently reminds her that there were occassions whereby she needed help and there were people around to help her.

He quotes this two occassions to her.

1. When she fell off her bike while riding it. A boy helped her get home.
2. When her dog Squeaky went missing the whole family, including grandma and grandfather went out looking for the dog for the whole afternoon.

After recalling what her father said the little girl realises that it does feel good being able to help others. She remembers the time that she helped her neighbour feed his fishes when he was away on a holiday. When Ben returned she received a nice souvenir from him.

There are several follow up activities suggested in the book which parents can do with their kids. I really enjoyed reading this book with Ryan as it teaches him how to form and strengthen relationships with friends and relatives.

*Disclaimer*

The link above is an affliate link to purchasing the book on Amazon. This is not a paid review as the book was borrowed from the library and has since been returned.

Weekend Reflections – Being Lucky

The IPamper from OSIM

This year I too had a very memorable Children’s Day celebration.  Our school shifted the annual teacher’s day dinner to Children’s Day eve so that our Muslim colleagues would be able to celebrate together with us as it would be after their Ramadan.

This year my name was one of those picked during the lucky draw. I was surprised to have won the 3rd prize of an OSIM IPamper (R.P.$198SGD)

This gift sure comes in handy for me as the past week I have been suffering from strain and stiff muscles due to insufficient rest as Roy is down with stomach flu. It has been extremely exhausting taking care of this grouchy toddler.

I never expected the win as the odds of being picked for the 20 Lucky Draw Prizes is already not that big with a staff size of about  90-100 teachers (10% chance of being picked for one of the prizes) Calculating the possibilities the odds are really small to be able to get  one of the top 3 prizes.

I’m really happy with the win and grateful that things seem to be getting better for our family this year.

When is the last time you recalled that you were Lucky?

Go ahead and grab the GRAPHIC for your site here.

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