Category: reviews

September 29, 2014

Mommy, Am I Pretty? #review & #giveaway

Young children are flooded with images of how they should look and behave every day. Society has placed a strong emphasis on our physical appearance that it is almost impossible to escape. I still remember looking in the mirror growing up and hating my nose – it was wide and big and I was teased relentlessly for it (this was even before media encouraged the perfect skinny body type!). I would come home every night and take a wooden clothespin and clip my nose in an effort to make my nose smaller (remember the saying don’t do that to your face it will freeze like that – yup that was my hope at the time). I have come a long way since then but I still have so many insecurities about my appearance that go back to my young days. I have an unhealthy relationship with food that stems from my high school years and not allowing myself to eat during school hours in the hope of looking pretty. As a Mother and an Aunt it is now important to me more than ever to encourage the children in my life that they have value that extends well beyond their physical appearance. That it is the good inside of us that makes us beautiful people.

About Mommy, Am I Pretty?

Mommy, am I pretty? is the story of Molly a young girl in elementary school. One day while walking home from school with her Mother, Molly asks what it means to be pretty. Molly’s Mother helps her look at her day at school, at home and in her neighbourhood to discover moments of kindness and beauty. Molly learns that it is the small gestures of generosity and friendship that makes us loving and beautiful on the inside which shines through to our outer beauty. Molly realizes that being pretty on the inside is what matters most in life.

My Thoughts

The powerful message that Margot L Denommé writes is showcased in a wonderful way that will reach out to all young children. The story is written as if it is you having this conversation with your child. She examines every day experiences that children will go through and how our actions in these moments defines us and makes us a better and beautiful person. Children are bombarded with images in media leaving them with the feeling that beauty can only be seen on the outside. It is so important for children to know that our actions make us good people and it is a good heart that shines out and makes a person beautiful.

Mommy, am I pretty? is a book that I hope ends up in every classroom – it teaches a lesson that not only starts at home but extends into a child’s school life where they can be exposed to negative comments about their appearance and bullying.

About Margot L.Denommé

Margot practices law in Toronto where she lives with her husband and two young girls. Margot wrote this book to encourage dialogue between parents, grandparents, caregivers, teachers and young girls as a way to empower and teach them that true beauty lies within. Her message has resonated with many Canadian groups and organizers including, The Pediatric Dentistry and Maxillofacial Surgery division of the Hospital for Sick Children and the Dove Self-Esteem Fund Real Beauty Campaign. A portion of proceeds from book sales will go to Meagan’s Walk, a Toronto based charity that has since 2001 raised more than $2.7 million for cancer research. Margot has presented to several organizations as well as spoken to many students at various schools. To arrange for a public speaking opportunity at your own school you can contact her here.

A Special Mention

Margot’s two daughters, Madison and Brooke, are the illustrators of her book! Their lovely drawings complete the book and make it perfect! It was wonderful to see all of their drawings bringing the book to life.

Mommy, am I pretty? is avaiable in both hardcover and kindle format.

Enter to Win!

Margot has two books ready to give away to two of my Canadian readers to help encourage a daily dialogue between parents and their young girls! Enter via the Rafflecopter form below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

August 28, 2014

DK Math Boutique: Build Up Those Math Skills for BTS #review

Math can either be the easiest subject for your child to master or it can cause frustration and tears. We have seen both in our house. Some units are easier while other units can take a lot to master – I still have nightmares of calculus and I am dreading the day when I have to help my son with this!

We were sent the DK Canada Math Made Easy. Each Math Made Easy book is divided up by grade and you choose the correct grade for your child.

For our son we chose the grade he was entering into in September. It started off with the easier math problems and slowly advanced as he made his way through the book. We had to help a little bit but it was a great confidence booster. It also helped to give him a glimpse into what the math program will be like this year. He hasn’t made it through the book (it is quite big!) but we are working on two pages a day. It has helped to reinforce all the lessons that were taught (and beginning to fade!) since last year.

Math skills are so important to practice on a daily basis as each lesson is based on the previous and a child can quickly become lost. Supplementing short lessons at home is so important and these books made it easy for us as parents!

For a limited time, DK Canada is offering 30% at the Making Math Fun! Boutique.

How do you help your child at home with math skills? Do you have your own program? Or do you use resource books?

Disclosure: I received a free copy of the above mentioned books. All opinions expressed are my own.

August 25, 2014

Starting the School Year Right with DK Readers #review

Reading is one of my favourite past times. It is also an essential skill that I want my children to master and feel comfortable with while still loving it. Sometimes children can become frustrated with their reading, not knowing a word, the material may not be something that they like or the book itself is too complicated.

DK readers are designed to allow readers to find their current reading level and gain confidence as they develop their reading skills. Readers will progress through simple to read sentences, simple words to more challenging story lines and vocabulary. The image below is the how their levels are determined as well as the corresponding descriptions of how each book is set up (vocabulary and sentences).

The books in this boutique range from historical to science to nature all the way to super heroes and Star Wars! With such a great selection your child will have plenty to chose from without being bored.

Our youngest chose Little Dolphin and Stars Wars A New Hope. Both of these books were a Level One and had short, simple sentences (although the names in Star Wars were a bit tougher for him to grasp). The illustrations were large and kept him entertained while we read the story together. The books are light weight and easy for him to hold. Our eldest got in on the fun and read the stories to his brother (made my heart melt watching them!).

DK Canada wants to help your child get back into the reading routine the right way and is offering a special deal in their DK Readers boutique – buy two and get one free! Make sure you head over there and get a look at their full collection.

Disclosure: I received the above mentioned books free of charge. All opinions expressed are my own.

August 22, 2014

Get Ready for Back to School With the Nokia Lumia 635 #NokiaBTS

Summer vacation is winding down and if you haven’t already done so it is time to start preparing our children for back to school. The new school year brings changes, meeting new people and for some of our children it will be their first time walking to and from school or even taking a city bus to high school. As a parent this is a terrifying moment for us – I swear I now know why my parents never wanted to let us go out alone! We want to be able to communicate with our children and let them have a security measure to be able to call for a pick up or assistance if needed. The problem? Tweens and teens can sometimes not be as careful with their electronics as we would hope they could be. Broken screens anyone?

Nokia has introduced the Nokia Lumia 635 a one of a kind smart phone in the affordable range that you will feel comfortable with purchasing for your tween or teen. How affordable you ask? You can pick up one for $0 down on some plans or purchase the phone itself for $199. Despite the affordable price the phone does not look nor feel any different than any other smart phone out there. It still has a good solid feel while holding it in your hand as well as having full capabilities of any other smart phone.

Our son is slowly wanting to gain his independence and this was the perfect starter phone for him to help transition him to walking to a friend’s house, walking to the park and practice walking to and from school with his friends. He still had the confidence to walk alone or with his friends but knew that he was always one swipe away from being able to call us. Not to mention he fell in love with all of the apps and social media features he can use.

Nokia has developed several features that are unique to their line of phones. I wanted to share some of the ones that I felt your teen would love!

Top Features for Tweens and Teens

Mix Radio App. This is probably one of the coolest apps I have ever seen. It comes already installed on the phone and is a FREE music playing radio app. Yup – FREE! That’s one perfect word to my ears especially since my son loves his music. You can even personalize your mix so that the app will recognize the type of music you like to listen to and play these songs.
Navigation App. I have the Nokia Lumia 1020 and became familiar with the navigation apps using that phone and it is a fantastic feature for those constantly on the go. The Nokia Lumia 635 has a built in GPS with no subscription or fees required to be able to use this. The three navigation apps are: Here Drive+, Here Maps and Here Transit. Your child can use the app to navigate routes home from after school activities, map out routes to their friends house and even check the local transit system! You can check out this app in motion here.
WiFi & Data Sense. Now this feature will be appreciated much more by the parents then their children but I had to highlight this feature. I have gone over my data plan only once and it was horrendous. An extra one hundred dollars in just data alone! With the Nokia Lumia 635 you can turn on WiFi sense so that it will automatically switch to WiFi while they are out and about or at school which helps prevent data overages. Your child can combine this with Data Sense – a feature that allows set limits on data usages, warnings when you are close to your limit as well as limiting data usage to WiFi only.
Social Media Apps. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – the essentials! All can be found on this phone and easy to use. With the large screen pictures can be viewed easily.
Customizable. The phone is easily customizable. Your child can change the display, accent colours, update the tiles, add more or less tiles as well as change the shell. We chose the bright green shell – flashy, bright and easy to find once he misplaces it!

Nokia Lumia Specifications for the Techies!

Display screen is 4.5″
Touch screen technology
Dimensions: 129.5mm X 66.7mm
222.1 ppi
USB 2.0
Bluetooth 4.0
Windows 8.1
Windows One Drive

The only drawback with this phone is no front camera. Now what does that mean for your child? It just means it is a little harder to take that selfie! Knowing this, Nokia developed a Glam Me app that helps guide the user to take their own selfie using the back camera. Once the timer is started it will beep to help you position the camera into the appropriate spot for that perfect selfie. Problem solved!

The Nokia Lumia 635 is the best and affordable starter phone out there. Our son fell in love with it’s easy to use features, bright display screen and mix radio.

What are your favourite features of the Nokia Lumia 635? What features do you look for in a phone for your child?

Disclosure: I am part of the Nokia BTS campaign and received product as well as compensation for this post. All opinions expressed are my own.

August 7, 2014

Eyewitness Dinosaur @DKCanada #review

The iconic Eyewitness book series has been the most trusted non-fiction series in classrooms and in homes for 25 years! DK Canada has updated this popular series to paperback (a first in North America!) as well as adding new covers, improved layouts and a better ratio of text to photo. You can check out the full twelve updated Eyewitness Series books here on the DK Canada website.

My kids are huge dinosaur fans (as if you couldn’t tell from my other post here!). To be able to combine that love with learning is my number one goal as a parent. Eyewitness books are perfect for this! With clear and bold heading they highlight for our son what the page will be about. In Eyewitness Dinosaurs the images on each page are striking and in full colour making you feel as if they are really bringing the dinosaurs to life. With over 150 images this book kept him (and me) engaged for hours!

I read the book before giving it my son (I have to be honest with you, I love learning new things and this book was incredible for this). I spent an hour going through each page reading all the tidbit information and looking at the beautiful photographs. I learned so much (who knew they can classify dinosaurs into two groups and many had feathers?!). If we stumbled on anything we were not sure of there was a fantastic glossary at the end of the book. Together we were able to follow their evolution straight to extinction.

Right now DK Canada is offering 30% off the Eyewitness series (making the books only $7.69 CDN!). Make sure to check them out here.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.